My Turn in the Hole

Well, my turn in the black hole of propagation.  I heard K7FX work HL5FUA on 3796 this morning at 1105Z.  However, I called Choi many times and he simply could not hear me. 😒  This doesn't happen often often with a kw and 3 element phased array!

Some good news from Barry, W9UCW.  He is now married again after the loss of his wonderful wife Joyce.  His new bride Linda is also a ham, W5TRV.  Congratulations to both of them.  Now, we just need him to put some SWR grease on his antennas and get back on the air.

I am (still) in the process of rebuilding my operating console after a complete tear down and cleaning.  I am maybe 85% finished.  I am able to operate the new (for me) Anan 100D and the ALS-1306 amp with all antennas again. The Icom 756 P3 is also operational.  I still need to untangle all of the complicated wiring for the old Angelia board, outboard 50 watt amp and the many sma relays required to make it work. The 3 Drake l-4B amps are still not connected. I also need to rebuild my ground bus for all of the equipment.

73 for now, Jay, HP3AK 

Barry, W9UCW, Rare Texas DX

 A rare sighting of TX DX -- I talked briefly with Barry on 3.796 yesterday.  He is doing well but very busy still.  When you are old like us it is more difficult to get your day started before sunrise.

I hope that Barry, and the rest of the crew will be more regular on 75m in the mornings.  I talked briefly with Taka, JQ2SIX this morning at 1053Z.  Not strong but signals were 47 both ways. 

73 from Panama.  HP3AK

Different every Day

 75m DX is different every day.  The path to VK / ZL has been getting better lately.  Stu, ZL2XC was 5x9 this morning. ZL2OK was 10/9 on September 5.

We were joined by Barry, W9UCW yesterday.  He managed to workd JH4CES who is on 3796 almost every morning.  I could not copy Taki well enough to work him.  We also contacted VK6IR and VK3IO who were both S7 in Panama.

I retuned my 3 delta loops recently.  No change in operation, just lower SWR and lower return power from the 90 degree hybrid. My repair of the Ameritron ALS-1306 is holding up even though there is a small imbalance between the two amplifier boards.

73 for now, Jay, HP3AK

Bla, bla, bla, bla

75m stinks in Panama at the morning gray line.  The JA path has been very weak to completely missing for 2-3 weeks or longer.  The VK/ZL path is only a little better. 

I was on 3796 this am and KK6ZM was carrying on and on.  I moved Dave, ZL2OK up to 3799 and had a brief conversation.  He was S8 (crashes to S9) but 90% readable from the vertical at his home station.  Another ZL called and I worked him, but it was a big struggle through the noise. 

My Ameritron 1306 solid state amp has a blown final FET, so I am using one of my 60 year old Drake L-4B amps and putting out about 750 watts pep. (That's a full 1/2 S-unit below 1,500 watts you know!) *Original Eimac 3-500Z tubes are still good!

The L-4B will put out a little more power, but I only have 50 watts of drive from my SDR / Hardrock 50 combination. In other equipment news, I found water and flash-over burning inside of the fiberglass insulators in the linear loaded elements on my 2 element 40m beam.  Those have been replaced and the antenna is back to performing great.  I had a failure of a 24vdc coil on a mil surplus coaxial relay between the hardline and separate feed lines for the SteppIR and the 40m beam.  That relay has been replaced with a 4 pole relay and Bobby, K7FX is sending me a replacement relay. -- 73 for now, Jay, HP3AK --

75m is Different Every Day

Taka, JQ2SIX was 58 today and I was 59 there at 7 minutes before my sunrise.  Yesterday at 5 minutes before sunrise he was 58 but I was only 47 and Taka was reporting one-way skip.  Europe was very loud two nights ago with 10 & 15 over 9 signals on 75m.

160m FT8 has almost no signals before sunrise here.  I saw W6UC calling CQ JA this morning, but no DX. 

40m was very good a few days ago just after my sunrise.

73 & good DX, Jay, HP3AK

Old Friends and more

This morning I caught my old friend Elvin, JA3CZY on 40m at 1120Z. He was 30 / 9 in Panama!  Elvin lost all of his antennas in super typhoon Jebi in September 2018 and just got the big, rooftop system rebuilt completely. It was great to hear him again.  I alerted Mike, W9MK and Elvin was 10 /9 in the North Land.

I checked 75m & 160m at 0500Z today.  A couple of European stations on 75m SSB and a few on 160m FT8.  I worked 10 stations on 160 and 10 on 75m FT8 before going back to bed at 0615.  I am up to 85 "countries" worked on 160m, thanks to FT8 ... since my last CW contact was in 1958.  );-())

JQ2SIX has been around S7 at my sunrise on 3796.  Weak for me ... the new "normal" I guess.  LU6FL, Coco, was loud on 3799 at 1025Z on the 2nd and the VK/ZL morning path has been fair, off & on.

73 & good DX!  Jay, HP3AK

Weak DX & "Strange Day" Longpath

A little weak DX from ZL2XC, VK3ATO, and JQ2SIX this morning.  W9UCW was in a vortex with VK / ZL coming from the southeast (longpath).  He did copy JA well.  

W6UC came on with his rebuilt Heil microphone sounding good.  W9MK was also present. (K7FX was lurking, but not heard from.)

Better conditions are "just around the corner", or so I'm told.

73, Jay, HP3AK

75m SSB & 160m FT8 Openings ... some

Well, first I am still alive and well at 79 years plus a couple of months.  Being alive seems to be the prime requirement to participate in "amateur" radio.

On March 22 at 1139Z I got a nice surprise when H44MS, Bernhard, gave me a call on 3.796.  He worked a few others after that.  I had worked him several times over the years, but the last previous contact was 4/23/2017.

I have been awake during the late evening hours the past couple of nights and have made some decent contacts. On March 27, from 0530Z until 0552Z, I worked 10 European stations on 3.799.  Several were well over S9, with the strongest at 15 / 9. Of course there were the usual 2 or 3 that were too weak to copy.

On March 28, from 0433Z until 0522Z, I worked 27 European stations on 160m FT8.  Many of them were new countries on 160m. 

75m morning DX has been poor to weak to not-even-there for the past season.  A few decent openings to JA and a few more to ZL / VK, but mostly very weak signals.

The old regular group has become the "irregulars", with W6UC, W9MK, and W9UCW showing up at times.  K7FX is usually lurking, but playing with his new computer.  JQ2SIX is still on 3.796 in the mornings and gives us a beacon from JA.

73 & be safe and well.  Jay, HP3AK

Monday - 18 November 2019

Sunrise surprise!  Kazu, JA4HCG was still coming in 58 at 25 minutes after sunrise.  He gave me a 59 which was even more surprising so late in my day.  The guys that were here working the CQ WW SSB contest reported some late 75m DX three weeks ago...so you never know!

I could still hear Kazu talking 45 minutes after sunrise.  Strange is normal on 75m.  de HP3AK, 73

Tuesday 12 Nov 2019

You snooze, you loose!  75 m is still poor and noisy part of the time.  However, this morning and a couple of mornings the past week it has been relatively quiet and open to VK & JA.  I worked Peter, VK6APZ before his sunset today 57-58, and Kazu, JA4HCG at sunrise yesterday.  I was 37 with Kazu at 2 min. before my sunrise and 59 three min. later!

Some DX Activity

Sunday, 10-20-19 --
Well, some DX recently. VK9NC (Norfolk Is.) on 3799 this morning and VK9NE yesterday on 40 and a couple of days ago on 75m.  Rare TX station, W9UCW was heard on 75m this am.
On 10-7 worked ZK3A (Tokelau Is.) on 75 ssb. 10-4 worked ZK3A on 160m FT8 (still the joyless mode).
So beginning to get a little activity and interest....stay tuned.

He's baaack ...almost!

Sunday, July 7, 2019
Well, Barry, W9UCW is back on 3796 ... sometimes.  He has been around mostly on the days when there is no DX.  Wait ... that's most days!  We can depend on Bobby, K7FX to show up and Phil, W6UC has been on the band more lately.

Now if we could just get some DX interested.  ZL1ICU has been heard on 3796 calling CQ DX, but he is very weak and he apparently receives the same.  Some of our old JA friends show up from time to time, and a few VK / ZL regulars, but generally it is quiet in the Pacific in the mornings. There has also been some activity by the LU stations on 3799, but not strong here.

I do not generally get on the band in the evenings for 3 good reasons:  

1.  I am usually headed off to bed by an hour after my sunset  
2.  I don't want to have to compete with the long-winded and persistent big guns on the East Coast
3.  Most of the Europeans are working in groups and usually have several stations that are too weak to hear through the QRN --- just too difficult

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.  I'll see you on 3796 if you have "leather eardrums" and unlimited patience.

73, HP3AK "Real DX"