Hello club members:
A few years ago, I had all the countries on the current list worked and
confirmed. Then BS7, Scarborough Reef, was added and I have missed both
expeditions to that rock. Of course, like everyone else, I need North
Korea, as my QSL from bootlegger Romeo doesn't count. I had been unable
to work any of the stations QRV from East Timor since it was added to
the list, even though some of them were friends. It was very
frustrating because I have heard 4W6MM many times very loud on 20 M, but
very low in the band and not listening where General Class hams can call
him. I thought I had a chance at 4W/OH2BF when I heard him with a good
signal on 17 M CW, but he wasn't hearing very well and shortly QSY'ed to
15 M where I could not hear him.
I met Dennis, K7BV, in Slovenia in July and sent him an e-mail about my
need for a QSO with 4W on a General class frequency. He assured me that
I would be pleased by his announced frequency slections (up 27 khz on 40
meters and above), so I was somewhat hopeful for this current operation
by Dennis and another ham.
I was out of town until late Monday afternoon and was tied up with
family concerns after our return and didn't get the antennas hooked back
up until Tuesday evening. Band conditions seemed pretty good and I knew
that they were primarily working CW (so far), but no signals and no
pileups for them were evident. Yesterday's Daily DX listed their
frequencies reported for the past 24 hours and they weren't too
encouraging. They were working 21 and 28 during the dead time in the
middle of the night here, working 14 during my working hours or not at
all, and only 7 seemed likely a possibility, since they had been
reported from 09 to 12Z there. I don't have a good 40-meter DX antenna
right now. The roofers destroyed the ground plane after the last tornado
damage and the low dipole is adequate for general local contacts, but
very inferior to the ground plane. I haven't had a yagi for 40 since we
moved houses in 1969, when the rope broke and one element of the short
Mosely for 40M shattered. When I gave up for the night about 03Z last
night, I decided not to set the clock early and it was set for 7 AM, as
usual.
However, about 5:30 AM, I woke up and was unable to go back to sleep for
some reason. I decided to check 40 M for Dennis. 40 M was open to JA,
but I heard nothing around 7027 and no pileups on the band at all. 15 M
was dead, but 20 M was open to South Pacific, Europe, and South America.
JG3FPD was coming through with a fair signal from Japan long path and
VU2LE had a terrific long path signal, but there was nothing on 14027
and the only big pile up on the band extended from about 14015 to
14020. I couldn't hear the station being called, but suspected it was
XT2OW because of the frequency apparently being used for transmit.
Yesterday AM, XT2OW was about 40 DB over S9 on 28013 around 8 AM here
sending "UP" and apparently answering stations from his frequency up for
40 khz or more. I was unable ever to find where he was listening and
gave up after spotting ZS6QU and settled for a QSO with Roy. At any
rate, this AM, I worked VI2BI on an IOTA island off Australia and a
couple of Europeans and was about to try for a few last winks of sleep
around 6:15 AM when 4W/K7BV opened up with a short CQ on 14027. Boy was
I ready for him, but he answered FM5WD on his own QRG. They had a short
ragchew and Dennis picked me up on a tailend call. He said he had
wondered if he would ever hear me from there. (I had wondered the same
thing in reverse.) He then worked PR7FB, FM5WD again, this time QRP,
then a USA QRP station and I went back to bed, happy at last. He was
still QSX on his own frequency, but I am sure he had to go split as soon
as someone spotted him on packet. Wish I had had packet so I could have
done that myself.
Hope everyone else who needs this one gets them while they are QRV.
73, John, K4BAI.
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