The King

CQ WW 160 – TF4X

On January 17, 2010, in Amateur Radio, by TF4M

Siggi, TF3CW was going to activate TF4X in the CQ WW 160 meter contest, but unforeseen circumstances caused him to cancel.

Yuri, K3BU, has stepped in and will operate the station in the Single Operator High Power category.

I sincerely hope that there will be no sun spots and no Aurora.

This may be the last chance in our life time to enjoy these fantastic conditions on Top Band.

I also hope the activity will reflect this – it would be so very cool if Yuri was able to work All 40 Zones in the contest !

It is interesting to note that I have followed the Tesla Radio Club project for years and several times I have been on the verge of writing to Yuri to invite him to my station !

Tagged with: 160M • contesting • CW • TF4X • The King • The Shack

First !! ever KH2L to TF QSO on Top Band.

On January 17, 2010, in Amateur Radio, by TF4M

Last year I almost finished a QSO with KH2L in Guam.

The contact was ruined by a LID with a HB9 call who began calling non-stop on top of the QSO preventing KH2L from hearing his report.

Seconds later the window of opportunity was gone and I have not heard Ed on 160 meters since.

Apparently the LID was cheating by listening on a remote Web based receiver, since he probably could not hear KH2L at all from his own station.

He did not account for the inevitable delays over the internet, causing his transmissions to be completely out of sync with what was really happening.

Although this could be chalked up to a beginners mistake – after all there are many moral aspects of DXing that need to be thought about and we all make mistakes, a cheater will always be found out eventually.

At the time I did not respond to the LID in any way, but perhaps I should have sent him an email asking for an explanation.

This morning, I saw KH2L spotted on my private DX cluster and immediately listened for him on the JA Beverage but he was quite weak.

The amplifier tripped and another 4 minute wait ensued but KH2L was still there and I was able to raise him for #140.

This is the first ever QSO between Guam and Iceland on 160 meters.

Of course the recording software did not work for some reason, I must usually start a new log file in Win-Test to solve that issue.

The contact has already been confirmed on LOTW.

While checking the LOTW award status, I discovered that I had a confirmation from SV5DKL in Rhodes, Dodecanese, which I had completely overlooked.

The DXCC-160 now stands at 141.

What a pleasure.

Tagged with: 160M • CW • DX • DXCC160 • FIRST! • The King

Happy New Year in the Arctic

On January 1, 2010, in Amateur Radio, by TF4M

The first QSO in the new year was with JD1BMH in Ogasawara.

The recording is made with almost 30dB of pre amplification from the JA Beverage.

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BA7IO was also heard with clear signals but I was unable to raise him.

BU2AQ in Taiwan was also worked for the second time and we exchanged HNYs.

I took some photos of my view, the first photo is towards the North, the Arctic King may be seen in the distance.

The second photo is taken towards the South.

Tagged with: 160M • audio • Beverage • CW • DX • The King

A day in the life of the Arctic King

On December 30, 2009, in Amateur Radio, by TF4M

Yesterday I worked JD1BMH in Ogasawara for a new country and zone. This morning I was up early and was called by JD1BMH for a second QSO immediately followed by a QSO with JD1BLY – also in Ogasawara !

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Earlier I made a few QSOs with several JA stations:

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Eduardo, TI8II in Costa Rica was worked for a new country #134.

This afternoon after adding another 16dB of pre-amplification using a DX Engineering Receiver Preamplifier 0.3-35 MHz – DXE-RPA-1 to the already present 12dB pre-amplification in my Beverage antenna system, I tested the system on 160m.

The noise level at my location is so low at times that I can actually get away with almost 30dB of pre-amplification from the already high output of my Beverage antennas. Receiver protection is included by switching the extra preamplifier off automatically during transmissions using a The DX Engineering TVSU-1 Time Variable Sequencer Unit.

I am now experiencing a new smoothness in my station along with peace of mind.

Several weak JA stations were worked and it was revealed that they would not have been workable without the extra amplification.

My reception is no longer only crystal clear, now it is powerful and crystal clear.

It seems that the Arctic King is even more powerful than I thought.

VK6GX called and we exchanged 559 reports, a bit later HS0ZEE in Chiang Mai, Thailand was worked for #135 and Zone 26 and Ross, 9M2AX also called me with excellent signals.

It is all rather hard to believe. Audio files will be posted in the Online Audio page soon.

NOTE: 01 January 2010. The recording time stamps in the recording were corrupted for some reason. The entire file may be listened to here:

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or downloaded directly: -http://tf4m.com/audio/160M_28Dec-31Dec2009.mp3-

Tagged with: 160M • audio • Beverage • The King