Feb 7th 06:55

so what did i work on the radio today

Sweet FA

I was working till 4am this morning

when i got in i decided to redo my website so here is the first part of my Blog

 

my brain hurts i am gonna have a coffee and get some sleep
may just go down to the shack and twiddle the dial for a while though

well it's Sunday the 8th it's 05:38
still lots of snow on the ground
and a few flakes fell as well last night
it's a bit brrrr though -4.9c out there
still sat in a nice warm shack with a mug of coffee
a quick shuffty round the bands and it is flat
bit of rtty on 40mts along with a load of Russian stations speaking Russian
well i will give it an hour or so and see what comes through
well it's 06:05 and UR8GL is the first one i have heard on 20mts BPSK
called him but it would seem F5SAJ is a better signal than me
ahhaa hold the phone he is now coming back to me...first one today UR8GL Victor in Ukraine

well that got busy it was like some one turned on a switch
after some twiddling around we worked Victor
then UA9TK Alex in Orsk
US5EEA Vladimir
RA9WTK in Belebei
RN3GB Wadim in Moscow
UT4UQ Alex in Ukraine (30mts)
YO3DCC Nelu in Bucharest Romania (30mts)
US0QV Vlad in western Russia somewhere (he faded out on me on 17mts)
UA3QY Yuri in Voronezh Russia (17mts)

The above were worked using PSK31 and psk125
we then went back to 20mts using SSB
and worked YO9APK Marcel in Ploisti Romania
OM3ED Ed in Bratislava
RA6LUU Alexi in Russia who got bounced about a bit by some Slovenian station calling CQ Contest
Did a bit more tuning around and came across Dan JA7AKH in Yurihonjo-City Japan
He was a colossal signal here peaking 9+20db
got into him over the pile up which made me smile and had a short chat with him

right that's radio for today i am happy with my couple of contacts
it's now 08:40 ZZZZZZZzzzzz time

Urrrrrgggg it's Monday the 9th it's 07:18

It was gone 6pm before i saw my bed

Still got a fair bit done with my website and now then flaked out i have decided to change my hours today Georgie is due to take her foundation exam next month and now is the time to start drilling the information into her so it is not forgotten.

The machines in the shack have stayed on and not crashed although i am still having connection issues with the wifi so it looks like the router has to be moved to line of sight with the dongles in the shack

I have added my country count for 2009 so you can keep up with my progress

right time to join the rest of the country on the roads that's the only thing about this job the two rush hour periods come 5pm i will be chewing on the steering wheel.

 

It Snowing again Tuesday the 10th it's 05:24

The Snow is coming down again but it is that heavy wet stuff i checked the beam as i came in and gave the guy wires a shake to dislodge any gathering snow and came in to finish off a rather nice lasagne that Dawn made for tea even the cats were sat waiting for what i could not finish (they made do with there whiskers).

Too tired to go down to the shack this morning so i am gonna go to bed and plug my earphones in and watch underworld rise of the lycans doubt i will get to see past the first 10mins before i end up looking at the back of my eyelids.

Oooo yeah Leeds Beat Milwall 2-0 last night were just outside the playoffs now so at least we have something to bark about now

 

Well it is Wednesday Morning the 11th Feb it's 06:05
Went out and did a bit of work this morning then came home
Very Icy on the roads
heard on the Local radio station that the police had
calls to over 40 accidents around the Leeds and Wakefield area
between 4am and 6am
all due to the roads being covered with Ice
Anyway my Journeys were uneventful
And so into the shack i came
the band was just about opening when i switched on
I started with PSK31 and worked Pini 4z5ru in Tel-Aviv Isreal
There was also a 4z8 station calling but could not get him to see me
so i gave up on him then i sat calling a station in Guam KH2JU
But the world and his dog were also calling him and he seemed
to be working the Japanese more than Europe
I saw a Special event station from LITHUANIA LY1000CV and worked him
I moved onto RTTY and worked ES4IN Kalle in Estonia
Also JA8XIW Ken in Muroran City Japan
Did a bit more listening on PSK and worked OM5MZ Boby in Nesvady Slovak Rep
The went for a bit of voice and heard Dan JA7AKH he was calling cq so
Just had to make a comment about his +20db signal again
had a quick chat with him about the way the band was opening
and then moved on up a bit and worked BD1NNI Xing Yan Ning who Lives
In Beijing China.
Last in the Log was Jordi EA3ATM in Barcelona
he was a great Signal +30 +40db and that was into the back of the Beam
And that was me for the radio
Now it is time for me to give the back of my eye lids a good looking at
it may take 6 or 7 hours
ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz
 

Wow already at Thursday morning the 12th Feb 06:35

Must Remember to ring my sister it is her Birthday today
Well I am sat staring at the Screen using BPSK and it is full of eastern Europe
Only worked one station so far and that is YT2FA Zarko in Serbia
That was a nice one YI1RAZ in Bagdad Iraq bit qsb but averaging 5 by 5
he has a bit of a pile up
Can Hear the JA's comming through a bit but still
weak dont think i can wait for them much longer

Gonna give it another 10 mins then a further inspection of my eye lids
is required

one of the shack computers keeps over heating so i have found a temporary cure till i get a new one

ZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Well it's friday again
Oooerr Friday the 13th
Well nothing unlucky to report so far

Still got the snow hanging around here
Switched the radio on and worked 6M0MM Woo in South Korea
and right after him i finally got Danny KH2JU in Guam Island OC-026
others in the log are
RA2FIQ Andrey in Kalingrad
UA9CKQ Gennady in western Russia
IZ5EKX Moreno in Italy
RA3VGS Sergey Russia
UA3QJJ Victor Russia
well that will do for now i think

time for bed

ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Ha Haaar
Sat 14th Feb 08:15

Love and peace to all
Well were on 17mts SSB were SX2CM in THESSALONIKI Greece
They are running some special event call
managed to work them after a lot of calling
So now looking what else is about
Nice chat with Dave 9H5DH in Malta a great signal
even with out him pointing his beam at me when he did +10 20db
(nice to work you dave if you read this)
others worked on 17mts are
JR1TLD Edy in Oume City Tokyo Japan
went on 20mts and called CQ and worked the following
UA9MAX oleg in Omsk
RW4HBD Vlad in Suvorova RUSSIA
SQ9MMEE Andy in Poland
UA0UR Valery in Sovetskaya
JA3MZB Mic in Osaka City Japan
UX5VL Slav in Ukrain
IT9ZHS Roberto in Palermo Sicily Island
RA3GAS Alex in Russia
OE5VWM Wolf in Enns Austria
RA3ZAN Alex in Gubkin Russia
VK4MJ Michael In Kallangur Queensland Australia +10db at 1 point
OE5HDN Henry at his holiday home in Austria
F5VLT David in Montseret France (He had audio Problems but resolved them)
I1CIB Carrodo in Italy
IK5IVV Graziano in Lucca Italy
And Finaly OE4SWA Stefan in Austria
time now is 10:52 and again it is time for an Eye lid examination
this may take a few hours
All in all i have enjoyed my mornings radio 1 new DXCC for 2009 worked and that was VK4MJ
 

Sunday 15th Feb 13:39

I got up late last night and did not start work till 21:00 which ment that i did not get home till late morning checked my emails and went in the shack to make sure all is ok.

which it is not one of the computers is playing up and i cannot run one of the camera's

Anyway i turned the radio up and moved just down from were i had left it yesterday and recognised a voice that i knew it was John HS0ZIQ but he was in south Spain signing EA7/M0JAF

So just ended up chatting with him for ½ an hour or so but as I am tired I had to cut him short I have known John for a few years now and it's always a pleasure to hear him although i have still not worked him with his HS0 yet

Still he tells me that he has the A3S up and all we need is the right conditions and all should be well

So there we have it not much radio today (just too tired to concentrate)

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzz

Monday 16Th Feb
Well I dozed off last night and woke up at 5am
Skipped out of bed showered and off to work
Got in at 1pm had some lunch and down to the shack
Full of trepidation on working K5D
Found them and what a great signal they was
59+20 and working North America Only
Then they went qrt as they had to move some
of there equipment !!!!
Anyway i was not sitting about hoping for there return
I had a tune about and found and worked
CN2XW Russell in Morocco
5X4X Peter in Arua Uganda
and lastly JY4NE Ali in Jordan
Heard TN5SN in Congo but was just not strong enough to
have a qso with
WX3B James in USA

Tuesday 17th Feb
My day off work today

Well radio today is a mixed bag
K5D is still strong but working numbers
He spent the best part of 1 hour on the 2's
so by the time he gets to 7 the band will have closed
Hunting round on 20mts i have worked so far
EA5AGI Angel in Spain
CT1CBC Jose in portugal
EA5GPC Kico in Benidorm Spain
9H9PYSM Joseph In Malta (SE station i think Looking at the callsign)
4Z4OQ Ziv in Isreal
V31TB Rick in Belize
K5UO Mike in Texas USA
FM5AA Rick Martinique
back listening to K5D and he is on the 6's
He is weak but will wait for the 7's and try
great he gets to the 7's and then goes qrt for a while
bloody fustratiing this
he spent 11 mins on number 7's and is now qrt
you could be bloody 5+40 with him if he decided
to tune on the frequency you was on
this listening 200-215 crap is bollox
what hope does the ham with a single vfo have
non thats what
There needs to be a better system in place for calling these
rare places.

I know its easy to say "well why dont you go there and do a better job"

Well i dont have the answers and I guess the problems will always be there but it just gets so bloody fustrating at times knowing there is some idiot sat there calling out of sequence to the others

WEDNESDAY 18th FEB
Not to much to report here
Bands dont seem to healthy here for any DX
lots of strong Russian Stations with the odd
weak RA0 comming in
of note was working Rick VQ9RD in Chagos Isl Iota AF-006
it was hard work due to strong russians calling him
but managed to get him even though his signal 8 to 9
got him on 2 bands now 17 and 20mts
others worked are
UV5QA Alex in Ukrain
EM50KFF a special event station in Ukrain
and there is a OH5ZZ who is around +40db
what a massive signal when i called him and he turned his beam to
me he was +60db even hitting 5-7 on the patch lead

I have spent most of the morning trying out the new log book
by simon brown to compliment Ham Radio Deluxe
Takes some getting used too but i quite like it
right it is 8am time for some kip

24th Feb 2009
Its been a few days since my last blog
At last i got into the log for K5D
3 times it would seem
twice on 17mts and once on 20mts
So the 3rd most wanted dxcc in europe
the 6th most wanted in the world

I wont bother doing an update on what i have worked
as i am running an online log book which updates to the
server as soon as i hit the enter key

I took down the doublet yesterday and replaced it with a
home made Van Gordon G5RV

The doublet worked very well on 30mts but was down on
performance on 40 and 80mts
still looking to try an get K5D on 40 & 80
but i am not holding my breath.
Just sat here listening to VK7ZE Laurie in Tasmania
managed to get into his log
first time i have worked Tasmania