You never know

Once a Ham always a Ham.  So I am working the night shift so I log onto a Radio in the Netherlands and was nosing around on 20 meters.  I decided to pull up some info on the QRZ page and then record this fellow in Australia using a radio in Europe  then post it to YouTube and then email it to him.   How cool is that!  






John emailed me back....

Hi Ron,

Thanks for the YouTube clip - it's very interesting and I agree, it's an amazing time to be alive. 

Conditions today were outstanding on 20m and I was kept busy for over an hour. I then went up to 17m and 15m, which were also firing well into the early evening here. I hate working the wall of noise which goes with pile ups, but every now and again I do it to keep my nerve! Actually, you captured a rare moment - 99% of my operating is QRP CW - I'm hardly ever on SSB. I'd forgotten how much fun it can be if the band is wide open.  Today I was working with 60W and a portable vertical wire, supported by a fishing pole. It's amazing how far you can throw a signal with a hunk of wire. 

Thanks again Ron and I hope that one day I can meet you on air to say hello in person. 

Hope your night shift went well. 

73 from Hobart,

John

VK7JB

A little 10

Fired up the old FT101 yesterday and worked a couple of  CW contacts on 10 meters.  QRZ listed propagation as "fair" but I was hearing lots so I heated up the tubes.   My 14AVQ usually loads with a 2.5 / 1 VSWR around 28.00 MHz but on Friday it was closer to 3.5 / 1.  The antenna still loaded OK so I wasn't overly concerned.     The reason for the change in VSWR was probably the fact the the lower 3-4 feet of the antenna is socked in with wet snow!!!!!


Station log ...

ZL2AIM QSO

ZL on 20m ..... oh yeah!

Working mods this week so getting prepped meant a l;ate night so I was looking forward to some time on 20 meters.    I was hopking for a VK but settled for a ZL after working a few Russian stations.  

1

2014-03-17

05:18

ZL2AIM

20m

14.053

CW

RF72vw

New Zealand

Ian Keith MacQuillan

Thanks for listening to a tough copy Ian ...really appreciate the QSO. Its been 35 years since I st

2

2014-03-17

04:55

UA8WAA

20m

14.056

CW

LO84bt

Asiatic Russia

Alexander Ivanov

Strong signal

3

2014-03-17

04:27

RA9MP

20m

14.041

CW

MO64qq

Asiatic Russia

Yuri Anatolievitch Yashin

tnx Yuri

4

2014-03-17

04:13

UA3KW

20m

14.027

CW

KO91nr

Russia

Vladimir A. Kovalev

5

10 Meter Morning

-27C outside this morn ,  a good day  to fire up the FT101.    Worked towards Europe on 10 Meters all CW.

1

2014-03-03

15:15

E79D

10m

28.046

CW

JN93dt

Bosnia and Herzegovi

DALIBOR STANIC

2

2014-03-03

15:10

UT5MD

10m

28.033

CW

JJ00aa

Ukraine

VLADIMIR FEDORENKO

TNX QSO Vlad

3

2014-03-03

15:03

RZ3FW

10m

28.054

CW

KO95cr

Russia

Serge G. Yanovsky

TNX QSO , lost you in QSB Yan.

4

2014-03-03

14:50

SM5COP

10m

28.054

CW

JO89mg

Sweden

RUNE WANDE

Thanks QSO Rune

5

2014-03-03

14:30

UA3KW

10m

28.036

CW

KO91nr

Russia

Vladimir A. Kovalev

6

2014-03-03

13:57

DJ6OI

10m

28.069

CW

JO41tp

Germany

Thomas Steinmann

7

2014-03-03

13:50

UR5EKI

10m

28.052

CW

KN78wm

Ukraine

Mikhail V. Sachko

8

2014-03-03

13:35

RA3D

10m

28.029

CW

KO95ft

Russia

Oleg A. Zhabin

Some time on HF

Set aside a few hours to work 10 meters around sunset the other night ....

1

2014-02-25

23:55

FG5FR

10m

28.039

CW

FK96ef

France

C. FRANTZ SELBONNE

2

2014-02-25

23:42

CE6GRA

10m

28.032

CW

JJ00aa

Chile

Winfried Graf

Great CW contact , very solid. Thanks for the QSO Win.

3

2014-02-25

23:28

CO6HLP

10m

28.477

SSB

FL02aj

Cuba

Hector Luis Perez Rodriguez

4

2014-02-25

23:11

W7AYN

10m

28.053

CW

DM43bi

United States

ROBERT H GATES

5

2014-02-25

22:59

PY2SBY

10m

28.537

SSB

GG66rk

Brazil

Elvis Guimaraes

6

2014-02-25

22:53

ZZ8ØSP

10m

28.542

SSB

JJ00aa

Brazil

LABRE Liga de Amadores Brasileiros de Rádio Emissão

7

2014-02-25

22:42

CO6LC

10m

28.461

SSB

FL02aj

Cuba

Orelvis Cuba