My first attempts at photographing the sky with extremely long exposures, from one hour to several hours.
A slight Aurora is visible and passing cars as well.
These photos are taken in absolute darkness.
Currently viewing the tag: "Aurora"
The contest was a strictly Search & Pounce affair at TF4M, with the goal of searching for DX and adding new countries to my log, with an emphasis on 160 meters.
I made a few QSOs on all of the higher bands, including one contact on 10m with CR2X – the only station heard on that band over the weekend.
Call: TF4M
Operator(s): TF4M
Station: TF4M
Class: SOSB(A)/160 HP
QTH: HP85FP
Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
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160: 198 21 73
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Total: 198 21 73 Total Score = 18,612
Comments:
Hunted for DX during the contest mainly on 160.
A full effort was out of the question as I am recovering from serious illness.
Conditions were poor the first night and abysmal the second night.
Quite happy with the result = 10 new ones on Top Band.
Highlight of the contest was working ZL8X on 160.
Using a K3 + KW into the most powerful 160m antenna on the planet – The Arctic
King. ( http://tf4m.com/archives/1824 )
Also very pleased to work VE2XAA/2 for Zone #39 on Top Band.
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Because of the poor conditions, it took me in some cases two hours of calling to raise some of the stations, especially in the Carribbean and South America. Others in the same area were raised on the first call. It makes me wonder if some of the Weekend Warriors are doing their homework? It is relatively easy to build a transmit antenna for Top Band, but for serious results it is necessary to have separate receive antennas.
I use an array of 4 bi-directional Beverage antennas up to 400 meters long to be able to hear the weak signals on Top Band.
All things considered, this was a very productive weekend although the Aurora made conditions somewhat difficult especially the second night of operation.
The only disappointment was that Zone 37 never appeared on Top Band.
UPDATE: DEC 16, 2011 The Certificate for 1st Place HIGH POWER CW SINGLE OP ASSISTED 160M = NEW ZONE RECORD received.
A large DXpedition is underway in the Kermadec Islands using the call sign ZL8X.
The DXpedition web site has a link to a Web Cam into the active volcano on Raoul Island.
I have been listened for the DXpedition´s signals since the start of the DXpedition and for the past week I have only ever heard a slight flutery trace of their signals, certainly not workable on the higher bands from my northern location.
Conditions have been poor with a slight Aurora, but during the CQ WW CW contest I heard their signals for a few minutes and was able to raise them on Top Band.
I transmitted a kiloWatt into the most powerful transmit antenna on the planet – the legendary Arctic King designed by TF3DX and I received the signals from ZL8X with a 400 meter long Beverage antenna in the direction of 323° .
In addition I used two cascaded preamplifiers on the receiver – Elecraft K3 with 250 Hz filter – for a total of 30dB receive gain to be able to hear these extremely weak signals.
This is possible due to the extremely low noise level in my location, I experience a noise level which is probably 60 dB less than in populated areas.
This QSO would also not have been possible if the operators on Raoul Island had not set up a powerful station on 160 meters.
The distance from my location to ZL8X is 15,700 km.
I believe this is the greatest accomplishment of the Arctic King until now. All Hail the King !
For insight into the effect of the Aurora on 160m conditions in TF please read the article by TF3DX by clicking on the “JA-TF 160” menu button above.
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The designer of the Arctic King, Villi, TF3DX arrived to inspect and salute the King on Thursday along with his brother Gunnar.
In between measurements, we rummaged in my “junkbox” (several outbuildings) for High Voltage RF Capacitors and adjustable Inductors which will crown the King at a later date when 80m capability will be added.
Villi operated TF4X casually in the Oceania DX Contest – CW and in between consuming good food and wine, we also watched the stars and the Aurora and a historical First Ever QSO was made in this contest with KH6ZM in Hawaii on 160 meters.
These are probably the last Aurora photos I will take until next winter.
The full moon causes the Aurora to be less visible.
I see a small improvement in my Aurora photos.
This may be the last visible Aurora until next winter, since we will soon have almost 24 hour daylight.
Coming into the shack, I heard LA3XI call CQ on 1821.5 and since the amplifier was off, I decided to give him a call with the K3 cranked down to 0.1W (100mW !) and he came right back with a 559 signal report.
I don´t know how accurate the built-in power meter of the K3 transceiver is, but it is clear that the Arctic King works well.
I looked outside and there is a full moon and light visible Aurora to the North.
I am not generally interested in QRP and even less in milli-watt power levels, but I am amazed by this.
A minute later, I tried this with an OZ station calling CQ, he got my call as TF3M and gave me a 579, but refused to acknowledge a correction of my call even when I called him with a KW. Sorry OM, this QSO was not logged.
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I noticed a degradation in radio conditions and this afternoon the skies were clear and the Aurora danced overhead.
This is my first serious attempt at capturing the Aurora on camera. It is not so easy after all and there is obviously much to learn with regard to camera settings etc.
