Future purchase - remote sw

New Toy

Its been a couple of decades since I purchased a HF Radio ...let the games begin!

Unexpected QSO

I don't use the 2m rig in the car much but its always on and am listening.  On Saturday driving to Owen Sound I heard a fellow come on the OSR repeater with a UK call sign.  Had a real nice QSO whilst following a Snow Plow from Chastworth to Owen Sound.  

You never know

Once a Ham always a Ham.  So I am working the night shift so I log onto a Radio in the Netherlands and was nosing around on 20 meters.  I decided to pull up some info on the QRZ page and then record this fellow in Australia using a radio in Europe  then post it to YouTube and then email it to him.   How cool is that!  






John emailed me back....

Hi Ron,

Thanks for the YouTube clip - it's very interesting and I agree, it's an amazing time to be alive. 

Conditions today were outstanding on 20m and I was kept busy for over an hour. I then went up to 17m and 15m, which were also firing well into the early evening here. I hate working the wall of noise which goes with pile ups, but every now and again I do it to keep my nerve! Actually, you captured a rare moment - 99% of my operating is QRP CW - I'm hardly ever on SSB. I'd forgotten how much fun it can be if the band is wide open.  Today I was working with 60W and a portable vertical wire, supported by a fishing pole. It's amazing how far you can throw a signal with a hunk of wire. 

Thanks again Ron and I hope that one day I can meet you on air to say hello in person. 

Hope your night shift went well. 

73 from Hobart,

John

VK7JB

A little 10

Fired up the old FT101 yesterday and worked a couple of  CW contacts on 10 meters.  QRZ listed propagation as "fair" but I was hearing lots so I heated up the tubes.   My 14AVQ usually loads with a 2.5 / 1 VSWR around 28.00 MHz but on Friday it was closer to 3.5 / 1.  The antenna still loaded OK so I wasn't overly concerned.     The reason for the change in VSWR was probably the fact the the lower 3-4 feet of the antenna is socked in with wet snow!!!!!


Station log ...

ZL2AIM QSO

ZL on 20m ..... oh yeah!

Working mods this week so getting prepped meant a l;ate night so I was looking forward to some time on 20 meters.    I was hopking for a VK but settled for a ZL after working a few Russian stations.  

1

2014-03-17

05:18

ZL2AIM

20m

14.053

CW

RF72vw

New Zealand

Ian Keith MacQuillan

Thanks for listening to a tough copy Ian ...really appreciate the QSO. Its been 35 years since I st

2

2014-03-17

04:55

UA8WAA

20m

14.056

CW

LO84bt

Asiatic Russia

Alexander Ivanov

Strong signal

3

2014-03-17

04:27

RA9MP

20m

14.041

CW

MO64qq

Asiatic Russia

Yuri Anatolievitch Yashin

tnx Yuri

4

2014-03-17

04:13

UA3KW

20m

14.027

CW

KO91nr

Russia

Vladimir A. Kovalev

5