Due to the poor conditions lately caused by solar storms, I occasionally have a listen on the higher bands.
Laci, HA0NAR was operating as FW0NAR on 30M from the “Kingdom of Uvea” on Wallis Island when I heard him very weak, actually barely audible – as can be heard from the recording.
This is an all time new country for me, I don´t recall ever hearing a station from Wallis & Futuna before.
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I used my JA Rhombic to blast through the pileup (at the start of the recording) and a DX PIG shows up at the end of the recording by tuning up on the DX frequency. The recording is in stereo, with both sides of the split operation. I can not imagine a lesser antenna making this QSO possible. Here is another look at the DX PIG.
Centuries ago, cannibalism was the norm in these parts and I have met people from Polynesia who would pinch my arms and sides to check if I was fit to eat – I believe I was approved Foreigners are commonly referred to as ´long pigs´.
The photo below is linked from the web site of south-images.com and shows the preparation of a Polynesian feast.
A friend sent me a link to a Department of the US Army Technical Manual for the assembly of a Rhombic Antenna.
The document contains this beautiful image of a Rhombic Antenna.
I have built 5 such legendary Rhombic antennas on my property, two of them have direction switching – giving me 7 directions to choose from on 80m-10m.
Since my interest is mainly with 160 meters – the Top Band, I rarely use the firepower anymore.
Due to the recent sun spot minimum more or less since 2003, there has been little activity on 10-Meters and almost no activity from my station.
Yngvi´s score was 5 times higher than last year´s top score in this category from Europe and his QSO total is similar to what Multi-Operator stations in the US and top stations in the Caribbean accomplished this year.
KC1XX had 3061 QSO’s, the K3LR super station had 3033 QSOs on 10 meters and W2GD made 3356 contacts on 10 meters from P40W in Aruba to give a few examples from the contest this past weekend. TF4X´s 3124 QSOs compares very favorably considering the difference in propagation in the frigid north to what stations further south experience.
Most of the contest was recorded, both the audio and the 10 Meter Band spectrum using a Perseus SDR.
Here is a recording made on Sunday:
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Andrey, DL/KL1A sent me a link to a recording he made of TF4X in the Contest.
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Yngvi wrote in his Soap Box comments :
“Had a great time. Ten showed a bit of life but still big room for
improvement, e.g. no JA’s. Being able to transmit to many Rhombics
while selecting others for reception is a big plus. The performance
of the station was excellent apart from a 40 min. electricity outage
due to a fault at the power company. Thor’s station keeps improving
year by year. Due to poor conditions in the past few years there has
not been much activity from the station on ten meters. We now have
proof that the Rhombics do a great job on that band as well. “
It’s not all work and no play, we also take time to enjoy good food and wine, it has become a tradition that my visitors contribute to the food over the weekend in exchange for the use of the station.
On Thursday I put a leg of Mountain Lamb into the oven to slow cook for 24 hours at 60°C – it turned out absolutely magnificent – I will be using this method often in the future.
Yngvi generously brought a very nice aged T-Bone steak 5cm thick which I prepared in my gourmet kitchen for Saturday’s evening meal.
The raw T-Bone steak ready to cook
Ready to eat!
Perfect ! – details of cooking method provided on request.
The best T-Bone in the Arctic.
Sunday morning we had Spinach Shakshukah and in the evening slow cooked chicken…all dishes washed down with conservative amounts of fine wines.
Southern Sudan is being activated as a new entity with the call sign ST0R.
Pile ups have been fierce but I was able to work them on 30 Meters.
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And on 40 Meters SSB:
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The pile ups have been very chaotic and unruly, it seems that constant calling is in vogue and in addition extremely bad behavior may be observed on the transmit frequency of the DXpedition making copy extremely difficult. On top of all this jammers are out in force as well, creating a most shameful spectacle.
I agree with Andrey, RW3AH in his post, that this is probably the result of dropping the morse code requirement in Amateur Radio licensing.
We now have many former CB freebanders within our ranks who bring their criminal mindset to our hobby now that the only requirement for an Amateur Radio licence is enough money to buy a radio.
To the ST0R team: Thank you for going there and making the effort and thanks for all the excitement!
I found ST0R on 20 Meter CW in a free for all huge pile up this morning. It took only a couple of calls to get into the log and since it took a few tries to correct my call, I was greeted by name by the operator (RA9USU)
ST0R on 20M CW:
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The recording runs for a minute after the QSO to give an idea of the massive pile up.
Here is a video from RW3AH of the ST0R 20m pile up:
Wednesday July 27.: This morning they were quite light on 17 Meters, but I decided to try anyway. When I heard the operator say UP8 I immediately gave my call a few times on that frequency which resulted in the valuable contact.
ST0R on 17M CW:
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I spent a long time calling ST0R on 80 Meters when they first came on, but without a dedicated 80 Meter antenna I am simply not making it through the EU wall.
Later I was ready when they started operation on 40 Meters CW and snagged them within a minute of calling. The operator started listening low in the band moving slightly up with each QSO – such predictable operating makes it relatively easy to work the DXpedition – good work. (RA9USU).
ST0R on 40M CW
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This is what the pile up looked like on the display of my SDR receiver. (click on image to see it full size)
Thursday, July 28:
Things seem to be calming down a bit. After monitoring 17 Meters SSB for most of the day, their signals improved a bit and it only took a couple of calls to make the log.
ST0R on 17 Meters SSB:
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They have now been QRV on 80 Meters for a couple of nights. I have called them endlessly without luck since I do not have a dedicated antenna for 80 Meters (under construction – will hopefully be ready this winter) and have been using my USA Rhombic which has a poor radiation pattern at such a low frequency although it accepts the power readily.
I heard TF3SG work them – congratulations Guðmundur! – and it took me an hour more to finally work them.
ST0R 80M CW:
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ST0R 20M SSB:
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Now I am waiting for them to show up on Top Band and if I can contact them there I will be well pleased.
This is what their signals sound like in the Arctic.
VU4PB on 17 Meters:
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VU4PB on 15 Meters:
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Foreigners are commonly referred to as ´long pigs´.
