Well what a month, 7 new ones for the year and loads of FT4 contacts. All that, and the postman has been again.
Flicking over the pages of my backup paper log, I was surprised to see the number of US states showing, so a quick count and 33 - And that is in the month and without trying!
As I mentioned last month I have been trying FT4 to see what is going on. The speed is twice that of FT8 and seems to attract those who can cope well at speed. I found that having called CQ on a number of occasions I attracted a small pile up. All really good 'till I was called by Australia, California, Arctic Russia, Panama, and Indonesia in one go! It is really good when the DX calls you.
As the sun conditions gradually slide down I have tried to keep working DX. What was good on 12m is now a thing of the past, while 30m is getting busier as everyone migrates to where the noise is loudest. As an example, a short session on 30m FT8 produced AF-014, AS-003, and OC-001 (Victoria). Non-islands included; Moldova, Thailand, Slovenia, France, Russia, Italy and San Marino.
This month I am adding three QSL cards; GB198KHZ celebrates the BBC Long Wave broadcast transmitter shutdown, not exactly DX but a celebration of history. DL0MEL came from the U995 near Keil. This is, I believe, the sub that Bob N4XAT, used to visit on a regular basis. Finally TZ1CE represents one if the regular DX stations from Mali.
As I am writing this at the end of the month the postman has just been again. Not only that, I managed to work an ATNO. 300 here we come, with only 2 to go!
I'll give the details next month as I expect confirmation by then.
Cheers
Chris, G4ZCS
