Of late I have been focusing a bit on working Europe on the WARC bands to close the gap on Worked All Europe first class award (WAE I). I have also boosted the numbers slightly on 40m. JT65 has made it possible to work pretty reliably into EU most days and evenings on 30 or 17. While experimenting with WSJT-X 1.1 this weekend, I finally saw Cliff VK2CCJ working KH6OO on JT9 in the 12m band. We eventually connected with this exciting new mode.
Showing posts with label WARC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WARC. Show all posts
Monday, September 23, 2013
Saturday, November 13, 2010
The Fall Guy Discovers 12 Meters
This being fall, we Interior Alaskans find a chill in the air, leaves long gone from the trees, and a few inches of snow on the ground. October and November bring the fall CQWW and ARRL Sweepstakes contests wafting through the air with a tiny hint of better propagation, and the combination is potent. Adrenaline starts to pump most weekends.
This is a slow weekend, contest-wise. I got up early and knocked off a few OK and OM stations in their DX contest using a rough path over the pole on 20 meters. I called CQ high in the band and had a lot of fun working QRP station N7LWF, who blew me a way with 1.5 watts thanks to grayline enhancement as the sun rose here. When the European nighttime fell and signals faded, I tuned around after a hearty breakfast and found some DX activity (including the YJ0HA Vanuatu DXpedition) on 15 meters.
Except for a lot of past CW action on 30 meters, I'm a relative newcomer to the WARC bands, so I decided to move on up to 12m to see what the propagation may be like. The station is limited on 17 and 12, because I have to use a tuner with the C3 tri-banders to punch out a signal. Just before lunch, I dropped a CQ, and pretty soon I had a decent pileup. Ten has been largely dead from KL for a long time, so this was downright exciting. I seemed to work stations in regular increments of distance; i.e., W6/W7, Texas, and Florida, all at the same time with nothing in between. Allen N5XZ/KL5DX came on frequency from his Texas QTH and convinced me to try 10m CW. It was tough going, but the path was there enough to complete the exchange. Afterward, I went back to 12m and tried SSB for a bit more fun. Let me say that I'm impressed. Another band has life in it when the usual haunts fail to get the heart pumping.
Except for a lot of past CW action on 30 meters, I'm a relative newcomer to the WARC bands, so I decided to move on up to 12m to see what the propagation may be like. The station is limited on 17 and 12, because I have to use a tuner with the C3 tri-banders to punch out a signal. Just before lunch, I dropped a CQ, and pretty soon I had a decent pileup. Ten has been largely dead from KL for a long time, so this was downright exciting. I seemed to work stations in regular increments of distance; i.e., W6/W7, Texas, and Florida, all at the same time with nothing in between. Allen N5XZ/KL5DX came on frequency from his Texas QTH and convinced me to try 10m CW. It was tough going, but the path was there enough to complete the exchange. Afterward, I went back to 12m and tried SSB for a bit more fun. Let me say that I'm impressed. Another band has life in it when the usual haunts fail to get the heart pumping.
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