Have fun reading Ham-radio items and coverage of my hunt for DX!
- 21 to 24 December 2008.
Not much active here but worked a couple:
- FM5BH on 20/CW
- TR8CA on 20/RTTY
- CN89NY on 20/SSB
- 16 December 2008, PG6G video ready.
I have just finished the PG6G video with coverage of our visit to the big gain antennas.
- 11 December 2008, Big Antennas!
We Ham's,.....we love antennas right?
I collected a handfull of big antenna pictures for you.
- 29 and 30 November 2008, CWWWCW.
I couldn't really bring it up to be active long in this contest.
I was still recovering from our trip to the Broadcast station and besides, I needed to do some things
in and around the house as well.
Random I gave away some points and ended with 108 QSO's on 40 meter only.
Conditions seemed good, as always with the CQWW contests.
US were very strong Sunday morning and I worked several Caribbean as well, nice.
- 27 and 28 November 2008, active as PG6G.
Around 0900z we gate red at Peter's place to load the transceiver, amplifier en drive to the Location
from where we would activate PG6G.
This is the former Radio Netherlands antenna site which is not in use anymore since they found other stations
to broadcast their programs.
The transmitters have been sold but the coax relays and antennas are still working.
Within an hour we arrived and straight away set a table near the antenna-matrix so we could install our gear
and make quick changes to the different antennas.
All seemed to work well and soon we were on 20 meter/SSB to give our first CQ.
It was Fred/PA8F who started as this was his first time to visit the station, Peter and myself had been there
a couple times before.
First station in the log was A41OO/M followed by 7Z1UG, VK6ARA, ZS6BGH, ET3AA and EP4RJ.
It didn't take long to create a pile up and it seemed like everyone was waiting for us.
Then we switched the antenna towards the US were we would stay for about 1,5 hour.
Fred/PA8F
Signals were hughs and almost everyone was 59 and beyond, up to +40dB!
These curtain antennas work very well with a take-off angle being around 7 degrees and an impressive
gain of 22dB!!
I said it before but even stations with a marginal antenna situation and 50 watts made it into the log easily.
It is really unbelievable to hear a large crowd call every times why ended a QSO and called 'QRZ'!
The it was on to 40 meter/CW and the first to respond was not US but V8HTT from Brunei, nice huh?
Soon we worked several West Coast over the long path, time at that point around 1450z.
It didn't seem to be a large opening as after 30 minutes it suddenly stopped and we decided to return to 20
meters again.
We switched back and forward 20<-> 40 until 2030z and then we gave it another try towards South America.
We found a clear spot at 7059 and gave our first CQ.
First a couple PY's in the log and then CO, 8P, FM, CO, HI, HK, OA, CX, the complete region came by to say
hello, really nice!
Again, massive signals from all stations and they kept on coming.
Now and then we really needed a short break to drink a cup of coffee and stretch our legs.
It was good we had the electric heater as it was very cold inside the building.
The night went good and it didn't really get more quite, enough stations noticed our loud signal on the 40 meter band.
Some of our friend even took a day of from work to make a contact, something which wasn't that easy as
they had to overcome the large DX pile-up.
But Joop/PD2JAM, Rick/PA4B and Wander/PD1DER made it through with good operating practice, waiting for a short gape between the stations calling, thanks for the contact guys!
Anyway, the night went on and all three of us could sleep short on the stretcher we brought.
This helped us through the night as sleep starts to get the overhand after 18 hours pile up.
Fred had to leave the station early for an appointment, so Peter and I went on for 2 more hours.
In the early morning with the grey-line over VK and ZL I tried the long path but only a few VK's and ZL's responded in CW.
Conditions didn't seem to be good enough to produce strong signals over that path, something what had been
completely different last time in January 2008.
Back to 20 meter, we called VK7ROY who called CQ on 14.195.
After a very nice QSO Dick/3D2AB called in to make a contact with us cause we were so loud on fiji!
This was really a nice surprise, he was even stronger then the VK7, and so we could have a nice chat for about
15 minutes.
Dick was interested in the big antenna as he had been an engineer in the broadcast business.
After we signed with Dick, a few Japanese stations came into the log shortly before breaking up our station.
This was around 0800z, Peter and I were exhausted and decided to pack and leave.
It took us an hour to load everything into the car, clean up the room and lock the building.
Satisfied we returned home, to install the FTDX-9000DX and amplifier in Peter's shack.
Then a nice coffee and watch some of the footage we shot, short before going home myself and enjoy
a warm bath.
We really enjoyed working everyone of you and will QSL all our 644 contacts via the buro!
We made 200 QSO's on 20 meter and 444 QSO's on 40 meter.
There are 68 DXCC countries in the log:
ZS, 4X, A7, A4, EX, EP, HZ, JA, TA, UA9, UN, VU, E7, 9A, CT, CU, DL, EA, EI, ER, EU, F, G, HA, I, LZ,
OE, OK, OM, ON, PA, S5, SP, SV, UA, UR, YO, YU, 6Y, 8P, C6, CM, FM, HI, HP, HR, K, KP2, KP4, TG,
TI, VE, XE, YN, 3D2, V8, VK, YB, ZL, CX, HK, LU, OA, P4, PJ2, PY, YV AND 4O.
Here is a short clip of the antennas we used during our 20 hour stay:
We will be back!...astalavista!
- 24 November 2008, PG6G.
The last few years we have been active a couple times from the commercial station.
End of this month we will go there again and we will use the special callsign, PG6G.
This is the official announcement:
PA8A/Peter, PA8F/Fred and PA3GVI/Rob will be active again with the big array, formerly used to
broadcast Radio Netherlands, with the special callsign: PG6G.
This antenna is a curtain antenna with 8 stacked dipoles between two 400 feet towers.
Radiation angle about 7 degrees and a gain of approximate 22 dB!!
Approximate date/time: 27 November/1200z till 28 November/1200z.
We will use SSB and CW and will mainly be active on 40 meter.
We also look forward to receive recordings which can be mailed to PA3GVI (QRZ).
Hope to make a contact with you!
73, Rob/PA3GVI
- 11 November 2008, looking back on last weekend!
What a weekend, great fun and a good score too with my friends from the PI4WNO contest-crew!
We took part in the WAE-RTTY contest from a spot we often use, a small holiday style house not to far
from where we live.
Facilities are not Hugh but there is a toilet and a stove, about all we need cause we bring food and such
by our selfs.
I arrived at the site around 2200z, the other guys had already installed the needed equipment like
transceivers, laptops and interfaces.
It seemed to work fine, only one interface cable wasn't cooperating, a problem we had easily fixed.
The contest started good with nice runs, me and Joop/PD2JAM staying overnight while the others went
home to return on Saturday morning.
The night went fast, of course with the usual dip but soon we headed for the morning and things seemed
to pick up again.The 40 meter band had been quite marginal, we actually expected more offer from the
US but you can't steer conditions can you?
The others, Willem/NL-11607 and Fred/PA8F, were fresh to go and made the first contacts on the 20 meter
band.
This band brought in really nice DX like the Philippines and Hong Kong to name a few.
15 meter was dead most of the time and only a hand full QSO's could be made.
In the WAE-RTTY, as a European, you can work other European stations which was a welcome bonus.
Stations kept on coming during daytime on 40 and 80 meter, look at the QSO's on this band.
The 20 meter band staying a bit behind in the final score, in my opinion because conditions were not all that good on the higher bands (dept of the cycle).
I went home Saturday around 1200z to return in the evening for some hours, about 850 QSO's in the log.
Fred, Joop and Willem would operate again in the evening while Stan/PD0LUR would operate a big deal
of the early Sunday and on till we finished.
Band Q/QTC QSOs Pts Cty 3,5 QSO 456 456 0 7 QSO 469 469 0 14 QSO 314 314 0 21 QSO 57 57 0 Total All 1296 1296 0
1319 raw QSO's and after the re-score we could proudly sent in a log which contained 1296 QSO's an all time
high for the team.
A total of 811.026 points were claimed at the desk of the contest-manager.
We sure had a fun weekend and it was only a pity I had to work on Sunday, so I could not be there to help
the guys went finishing around 1400z local(we all needed to work the other day!).
I made a video of the contest to give you an idea how we run build and run these from the field out of scratch!
Just a couple days ago I published our PG32MRN/P fieldday video on Youtube.
Have fun watching the coverage of a super fun weekend in the field!
Where you active from the field as well, let me know and I will add a link to your pages.
- 21 June 2008, OH0B on 20 meter.
Marti is on Aland Island again together with his wife Leena.
They will be there untill 22th and mainly work 20 meter.
I worked Marti on 20 meter/SSB, 14.210-> QSX 14.220/14.225.
Have a look at the Youtube video with my QSO.
- 16 June 2008, New transceiver.
I picked up my new transceiver today, a FT-2000.
What a nice rig with many features!
- 9 June 2008, 3D2AG/P card.
I got this one with the post today, one I badly needed and worked on 30 meter/CW with my G5RV.
DXCC 308 confirmed and still waiting for the cards from: VP6PR, VP6DX and TX5C.
- 7 and 8 June 2008, field day contest with PG32MRN/P.
With the field day coming we all gathered Friday around 1700 local to build our field day station at the
farmers place.
We picked up our special guest, Paul/W6GMU , which would be one of the two operators the contest weekend.
We brought towers, antennas and all you need to build a fine field day station.
Our field day is a yearly event with fun, friendship, antenna experiments, contesting and a good dose of humor.
We started building the tent of 8x4 meters, a much larger one then previous years.
It didn’t take long to build this big white thing but not without taking the wrong poles first.
Ooh well, just a wink of Murphy.
Then we set up the 40 meter vertical and the tower which would hold the 80 and 160 meter dipole.
All went well but we couldn’t get the both dipoles working.
We never use a balun on these and worked very well but SWR was sky high this time.
Ooh, there you are miss Murphy…….!
This happened to be a case of a critical coax length because when we connected a 1:1 balun the other day all was just fine.
Manfred/PE1REO came with the construction to carry the FB-33 and some UHF/VHF antennas.
He is a very professional guy and we couldn’t do without him as he knows exactly how to guy this thing when 10 meter up in the air.
PA3AKN brought the yagi and assembled it on ground level first to mount it on the pipe about an hour later.
We just needed to attach rotator and coax the next day and raise it another 4 meter to get it on the air.
We left the field day site around 2200 local with almost everything fixed.
Tired but satisfied we could do some adjustments the other day and set the tables, radio’s and amplifier.
Saturday morning around 10:00 local we were all together again to set up the gear in the tent and make some final adjustments to the yagi and dipoles.
Fred attached all the interfaces between laptop, amplifier and FT-990 while Manfred set the generator far away in the field so we would not have to listen to the disturbing voice all 24 hours.
We have a wooden box to lower the voice and keep it dry when it would rain.
This worked very good previous years!
Hours before the contest we were already done and so the VHF/UHF station was putt together on another table, enough space in the big tent!
With the IC-706 connected we would use this as a demo station for HF and to participate in the VHF/UHF contest.
There was a G5RV connected to it via a tuner for the HF bands and a duo band stick for VHF/UHF.
Final thing we did was putt up a 20 meter vertical on a 3,5 meter pole as a listen antenna.
This happened to be very useful when, for example, East Europeans were calling with the beam towards Stateside.
Paul/W6GMU
At 1500z Paul started the contest on 20 meter and we could instantly see the lack of conditions on the band.
Mainly European stations in the log and the rate wasn’t impressive either.
It finally picked up in the evening when we changed to 40 and 80 meter.
The night went good on the lower bands, we even worked V51AS/P on 80 meter!
But again, more Europeans then across the pond or further away.
More US then on the higher bands but still very marginal.
Around 0700z we had 600 QSO’s in the log with 8 hours to go.
We really had nice runs on 80, 40 and 20 meter and even 15 opened up during the morning/afternoon.
10 meter wasn’t that good although I am sure we missed some short openings.
Rob/PA3GVI
We decided to go for 1000 QSO’s and we could just make it, having 1002 QSO’s in the log when the clock hit 1500z.(eventually there seemed to be 15 dupes after checking the log)
We had already dismantled the yagi and the dipoles and finished the contest with the 20 meter and 40 meter vertical.
Satisfied with the result we took the last antenna’s down, packed the tent and gear.
We were all ready to go home at 1600z.
We can look back on a very nice weekend!
Overall conditions were bad, specially the higher bands with not many DX.
A lot of short skip on the higher bands and we, for example, did not work any JA, VK!
Have a look at the pictures by clicking the following url's:
You can find the page in the menu (left side of this page) or by clicking this.
Have fun watching!
31 March 2008, two new DXCC confirmed.
During the contest weekend the postman delivered two cards from contacts with 2 new countries I worked.
Nice cards from FJ/OH2AM and CE0Z/LA6IKA!
The dial is at 306 DXCC confirmed and 311 worked.
Two new DXCC!
- 28 to 30 March 2008, CQ-WPX-SSB contest!
It had been a while since the PI4WNO contest-team joined up to take part in a contest.
But most of the crew had their hands free this coming weekend and so we rented one of the small
houses on the caravan park and started building the antennas on Friday morning about 12 hours
before the contest would start.
Just past 0900z we joined to pick up our contest antennas, coax etc at PD2JAM his house and drove to the
park.
This is a familiar place for us and the manager is very willing to help us make it work.
For example; he fixed the 6 Ampere fuse in the house so we could use the two amplifiers without everything going dark.
As we were in one of the old houses we needed chairs, a stove and such which he arranged instantly.
Very good service!!
Anyway, we started building the high 16 meter tower which would support dipoles for 40/80 and 160 meter.
In the field close to the house we could mount our 40 and 20 meter vertical, the 15 meter vertical was mounted close to the tower.
We did not putt up anything for 10 meter as this would probable be a poor band.
All went well and around 1600z we had the following antennas;
- 160 meter inverted V with feeding point at 16 meter.
- 80 meter inverted V with the feeding point at 16 meter.
- 40 meter inverted V with the feeding point at +/- 5 meter (For Europe contacts).
- 40 meter vertical with +/- 50 radials.
- 20 meter vertical with 4 radials at +/- 5 meter.
- 15 meter vertical with 4 radials at +/- 5 meter.
Last thing, mount our contest table and we were finished.
Satisfied we returned home to relax and we would join again around 2130z to install transceivers, amplifiers,
and PC network.
We arrived in the dark evening and were all in a good mood, looking at a fun weekend to come.
All interfacing worked and we were ready 15 minutes before the contest would start.
The verticals worked very very well and specially the low 20 meter one surprised me somewhat.
This seemed to be a reasonable antenna even on this highed.
The 40 meter vertical delivered good DX like HC, ZP, VP5, PY, LU, VR, ZL, VK etc while the low dipole produced
a good strong signal in Europe during daytime hours.
The first night shift was done by NL-11607 and myself and when the other boys arrived there were about 300 QSO's in the log.
We decided to have 8 hours shifts, give and take some hours we were there with 4 or even with the 5 of us.
We had fun and that's our main goal being aware we cannot fight the big gun stations.
Being with 5 ham's doesn't really allow Multi-Multi so we were in the Multi-Two section(multi operator-two radios).
Long story short, we made 1200 QSO's with 98 DXCC countries(almost DXCC in one single weekend1).
Not bad at at and we could all look back at a super weekend!
Have a look at our CQ-WPX video:
CQ-WPX statistics:
Band QSO’s
1,8 139
3,5 329
7 309
14 344
21 79
10 0
Claimed score: 1.477.996 points
Call QSO’s
PA3GVI 441
PA1WFB 251
PD2JAM 186
PD0LUR 182
NL-11607 140
98 DXCC countries:
3V, 4L, 4O, 4X, 5B, 5T, 6Y, 8P, 9A, 9L, 9V, A6, A7, BY, CE, CN, CT, CT3, CU, D4, DL, E7, EA, EA6, EA8, EA9, EI, EK, ES, EU, F, FG, FM, FY, G, GD, GI, GM, GW, HA, HB, HC, HI, HK, HZ, I, IS, IT9, JA, K, KP2, LA, LU, LX, LY, LZ, OA, OE, OH, OH0, OK, OM, ON, OY, OZ, P4, PA, PJ2, PY, S5, SM, SP, ST, SV, SV5, SV9, T7, TA, TI, UA, UA2, UA9, UN, UR, V2, V4, VE, VK, VP5, VR, YB, YL YO, YU, YV, Z3, ZL, ZP.
See you all next year!
73, the PI4WNO contest-team
- 17 to 25 March 2008, log update.
Here is an update from the DX I worked for the past days.
I hunted 5T5DC and it wasn't really difficult to get them into the log.
9X0R was on as well and I managed to make three contacts.
Have a look at the line up:
5T5DC on 30/CW, 20/CW, 15/CW, 40/CW.(Mauritania)
9X0R on 15/CW, 15/SSB, 20/SSB.(Rwanda)
TG9ADM on 40/CW.(Guatemala)
HC2AQ on 40/SSB.(Ecuador)
E77DO on 40/SSB.(Bosnia Herzegovina)
VR10XMT on 20/SSB.(Hong Kong)
HS0ZCW on 20/SSB.(Thailand)
- 14 march, TX5C worked!
I almost gave up on this DX-pedition......
I have been trying hard to get the TX5C guys but did not succeed until today.
There were days (during European daylight that is) they were only on 80 and 40 meter all the time while
the path to Europe was good on the higher bands.
Kinda frustrating but just a matter of choices I guess.
I cannot understand the furious spots about the team and the lack of respect to these people bearing the elements at this tiny Island.
I heard them on 40 and 30 in CW two days ago but didn't get through and I could not go to Peter either.
The days I could go to Peter they were not even heard or they just switched bands when I arrived, bad luck!
This morning I was at Peter's place but no chance again.
Peter suggested to focus on the afternoon when we would possible have a change on one of the higher bands.
When at home I checked the cluster every 10 minutes and just after 1400z I saw them on 20/CW.
At Peter's the cluster was filled with spots concerning this station on 14.020 MHz.
It seemed this was a pirate as he was very loud and signals seemed to come from another direction as well.
Then a spot on 18.145 MHz in SSB and he worked simplex!
We tuned the antenna and could hear him quite weak.
From time to time he came out of the noise and in one of those short openings I could work them.
Really great and yet another new DXCC, number 311!
I almost could not believe it when I heard him sign my call and Peter worked him right after.
This was much more difficult then Ducie Island and I remember having the same difficulties with XF4DL from
Revilla Gigedo Island in 2006.
Could it be because XF4DL and TX5C are both hidden behind the North-America mainland while VP6DX could be reached through the Caribbean/Central-America path? (see pic below)
Who knows,....but at least I got them, one band/mode!
PA3GVI <-> TX5C path.
- 8 and 9 March 2008.
Haven't heard much of TX5C on Clipperton Island so far.
I could barely hear them on 40 meter in CW today (9th) but did not have much time to stick around.
DX-cluster spots are numerous from NA and pile ups are not as big as VP6DX(at least it seems).
Hopefully they will come through a bit louder in the next few days to work them on at least one band.
I did work some nice DX on the 8th, higher bands open up quite nicely from time to time.
Here is the DX I logged:
- 9J2M from Zambia on 17 meter/CW
- 5X1NH fromUganda on 15 meter/CW
- PJ4/K2NG from Curacao on 20 meter/CW
- CN8ZG from Marokko on 20 meter/SSB
- TF3ZA from Iceland on 20 meter/SSB
- 7 March 2008, TX5C/Clipperton Island Dx-pedition.
It has been pretty quite on the bands since the end of the VP6DX/Ducie Island event.
I kinda miss the big pile-ups and can't wait to hear the guys from Clipperton on air.
This will start today if everything went well, they seem to be on scedule with preparing the campsites and
setting up antennas and such.
For the ones that have not found their website yet, here is a link:
And last but not least a very nice QSO with Pooyan/EP3PK from Iran on 20 meter/SSB.
Pooyan told me about the very bad weather they have at the moment, about two feet of snow and low temperatures, very rare for these regions.
If we look at our weather now, mild temperatures of about 9 degrees Celcius and rain/windy we can
make one conclusion!
The average winter temperature in The Netherlands has gone up the last 40 years.
It seems like the climate is changing!
Average winter temperatures in PA.
- 2 Januari 2008, Disaster!
The new year started with bad news!
I got a very alarming e-mail from my friend Theo/PA1TK.
His news hit me like a bomb, ..........
A very large fire last night destroyed our PA1TK contestgroup multi 2 meter station.
Power engines, antennas, cables, rotators, tables, 2 x GS35B amplifiers with powersuply's, 2 x fet amplifiers, contesttent, chairs, jerrycans, 4 towers etc, etc......
And more important,... our last memories to silent key Ton/PA0ASH.
Fred/PA8F
PA0-krentebrood
K4KEW/AM
VR2XMT on 20 meter in RTTY.
VP6DX
HB9/PA1TK/P
Paul/W6GMU
Rob/PA3GVI
2007
.
-.-. --.- -.. .--. .- ...-- --. ...- .. - . ... - 
Two new DXCC!
PA3GVI <-> TX5C path.
C21DL worked!
DXCC 309!
CQ Contest PG6G !
Pitcairn Island
Average winter temperatures in PA.
