Exam success.

Last night was exam night at the Watcombe Amateur Radio Club, three of us M3/M6 calls were taking the Intermediate License, here in the UK it basically allows the operator to run 50 watts, up from the Foundation level of 10 watts.

Well two of us passed, Alan, M6DXU and myself, here is a pic of us with our pass sheets.

M6PCZ and M6DXU, soon to be 2E0PCZ and 2E0DXU !

It's looking a bit CHILEer now...

Actually it is here in Blighty, still it is the middle of September, but I'm not going to talk about the weather, as you may have guessed.

I have two antennas for HF, the end fed long wire and the Sirio 827. The long wire does a grand job from 17m to 80m, but it's pretty rubbish on 12m and 10m, the 827 however is king on 10 and 12m.

I dont know about you guys, but when I fire up the station, I have one laptop I use just for the internet and one I use for controlling the radio, it's not that I'm flash, it's because I'm too tight to buy one decent machine, when two old lappys do the job.

The internet machine runs QRZ.com, Dx watch, PSKreporter and DX sherlock, with the latter usually on the 10m Europe page.

Anyway last night around 2100 UTC I was shocked to see lots of sporadic 'e' lines between Europe and S. America on DX Sherlock, so time to get the 827 earning it's keep, and so without too much effort, CE2WZ, David, in La Serena, Chile, was in the log with a nice 55 both ways, followed by LU7HW, Gustavo, again 55's.

Pretty much as soon as I said 73, the band closed, and I didnt hear another thing.

Here is David, pic from QRZ.com.

What was really nice is that I hadnt had a HF contact for like 10 days, not without trying, just couldnt seem to get through, yet 10m opens and two contacts that easy, I was beginning to think I had maybe some sort of audio issue, so this 'sanity check' came at just the right time.

Oh and Chile was a new DXCC for me, makes 53 now.

I love going to work at the weekend..

I was at work this afternoon, OK not so good being the weekend, however as I have the place to myself and as long as the work gets done, then the rest of the time is my own, and what better way than to spend my 'lunch-hour' doing some radio from the mobile.

Switched on 20m to hear 'FIELD DAY', excellent, checked the internet, it seemed to be the RSGB contest that was on, I set myself a target of 10 contacts across the remaining time I had.

Well I worked the following -

GM5CX/P - 20m
OZ3FYN/P - 20m
RO3DX/P - 20m
DR0W/P - 20m
OZ2AR/P - 40m
ON4SNW/P - 40m
OZ2EDR/P - 10m
SX7WP/P - 20m
F0TX/P - 40m
M0GBB/P - 40m
MM0KLR/P - 40m
G2AS/P - 40m

Really chuffed to work Denmark on 3 different bands, (quite bizzare really I just kept hearing OZ calls everywhere), including 10m, very surprised as 10 has been quiet for weeks, I need to check but I think the SX contact (Greece) is a new one for me.

Overall I worked Scotland twice, England twice, France, Germany, Belguim, Greece, Russia, and Denmark.

The last contact, G2AS/P, was the Sheffield Radio Club call, in honour of the late HAM, Harold, G2AS.