SX90IARU - 90 Years of IARU jubilee - Awards

Radio Amateur Association of Greece (RAAG) took part in the WW celebrations for the 90 years of IARU's existence, airing the special callsign SX90IARU (DXCC=Greece , not SV9 - Crete !!).

I helped in the 40m CW, 20m CW and 12m CW bandmodes making about 2000 QSOs from December 1st, 2015 until December 31st, 2015.

Apart from operating SX90IARU, I also worked other ops operating it in other bandmodes, so I was able to apply for all award classes. Here is the outcome:

 

ARI DX International Contest 2015 Award

Came 41st among 303 participants in SOCWLP category and received a beautiful PDF award:

 

Merry Xmas !!

2015 Russian DX Contest awards in the mailbox

RDXC 2015 was a nice and fruitful, out-of-home participation for me. Mixing business with pleasure, I managed to respond to the kind invitation of my friend Sotiris, SV1BDO/3, to operate from his well-appointed station in Aigion, Peloponese, under his special call SX3B.

Running SB on 2 different bands was supported by RDXC rules and we took full advantage of it, enjoying 10 and 40 meters.

While on 40m our Antenna was a quarter-wave vertical with elevated radials, on 10m Sotiris had constructed a YU7EF design 5 element monobander which proved to be a real killer.

The outcome was even better ... 1st place WW on 10m and 5th place WW on 40m ... WOW !!

Here are the relevant paper awards received:

LY25LY - Lithuanian Independence Day

Another nice special event was activated by the Lithuanian Amateur Radio Society (LRMD), celebrating the Lithuanian Independence Day, during the first fortnight of March 2015.

Detailed info on this special event can be found here: https://www.qrz.com/db/LY25LY

With three QSOs with special station LY25LY in different bands / modes would grant me a nice gift from LRMD, which was received a few weeks ago:

which is the sign of independence of Lithuania. It is embodied on a metal clasp lapel pin and already decorates my lapel pins hat !!

Keep on moving ... !!!

We keep on moving ...

October 20th update:

Here are the rest two of the series:

 

IARU 90 Years Jubilee Awards

SRR is celebrating for the 90-year jubilee of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) and gives out this nice colored award:

Also, IARU celebrates its birthday with a similar award, nice as well:

 

2015 RSGB IOTA Contest Award

Achieved 1st place WW in SOABLP(A)/12Hrs category in this year's RSGB IOTA Contest, although propagation was not at its best, nor had I much time to devote to the event.

 

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 !!

2nd Balkan HF Contest Plaque

That was the fastest completion of log collecting, log checking, final scores announcing, awards & trophies prepared & mailed contest procedure I have EVER experienced !!

Congratulations to the Organizing Committee of the 2nd Balkan HF Contest and the people supporting it.

See you all in the 3rd Balkan HF Contest next year !!

 

2014 ARRL DX Contest Certificate

These guys always send out the paper awards just on time ... how is this possible?

 

K1N is QRT ... Game Over !!

One of the most significant DXpeditions of our days has gone QRT on 15th Feb. 2015 at 1130z.

K1N activated from Navassa Island, world's No.1 most wanted DXCC entity (that is, until recently!), has succeeded, to my humble opinion, in reaching the initial target set.

Over 138k QSOs made, with 35702 unique and happy radio operators in the log!

They worked stations from 187 different DXCC entities!

An ATNO for many, including myself!

From my part of the world, it was a pain in the neck trying to break the pileups. Especially when I had to battle with EU & NA walls at the same time. Bare in mind that Rhodes is at the southeasternmost point of EU, we are closer to Asia than any other EU station.

K1N signals were particularly strong here on 15, 20, 30 and 40 meters, with some high outbursts on 12 and 80 meters on specific days, as per propagation factors.

Managed to get them 8 times, on 5 bands and 3 modes, more than enough for me!

Navassa is unlikely to get activated again for at least another 10-12 years, as the K1N Team have announced, so it was a big pleasure working them this time.

Congratulations to everybody involved in this DXpedition, it led to a success !!

K1N Navassa Isl. ... Ready ... Set ... Go !!!

Everything is ready here for the K1N Navassa Island DXpedition starting in a few hours, by the KP1-5 Project DXPedition team.

It will be an ATNO for me, as for many others. Pileups are expected to be huge and constant. DX Battle on the roll ...

Upgraded my Inverted-L counterpoise system with the aid of a aluminum plate, where all my 58 radials connect solidly, have greased radial plate contacts and used an aluminum flat bar to connect all this to my antenna coupler.

The antenna coupler has been upgraded, in order to be able to handle double the power on the low bands (160 & 80).

K6TU supported with propagation predictions for Navassa, ranging from a very basic station setup up to the experienced DXer level setup.

Here is mine (Tribander & wires selection):

 May the Force be with us ...

73 de

Stathis, SV5DKL

20 years in Amateur Radio (1994-2014)

If you read this, then we most possibly share in common one of the best hobbies in this world ... Amateur Radio.



It was 20th October 1994 when I was first licensed as SV1DKL in Athens, Greece. Since then, I have lived great thrills through avocation with our great hobby, involving joy, anxiety, cooperation, tireness, education, adrenaline flowing, friendship ... and so many more.

I even travelled to places, normally I wouldn't visit; made close friends around the globe, met with many of them.

On 20th October 2014 I marked my 20 years in Amateur Radio. That was a good time to check some of my favourite statistics, concerning QSOs i have personally made (not from contest stations, special event stations, etc.).

From the table below, it is clear that 20m has been my favourite band, leaving 15m and 10m behind at 2nd and 3rd place, respectively, with marginal difference between the two:

Note that Non-HF QSOs comprise of 6m and up QSOs.

And from the next table, referring to QSOs per mode, I would swear beforehand that CW would win by far ... SURPRISEEE !!! SSB overlapped CW by more than 2K QSOs !!!



20 years equals 7300 days ... let's see how many of those I have been active for ...

 

 

Well, 1998 has obviously been my most fruitful and productive year, followed closely by 2012, 2013 & 2011, while 2005 was my least active year (worked a lot during 2003-2005, had just moved to Rhodes and did not have a decent shack or aerials ...).

 

It is funny, if we take a look at the graph of my activity days and the graph of sunspots numbers during solar cycles 23 & 24:

 

... quite similar, huh ???

I am curious to check this again against the next 2 decades ...

 

Anyway,

as years go by, I am enjoying Amateur Radio more and more.

And as technology advances rapidly in Telecommunications, we get the chance to be among the first ones to assess new hardware, new software, new theories, new materials, new modes, etc.

 

We are lucky to be Amateur Radio operators.

 

73 de

SV5DKL

(est. 1994)

 

 

I am into RTTY, too, sometimes ...

Whilst I prefer working mostly SSB/CW, RTTY can be quite fan occasionally ...

 

500 German DOKs in the box! DLD-500 Diploma awarded through DARC's DCL!

I've been trying for quite some time now to reach the 500 confirmed DOKs level in DARC's DCL system.

I've mentioned about DCL a lot in the past, due to its ease of use and flexibility in applying for various awards.

A couple of days ago, I finally reached 524 confirmed DOKs on 15m and 506 confirmed DOKs on 20m, in DCL, so decided to apply for the 15m DLD award endorsement.

Being in contact with Eddy, DM5JBN (DLD award manager), in the past weeks, made it even easier to go through the process.

The DLD-500 award endorsement comes with a fine lapel badge, which I will receive shortly with the paper diploma. For the time being, here is the digital form of my DLD-500:

 

Next DLD target is far away ... the DLD-1000 level is not easy to reach, but it's worth trying. And it comes with an extra fine lapel badge, plus it allow one to apply for the DLD trophy, too (and that is one astonishing trophy !!)

12th IARU High Speed Telegraphy World Championship / 9-13 September 2015 / Ohrid, F.Y.R.O.M. - Bulletin Nr. 1

IARU High Speed Telegraphy World Championship, the 12th in series, will be held in Ohrid, F.Y.R.O.M., between 9-13 September 2015.

The 1st official bulletin was received today from my good friend, Oliver Tabakovski, Z32TO, a very active HST enthusiast and organizer.

You shall read the bulletin in .doc format by clicking here.

A dedicated web site (www.hst2015.org) will be online after 1st of coming February, for more detailed information on the venue.

A Letter of Intent must be returned to the organizers (RSM), not later than 1st of April 2015.

In this bulletin there are price tables, according to the needs and likings of participants. What I have to notice, is that the prices still remain high, considering the overall costs involved, including traveling. For instance, a participant in a double room, shall pay 250 EUR (if paid beforehand) for the competition and accommodation, plus about the same amount for traveling, because some participants will have to travel via 2 means of transport to get to Skopje. From there, possibly RSM will have another solution for getting to Ohrid. 

We will have to wait for the 2nd Official Bulletin to see further into these (and other, mostly technical) details.

700 Jahre Stadt Eckernförde award - FREE through DARC`s DCL System

Browsing through DARC`s DCL system today, I noticed a new award in the list. That was 700 Jahre Stadt Eckernförde award, that is 700 years of the city of Eckernförde in DOK M01 in Germany.

Rules were simple (see also http://www.darc.de/uploads/media/Diplom-Ausschreibung_01.pdf), and there were 3 different classes awarded. 

Checking my points against the rules, DCL showed I could apply online for the top class (Klasse 1.) for this award. What is more, the PDF version of the award is free (there is a paid for paper version available, if you wish!) and the whole procedure (check points, apply in specific class, approval, printout of the award) was completed in less than 30 minutes (including e-mail message concerning application approval from the award manager) !!

So, here is a nice and relatively easy award to obtain, with just a few clicks in DARC`s DCL:

 

WAG 2014 Final Results published

Just received today a notification from Worked All Germany contest manager Chris, DL8MBS, that the final results of WAG 2014 Contest, including photos, contest audio extracts and breakdowns, have been published.

Results can be found here. If you participated, you may even download your certificate in .pdf format from here. Check mine below:

And WAG 2014 stories and other interesting facts on WAG contest will be found here.

I am now looking towards WAG 2015, to work some more rare DOKs for my DLD award hunting.

73 es HNY!

Stathis, SV5DKL