DSW (Diplom-Sammler Waterkant) Knotboard Nr. 450 arrived ...

A large and very beautiful knotboard by DSW (Diplom-Sammler Waterkant) has been received today, after achieving the related requirements back in August 2015.

Many thanks to Ingrid, DL4BO and Walter, DL1LBS for their valuable help and guidance.

DSW has several other beautiful trophies, each with its own distinctive requirements. Surely worth taking a look at their Web site:

DSW

CQ WW 160m SSB 2015 Award arrived ...

This arrived last week in the mailbox.

6th WW & 6th in EU is not that bad for a Inverted-L on a block of apartments in a city lot area with just about 100 watts, don't you think?

 

2015 CQ WPX SSB Awards ...

Shortly right after publishing the official results of CQ WPX SSB 2015, these two were downloaded from cqwpx.com automated certificate system:

 

5th Greek Telegraphy Club (GTC) CW Cup

Dates, rules and details of the 5th CW Cup of the Greek Telegraphy Club (G.T.C.) are published (Link).

The 5th GTC CW Cup will be held during the first weekend of October (3-4 October 2015), starting at 1200z on Saturday and ending at 1159z on Sunday.

Year after year, the GTC CW Cup has gained much popularity, attracting many CW fans worldwide and giving the chance to work as many GTC members as possible, counting towards GTC awards, soon to be established.

Those who will try to run the 5th GTC CW Cup seriously, let me remind them that there are 2 beautiful trophies to be presented to the top scoring participant of each category (Cat. A: SOAB and Cat. B: SOAB/QRP).

Hint: Try to work the club station of Greek Telegraphy Club, SZ1SV and its aliases, as many times in as many bands as possible.

If you may want to participate in the 5th GTC CW Cup as a GTC member, new member applications will be accepted until 30 September 2015, in order to complete member number assignment.

Remember to submit your log in time, even if you make just a QSO!

We are looking forward to working you during the 5th GTC CW Cup in 3 and 4 October 2015.

73/55 de Stathis, SV5DKL

E.C.M. - G.T.C.

G.T.C. #028

G.T.C. CW Cup Contest Manager

CQ WW SSB 2013 Award - Country Record or World Record ?? Will you decide, pse ??

Yesterday, I received the following contest award from CQ magazine, for my participation in 2013's CQ WW DX SSB Contest in SOAB(A)/HP category:

You obviously noticed the "New World Record" remark at the bottom part, didn't you ??!!?? Although, I came 15th in EU, no ?? HUH ???

Well, I got suspicious and checked the automated electronic award creation from cqww.com and this is what I got:

Apparently, that was a funny error (let's call it "bug") by the printer of CQ Magazine. Checking against the records at cqww.com, indeed, I find myself to have set a new country record for Dodecanese in SOAB(A)/HP.

It's settled now ... I hope !!

YP0Y Awards

Obtained these two lately ...
easily and via online log search at the following URL:

http://www.yo5kai.ro/index.php/YP0Y

 

Postman made my day

Our postman today left a large envelope into our mailbox, that was meant to make my day!

ARRL awarded all those that participated in their Centennial Challenge award, without even having to apply for it.

Here is the content of today's received envelope:

 

SV5DKL DXCC Challenge score surpasses 2000 mark

Back in April 2014, in this post, when I had reached 1800 points in my DXCC Challenge score for my SV5DKL callsign, with LotW confirmations only, I had set the next target to be the 2000 mark.

Well, it took me just over a year, but yesterday I made it over the 2000 points, thanks to the E30FB log, which was uploaded to LotW and gave me 5 new band points.

Below is my current DXCC Challenge standing (I remind you, with LotW confirmations only), on May 1st, 2015:

As LotW has attracted more and more operators, confirmations are coming in fast. Traditional paper QSLing, of course, will never die, but speed and simplicity of LotW is far beyond comparison for all those award hunters out there.

My sole request to LotW officials would be to incorporate more awards, like WAZ, IOTA, etc. since this would make LotW the must-have tool of every DXer worldwide.

As far as my DXCC and DXCC Challenge totals are concerned, according to my logbook program statistics, including paper QSL confirmations, as of May 1st, 2015, these are as follows:

DXCC entities worked/confirmed: 319 / 314
DXCC Challenge points worked / confirmed: 2431 / 2045

No targets will be set from now on regarding DXCC Challenge program. Every new confirmation will be welcome !!

73/55 de

Stathis, SV5DKL

YU90HST - 3rd Balkan High Speed Telegraphy Championship

SRS, Amateur Radio Union of Serbia are organizing the 3rd Balkan High Speed Telegraphy (HST) Championship, which will be held between 15-17 May 2015 in the beautiful mid-sized town of Svilajnac in central Serbia, just 100 km south-west of Belgrade.

HST disciplines for this competition will be RufZ, MR and TX only.

Further information and full details on the venue may be found by clicking the official logo below:



Alongside the 3rd Balkan HST Championship, will be held also the Serbian HST Championship 2015 in all 4 disciplines (RufZ, MR, TX, RX) and in all categories (A-I), from which the Serbian National Team, to participate in the World IARU HST Championship to be held in Ochrid later on this year, will be defined.

 

73 de

Stathis, SV5DKL

SV5DKL-R Echolink node 657316 QRX .. SV5DKL-L Echolink node 657314 QRV !!

SV5DKL-R is my personal Echolink node with unique number identifier 657316. It is operated 100% by me, from my premises and I will assume all responsibility for its operation and performance.
It has been the most reliable and operable Echolink node in Dodecanese since its first day of operation, as it was linked to local R6B repeater of Rhodes, and provided trouble-free communication to its users.

Today, I was asked from the Administrative Council of the Radio Amateur Union of Dodecanese to change the callsign used for my Echolink node and to use their callsign, instead, under the allegation that "THE FREQUENCY BELONGS TO THE UNION" ... !!!
Furthermore, I was told that if I wouldn't comply with this, I'd better remove my Echolink node from R6B ... and that was a request.

So ...

I've decided to put SV5DKL-R on hold for the time being, while at the same time I implemented a new Echolink node SV5DKL-L with unique number identifier 657314, which operates in simplex frequency of 2m VHF band at 145.225.
The new node is already operable, tested and ready to host a QSO as well as a Conference. Of course, SV5DKL-L's coverage will be greatly reduced in comparison with SV5DKL-R, maybe up to a radius of 8-10 kilometers around my QTH, at most, but still I will be happy to see radio amateurs using it.

Given the chance, I want to inform everyone that I am no longer a member of the Radio Amateur Union of Dodecanese, after my written statement of deletion from RAUD's member register, which I mailed them on March 26, 2015.

Ending this post, I would like to apologize to all those that used to communicate via SV5DKL-R all these years, for this end of operation, but I find what I was asked to do, at least, outrageous and by no means can I agree to such philosophies and tactics.

73

Stathis, SV5DKL

 

120 years of Radio Russian special activity

Celebrating 120 years of Radio, SRR engaged a very interesting activity to commemorate the presentation of a device made by Russian physicist and  electrical engineer, Alexander Popov, on 7th May 1895, with which one could receive signals from a Hertz spark vibrator. The presentation took place at a meeting of the Russian Physical and Chemical Society in St. Petersburg, and, by this experiment the possibility to transmit messages over a distance without wires was shown.

Detailed info regarding this activity may be found here:

http://radio120.hamlog.ru/   &   http://www.qrz.com/db/R2015R

Several awards and a beautiful plaque are available for all stations that will get in contact with as many special activation stations as possible. Below are my 3 respective awards and I am already waiting for the plaque to arrive !!

SX150ITU Award - Celebrating 150 years of International Telecommunications Union

As with almost all National Amateur Radio Societies, R.A.A.G. activates the Special event Station SX150ITU, to celebrate 150 years anniversary of the International Telecommunications Union.

Activation will take place from 1st. to 30th April 2015. Detailed Info about the event may be found under the respective registration at QRZ.com:

 

http://www.qrz.com/db/SX150ITU

Several members of RAAG, including myself, are activating the Special call around the clock, throughout the HF bands in all major modes.

A commemorative award is available in three (3) different classes (Gold, Silver & Bronze) to stations that will make at least three (3) 2-way contacts on different bands, regardless of the mode of operation.

I already got mine ;-)   >>>

Try it for yourself, too !!