New Four metre country

New country and continent on 4metres Sunday evening.
Worked 5B4AIF on FT8 in Paphos Cyprus KM64hv 3180km.

Got away was Israel, heard 4X1TI briefly in KM71.

My 70MHz setup is an ICOM 7100, 50watts and a Create 21ele logperiodic.
My QTH is not a very good VHF site as I'm located on north side of the Southdowns
but low down in a valley.

Another new country and continent on 4metres FT8.
Worked EA9IB in Ceuta and Melilla for Africa.

I did try FT8 but not for me.
I used the lowest power setting my radio would go down to 5w i think.
Made many countries in the short time i tried it out but on 20 or 40m can't remember.
I prefer to press the PTT myself.

Horses for courses Alan mate.

I enjoyed the challenge of setting up FT8 on HF but found it all a bit like shooting fish in a barrel even turned down to 1W. Hence no further entries in my log, (for those that bothered to respond!)

I may revisit FT8 though on 2m after picking up the GB3VHF beacon on this here FT290 with a new antenna.
Again, because it's a bit more challenging.



@ Mike - impressive contacts on 4m there.


All the best,
Victor

Was a bit of a challenge setting up ft8 and then a let down as you say Victor like shooting fish in a barrel.
Latest challenge for me was this weekend setting a handy up to run through my Pi-star hotspot on DMR.
Gave up more than once but kept going back and finally cracked it around 5pm yesterday.
Not sure how long i will stay with it but i can take it out with me using my phone for the internet connection (well when i set that bit up).

Victor wrote:

Horses for courses Alan mate.

I enjoyed the challenge of setting up FT8 on HF but found it all a bit like shooting fish in a barrel even turned down to 1W. Hence no further entries in my log, (for those that bothered to respond!)

I may revisit FT8 though on 2m after picking up the GB3VHF beacon on this here FT290 with a new antenna.
Again, because it's a bit more challenging.



@ Mike - impressive contacts on 4m there.


All the best,
Victor

It is surprising how many top dxers are using digital, they need a new challenge I suppose.

Two metre FT8 has some interesting propagation, one minute dead the next like a switch came on.
Love it as my QTH is quite poor for VHF and above.

Worked a couple of new countries on 4metres, Iceland and the Canary Islands, pleased with that
as I miss quite a few openings.

You're quite right there Mike.  

If you're a long term Ham operator I suppose it must be a case of finding new challenges and interests keeping it all alive. I shall find out for myself the longer I'm a Ham but already blown away by the interest paths you can take. (Not had my licence for even a year yet and finding out how deep those waters truly are! )

Exploring 2m beyond the usual repeater work has been great fun and a huge learning experience for me. I've only just scratched the surface so far but really looking forward to experiencing much more including VHF propagation.


Well done with the new countries on 4m there too Mike, it must be very rewarding to achieve them.
I've got to admit, your VHF work has pricked my ears in interest and I'm exploring other VHF band options now.

Have to give you a 'thanks' for that and look forward to hearing more about your work and reports.

(Like you I'm in a valley location and pleasantly surprised that VHF signals make it in and out! )


Brilliant stuff. 

The good thing about amateur radio there are plenty of interesting things to have a go at.
When I got my license in 84 all we could do was VHF and above without the morse ticket.

I actually got going on 70cms first, locally here it was quite busy and there was always someone
to talk too. Two metres was so busy it was hard to find a clear frequency any where.

My first real DX on 2metres was into East Germany using a six element beam with just the bare output
of an FT290 and when I heard my first Sporadic E event on 2metres I was hooked.
I spent the next 15 years chasing DX on 2metres, 70cms and 23cms.

Two metres I worked at least 320 locators with over 40 countries, some countries now gone of course.
I worked as far south as Morocco and Tunisia, as far east as the Ukraine.
Most of this was SSB with the rarer stuff being high speed CW meteorscatter.

My other interest was satellites, I quite often got on Oscar 10 and Oscar 13 plus I used the Japanese Fuji sats OSCAR 20 and 29 chasing US states.

Some how I always picked the hard stuff to do from this hole in the ground but it was worth the effort.

Enjoy what ever takes your interest, be it dxing, listening or experimenting.

I remember when I was first going to get my 'ticket' it was VHF for the old Part B and morse for the full. Didn't realise how long ago that was!


Great to hear about your VHF work Mike and impressed with what you had achieved.

I think I'm very much smitten with the VHF/UHF aspects despite modern licences allowing HF for a multitude of different reasons.


Really enjoyed your input Mike and the very last sentence said it all for me, "Enjoy whatever takes your interest".

Wise words indeed.