22nd October 2006
Hyperlinks in reports below are to Real Audio files... you can download the latest version of Real Audio Player for free at www.real.com ... more clips to add later
All contacts are on CW unless otherwise stated.
Quick Update
Another busy month so far...
27th September
1623 to 1707 IK2MMB -26/-26dB on JT65c... we were both running at reduced power
40W.
3rd October
1827 to 1833 PA0BAT RO/O and -23/-15dB on JT65c... Gerard was only running 15W
to the feed of his 3m dish.
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4th October
1952 to 2000 PA0BAT O/RO and -16/-17dB on JT65c.
2123 2129 IK2MMB -15/-16dB on JT65c.
5th October
1800 to 1832 Test with DD7PC NIL/-25dB on JT65c... Marco has 1 x 48 el yagi and
50W.
1852 to 1858 SM5LE RO/O and -15/-14dB on JT65c... Sven's path to the Moon was
blocked by wet trees during our QSO.
1910 to 1954 Test with UA3MBJ NIL/-24dB on JT65c... Nik has 1 x 39 el yagi and
20W with 16m feedline.
1959 SM6CKU 569/569, 2015 G4RGK O/RO, 2054 OZ6OL 569/569 and 2121
LA2Z 559/539 for Initial CW#
233... 4.2m dish and 300W.
6th October
1829 SM5LE 559/549.
2104 to 2112 G4RGK RO/O and -13/-10dB on JT65c.
2154 to 2202 OH3MCK RO/O and -15/-17dB on JT65c.
2326 ES5PC 569/579 and 2338 RW1AW 589/579 and 57/57 on SSB... Alex has a new
TH327 PA which produces 1650W, and approx 1300W at the feed.
| RW1AW's 8m dish in the Moonlight on 6th October | and his new TH327 PA for 23cm... serious QRO! | ||
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7th October
1858 VK3UM 569/569, 1907 LA8AV 569/579, ES6RQ 569/579 and ZS6AXT 569/589.
2018 to 2024 ES5PC R-09/O -05dB best on JT65c.
2033 to 2121 Test with UA3MBJ NIL/-22dB best on JT65c... Nik made his first 23cm
EME QSO with 1 x 39 el and 20W earlier with OE9ERC.
2121 to 2131 IK2MMB -15/-07dB on JT65c.
2145 to 2150 GW3XYW RO/O and -10/-06dB on JT65c.
2202 LA9NEA 569/569, 2209 G3LTF 579/579, SP6JLW 569/569 and 2332 ON7UN 559/559.
8th October
0557 to 0604 VE7BBG O/RO and -10/-6dB on JT65c... Cor has a 3.3m dish and 120W.
I called CQ until 2.5deg before my Moonset hoping to pick up a QSO from someone in the Eu SHF Tropo Contest... unfortunately, everyone was too busy with the contest.
1833 to 1841 SM5LE O/RO on JT65c... Svens signal
was -17dB with the Moon at only 7 deg, only just clearing my local obstructions.
1851 to 1932 Test with UA3MBJ NIL/-22 best on JT65c.
1942 IW2FZR 569/579.
1953 JA6AHB O/RO and -10/-7 on JT65c.
10th October
2056 to 2117 DL7YC O/RO and -16/-16dB on JT65c.
2032 LA2Z 569/559.
2142 to 2154 ES5PC RO/O and -10/-6dB on JT65c.
14th & 15th October - ARRL EME Contest, 1st
leg
Conditions seemed very good, but like G3LTF and others have reported on Moon
Net - my echoes seemed weak at times yet reports from other stations seemed
OK... strange.
There was plenty of CW activity, but JT activity was very low and difficult to find. Like previous years there were one or two illusive stations... maybe they will re appear and stay around for longer next time, to give the rest of us a chance.
I was active for about 20 hours over the weekend, this left little time for sleep, and I found myself falling asleep at times in front of the rig... contesting can be very tiring, especially for us older guys!
My activity was predominantly on CW, but I did make a few QSO's on JT65c.
Finding and decoding weak JT transmissions lasting 50 seconds by tuning up and down over 50KHz is nearly impossible and is VERY time consuming. To find them unassisted requires new techniques... I've tried a 28MHz Softrock direct conversion RX and Winrad, but its still not easy to see the weak ones.
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Snapshot of Winrad screen during
the contest
You can easily see many CW traces in the lower 40KHz, and a single JT65
trace higher up the band |
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Calling CQ using JT65c was relatively
unproductive... I did work K5GW that way, but he was a massive signal -5dB and I
had already worked him on CW.
I will give it a try again next time, especially near Moonrise and Moonset.
As usual, the ARRL EME contest brought out some
new activity, and I managed to catch a couple of new CW initials increasing my
standings to:
235 x CW/SSB and 11 x JT65, Total = 246 (No double counting... if I work a
station on JT and later work him on CW, it only counts once as an Initial)
Contest score so far - 64 x 34 on CW unassisted.
I will be QRV for the second leg, hoping to find a few more QSO's...
Many thanks to everyone who I QSO'd so far.
Good luck to all, and have fun!
