Thursday, February 14, 2013

Something good is going on!!!

The view at CT9/OM3RM..
I was sitting at the operating desk this evening setting up N1MM logger for the ARRL CW contest starting Friday. I was sitting with the K3 on 40m and clicking on spots on the N1MM band map, wanting to see if the radio followed and all was working well. There was a spot CT9/OM3RM and I clicked on the spot and the rig did do as it was told  and go to the spot. I could hear Madeira island calling CQ so I gave it a go and low and behold he came back to me!! Now for some this is no big deal BUT for reasons unknown my attic
C6APG setup
dipole just does not like 40m at all. It's to the point were U.S station struggle to hear me. I then saw C6APG in the Bahamas again on 40m gave him a call and he too came back to me. I am in total shock with how 40m is co-operating this evening. I hope this holds up for the contest this weekend it sure will help out the score for sure. Maybe I will spin the K3 antenna tuner and give 80m a go as well! Oh and just for the record both these contacts were done with 5 watts QRP and the faithful attic dipole.

6 comments:

Jspiker said...

Hello Mike,

40 meters is a puzzling band at times. I've spent a lot of time there but rarely work DX. But just when I'm never expecting it; something creeps onto the band.

Both those stations are good catches on 40 meters. I worked a station on Madeira island on 17 meters the other day and tonight I worked the same station on the Grand Bahama Island but on 30 meters. The Grand Bahama station was a new one for me.

Good luck on the contest. I'm off for a long drive tomorrow and will be gone all weekend. I'm not a big contest worker since I don't have filters in my radio. Sounds like a beehive to me.

Larry W2LJ said...

Hi Mike,

The bands are always active the week before a big DX contest like this. Everybody uses the preceding days to get set up and/or tweak their stations. I worked a CT9/OM3 station also; but mine had a different suffix.

It should be an interesting weekend. Looks like the sun won't be helping too much, but somehow it seems that contests generate their own propagation. Maybe it's due to heating up the ionosphere with all that RF!

72 de Larry W2LJ

VE9KK said...

Good afternoon John, thanks for the well wishes in the contest. Safe travels on Friday there and back.
Mike

VE9KK said...

Good afternoon Larry, yes I was very shocked with both contacts on a band were most of the time the U.S is big time DX for me. Have a great weekend Larry.
Mike

Mike W5RST said...

Three cheers for attic dipoles... I, too, have to rely on one and am stilled surprised how well it works for QRP. Mine is OK for 40M, but I have to do a lot of fiddling with the tuner to do 17 M. I suspect that many factors influence the success of these installations (like the presence of heating units, ductwork, etc).
73, Mike N5JKY

VE9KK said...

Bravo Mike, great to hear from another attic dipoler. I don't have any duct work or heating anything in my attic. The tuner in my K3 seems to work wonders with any band even including 80m on a 10m to 40m dipole. Not sure how will it will do on 80m but this weekend in the contest I am going to try to find out!! Mike do you have a blog or website with your setup??
Have a great weekend and thanks for taking the time to stop by and comment.
Mike