Category: DX

Dx related posts

No comments

ALL NINE AZORES ISLANDS, CU1 – CU9, ACTIVATED AT ONCE!

  By ,

 

Are You Ready to Fly to Azores for Free by Making Nine QSOs with CU stations?

Those of you willing to spend 24 hours or less on the radio are eligible to participate in an Azores lottery for two all-paid packages to the beautiful Azores Islands in the Atlantic, completely free of charge.

The project is organized by the Azores-Finland Friendship Consortium in partnership with the Amateur Radio Associations of the Azores Islands and supported by the Azores Promotion Agency (ATA) and Azorean Airlines (SATA). Just look at <www.visitazores.com> and make up your mind. Not many people know that the Azores consist of nine populated islands, stretching over a distance of 602 km (305mi) from East to West, next to USA and Europe. And it is not widely known that the Azores have their own airline (SATA) flying to each island, in addition to many destinations in Europe and North America. Each island has its own characteristics and its own blend and alone qualifies for your visit there. While these islands count for a single DXCC entity, they offer three (3) IOTA groupings.

With this unique AZORES 9 ISLANDS HUNT, an invited international group of amateur radio operators together with resident Azores amateurs will be activating the nine islands, offering an opportunity to the world to contact these islands all at once over one weekend.

Activity Weekend

Saturday, September 29, 1200 UTC to September 30, 1200 UTC (24 hours). These stations will be active starting Friday, September 28 as soon as they become operational.

Frequency Windows

CW:  7000-7015, 18080-18090 and 14050-14065 kHz

SSB:  7175-7195, 18120-18135 and 14250-14275 kHz

Nine Islands and their Stations

Santa Maria, CU1ARM;  San Miguel, CU2ARA; Terceira, CU3URA;  Graciosa, CU4ARG; Sao Jorge, CU5AM; Pico, CU6GRP;  Faial, CU7CRA; Flores, CU8ARF; Corvo, CU9AC.

Operators and Island Hosts

Sergio, CU1AAD; Jose, CU2CE; Francisco, CU2DX; Guilherme, CU2IF; Domingois, CU3CS; Guilherme, CU4AB; Jose, CU5AM; Jorge, CU6AB; Manuel, CU7CA; Claudio, CU8AAE; Joao, CU9AC; Franz, DJ9ZB; Richard, DF9TF; Nigel, G3TXF; Michael, G7VJR; Diane, K2DO; Rich, KE3Q; Mike, KI1U; Marius, LB3HC; George, N2GA; Martti, OH2BH; Juha, OH8NC; Ghis, ON5NT; Carine, ON7LX; Claude, ON7TK; Alex, OZ7AM; Kenneth, OZ1IKY; Yuri, VE3DZ and  Ed, VE3FWA.

Two Hunt Awards

Those making a QSO with at least 5 different islands will have a corresponding number of tickets placed into a lottery for a free trip to the Azores (e.g. if you have QSOs with 7 islands, you will get 7 lottery tickets). Additionally, the first 25 operators making QSOs with all 9 islands will be eligible for a second lottery. The free trips are from the closest airport served by SATA; including flight, accommodation and transfers..

During or immediately after the weekend, the logs will be posted on Club Log to display your band/mode slots. The lottery will be drawn on October 15, 2012.

QSL Cards

All QSOs will be confirmed through the bureau network with special full-color cards.  Direct QSL requests via Jose Melo, CU2CE.

No comments

The bandpass filters for Azores Island Hunt arrived

  By ,

The bandpass filters for the Azores island hunt arrived today. The filters are of W3NQN design. Team Norway are going to have two stations on air at the same time from the same location in the Azores, so these filters will be crucialwe think. I will try to do some S21 measurements with my vector network analyzer on them to verify 1) Filter characteristic, 2) Stop band attenuation, 3) Return loss

No comments

G4WPW microphone connector database

  By , ,

image

G4WPW has made a nice database covering microphone adapters for most amateur transceivers. This is a good tool for contesters and DX-ers adapting microphones and headsets for their new radios. You can check out his webpage here http://homepage.ntlworld.com/rg4wpw/date.html

No comments

Antenna isolation calculator for colocated contest / DXpedition antennas

  By , , ,

 image

I have made some quick isolation calculations (dB) for the scenario of two rigs with 100W output power collocated using two dipoles mounted some meters apart on the same support but with separate feedlines.

A Preliminary conclusion is that a BPF + notch is likely necessary for interference free operation. With good filters and notch, the second harmonic will be at a  7uV level and the hash will be at a S1 level on the antenna connector of RIGB which is equivalent to a moderately strong signal on 20m with low noise.  Without filters, the second harmonic will be S9+50dB. The phase noise "hash" will likely be at S3. This will likely be a significant problem.

Download the calculator here: isolation_calculator_nine_islands. The calculator is posted under a Free Beer license. You owe me a beer if you use it! Please give feedback and peer review the calculations.

No comments

WPX SSB meeting @ 65 degrees north – OH8X – Radio Arcala

  By , ,

Before LA7JO, LB3HC, CU2CE and CU2DX was working the WPX SSB 2012 contest from OH8X, we had  some very good time discussing conditions, radio contesting and amateur radio with the Arcala team and with our new friends from the Azores. On the below image from the left: Juha OH8NC, Marius LB3HC, Martti OH2BH, Jose CU2CE, Veijo OH6KN, Stig LA7JO and Francisco CU2DX.

DSC_5437_cpd_w800_lb3hc_v2

This was a very nice meeting at the Arcala Xtreme Station @ 65 degrees northern latitude. The Arcala team has an approach to amateur radio that is both social, technical, and serious. This time in nice weather with spring temperatures around the corner and snow melting. Check in later. More pictures and video from Arcala will be posted. And also check 3830 for contest results!

No comments

NOAA solar wind prediction tool

  By ,

NOAA has a nice tool that can be of utility for radio amateur operators that are interested in how the geomagnetic field will be affected and how strongly it will be affected. It is now possible to see when there is a high likelihood that the K and AP indexes will rise.

image

By processing the data from the STEREO satellites that are positioned “behind” and to “the side” of the sun, it is possible to plot the solar winds that are emitted from the sun.
You can check it out here: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/wsa-enlil/cme-based/
The sun and the earth as well as the two STEREO satellites are seen from above in the circular images above. The green spot is the earth. The yellow spot is the sun. The grayish spot is the stereo satellite that sees the emissions from the sun before any active areas has rotated towards the earth. The red spot is the stereo satellite that sees the emissions from sun after any active area has rotated thru the earth direction.

The fan shaped images to in the center of the image above is the sun and earth seen “from the side”. It is possible to check if the emissions from the sun will propagate above, below or towards the earth. The AZ images on the left alone are not enough, because a particle emission may have the direction of the earth in zimuth (seen from the sun) but may have too high an elevation or too low an elevation to hit the earth.

No comments

Good HF condx. A lot of DX worked lately.

  By



The conditions lately have been very good on 20, 17, 15 and 12 meters. I have worked a lot of new stations on the HF bands above 40 lately. Finally the nice sound of a wide open high band that I remember from last time the SSN stayed above 100 is here again.

The SSN peaked above 100 between 12. and 13. April. The SFI also peaked around 14.-16. April. The K-index also stayed low and the auroral activity has been modest. Perfect settings for working DX!

Antenna: broadband vertical with computer controlled tuner. Large groundplane.
Rig: Yaesu FT-1000MP MKV
Power: 200W