I was away until the 2nd of the month, so a slow start.
Tuesday 3rd was a “JA on 10m” kind of day! Loads worked up until around 0930UTC, when the band started to close to JA. I was struggling on a busy band, so sent QSY 080, and they were calling me before I even transmitted! Great fun!
Wednesday 4th – 10m wasn’t as lively at all, but I did manage to get 8J1RL (Japanese Antarctica Research) on 10m FT4, plus a few others.
Thursday 5th, loads of JA on 17m, plus VK6DU, but I then saw ZD9W spotted on 15m FT8 in F/H mode, so I QSY’s to see if I could hear him. Saw a few decodes, although not consistent, but the pile-up was massive, so I wasn’t sure of a contact. Then I started getting a few more decodes from him, so called, and WOW, he got me! That’s an ATNO for me, and DXCC #308 in digimodes.
Friday 6th – after a short spell on 30m, I went to 12m, and oh boy!, it was another JA kind of morning with loads logged.
On the 6th, I managed to get ZD9W on 10m FT8, and on the 8th, I got him on 12m, so very happy with that. Not only that, but also on the 6th, I found TX6D on 30m for a new slot, and on the 7th, I got them on 17m & 15m FT8. I don’t need FO-f on 20 or 12m so I am now looking for them on 10m.
As of the 9th, I have logged 7621 QSO’s this year, with 216 DXCC’s.
On the 10th, it was another “JA” morning on 10m, and later that day, it turned out to be a west coast US afternoon on 12m.with loads from WA, AZ, ID, OR and even VE6. The 11th was very similar, with loads of west coast US stations logged on 10 & 12m. Later on, I managed to get TO8FH on 12m for a new slot.
An early session in the shack on the 12th made me very happy! T2C in the log on 17m – an ATNO for me, followed by E6AM on the same band – not a new slot though. 17m also produced a load of JA stations, plus a few EU stations. Moving to 15m in the afternoon gave me TO8FH on 15m for another needed slot, and while beaming over the pole, I later got called by a VK6, plus a few G’s and west coast US stations. Propagation paths can be rather weird at times!
The 13th was the day I and two other GU’s were travelling to the RSGB Convention on the 9.30am flight to Gatwick, so I was up extra early, and managed a quick session on 30m from around 0430UTC. Wow, CA/AZ/OR and VE7 logged, along with a host of other US stations, a PY and a few EU’s up until 0515UTC, when it was time to get ready to leave.
The flight took longer than planned, so we were late getting on the road to the convention. We had planned to visit Bletchley Park on way, and that was really amazing, although we didn’t have enough time to see it all. A return trip is required next year! The Convention was great fun, and we returned home on Sunday evening.
JARTS RTTY Contest – 21 – 22 OCT Managed to find some time to play in the Japanese RTTY contest, but not until later on Saturday afternoon. STarted on 15m, as there were a few stations around, but conditions weren’t that great. I moved to 20m, which seemed better, and was working NA and also UK & EI stations, which was a bit odd. My final QSO of the day was with KH6ZM on 20m. On Sunday morning, again, 15m wasn’t great, so back to 20m for an hour. For some reason, I decided to check 10m, and ended up working a few JA stations quite easily. Moved down to 15m, and oh boy! The band was alive, and some more JA stations in the log. Conditions were very strange though, as I worked GM, GW, G and even EI on both 10 & 15m, but alongside NA as well.
I ended up with 370 Q’s for 130203 points, which was way better than I had expected with a K index of 5. 15o Q’s on 20m, 130 on 15m and 90 on 10m.
Monday 23rd started well for me, with T2C in the log on 15m FT8, followed by a few other contacts later in the day. Now up to 8500 QSO’s this year.
Well, the 30th was a bumper day for me! It started with getting YJ0TT on 10m FT8, which not only surprised me, but was also an ATNO for me. A bot later that day, I then got E51JAN on 12m FT8 for yet another ATNO, and then I finished the day off with YJ0TT on 20m. All in all, a very good day.