Otradalur Panorama photos
These are the Panorama photos I used to make the Virtual Tour.
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PJ4C – Bonaire 2012
PJ4C – Bonaire 2012 by F6KOP´s Team was extremely weak on 160 Meters due to Auroral conditions when I first heard them, and when I managed to get his attention he got my call wrong as TF3M and I was unable to correct him because signals were so weak. It turns out that both TF3M and TF4M were logged as can be seen from their online log.
I continued calling and on the next QSB peak we had a solid QSO.
The first recording runs about 15 minutes and demonstrates the extremely deep QSB and has our QSO at the end – even with 30 dB of amplificaton from the Beverage antenna, PJ4C almost disappeared completely due to the deep fading – the station was mostly inaudible on my transmit antenna – the Arctic King which fires straight into a mountain in this direction :
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The second recording is edited to have only the QSO between PJ4C and TF4M.
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Even when PJ4C was the strongest, this is really only a RST 519 signal – but due to my quiet location, I can cascade two 15dB amplifiers when needed to bring signals up to readable strength.
Bonaire was a part of the Netherlands Antilles until their dissolution on 10-10-10.
The political change resulted in four new DXCC entities (Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Bonaire and Saba/Sint Eustatius)
This is entity #177 worked on Top Band.
The operator at PJ4C was Kenneth, OZIKY – I worked him the following day on SSB on17m and he mentioned the contact.
The Arctic King continues to amaze.
I have made a few additional contacts with as shown in their online logs which are updated very quickly – apparently in real-time.
PJ4C continue to churn out the contacts and I have now worked them on all bands more or less…
This is a recording of our 80m QSO:
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This is a recording of our 40m QSO:
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DK1CE is on a DXpedition to Namibia 26 December – 16 January.
This is a recording of our QSO on 160 Meters.
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Note: I have discovered that the recording audio leads from my transceiver were in the wrong sockets. Since I have not touched these for months, since installation at least, it appears that the mischievous Elves of Otradalur may be to blame. From now on both channels should be present in the recordings.
The Arctic King once again showed his tremendous power.
According to this they are even using Rhombics for their operations!
This is my country #176 Worked on Top Band.
Nice Conditions 02 January 2012
I recorded a small pile up on 160 meters. The recording is in stereo, reception is full diversity with various receive antennas switched into circuit as needed.
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Note: I have discovered a mistake in audio connections…the recording is only the left channel, the diversity effect is therefore lost in the recording.
Booming signals from Europe, Russia and the Middle East and even one QSO with Japan.
The Arctic King showed his power yet again.
QRP – Never Again !
The Stew Perry Top Band Distance Challenge 2011 is over.
My raw Score was 81 QSOs giving 469 points , multiplied by 3 for a claimed QRP score of 1407 points.
Due to health issues, I decided to take part in the Stew Perry with a casual
QRP effort.
5 thunderous watts from my K3 into 700 meters of coax going to the Arctic King,
complemented with 8 Beverages and 30dB of preamplification.
The Arctic King
Conditions seemed poor, despite promising conditions in the days leading up to the
contest, band was very noisy, not a signal anywhere stronger than a 579 during
the entire period.
Despite bombarding some of the stronger stations with my massive signal, I had
to give up on many of them…not even a ? in return. Some stations seemed to
have their keyers on without any break for listening, impossible to even send
my call sideways – perhaps they had actually fallen asleep on their keyboard – I almost succumbed
myself at 0300 AM.
Other stations would answer on the first call. Seems that there is some lack of
respect for the Top Band.
Top Band is all about reception, not only transmit power. This is why I like
the Stew Perry event, it rewards those able to make the longest DX contacts.
Highlight of the event was being called by Jack, VE1ZZ.
Listen to our QSO:
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I just received this email from Jeff, K1ZM who was operating QRP – 5W only from his super station in Prince Edward Island.
you worked me also Thor with my MASSIVE 5w signal.
Happy Holidays from Prince Edward Island in Maritime Canada.
I heard you MANY TIMES and called off and on when I heard you – eventually
I managed to get your attention.
73 JEFF VY2ZM
Listen to our QSO at the end of this audio recording of a small run I had in a fit of optimism.
The first QSO in the recording is with EI7BA, followed by OE1TKW, GM4ZUK, VY2ZM and GM4AFF.
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Real Radio at it´s finest !
If my calculations are correct, this QSO was worth 84 points! (7 basic points x3 x4=84points – a record perhaps?), a distance of 3186 km.
Heard KH7X and ST2AR and several JA stations.
I look forward to taking part in the next event – this time with HIGH Power.
QRP – Never Again…
I think I may have a chance for winning a plaque in
the following categories.
Top Score – QRP Single-Op
Longest distance QSO with QRP transmitter
Aurora Borealis Award
Golden Log
TBD by the BARC Log Checkers (Greatest Optimist?, Strongest QRP Signal… :- ) )
Read the reports on the 3830 Score Rumors list.
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Arctic Ecstasy – First Ever QSO DU/TF !!
I have been monitoring the 160 Meter band closely in preparation for the Stew Perry Long Distance Challenge, and conditions have been steadily improving.
A Historic First Ever QSO between the Philippines and Iceland took place on 160 Meters.
The Arctic King showed his power yet again.
Listen to my QSO with Hiro, DU1/JJ5GMJ on 160 Meters.
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This was followed by a nice pile up, where the band was open to North America, Japan and Europe at the same time.
My country totals now stand at 174 Countries Worked – 168 Countries Confirmed on Top Band.
Conditions on 160 Meters are rather frustrating these days.
My receive ability on 160 Meters outperforms my transmit ability by a large margin, i.e. I can hear more than I can work even though I have the ability to run high power when needed.
I have been trying to work DU1IST for a long time and I am now hearing him with workable signals, but not even a “?” in return to my calls.
Such a QSO would be a historic first ever between the Philippines and Iceland on 160 Meters.
The reason DU1IST can not hear me, is most likely because of a higher noise level in the Philippines.
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Last night I worked DU1IST easily on 30 Meters:
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I hope conditions improve, this season may be the last opportunity we have in my life time.
Yesterday – 9th of December, I heard BU2AQ, in Taipei, Taiwan on 160M.
Despite numerous attempts, I was not able to raise him to give him a quick report, – we have worked twice before on Top Band.
Listen to his contact with SP3DOI
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Upon checking my records, I found that I have never received a QSL card from BU2AQ, although I have worked and confirmed another station from Taiwan – BU2AI.
My cards for both contacts with BU2AQ will be posted on Monday.
This bodes well for the winter DX season, I am still missing several Asian countries – including China…
4U1ITU – ITU HQ
The International Radio Club in the International Telecommunications Union, Geneva counts as a separate country in the DXCC program.
Their call sign 4U1ITU is activated regularly, but has been absent from 160 Meters until now.
It took an hour of calling to get their attention through the EU Wall, no easy task since their signals were quite weak with hordes of stations calling.
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This was country #173 worked on 160 Meters.
Update: The Postman delivered the QSL card on January 6., 2012.
Another new addition to my arsenal of test equipment is a brand new Riser Bond TDR purchased on eBay. A small repair was required to get the instrument to work, but the price was right.
With this instrument I get a visual picture of my feedlines and coax cables. I can use it to determine how well my Beverage antennas are working – a mismatch of the termination shows up very clearly and faults on my open wire feeders are easily located.
In addition, the instrument was very helpful when locating shorts on my 8 km long electric fence, showing me clearly which direction to walk in to locate any faults.
Lee, K7TJR pointed out on the Topband reflector:
“The Tek 465 and many other scope models can be used as a TDR
without building any circuitry. One simply needs to take the A gate
signal out of the rear panel of the scope and connect it in parallel with
the transmission line or antenna under test at the vertical scope input.
The gate signal provides a fast rise pulse on the line under test at the
beginning of the trace. Of course the sweep must be free running.
Reflections are easily seen as a result. I have used this very
technique with both single and dual direction Beverage antennas.”
I tried this technique with my oscilloscope, switching between the GATE signal and the signal from the Riser Bond being displayed on the oscilloscope – although the technique certainly works to show any reflections, it was difficult to get any meaningful display compared to that from the Riser Bond instrument.
The VNA2180 software will be upgraded within the next few weeks with a TDR function. That will be simply wonderful.
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