G4 Ramblings

When I first came to review last month's activities in my mind I thought that not much had happened. However on studying my logbook it appears that I worked more than I had initially thought. Certainly the time I had for operating was rather less than normal but obviously I must have made good use of the time. Overall I worked 72 countries in May, so the gardening activities didn't interfere too much. Band conditions were variable, rather like the weather. As soon as one got used to the bands being wide open they went downhill again. That being said it has been nice to see that 10mtrs is producing signals nearly every day. Not too much in the way of DX at this location but at least there has been much activity on ssb, cw and data modes. Even 24MHz has been producing results on my 40mtr dipole and I have been able to work a few new (for the band) countries.

The First Brede Scouts asked BSARS to help them on ‘Shouting for Scouting' day which was held in Alexandra Park on Sunday 23 rd May. This was an all day event which was well attended by numerous local scouting groups. There were various activities arranged by these groups and Amateur Radio was Brede's contribution. We assembled in the park at 08:00 and erected the aerial system which consisted of our trailer mounted 40ft versatower supporting a 3 element triband yagi. The operating positions were in a gazebo out of the sun. It was a very hot day and we dispensed with the sides of the gazebo so that we had natural air conditioning! A good number of contacts were made, mostly in Europe but we did work some DX such as Reunion Island, Turks & Caicos Islands, USA and Asiatic Russia. One station we worked was HB9/G4ZPU, a Swede who lives and operates in England but was working remote control with his transceiver and aerial in Switzerland! We all enjoyed ourselves and were thankful for the good weather.

The following Wednesday BSARS decided to hold their own ‘field day' at Fairlight, very close to where HERC used to take part in portable contests. The weather unfortunately was not good and being high up the wind made erecting the gazebo (this time with its sides on) interesting. In fact at one point it did take off across the car park! Despite the rain and wind we enjoyed the day and made a good number of contacts both on HF and VHF. This included a few 50MHz qsos using the HF beam.

DX countries worked last month include:-

Honduras, China, Falkland Islands, Madagascar, French Polynesia, Japan, Hawaii, New Zealand, India, Argentina, Suriname, The Congo, Egypt, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Reunion Island, Brunei, Mauritius, Taiwan, Qatar, Australia, Senegal, Netherland Antilles, Brazil, Thailand, East Malaysia, Martinique and The United Arab Emirates.

Contests being held during July include:-

RAC Canada Day Contest 0000Z-2359Z Jul 1

Venezuelan Ind. Day Contest 0000Z-2359Z Jul 3-4

DL-DX RTTY Contest 1100Z-1059Z Jul 3-4

DARC 10mtr Digital Contest 1100Z-1700Z Jul 4

FISTS Summer Sprint 0000Z-0400Z Jul 10

IARU HF World Championship 1200Z-1200Z Jul 10-11

DMC RTTY Contest 1200Z-1200Z Jul 17-18

RSGB IOTA Contest 1200Z-1200Z Jul 24-25  

DX to look out for during July include:-

Jul 1-13 DXCC: Cape Verde Is Callsign: D44TOI QSL: HB9BOI
from Sal I (AF-086); HF only

Jul 5-14 DXCC: St Pierre & Miquelon Callsign: FP QSL: LotW, Buro or direct: By K9OT as FP/K9OT and KB9LIE as FP/KB9LIE from Miquelon I (NA-032)

Jul 7-22 DXCC: Mongolia Callsign: JT1 QSL: IW5ELA
By IW5ELA as JT1/IW5ELA; 40-15m; holiday style operation

Jul 9-25 DXCC: Bahamas Callsign: C6 QSL: Home Call
By NA6M (C6AMS), N5BW (C6AMR), K2CK (C6ASH), K5AB (C6AAB) W5ETY (C6ATY) from Eleuthera I (NA-001)

Jul 10-24 DXCC: Corsica Callsign: TK10B QSL: F8BBL
from Golfe de Valinco and possibly Sanguinaires I (EU-104) and Lavezzi I (EU-164)

Jul 12-19 DXCC: Belize Callsign: V31
By K5YY as V31YY (QSL via K5YY, also W5SJ using V31SJ and W5UQ with V31UQ (QSL both via W5JAY)

Jul 13-14 DXCC: Fiji Callsign: 3D2 QSL: Home Calls
By JA2NQG, JH2BNL, JI2UAY; CW SSB RTTY; Calls to be announced later

Jul 14-24 DXCC: Wallis & Futuna Callsign: FW5M QSL: Home Calls
By JA2NQG from Wallis I (OC-054); JH2BNL (TO2BNL); JI2UAY (FW5FM); CW SSB RTTY, perhaps some FM; will also try to activate Hoorn I (OC-118)

Jul 16-24 DXCC: Sardinia Callsign: IS0E
By EA3AKA, EA3GHZ, EA5EOR, EC5BME; from EU-024; 80-10m; SSB CW

Jul 17-31 DXCC: Seychelles Callsign: S79BWW QSL: Home calls
By CT1BWW from Mahe (AF-024), EA2RC( S79SAL); 80-6m; CW SSB, perhaps RTTY

Jul 18-27 DXCC: Iceland Callsign: TF   QSL: KT6YL
By DF6QV (TF/DF6QV), DJ2VO, DL9DAN likewise from EU-071; 160-10m; CW SSB digital; 2 stations; for RSGB IOTA Contest calls will be TF7X and TF9GX

Jul 21-31 DXCC: Senegal Callsign: 6V7W QSL: EA5KA
By EA1AP, EA1CJ, EA1SA, EA5KA; SSB CW RTTY; Also active during IOTA Contest

Jul 24-31 DXCC: Malta Callsign: 9H3Y QSL: IT9ABY
By IT9ABY, IT9WKU, IT9ZRU, IW9HJT

Jul 25-31 DXCC: Senegal Callsign: 6V7EA
By EA1AP, EA1CJ, EA1SA, EA5KA; 160-6m; SSB CW RTTY

Good hunting and plenty of DX!

Antony G4CUS