In my experience February is usually a quiet month. Following on from the new year rush and before the equinox propagation changes. January finished with 116 DXCCs in my log.
So, it has been a good time for rag-chewing and discussing the merits of Whippet racing! On the 7th after a net with poor conditions, Gavin picked up a WA1 call and had a story swap about the old days. When they finished, I jumped in and discovered that Rich and myself also had much in common. His station is a top of the USA range one, located on a man-made island in Eastern Florida surrounded by salt water and the island is covered with ground rods permanently below sea level. No wonder he has a good signal!
'Race to the Top'
Uploading my log to ClubLog on a regular basis, I noted that there are several other club members doing the same. One in particular, George - G4PTJ, seems to lead the pack most of the time. I have been leapfrogging with Rob M0KPD/M up to 100 DXCCs for this year. I recognised several other locals, some of whom are thought to be 'big time DXers'.
Having spent some time on the WWW, I have joined some nets. One of these gives advance notice of DX activity. Using this information, I picked up a very rare island - AS-161 off the west coast of Kerela state in India. Just a few days of activation, and hopefully the team will work from more rare ones soon. Amazingly the very next contact was with a VK9 on Norfolk Island. Just 100W on CW! Now to get the card?
Retirement
As I mentioned last month, I have been thinking of retiring my K3 for some time, well, I did it!
I now have a shiny new rig - an Icom IC-7610 - that has reminded me that I’m a real Dinosaur. Gone are all the mini-buttons with half a dozen functions each, and in, is a glossy screen with loads of menus. I’m sure that I will get to use some of the obscure functions eventually, however the improvement is dramatic and makes me wonder why I delayed the update for so long!
At the time of writing, I've had a week of fun setting up all the functions I always wanted or needed, however there remain several small niggles that are being obstinate to fix. In fact after a week of frustration not being able to get FT8 audio out of the computer and into the rig, I discovered that I am not alone. There is a bug interacting between JTDX and Windows. Apparently, it affects WSJT-X as well. If anyone else has this problem please let me know the fix.
Back to the DX chase, on the 18th I worked W1AW for the first time this year followed by a string of US stations with interesting calls. W1SE, W0W, and W0RLD. Not to be out done the Russians have R1CE and many more like it. On the 24th I managed VK9XU on Christmas Island, this was the first time since 2012 I had even heard them.
The postman has been busy again with the first card in from a string of rare Indian islands. This one, AU2S, Sagar Is’l on AS-153 from late last year.
Targets? I have decided to aim for 300 DXCCs as I am just over halfway already.
Condolences & Remembrance
As the month draws to a close, we remember Val Nelson who kept us fed & watered at many a junk sale and amongst many other occasions supporting the club, she will be sadly missed. Our thoughts are with Russell G7TMR in this time of sadness.
[Webmaster] I echo Chris' remarks, and know that many members are indeed thinking of Russell, also a long-term supporter of the club of course. Deepest sympathies.
