6m Sporadic E opening

6m seem to be getting in good shape lately. After an interesting TEP early winter season, spring has started showing signs of nice activity on 50 Mhz.

Yesterday, a sudden Sporadic E occured, that gave us the chance to make a few
QSOs in the "neighbourhood".

Below is a couple of projections of my 16 QSOs made yesterday evening on 6m, to give you a glimpse of the type of Sporadic E we witnessed:



 

Best DX worked was F2DX at the southwestern part of France.

SV5DKL atop 1800 DXCC Challenge mark

After my previous post regarding my DXCC Challenge progress, back in November 2013, I was sure that the ascending rate would deteriorate substantially.

I was right!

It wasn't until today, after 166 days, that a QSO with S9TF on 12m SSB was confirmed in LotW, to take me on the 1800 DXCC Challenge mark.

It is obvious, that if no DXpeditions upload their logs to LotW, filling missing bandslots becomes a pain in the neck. What proves that, is my worked DXCC challenge number, which currently resides on number 2331, for my SV5DKL callsign, according to my Logger32 respective report. Also, the fact that I haven't sent any direct QSL requests in a long time ...

So, here is my current DXCC Challenge standings in LotW, for my SV5DKL, as of 17.April.2014:

 

, and the respective ranking for my SV1DKL callsign, as of 17.April.2014:

 

 

I will not set an intermediate pit-stop ... next target set will be the vague 2000 mark !!

 

73

Stathis, SV5DKL





B-45 High Altitude Balloon is alive !!

 

B-45 High Altitude Balloon is currently flying at almost 9km height, across Dodecanese islands.

Tracking team had lost its signs, since it travelled from the west coasts of France to near Madeira and back into the Mediterranean.

Today morning, I got its telemetry, as my setup was ready and the balloon's flight prediction was right towards Rhodes island.

The tracking team, as well as the balloon owner/experimenter himself are very pleased and happy, and by the telemetry data I've uploaded to the respective tracker:

http://spacenear.us/tracker/

 

,they believe it could break the flight record of HAB B11/12. We are close to 115 hours of flight by now, and we will need another 3 days of active tracking of B-45, in order to break that record.

 

Below, is a screenshot of the current B-45 reception, as presented in http://spacenear.us/tracker/:

 

 

and here is a screenshot of my DL-FlDigi screen decoding B-45's transmitted telemetry on 434.500 USB in Contestia 8/250 mode:

 

 

I will keep feeding up the system with B-45's telemetry data as long as possible, and I hope there will be more tracking receivers to chase its flight route until its end of life.

 







3rd GTC CW Cup preliminary results on-air !!

 

 

Today, I have uploaded all in-time submitted logs of the 3rd GTC CW Cup in public, as well as the preliminary score rankings, before the QSO cross-checking, at Greek Telegraphy Club's official web site here.

While on Cat. B' (SOAB/QRP), it is pretty clear that SV1KU/QRP will be the trophy winner, on Cat. A' (SOAB) a real drama is going to take place !!

At the top 3 places of the preliminary ranking, SV1JGX, SV1ME & SV1/SV2FWV are very close, as they have accomplished similar results. The battle will be judged upon the number of QSOs that will be confirmed and those derive from the QSO cross-checking, as the rules of the GTC CW Cup clearly state.

It is going to be a time of patience for those 3, who are all very good friends of mine, until the final results will arise, clearing everything out. Still, the trophy winner of Cat. A' is going to be only one and he will be lucky enough to receive the beautiful and BIG cup that GTC is going to award him with.

While we are working on the organization of the 4th GTC CW Cup, I leave you browsing through the preliminary results and the public logs of the participants, waiting for any comments or notes from you, to this e-mail address: 

sv5dkl@rho.forthnet.gr

73

Stathis, SV5DKL

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

G.T.C. #028

GTC CW Cup Contest Manager

ZD7VC St. Helena - Another new one on 6m

I know that most of you had already worked ZD7 on 6m, but until yesterday evening that was a new one for me, too.

Bruce, ZD7VC from St. Helena island (AF-022) was spotted by numerous southern european stations on the DX-cluster at 50.183 SSB, so I thought I'd give it a try.

And, there he was !! A huge 5/7 signal with clear, punchy audio was heard in my headphones. I worked him first call, after turning the beam to his direction and loading up the amp, and after our QSO, I stayed QRV on his frequency to check what stations he kept on working. He, indeed, worked a lot of SVs, as well as 9As and S5s. During my time monitoring his QSOs, his signal peaked up to a real 5/9 to the s-meter of my FT-2K.



That was just incredible and propagation favored particularly the eastern mediterranean countries. Lucky me !!

Bruce gave me nr. 94 DXCC worked on 6m and the target set is to reach 100 DXCCs on 6m until the end of coming June, which I think would be somewhat easy to achieve.
 

J42T - CQ WPX SSB 2014

Last preparations are under way at Leo, SV2DCD's QTH for our participation in 2014's CQ WPX SSB Contest, in M/2 category, under the callsign of Northern Greece Contest Team, J42T.

 

A fine group of SSB contesters will be gathered from all over Greece to join J42T in this effort, which is dedicated to our good fellow Panos, SY2ALT, who became a SK very early.

 

I was very excited to receive Leo's invitation for this effort on the first days of December 2013, and with no further hesitation, I made all necessary arrangements and pinpointed my calendar !!

 

Leo has a very well appointed amateur radio installation, which aids significantly to the success of J42T effort and to a great score. Check his blog for more Info:

 

http://sv2dcd.blogspot.com

 

Also, an interesting feature will commence at J42T during the contest, that is LIVE video & audio directly from the transceivers, will be available for viewing.

You will be able to see and hear us operating, by clicking here:

 

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/j42t-1

 

Further detailed info on J42T and the team formation for CQ WPX SSB 2014 may be found here:

 

http://www.j42t.net/

 



All of the team members hope for the best, and of course we will have lots of fun and spend time with each other to strengthen our relationships.

 

If you hear us during the CQ WPX SSB 2014 contest, give us a call. We'll need it.

 

73

Stathis, SV5DKL

VP8NO new one on 6m

6m may, indeed, be the "Magic" band !!

Yesterday, it was one of those "magic" afternoons on 6m and I made it into Mike, VP8NO's log on 50.130 at 15:41z in SSB, exchanging 5/5 reports both ways.

 

I monitored Mike for quite a while and he worked a lot of SV Stations. Later, I received a phone call by my good friend Lampros, SV1LK in Athens, who congratulated for my new one and told me that during his QSO with VP8NO, Mike mentioned that propagation was so precise, that it was like you had a wire connecting GREECE with the Falklands !!

 

Mike is also using LotW, so this new one will be confirmed easily, too !!

 

VP8 has been my 92nd DXCC worked on 6m, a few more to go ...



USA-CA County Award with E-QSL only confirmations earned and arrived

Endless hours on the radios, tons of QRM and QRN down the ear tunnel, so hard for my part of the world to achieve it, yet the CQ USA-CA County Award Nr. 3638 has been awarded and arrived yesterday in the mailbox !!

The remark "All E-QSL" at the endorsement sector of the award says it all. We are in for good into a new era of operating our radio stations. Networking and globalization have zeroed distances between people far apart, everything is easier and faster, as they want to make our way of living. No more waiting time, no more paperwork going back and forth ... electronic means of various aspects are here to service us. Use them at your advantage ... Total application time, approval, payment, shipment and arrival of my USA-CA award was a mere 2 weeks !!

Back to the USA-CA award ... IT IS ENORMOUS in size ... didn`t think it would be larger than a A3 or B3 page ... yet it measures 35,5 x 44 cm !!! It doesn`t fit in my awards` wall ...

It is not printed on paper, it more like a papyrus of some kind, coloring is superb and overall decoration is amazing, topped by the flags of each of the 50 U.S., surrounding the main theme.

Ted, K1BV has done an amazing job with this award has made it very easy to apply for and complete, through eQSL.cc

Here is a HQ photo of the award itself:

Use eQSL.cc and see for yourself whether you are liable to apply for it, too !!

73 and enjoy DX

Stathis, SV5DKL

Confirming new ones ... the fast way

I am moving towards completing my 10B DXCC (160m-6m), as 6m is my last band left, so every new one there gives me unprecedented joy, especially when the correspondent confirms through ARRL`s LotW.

For the time being, I am landed on 90 worked DXCC on 6m, with the last new ones worked last week being CE2AWW, ZD8D, 5V7DX, 9J2T & ZP5SNA.

All have already been confirmed through LotW:

Showing DXCC Award data for
SV5DKL - DODECANESE

	Call sign	Worked	Date/Time	Band	Mode	Freq	QSL		DXCC
Details	SV5DKL	CE2AWW	2014-03-09 22:50:04	6M	CW	50.102070	CHILE		Mixed; CW; 6M; Challenge
Details	SV5DKL	CE2AWW	2014-03-09 22:03:20	6M	CW	50.102060	CHILE		6M; Challenge

Showing DXCC Award data for
SV5DKL - DODECANESE

	Call sign	Worked	Date/Time	Band	Mode	Freq	QSL		DXCC
Details	SV5DKL	5V7DX	2014-03-09 21:53:22	6M	CW	50.098530	TOGO		6M; Challenge

Showing DXCC Award data for
SV5DKL - DODECANESE

	Call sign	Worked	Date/Time	Band	Mode	Freq	QSL		DXCC
Details	SV5DKL	ZP5SNA	2014-03-08 20:55:59	6M	CW	50.105650	PARAGUAY		6M; Challenge

Showing DXCC Award data for
SV5DKL - DODECANESE

	Call sign	Worked	Date/Time	Band	Mode	Freq	QSL		DXCC
Details	SV5DKL	ZD8D	2014-03-05 21:26:59	6M	CW	50.113070

Showing DXCC Award data for
SV5DKL - DODECANESE

	Call sign	Worked	Date/Time	Band	Mode	Freq	QSL	DXCC
Details	SV5DKL	9J2T	2014-03-03 17:53:36	6M	SSB	50.120130
Details	SV5DKL	9J2T	2014-03-03 16:56:33	6M	CW	50.103120

For the last two, they still haven`t uploaded their part of the log, but judging from previous QSOs LotW confirmations, it won`t take much longer. 

Looks like this coming summer I will finish off with 6m as well, if propagation will be that good.

Thuringen Diplom & Trophy Nr. 067 entitled

A fine trophy by Thuringen district of DARC has been applied for and granted by Uwe, DL5AOJ, solely through DARC's DCL system.

Below are the diplom and a sample of the Trophy, which is personalised and will be at most in 4 week's time in my hands:

 



Every Thuringen-Trophy is UNIQUE as the stones come from Thuringen mountains. It is about 19cm. high, is made of clay cast and is framed with a color metal plate with the Trophy number and owner's details.

See if you can apply for Thuringen Trophy and/or Diplom here:

http://www.darc.de/distrikte/x/diplome/thueringen-diplom/

DIG CEPT Diplom awarded

I wanted to apply for this specific award for years, since I first started showing interest for Diplom Interessen Gruppe awards and trophies, but it somehow lost my attention.

Being integrated into DARC`s DCL diplom system, it was easy to apply and be awarded this nice DIG CEPT Nr. 386 diplom.

Here it is:

Many thanks to Alfons, DJ8VC for all his invaluable help, throughout all of my award/trophy applications made via DCL.

6m season begins in SV5 !!

 

We clearly verified all signs of previous days, as well as last week`s VHF and up propagation forecast.

6m band opened up today for the first serious Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP) opening of the season.

ZS6WN was the first station to get audible in our area and was very easy to work. 559 both ways with no QSB/QRN.

Afterwards, ZS6BTE was heard, as well as another ZS station calling a S57.

So, 6m season seems to start on time here on SV5 land.

We`ll be looking for any occasional openings and will try to complete the 6m DXCC this summer, too.

73

Stathis, SV5DKL