HF Contacts 15m

I know, I know I don't post enough, but I do read new posts most days.  

Nothing for me today, did get into China yesterday which was my 3rd since I started in Feb 23
PL09 - BG5GLV (cor blimey Victor same chap as you! ).

Hello Tony,

Good to hear from you and hope you're keeping well.  

Very well done with your contacts to China, I was stoked to get my first. Ah, yes we've had the same operator and what was thrilling was that he called me after I'd made the contacts to Japan which was exciting. (Apparently I'd been "spotted", but I'm still none the wiser. )

I see you're another with your QRZ "Continents of the World" award but damned if I can get mine, I've had Oceania contact but just need someone to confirm for me(!)

Always a pleasure mate and do post up any interesting contacts you have. 
(They're all exciting for me, especially anyone working the world with just a few Watts.)


All the best,
Victor

Hi Victor,
I am well thanks, and I hope you are good too.  

It really does give a buzz when a first qso to a particular place is achieved. On my 2nd day of digi proper I had three into Japan although only one confirmed, that was my first real exciting moment on digi.

My biggest buzz was after a friend along the coast from me said he was after Trinidad and Tobago as it was illusive to him after 18 months of trying. Then five weeks from starting digi, I got it.



As for the Continents award, I assume that was Indonesia but not made Australia or New Zealand yet.
I'm sure your 'bits of wire' will get you there, that will be worthy of a big party.

Cheers & Beers,
Tony

Nice one there Tony.  

Well done with the Trinidad & Tobago especially twice on the two bands. I caught Dev - 9A4DG a little while ago (we're all bound to have similar in our logs) but surprisingly on 40m FT4 one sleepless night/morning. My longest 40m contact yet so my bit of lawnmower lead must be doing the job.

It is great to experience the thrill and excitement of a new contact and goes to show what radio-nuts a lot of us are!

I'm sure I'll get OC one of these days and excitedly punch the air like I've done with the others.
(Ought to start calling CQ but spend most of my time 'hunting then down'.)


Really good to hear from you Tony and you take care there,
Victor

Had contact with Dev on the odd occasion but not on 12m or 160m.
Both ft4 and 8.
Does confirm but not always lol.
21??. could that be the height of this scaffolding but it's not helping.

would make a real good ground plane,hole in your femce it of wire sorted.
im realy shocked Victor not come up with a way to utalize that scaffold lol....
sorry about spelling pyslesick.
heard a few of you on kiwisdr the other day so you all working good, roll on that licence so i can chat, i hope to you all.
full size G5rv now up and saving up for a beam, got a bit of funds ready for................. ft991a or ic7300

P.S thanks for the recomend on 991A Alan looks like it will be that one !!!

Jimmy
You won't regret buying the 991a well i never did.
Bought mine ?? around the time o got my licence just before could have been just after.
Not long after the second one came and the twins where borne lol yeh Victor.
Had all sorts of radios since but a 991a is still here don't think i will ever part with it.
Also they work well out of the box just turn the power down and key the mic.
I am dyslexic as well even look twice when my phone auto corrects lol but seriously if you are dyslexic then when you do your test read the questions 3 times you will have plenty of time.

Jimmy, I echo Alan's words about the 991A. I am very happy with mine, and my better half is too. It makes my tiny corner of the bedroom shack look much tidier (in her opinion) than it did at the start of the year when I began to play digital and had so many more wires and boxes to make the G90 connect to the computer. Now all in one, all the bands I could want except 4m, and only one USB cable to connect it to the computer.

Anyone managed anything juicy on 15m the last few days? In the evening it has been wide open to me to the US. My county numbers are at 271 now, even though my award doesn't show that (that's over 4x QRZ logbooks). In the morning the far east and Australia have been plentiful, just as good conditions as on 20m.

Has anyone worked 9M66MB? If so, do you have them confirmed? I worked recently on 15m, but not confirmed yet. Just wondered if they are actually East or West Malaysia. Shows as East in my logbook and yellow (as not yet confirmed) in the DXCC award list, but show as West on their QRZ page.

cheers for that neal !!! i prob wouldnt be intrested in the 4m side to be honest so that would not be a selling point lol. had a good look around and read up on them and there is a few for sale all mint condition, just trying to open the other halfs purse might be the tricky bit................

Re 9M66MB, despite them showing as East Malaysia on their FT8 CQ, this was one of their special event stations in West Malaysia as their QRZ page showed the flag for. Adjusted QRZ log and they have confirmed. Whilst I was hoping it was East, it's my first contact with either of them so am still very happy.

Care of the CQWW contest this weekend I had my first 15m SSB contacts with the Faroe Islands (OY6A) and China (B0A), and my first ever SSB contact with Honduras (HQ9A).

No other new ones for me, I was only operating sporadically and not competitively. Conditions appeared really good though so I hope some of you got to make the most of them.

New one for me today.
KG6DX Guam.

Well done Alan mate, nice one for the logs.

(I'm a bit 'meh' with FT8 at the mo, loads of splattering 'cute' call signs who refuse to answer you! )

Just managed the last one you posted Alan. new one for me. 7W, FT4 into the fan dipole.

KG6DX - Guam

That's country 168 for me. Very happy as Oceania contacts are not a common happening for me.

Nice one Neal.
Not doing well with the Oceania contacts myself.

Alan Pilot wrote:

Nice one Neal.
Not doing well with the Oceania contacts myself.

Thank you Alan. Same this way. Oceania very not common for me. Think it will be a long time till I get that QRZ badge.

Nice one to get.
Oceania is hard, all those islands

New DXCC 189 15m FT8 F/H mode 21.091

Feb 25th 17:43 4U1UN FN30

4U1UN just confirmed today in LOTW

DXCC 192 FT8
15:29utc 3G0YA Easter Island DG52

No 196 5th May

15:39utc XW4KV OK18 Laos FT8

Alan Pilot wrote:

China and Japan pop up most day's on 15m/17m FT-8.

Can someone explain to me what digi modes are about? How does having machines talk to each other (with no human input) help us in our hobby?

I can see that it might help keep a record of propagation, but that's all, and there are many internet resources to find that information.

I'm not afraid of technology, in fact I embrace it for most other things. But I'm struggling to understand what use automatic digital modes are to us, especially in contests.

Deb

VanRougeT4 wrote:

Can someone explain to me what digi modes are about? How does having machines talk to each other (with no human input) help us in our hobby?

This is just my take and view on it Deb... Firstly, unless an operator is running some kind of app/bot, there always requires an element of human input to complete a QSO, even for the currently popular FT8 & 4. Some of the input and operation takes skill in not just timing and tx frequency positioning to make a contact and complete, it is not always as easy as it looks to complete a QSO.

All the digital weak signal modes like those above and others like JT65 and 9, although having pre-set QSO parameters for the minimal info required to exchange for a QSO, short free text can also be sent, and so a more personal less robotic QSO can take place using them.

When propagation is not optimal or there is a high unwanted noise level at one or more the operators QTHs, some of these modes can be used to have QSOs when voice and CW would not get through. Unwanted noise is unfortunately something that is worsening for many people. Just as I feel it is important for some operators to build and practice using high power voice mode stations in case we require them in an emergency, it is also important that some build and practice using lower powered ones using modes that are able to be used when voice stations cannot.

So, in short, it helps to people to communicate through the modern day RF noise. Some more technical operators may even go on to program even weaker signal modes, which will probably be needed at some point in the future.

That said, I prefer phone modes and long free text digi modes. I find them more fun and they help me better my poor language skills. But that's just me. As long as everyone's having fun while they're learning, all is good I think

DXCC number 197 yesterday, confirmed on QRZ.
17:20UTC 5U5K JK13 FT4

Elvira has given me quite a few in Africa now.
She is running multistream no F/H mode