Another month and another new logbook - they don’t seem to last as long as they used to or perhaps it’s the FT8 effect.
I should have read my own notes last month, as I heard a bit of African DX I needed. In my rush to get a call in I fumbled a bit. I got the guy first call, then I checked my station. I had just called with about 8 Watts! This had broken through the pile up and left me dumfounded and with a new one in the log.
I usually run FT8 at about 100W using the amplifier to do the work rather than let the K3 run at its' full power, but it does help to turn the amp’ on first!
Since using FT8 and FT4, I have managed to increase my all-time DXCC score, and I'm now getting close to the magic 300!
At the time of writing, I just added three more, KH0 The Mariana Isl’s, A52 Bhutan, and 3G0 Easter Island. All were on my ATNO list of 'I never thought I’d work these'.
In the last few days of the month, the sun got a bit agitated with some big flares causing the flux to vary wildly as did the A and K indexes. This caused some apparent blackouts, but in spite of this, one evening I worked ZL4 on South Island closely followed by VK3 and VK2. No one else seemed to be working anyone else, strange conditions.
Then...
The disputer threw its last wobbly blue screen, so a newish replacement was obtained. The transfer of files, programs and logbooks was a nightmare. However, I am up and running now in less than 2 minutes boot time rather than over 10 on the old machine. Unfortunately, I made some mistakes loading the files so although it works, I didn't transfer all of the log properly. Another job for May!
That’s enough for this month, now let’s see what May can bring.
Good DXing,
Chris G4ZCS
Note:
My huge thanks to Chris for producing his monthly updates and sending them over to me, when he must be feeling pretty rough most of the time. Chris has been a great contributor and servant to the club for many years, and it's much appreciated. If anyone else feels that they could drop me a small article that other club members might find interesting, then please do so. Don't bother formatting it - just send me the text and any photos - I'll do the rest.
Berni M0XYF, Webmaster.
