CqRadio

News #13 - 30.10.2008

We closed the log with more than 95.000 QSOs (that’s our first merger of all logs except the VK9DWX/mm qsos during the voyage). A great adventure full of unforgettable moments and sweet memories lays behind us. We enjoyed a beautiful time of ham radio operation and are very happy of being able to serve so many hams around the world with a new one or at least with new and additional bandpoints for the DXCC.

We enjoyed nice and trusty fellowship within our team. Our two rookies Josh, W4WJF, and Rhy, ZS6DXB turned out to be a real surprise for us: They not only slipped into the team very easily but they also shouldered the operating burden in amazingly good performance, they became a valuable support for the DXpedition. [Read more]

Will (link) VP6DX Ducie Island DXpedition 2008 [183,686] Qs remain standing as a record?

VK9DWX Willis Island DXpedition 2008 continues pumping radio frequency (RF) into the ionosphere going into CQWW DX weekend. One sunspot (link) may stand between them and breaking VP6DX's record count. Will Helios cooperate?

Currently, VK9DWX (link) daily Qs trend downward however this might be an effect of weekday ham radio activity instead of propagation? However staggering weekend numbers are possible, given the major DX contest of the year, will fire up high frequency (HF) activity.

Propagation will tell the story.

Chase DX.

I heard VK9DWX Willis Island 2008 (link) last night on 20m CW at 14.023 listening up 3 kilohertz. Better than normal propagation numbers helped my listening situation. But, when the dits hit the dahs, my signal comes down to antenna.

Their signal punched through and I configured the FT100 for split operation. Then I called VK9DWX in a 2 KHz wide pile-up. The competition was fierce. You could sense each operators determination to log Willis Island. Twenty meters definitely is the North American band of choice according to the statistics (link).

Disappointment only drives motivation. And I'm building out KA3DRR along the lines of a DXpedition model. The process takes time and in between is a whole lot of patience.

73 from the shackadelic.

Solar flux indice (SFI) hits 72. SFI is not triple digits but a seventies number is the best seen in sometime. A-index falls from double digits near minor storm into single digits (A=5) quiet condition. K-index trending downwards as well settling at (K=1) at this moment. A- and K-index suggest overall quiet however calculated conditions on low bands (160M-30M) predicts excellent. High bands (20M-10M) predicts poor according to the feed at the bottom of my page.

According the latest VK9DWX news feed (link)--

• The team is reaping the benefits of improved space weather conditions as their overall log surged above the 40K mark.
• Josh, W4WJF [United States] rookie DXpedition operator is departing Willis Island.
• Rhy, ZS6DXB [South Africa] rookie DXpedition operator is soon to arrive.
• Extreme weather conditions pummel the island but the intrepid crew of operators continue pumping their signal into the ionosphere.

I'm looking forward to deploying my wire antenna after work on Friday and log VK9DWX Willis Island DXpedition on at least two bands. That's my personal ham radio challenge this weekend.

Chase DX.