HF Contacts 20m

Another new country on FT4.

06:22UTC FW1JG AH16 Wallis and Fortuna Islands.

Didn't last long but got RR73 in the end.

Another great contact there Mike and good to see your FT4 activity screen.  

I've often tried again & again with a difficult contact but they all seem to give me up after three transmissions. I'll often hang on keeping an eye on the contact screen though and try and nab them again when their signals pick back up. That helped me bag Africa and some 80m contacts on my short antenna.....doesn't seem to work with USA contacts though?!?!
(PSK reports show me as received but hard to get a reply?)

Anyway, always enjoy seeing your WSJTX activity as it spurs me on. Well done again with that contact.

Sorry Victor one is on 40m.

That's it Alan.....rub my nose in it.

Just joking, well done with those contacts mate.

Victor wrote:

Another great contact there Mike and good to see your FT4 activity screen.  

I've often tried again & again with a difficult contact but they all seem to give me up after three transmissions. I'll often hang on keeping an eye on the contact screen though and try and nab them again when their signals pick back up. That helped me bag Africa and some 80m contacts on my short antenna.....doesn't seem to work with USA contacts though?!?!
(PSK reports show me as received but hard to get a reply?)

Anyway, always enjoy seeing your WSJTX activity as it spurs me on. Well done again with that contact.

Don't know if you do but always make sure that the slot you are using is clear.
Move to a clear slot if it appears you lost them as stations can jump on top of
you and, this can happen mid QSO so keep a good eye on it.

As to the DX sometimes you get lucky, I heard FW1JG but no else did.
I got him quite quickly but normally there is an instant pileup.

Just keep at it and I'm sure they will come.
Get summer out the way and we can see what's possible.

Alan Pilot wrote:

Sorry Victor one is on 40m.

Good to see what others have got in the QSL department.
Well done.

Mike
The cards are the ones that are emailed to me.
I have been saving the emails for some time now.
Then i had the idea of sending them over to my phone and using freeprint to get them printed out.
There is more than one app that you can get so many printed a month for free just pay postage.
I had hundreds and hundreds back in the day but all lost in a divorce lol.

Got one this morning that i have never heard of before but never any good at geography lol
On FT8   FW1JG    Wallis and Futuna Island.
10w Ft-991a on a 7 band cobweb 20m.

Edit.
Confirmed 

Well done Alan.

Other side of the planet in the Pacific, nice job with your setup.

Massive distance and no 77 on latest club log most wanted list. Very well done Alan!

Had QSO with youtuber Raisa R1BIG while she was out portable today. SSB, 10w. Ordinarily not an overly difficult area to reach, but if anyone has tried to contact her before then you will know the luck you need to break her pileup as she seems to be a magnet for the ham radio male population... including me it seems

Ha! Ha!

Bees around a honey pot?


It was funny when I last visited a Ham club, (back when I was first investigating taking my Foundation), and all of a sudden those shirt tails were tucked with much breathing in of stomachs when a woman turned up. (Not me, T shirt hanging out whilst hanging desperately onto my walking stick!)

I had a brilliant conversation with her discovering she had a degree in Biology, worked at a University, just taken her Foundation and was an overall charming and very intelligent woman. Best intellectual conversation I'd had in quite some time and was a pleasure.

I'm pretty sure your contact was the thrill of getting another contact in the log and Raisa being well known with her Youtube videos and radio activity.

Nice one for the log Neal and well done.

Alan Pilot wrote:

Got one this morning that i have never heard of before but never any good at geography lol
On FT8   FW1JG    Wallis and Futuna Island.
10w Ft-991a on a 7 band cobweb 20m.

Edit.
Confirmed 

Glad to see another member caught this one, well done.

H44MS Solomon Islands was on 15metres but could'nt raise them.

Not great dx but interesting contact on the 21st via FT4
I have worked this station a few times but did not realize the ship was a VLCC.
The ship is the Sea Majesty VLCC 330000tons deadweight.

15:41utc 21st August
YO4RYU/MM LL94 in Gulf of Oman

New Country to me.(didn't know where that was said i was no good with a map lol)...
Faroe Islands.
OY1DZ ft8 14.076Mhz

Worked the super tanker again on FT4, this time in the Arabian Sea for another wet grid.
13:38utc YO4RYU/MM LK99

Spent hour this evening on FT4.

Worked Italy, Romania, Turkey, Japan, Bosnia Herzegovina, Tanzania, USA, Iceland and Indonesia.
High light was 5H8HZ at 17:47utc KI64
Boy it was hard work he was quite reasonable with me but didn't hear me for ages.
Kept going back after other QSOs and then just when I thought that was it he called me.

New DXCC on FT4this morning
06:48utc FS4WBS FK88

Some FT8 this morning both new for me 20m.
07:35utc TY0RU JJ16
08:22utc C31BP JN02

Some nice catches there Mike.

I finally grabbed TY0RU on 12m, but was good to get them and add another part of Africa to the log.

Still haven't got Andorra yet so well done.

Victor wrote:

Some nice catches there Mike.

I finally grabbed TY0RU on 12m, but was good to get them and add another part of Africa to the log.

Still haven't got Andorra yet so well done.

Well done Victor.
Have Andorra on several bands but never caught one on 20m before.

Well both done on these contacts. Main part of Africa I still struggle with, and still don't have Andorra on any ham bands yet.

You and me both Neal.

I'm usually on digi-modes but still hardly hear Africa let alone get there and my 10 Watts p.e.p. sees me having difficulty with many sub equatorial contacts. (No confirmed SA yet and OC still eluding me!) The Russian Benin contact had me trying multiple times on multiple bands becoming a flea-in-the-ear until a small lift on 12m gave me the opportunity. Had to try many times though!

But for me, it really is the challenge and fun of QRP operations.  

20m can be a bind, you start calling that contact you need for the log and some big station splatters/stomps all over you and I'm so glad I have other bands at my disposal. 

You do well with your SSB activities Neal and at least it's known as "poor form" to stomp over a voice contact unless they excuse it as a pile-up.


We'll both get Andorra yet my friend, or at least have fun trying.

Cheers for the pointers Mike, much appreciated.

I used to try the moving about and timeslot change tactic but it often felt like I was chasing my tail. Nowadays I tend to just stay put watching those radio 'waves' lapping the shoreline which works well on other bands but 20m can still be frantic. Often handy for seeing shifts in propagation though as they happen.

I don't overly concern myself nowadays (no point really) and if anything really enjoy a good session just simply watching and grabbing any contacts I can. Weird how 'relaxing' this whole digi-mode thing has become for me.