First may I add my condolences to our late friend Bob N4XAT who passed away on the 13th. I was fortunate enough to meet Bob on several occasions on his visits to the UK. I would like to pass my good wishes to Kathy and the rest of Bob's extended family. RIP.
The month started off well. On the 3rd. Four contacts including YS3, 9V1 and FP, which bought my DXCCs to over 200 for the year. As a bonus the postie delivered a handful of bureau cards including HL3EIL, I've attached a scan of this as the format is a bit interesting.
The weekend of the 11th and 12th was the IARU contest. Unfortunately I was not up to operating a contest, however I did give away a couple of points. On the 13th, our postie did it again; 3Y0K Bouvet Island from the southern ocean. This Isl' is rated as No 38 on the ClubLog all-time most wanted list.
Having worked RI0SP (The drifting Russian research ship) on a number of occasions, each time in a different grid square, I thought I would describe the situation near the North Pole. On the 12th he was in JQ09, on the 13th KR01, then I heard him in KR11 and within the hour I worked him in KR21. How can you get round these so fast? Imagine a peeled orange or a Terry's chocolate orange made up of 18 segments. The bit in the middle is quite thick while at the top or bottom really thin. For radio purposes the 18 grid segments start at 'A' on the international date line and travel via 'J', the Greenwich meridian, and on to 'R'.
As the world is 360 degrees round, dividing by 18 leaves each segment 20 degrees wide. Likewise, dividing each segment by 10 gives us 2 degrees. The latitudes are divided the same way, however they are pretty much he same size from the equator to the poles. This time 'A' is in Antarctica and 'R' is in the North Pole, so 'I' or 'J' straddle the equator. As far as permanent stations are concerned, VY0ERC, Eureka on Ellsmere Island grid ER60, is only about 600 miles from the North Pole. Working stations up there is a bit tricky as auroras interfere with the signal paths. I think that is enough technical stuff for now as I have a headache! HI
Back to operating in a quiet month. My logger program has a colour code for stations worked, new grid squares, wanted this year, and ATNO. This month I have had only 4 new ones for the year showing on the screen so I have reverted to working anything - 8 islands, 7 states, 10 Chinese and 5 Japanese stations. Very lean pickings indeed and a taste of things to come as the sun cycle starts to decline again.
And, just as the month came to an end I worked RI0BU for AS-057 and JR6AG. I thought this was just another Japanese station until I looked it up.
AS-017, Okinawa.
See you next time.
Chris, G4ZCS
