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- Written by: Chris G4ZCS
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As we come to the end of 2023, I’ll do a quick review of my year, so this will be a bit longer than usual.
I was hoping to work 100 DXCCs as quickly as possible and preferably in January, well I did, sort of as it took till early February. This year I used a mix of CW and SSB mostly outputting 100W and up to 400 for the big pileups. As I write this, I have 115 on phone, and 156 on CW and a grand total of 194 that includes data (more later) 1 short of my all- time best of 195 in 2014 when I was still feeling OK.
January bought in a rush of stations too many to mention but Australia, Indonesia, South Africa and Greenland come to mind. In February with solar conditions improving, China, Mongolia, Bali, Nepal and most of the US and Canadian states & provinces.
By the end of March, the score had risen to 162 with the Falklands, and New Caledonia adding to the total. April, however, was a disaster in all senses, my health took a battering, so I wasn’t up to doing too much, then the antenna farm threw its toys again. This was fixed by renewing the 450 feeders with the last of my stock. Then, the computer threw a wobbly. It turns out that Windows had added a new security feature that prevented programs loading up, but with no warning or notifications. I asked for help with this and eventually identified the fault and fixed it. Since then, many dozens of others have reported the same thing but now get a 1 minute 'fix' as the procedure has been well publicised.
May, as usual, bought a load of outdoor activities like gardening (not so easy these days) and checking the antennas. The DX included VK, Hong Kong, American Samoa, and Rockall. June was equally quiet but lots of island contacts, and with Singapore, Ethiopia, and the Sovereign Military order of Malta. However, still a little way to my 200 target.
July is my month to chase islands and this year a good crop of Chinese and American ones. Another bout of side effects laid me low for a while, so I started to look into the new datamodes. With a good deal of help from Dick G0LFF I managed to get a signal out using FT8 as an experiment. I was hoping to get this running before the Autumn & winter. I found this system is a bit boring when I am feeling well, but really relaxing to use (and addictive) when I’m not feeling too good, so it’s a great help to keep me on the air.
August saw us bid farewell to Ron, G0WGP another source of wisdom and memories from WW2.
Down the garden a slight hint of hot plastic! An inspection of my weatherproof box revealed some brown colour and the smell of smoke. Checking everything revealed the balun had overheated due to dry joints on the sockets (they don’t seem to like the heat cycling out in the garden, an ongoing problem). The plastic case had to be renewed and then I found the ATU had started to play up. This limits my 15 Metres to 50W. The darker evenings bought 60 Metres to life, so I thought I’d try FT8 on this band. As I have reported in these articles this has been a great experiment to try. Some time I must do a write up of my results and thoughts on this unusual band. If anyone out there has any knowledge of the low band characteristics, I would like to hear from you.
In September I started to work some DX with FT8 on 60m and for a change I also tried 30m. This brought my first ever contact with South Dakota for worked all states. 30m behaves as one would expect propagation wise, and with the possibility of better DX, it is populated most of the day and into the evening while 60m is usually dead during our daylight hours. I think my lack of any western states is due to the fact that when the band is open here in the evening it is dead during their midday. All I need to do to get California is to stay awake till 5 in the morning!
October was great for working Europe and as I had set a target of working all Europe squares, I was filling lots of slots. At the time of writing, I have worked most of the squares out to 1,400 Km from here. The gaps are mostly sea or uninhabited! However, I still get a few new ones each week. I only now need Egypt and Syria to have all the countries on my Europe map! On the DX front 39 major squares (we are in IO) with received signals from many more including New Zealand. I guess that some of the gaps are because not all countries have the 60m allocation yet.
The end of the year bought the sad news of the passing of Mick G4EFO, another great loss to ham radio.
In the last few hours of the year 60m was still springing a few surprises with contacts with Kuwait, Monaco, Georgia, Belize, and Argentina.
So, an eventful year in spite of problems. I asked for comments last time, but I have not had any replies yet, so again, if anyone can help explain 60m propagation I would like to hear from you.
If Berni can stand it, and you want to read it, I might be able to do some more of these bits for the news next year.
[Yes please Chris, but I'm afraid I can't help you with 60m props info! Berni]
Good DXing in 2024
Chris, G4ZCS
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- Written by: Maintenance Guy
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A cheerful piece of news to start the year!
Terry G0SWS and Hilary, his long time dog walking companion in Mablethorpe, were married last Friday. They didn't tell any of their friends or family but revealed all to the 4 members of MSARS who joined in Sunday's New Year's Eve net.
We were sent this lovely photo of the register being signed, and MSARS members that know Terry would like to congratulate the happy couple and wish them both the very best for the future.
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This (summary) from Ofcom today:
What we have decided - in brief
We have decided to change the amateur radio licensing framework to make the following changes as proposed in the 2023 Consultation document, with some amendments in light of the responses to the consultation. The changes will:
1. Change the licensing framework to:
• Streamline Notices of Variation (NoV) under the three-tier licensing structure;
• Update our mechanisms for re-validation while maintaining lifetime licences;
• Only permit licensees to only hold a single personal licence, requiring the surrender of lower level licences as a licensee progresses; and
• Allow anyone to operate amateur radio under a licensee’s supervision.
2. Streamline and modernise call sign assignment to update call sign allocation policy to:
• Introduce a new M8 and M9 Intermediate call sign format;
• Make the use of Regional Secondary Locators (RSL) optional and simplify the process for using a special RSL;
• Introduce the RSL ‘E’ for optional use by radio amateurs operating in England;
• Simplify the licence terms on the use of call sign suffixes;
• Allow old call signs to be reissued online, and permit licensees to periodically change their call sign;
• Simplify the rules around Special Event Stations; and
• Change the number of call signs that can be held.
3. Adjust technical parameters to reflect the evolving needs of the hobby and provide radio amateurs with greater operating freedom by:
• Increasing the maximum transmit power to allow (i) 25 Watts for Foundation and 100 Watts for Intermediate licensees in most bands; and (ii) 1000 Watts for Full licensees in bands where amateur radio has a primary allocation;
• Allowing Foundation and Intermediate licensees to use the internet for remote control operation;
• Permitting the deployment of repeaters, beacons and gateways without requiring an NoV in most cases;
• Allowing Foundation licensees to build their own equipment and access the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands; and
• Enabling low power airborne use in some frequency bands.
4. Provide clearer updated rules, with terms and conditions which are easy for everyone to understand by:
• Aligning various terms and conditions with other licences that Ofcom issues;
• Simplifying conditions to remove unnecessary complexity and make them clearer; and
• Removing provisions not necessary for spectrum management purposes.
In response to feedback from stakeholders we have decided to proceed with an amended version of our proposal in some areas. We will:
• Increase the period before a call sign can be reissued or changed to 5 years; instead of the proposed 2 years;
• Increase the permitted transmit power for Foundation licensees to 25 Watts;
• Increase the permitted transmit power for Foundation licensees in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands to 2 Watts; and
• Allow the use of certain data stations without the need for an NoV.
To implement many of these decisions we need to make changes to all existing amateur radio licences. This means that many of these decisions are subject to the outcome of the statutory processes for varying existing licenses. We have therefore decided to start the statutory process to vary all amateur radio licences by publishing a General Notice which sets out the proposed licence variations. We will publish our final decisions in February 2024 following the conclusion of this process.
The full document can be downloaded here:
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As promised last month, I’ll explain my 'pirate' activity.
Several weeks ago, I was approached by a friend in another club and asked if I could do an interview on a radio station.
Having done one a couple of years back using a mobile phone to make live on-air contact with a presenter and several thousand listeners I thought this would be something similar.
This time however I was invited to the studio of Mid-Downs Radio. Located in the Princess Royal Hospital, it is a true hospital radio station (overlooked by the water tower - location of our UHF repeater 'HY'). The studio consists of two small rooms full of equipment. I am not an expert, but most of what I saw was audio control gear and lots of computer controllers and screens. The heart of the unit is a mixing desk with sliders and switches, all overlooked by a big screen with the running order and prompts for the presenter. The microphone I was given was as big as a pint pot, covered with foam and mounted on a sprung arm like an Anglepoise lamp.
Following a short introduction, with a sound balance check, off we went. After about 10 minutes we paused while a piece of music was played. An opportunity to plan the next segment.
We carried on for about half an hour at which point the presenter, who was not concentrating on the technical stuff, exclaimed 'Oh, we have missed the news!' (the prompter was not working too well) 'but we will run it on the next hour'. Good fun and not too serious and probably no DX listeners! Apparently, this was heard as far away as Burgess Hill by G7AIE!
Interestingly, the station receives QSL cards and SWL reports, however, the station staff don’t seem to understand what they are...
Now the technical stuff; The station is licenced as a LPAM Low Power AM station. The transmitter was not visible but is rated at 1W EMRP and runs at 1.350 MHz, shared with a couple of Italian kW rated broadcast stations and another hospital station in Lancashire (the one where I was born, Oldham General).
This month I’m adding pictures of a couple of electronic QSLs. Both are from EQSL. They are of little value for awards, but do prove contacts. These two show the effectiveness of FT8 on 60 Metres, one from the east and one from the west.
Some DX this month included 7O73T Scotra Isl’ just off Yemen. This was another 5 Meg FT8 contact (see screenshot below) IOTA AF-028. In the Caribbean area, St Vincent, Puerto Rico, Bonaire, and St Kitts. Also at the time of writing, just for the month of November, 15 States of the USA - too many to list here.
On Sunday the 26th it was a really grotty day so I had a dabble on 30m FT8 for a change. Using 40W, I worked 60 grid squares and 24 DXCCs over a couple of hours - the run rate was about 50 per hour. Two contacts stand out: Greenland and Kazakhstan. Several stations were active in a 'dispute zone' Ukraine and European Russia. They seem to be on the air regardless! Braver than me and they have my admiration.
The next edition will be my last for the year, and I would be grateful for some feedback, particularly on 60m propagation and why do I see only 'flashes' of contacts for a minute or so, ZL, DU, VK, ZS, LU, CX etc?
Good DXing
Chris, G4ZCS
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- Written by: Richard G0LFF
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This year I concentrated on 50MHz with 96 DXCC worked and 70MHz with 39 DXCC worked to date.
My antenna system is a 3 element short boom (1m) dual band Yagi fixed East South East (photo below) and a single wire loop for North/South.
The E layer produces very strong reflections from a few hundred miles to as far as the Northern Territories, Australia on 6m. Now whether these ultra-long DX are via purely E layer reflections or a mixture of Es and high altitude ducting is an ongoing debate.
Working with indoor antennas is a challenge as the angle of radiation is higher than external antennas at least a quarter wave above ground. On many occasions I have sat here watching stations all around working excellent DX while I have nothing, but when the radiation angle changes I am away and in the mix. My 96 DXCC contacts on 6m is over five continents and on 4m over three continents.
My main modes of use are FT4 and FT8 as these are so much more efficient than analogue modes. I have worked with the Joe Taylor (K1JT) suite of modes from the beginning. Many others came and went over the years and the FT modes are now considered a standard. These were originally for 6m long haul DX only, but the HF fraternity picked up on them and FT8 on HF is now a victim of its own success.
Long haul 6m DX can at times be very short openings and as the footprint is much smaller than HF it can move rapidly.
No new DXCC on 4m this year tho it was good to see Italy back on the band in August after an absence of two years, with limited frequencies.
6m was a different kettle of fish with five All Time New Ones (ATNO) for six meters. All five ATNOs were in Africa on the single wire loop. This years ODX was LU1FAM in FF97 at 6869 miles, again on the wire loop. Maybe I should abandon the 3 el Yagi!
My all time ODX on 2M is 4Z4DX SSB at 2196 miles (3434k) (1989)
My all time ODX on 4M is 9K2YM FT8 2871 miles (4620k) (2021)
My all time ODX on 6M is VK8ZLX SSB 9350 miles (15047k) (1989)
G0LFF
