Sunday, 29 August 2010

Contact into West Cornwall on 17m.

If you said to a non-HAM that you got a contact into West Cornwall from Torquay in South Devon on 17m, you would probably not get much of a reaction, however tell a fellow radio fan and I would think they would be quite impressed, as it's probably too short a distance for a skip contact, and too long for a groundwave contact.

However tell your unradio friend it was West Cornwall, Connecticut, USA and you might get some nice comments.

I had a smashing qso with Bert, W2QN and we had quite a joke about Devon and Cornwall, it seems he knows our counties quite well, he also asked if there were any inter-county rivalries, I said there was a little, all friendly of course.

So a contact into Cornwall be it UK or USA is good, personally I don't mind either, it's the quality of the qso that matters.




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8 comments:

  1. Hi Paul and good Sunday afternoon, Congratulations on the QSO into the USA and I have been reading of some great openings both on 17 and 15 meters. Oh and I have added you to my blog list and thanks for following my list.

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  2. Hi Mike,

    I really like 17m, I just seem to hear more DX on there than 20m, it's a lot more quiet, QRM wise than 20 as well.

    I was reading about your station and it's antenna restrictions, here in the UK we mostly suffer from small outdoor spaces, so not many of us can run lattice towers and the like.

    Could you put up a random length long wire, a few of us, me included use an end-fed wire with either a magnetic balun or a 9:1 rato UNUN, they are very stealthy IMO, just looks like a telephone wire.

    73 for now, Paul.

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  3. Hi, you actually got me excited then, my OLD QTH was West Cornwall, Penzance, Well done on the contacts. 73

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  4. Hi Paul, As for a random wire the best I can do here is a temporary one out the second floor window. The codo cops as I call them are very bored with no hobbies and love to wonder around and look for anything that could even bend a rule. This past weekend I added more radials under the back deck. Even that had to be done in stealth mode.

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  5. Excellent work, and you have been have some good DX. I wish I was having as much DX as you! I have hit an unlucky spell w.r.t to antennas. I have a tiny back garden, only about 42' x 21'

    If I understand correctly, you were using a wire and un-un? How high do you have it mounted, and do you use any counterpoise or radials, if at all?

    73

    André

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  6. Hi Lawrie, the title was perhaps a little and deliberately misleading, oh and well done on the Mike illuminating Europe contact, he's great isnt he !

    Hi Mike, LOL @ Cond Cops ! Still it is no laughing matter really, all I have to put up with is the station master and her QRM, whom I get round in the end....usually.

    Hi Andre, the wire is at eaves height, so perhaps 18' and then runs for about 70' at the moment to an ad-hoc pole arrangement some 25' high - (the wire snapped a while back, it was 130'), yes it's a 9:1 unun, and I have 1/4 wave counterpoises for 80/40 and 20m off the earthy side going back into and around the loft space.

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  7. Hi Paul. I used to get a kick out of contacting Dutch stations and sending my QTH as Amsterdam and Rotterdam a 15 minute drive from here. In New York State, of course.

    I'll be blogging again when a change in QTH is accomplished...Lots going on here......73 Dick N2UGB.

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  8. Hi Dick, we can't do that round here, no New York, though I do live in Florida Road !!

    Good luck with the move, let us all know how you get on.

    73 Paul.

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