Fog

TF4M — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:54:51 +0000

A foggy day at TF4M

TF4M QRPp

TF4M — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:15:14 +0000

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.

[View with PicLens]

WAS First CW 160 meters from Iceland.

TF4M — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 23:36:34 +0000

ARRL DX CW 2010

TF4M — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:19:05 +0000

From the ARRL WEB:

The weekend of February 20-21 will be a busy one for CW operators as the 2010 ARRL DX CW Contest takes center stage. First started in 1927 as the ARRL International Relay Party, the ARRL DX CW contest lays claim to the longest running contest in Amateur Radio. Stations from all around the world — from Australia to Zimbabwe — should be active for this great event that takes place on 160-10 meters (contest QSOs are not permitted on 60, 30, 17 or 12 meters).

Stations in the US and Canada work only DX stations — Alaska and Hawaii are considered DX for this contest — and DX stations only work the US and Canada. DX stations will be trying to make QSOs with all US states and Canadian provinces as they can. The contest exchange is simple: US and Canadian stations send a signal report and their state or province, while DX stations send a signal report and the amount of power they are transmitting with.

I operated in the Single Operator, Single Band 160 meters (SOSB/160) category and I made 376 contacts with 56 States/Provinces for a total score of 63,000 points.

Conditions were poor, as the 160m band has not recovered from the massive Aurora a few days earlier.

Despite the poor conditions all US States except South Dakota and Idaho were worked.

I used my K3 in diversity mode with the USA rhombic feeding one receiver and two phased Beverage antennas 400 meter long in the other receiver.

Most stations worked were very low signal levels, at the same time stations in EU were pounding in at times with the usual Key Clicks.

The K3 handles these conditions well and although hard, working the contest was a pleasure.

The high points of the contest was being called by VK6GX (Australia) and OA4TT (Chile) for a quick exchange of reports.

My score is higher than last year´s top EU score (ON4UN – 61,548 points) by a small margin, so I feel that I did well despite the tough conditions – the score is most certainly a TF record.

It is possible to follow the scores on the DXWatch web site – SOSB/160 World – SOSB/160 EU.

I recorded the entire contest and you may listen to your QSO with me.

The World as seen by the Arctic King

TF4M — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:49:47 +0000

graphic by TF3JA:

Arctic Diamonds - TF4M » The King

Fog

TF4M QRPp

WAS First CW 160 meters from Iceland.

ARRL DX CW 2010

The World as seen by the Arctic King