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Last QSO in the Online Log: Friday, Mar
10 2006, 19:48 UTC (17,322 QSOs) |
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YJ0ADX
Diary-
by DL3DXX, translated by DF3CB |
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Friday,
Mar 10, 2006 |
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Hi everyone, YJ0ADX is QRT. Conditions dropped
during the last days. Now we pack all gear and go back home. Thanks for
calling us and see you back home. |
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73 from Uwe, DL9NDS for the YJ0ADX team
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| 1-Band
QSOs: |
5090 |
| 2-Band
QSOs: |
1692 |
| 3-Band
QSOs: |
839 |
| 4-Band
QSOs: |
513 |
| 5-Band
QSOs: |
248 |
| 6-Band
QSOs: |
91 |
| 7-Band
QSOs: |
36 |
| 8-Band
QSOs: |
15 |
| 9-Band
QSOs: |
4 |
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Wednesday,
Mar 8, 2006 |
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Good morning from Vanuatu, it's Wednesday,
March 8. Since two days the high bands are open towards the US. |
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After one week we could work again East
Coast stations on 160 last night. The first station we heard was K1GUN whom
I called. After that I called CQ on famous frequency 1823.5 and varied split
up and down. Conditions on 160 went up and down and the band closed completely
after 13:00 UTC. No luck between 14:00 and 14:30 trying to reach the US
West Coast. However the band opened better into Europe than in the past
days. |
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There were reports about QRM on 1823.5.
I called on 1824.5 but I think noone found me there. After going back to
23.5 stations called me again. Choosing the right TX frequency is a matter
of luck. Here in the Pacific the band is totally empty except for a few
fishing net beacons. |
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Most stations on 160 from Europe were from
OH and SM. Signals from Russia and Ukraine are significantly louder, but
I think the Scandinavian stations are hearing better. We have had a calm
night with low tropical QRM. However I have heard several stations who's
calls I couldn't completely identify. |
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I am not quite happy about the readability
of the US stations that are heavily distorted by tropical QRN in the first
part of the night. I see no way to improve this. This experience is similiar
to operations from other Pacific islands like P29, 3D2 and T20. Special
receiving antennas don't help much and there is no room for Beverage antennas. |
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DL5LYM operated on 80 and 40m. Tom thinks
both bands were in a pretty good state. But he complains about the discipline
of the calling stations. It seems especially weaker stations are continously
calling without any plan and don't come back when we call them. I have had
a problem with a rather loud UR station on 160 disturbing running QSOs and
not responding to me calling him. We run consequent "split hopping",
park the callers without RX on one frequency for a while and meanwhile give
other callers a better chance. Listening is more important than calling
to get a QSO. But send your call at least three times on 160 and 80 at bad
conditions/readability so that we are able to copy callsigns under tropical
QRM. |
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The crew is fine and the weather is more
pleasant. It's overcast since two days. The equipment is running well without
any problems so far and we can spend more time on 160 since we have a separate
80m vertical. |
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73, Dietmar, DL3DXX
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Monday,
Mar 6, 2006 |
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Short report. It seems the high bands are
getting better each day but the low bands worse. Great pileups on 17m. We
have been listening for the US on 160 and 80 but nil. There was a short
160 opening into UA4 and UR, also LZ was heard but didn't come back. The
band closed again after short time. At sunrise we worked few JA. Maybe Europeans
were calling but conditions were too to bad copy anything. 80 was disappointing
too. |
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To be able to run 40 and 80 parallel we
need to go pretty high on 40m to get out of the way of the 80m harmonic.
Unfortunately we need to call long until someone finds us there. We solved
the problem by transmitting on 7002 and listening on 7026. Unfortunately
a radar sometines makes the band useless. Whoever still needs us for a QSO,
search for us and don't rely on the Packet spots. If were are high up in
the 40m band, the second station is most probably on 80m CW. |
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The QSO counts increase but note that we cannot operate during our daytime
because the bands are closed. Evereybody here is fine and the equipment
as well.
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Saturday,
Mar 4, 2006 |
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Another night is over. Conditions are different
every night. some nights 30 and 40 are pretty long open. Tonught both closed
very early. Instead we had a short 160m opening into Scandinavia. |
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We have built another 80m vertical
gebaut. Ron, YJ8RN, has cut a 10m long bamboo tube and we have added a fiberglass
pole onto it for a total height of 18 meters. Unfortunately there is not
much space for a ground net. At least we managed to built 2 x 20m elevated
radials. This vertical won't work as well as the Titanex V80 but now we
can work simultaneously 80 and 160 when 30 and 40 are closed. |
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Yesterday was one of the hottest days so
far -- up to 36° C -- with an extreme humidity. It very exhausting to
work outside. Nevertheless we had to take down the Spiderbeam in the heat
of the noon to cure a contact problem. The consumption of cold drinks afterwards
was enourmous. |
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We are some 10 km west of Pt. Vila near
the village of Mele. There is a small grocery store where we replenish our
stocks so that we don't need to go into the city each day. When trying to
pay with a 5000 Vatu bank note (some 45 Euro), it couldn't be changed. Besides
that drinking water is sold out and we began to boil water and to cool it
in the refridgerator. |
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Trying to get though to the East Coast on
160 between 11 and 12 UTC was in vain. Instead a few Japanes were logged.
Also 80, 40 and 30 produced only weak signals. We are not sure whether this
is because of worse conditions or because stations calling us now that are
not so well equipped. The 80m path usually ends in DL, PA, F. We try hard
to log stations further west but the conditions don't make it at the moment.
Furthest contact this morning was Fernando, EA8AK, on 80m before the band
closed. On 160m we reached SP3 and HA so there is some hope to reach Central
Europe with improved conditions. |
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Long path during our evening is hardly possible because QRN is extreme
then on the low bands but we hear very well in the mornings. We are in
good spirit but under strain because of the extreme temperatures.
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Thursday,
Mar 2, 2006 |
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It's Thursday (we believe). Everything is
running well. 80 and 30m are getting closer to the 2000 QSO landmark. We
have neglected 40m because of inter-station interference between 40 and
80 - we give 80 the preference. Apart from that we operate 30m or 20m (RTTY,
SSB, CW) with the second station. |
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We haven't found out yet the best time for
RTTY to North America. Conditions to Europe are much better and are lasting
longer. Practically no propagation into the US on 20m and higher. At daytime
all bands are dead. we observe the NCDXF beacons. On 20, 17 and 15 we only
hear the ZL and KH6 beacon. Even the JA beacon is weak. |
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160m seems to be going worse every day.
We have not heard a single station calling CQ. We call CQ and from time
to time any station comes back. No east coast signals the last two days
(nights). Only VY2ZM could be guessed and logged and only very few west
coast. The JAs seem to be hearing us not so well. Takes a while until they
realize that I give them a report. |
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The equipment is running well and the power
line noise disappeared since it is raining more frequently. Problems are
caused by tropical QRN from nearby bad weather fronts in the evenings. Building
a K9AY loop hasn't imrpoved hearing towards the US. We have no idea whether
1823.5 is clean or not, please report.
At sunrise the bands are clean and we hear everything. We (and you too)
hope that 160m improves and that we will be able to work Central Europe. |
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Monday,
Feb 27, 2006 |
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Hi everyone, a first
report from our side. It's our third night now. DL5LYM ist still working
40m while we can't hear any more signals on 30m after sunrise. |
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We had a delay due
to transport problems. DL5LYM and DL3DXX had to stay in Brisbane and to
wait for the night plane via Sydney. Therefore no activity last Friday.
DJ7EO and DL9NDS arrived on schedule and took care of the license. |
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We built the antennas all Saturday long. The Titanex
V80 is standing on a 20 x 40m lawn, the HF9 in front of our bungalow and
the Spiderbeam on the flat roof of the administration building. One of
the computers and the IC-736 were initially not working but now they magically
do.
During daytime all bands are practically dead. They
open in the late afternoon on 20m and 17m, sometimes also on 15m. 30m
and 40m open with the sunset, unfortunately mostly too late for Central
Europe. The temperatures are bearable. But we have frequent rain showers
since Sunday which limits reception on the low bands.
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The Spiderbeam on top of the administration
building |
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The hotel area is
uninhabited except for us and the hotel staff. However the available space
is limited due to the bungalows, the large swimming pool and a 5kV power
line. We are still looking for a location for the K9AY loop as well as a
second 80m vertical to be able to faster change between 80m and 160m. |
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There was no 160m
activity on Saturday and Sunday due to the CQWW 160m Phone Contest. Listening
to the band in the early morning showed a totally empty band. 30m, 40m and
also 80m work very, very well. It's easier to work Europe than USA. We began
160m activity yesterday. It was expectedly difficult to work the US but
Japan signals are rather low too. We sometimes have receiving problems due
to the sparkling 5kV power line. We discover that our TX frequency is QRMed
at times and then try to change TX frequency by a few hundred Hz. This only
helps for a while. The other problem are continuous callers... At nighttime
we could work simultaneously 160, 80, 40 and 30m but need a good strategy
because we only have two stations and four operators. We try to use the
available band propagation and to vary the best times and bands. But we
can't be everywhere at the same time. |
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Condtions on Monday morning were worse than
on the weekend but still good enough to work plenty of stations on the low
bands. We worked the first Europeans on 160m. There is a great 80m opening
between 14 - 15 UTC into UA4, UA6, UR with signals up to S9 plus. A few
UA, UR's could be logged on 160m too at this time. Signals from Central
Europe are much weaker on 80 and dominated by South European stations. We
don't believe there is a 160m opportunity for Central Europe except for
a sunrise peak. Signals on 160 are some 4 S units weaker compared to 80m.
This should be considered to calculate a possible QSO on 160. |
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At sunrise a few stations from Central Europe
could be heard for very few minutes. A few tried a "blind QSO"
but we don't accept such games. After a QSO with LY and OZ1 the run began
but none of the calling stations came back. Too bad. We will now practice
to change receiving/split frequency to see who is really hearing us. We
were always using 1823.5 (please give us a note if this QRG is not OK) and
have listened 3 down to be able to log calling JA stations. As soon as the
path to Europe openes, we will immediately QSX UP (about 1830 - 1832). Please
call us only if you can really hear us! Blind calls are useless. |
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One more note for RTTY: please use
the announced split ranges. Weaker stations should not call on the frequency
of the last QSO. |
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The HF9 in front of our bungalow |
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Saturday,
Feb 25, 2006 |
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The
team came on the air today at 1245 as YJ0ADX. |
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YJ0ADX
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