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 :

Download audio file (PJ4C_160_QSO.mp3)

The second recording is edited to have only the QSO between PJ4C and TF4M.

PJ4C_160mQSO

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:

Download audio file (PJ4C_80M.mp3)

This is a recording of our 40m QSO:

Download audio file (PJ4C_40M_QSO.mp3)

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This is a recording of our QSO on 160 Meters.

Download audio file (V5-DK1CE_160.mp3)

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.

Download audio file (JAN02_2012_160M.mp3)

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.

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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:

StewPerry2011_VE1ZZ

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.

http://www.vy2zm.com

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.

SP_VY2ZM_QRP

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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