Thank you, Carlos (YV1GIY) for the digital QSL card for our July 17, 2022 30m FT8 contact.
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| YV1GIY Digital QSL Card |
April 28, 2025
Digital QSL Card from YV1GIY for a July 17, 2022 30m FT8 contact
Digital QSL Card from BV7RR for a May 22, 2022 20m FT8 contact
Thank you Fingsen (BV7RR), for our 20m FT8 contact on May 22, 2022 and your digital QSL card.
April 4, 2024
Tuvalu (T2C) contacts confirmed on LoTW from October 2023
I was delighted to see five of my contacts with Tuvalu (T2C) confirmed this morning on the Logbook of the World (LoTW). The contacts covered a distance of 8,011 km (4,978 miles). These five DX contacts were made in October of 2023. I now have Tuvalu confirmed on 10M, 15M, 17M, 20M, and 30M. These move me closer to earning the DXCC Challenge award by bringing my total to 860 confirmed contacts.
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| Flag of Tuvalu |
Tuvalu (formerly known as the Ellice Islands) is an island country in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean, between Hawaii and Australia. It lies east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands, northeast of Vanuatu, southeast of Nauru, south of Kiribati, west of Tokelau, northwest of Samoa and Wallis and Futuna, and north of Fiji.
Tuvalu is composed of three reef islands and six atolls. Tuvalu had a population of 10,645 in 2017, making it the second-least populous country in the world, behind Vatican City. Its total land area is 26 square kilometers (10 sq mi).
February 13, 2024
Completed 12m ARRL DXCC Award
A big THANK YOU to Bobby (VP8WA) in the Falkland Islands for being my 100th DXCC contact confirmed on LoTW on 12 meters.
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| Flag of the Falkland Islands |
The Falkland Islands is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf with 3,662 inhabitants in 2021. At the time of this writing, a QRZ.com query returned a total of 225 call signs issued by the Falkland Islands. The number of active hams will be less than this figure.
The principal islands are about 300 mi (480 km) east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about 752 mi (1,210 km) from Cape Dubouzet at the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, at a latitude of about 52°S. The archipelago, with an area of 4,700 sq mi (12,000 km2), comprises East Falkland, West Falkland, and 776 smaller islands. As a British overseas territory, the Falklands have internal self-governance, but the United Kingdom takes responsibility for defense and foreign affairs.
I am delighted to have earned the ARRL 12 meters DXCC award. It took many years to earn this award. All contacts were made with 100 watts or less and using simple wire antennas.
As I write this, I have now completed DXCC on 10 Meters, 12 Meters, 15 Meters, 17 Meters, 20 Meters, 30 Meters, and 40 Meters. At this moment, I will be working on achieving DXCC on just one more band.
Good DX and 73, NJ2X
- 6 Meters - No gain antenna
- 80 Meters - 48 qualifying contact confirmed on LoTW
- 160 Meters - No antenna
Good DX and 73, NJ2X
February 11, 2024
Digital QSL Card from KH2GM for a February 10, 2024 12m FT8 contact
Thank you Jesus (KH2GM), for our 12m FT8 contact on February 2, 2024 and your digital QSL card. The photo is most impressive.
Digital QSL card from N4NQ February 10, 2024 12m FT8 contact
Thank you, Sid (N4NQ), for the wonderful digital QSL card for our February 10, 2024 12m FT8 contact. I really love the Georgia Queen river boat in the photo. I look forward to our next contact further on down the log.
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| N4NQ Digital QSL Card |
February 3, 2024
Vermont QSO Party 2024
It is time for the Vermont QSO Party 2024! Check out all the rules on Vermont QSO Party (ranv.org).
Event: 0000Z, Feb 3 to 2400Z, Feb 4, 2024
February 2, 2024
Meet the students using radio waves to contact the ISS
This is an excellent NBC's Today Show news program with Harry Smith reporting about students using amateur radio to contact the International Space Station.
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| International Space Station |
January 21, 2024
Digital QSL Card from AA5SH - January 15, 2024 10m FT4 contact
Thank you, Michael (AA5SH), for the wonderful QSL card for our January 15, 2024 10m FT4 contact. I look forward to our next contact further on down the log.
January 20, 2024
Digital QSL Card from W0PAS - January 14, 2024 FT4 12m contact
Thank you, Paul (W0PAS), for the beautiful digital QSL card for our January 14, 2024 12m contact on FT4. I look forward to our next contact further on down the log.
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January 14, 2024
2100 US Counties Confirmed on QRZ.com
Tonight (January 13, 2024), I completed and confirmed my 2100th unique US County contact with Shaun (KQ4HUU) located in Carlisle County, Kentucky. Thank you, Shaun, for Carlisle County and the new milestone on my journey to completing and confirming contacts with all 3,007 US Counties on QRZ.com.
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My Q-rate for new county contacts has steadily and noticeably declined. Gone are the days where I could make new county contacts all day and night long. I am lucky if I can make a couple of new ones each week. This certainly makes the hunt more interesting.
Accelerating my Q-rate with new county contacts means doing something different than randomly listening and pouncing. At my present declining rate, it is apparent that I simply won't make contact with all US counties in my lifetime.
To increase the possibility of receiving help from hams operating in counties that I need, I signed up on The County Hunter Web. The site has a "Special Needs" page where hams can advertise the specific counties that they are chasing. The idea is that hams will read these pages and offer help when they are able. I decided to only add the states where I need a critical few rare-DX counties. I haven't received any offers for help yet for the few states and counties I added. It would be wonderful if I do.
I have tried directly contacting hams in counties that I need to inquire if they would be interested in setting up a sked. So far, this approach hasn't borne fruit. I have had no success in arranging skeds with this method in spite of many hours of research and sending emails. Nevertheless, the idea is sound and likely required. Eventually, I will need to arrange help to make contacts with some of the more rare-DX US counties (e.g., Greenlee County, AZ).
A variant I have tried is to join various repeaters in counties I need using Allstar Net or EchoLink and make a call to ask for help on HF. This approach actually has worked, and I was able to schedule and log HF contacts this way. Unfortunately, most of the time when I drop my call on a repeater in this way, I receive no response - silence. I have concluded that repeaters in rare-DX counties are rarely used. In general, I enjoy this approach since it involves radio and also for the random fun factor.
Another possibility is to travel (or near) the counties I need to log contacts that way. This is a rather expensive proposition in terms of time, money, and effort. However, it worth considering when incidentally travelling. The obvious mode and band choice in this scenario would be FM on UHF or VFH for portability and making local line-of-sight contacts.
I have accumulated several states where I only need one or two more county contacts to complete the state. If you happen to live in one these counties or nearby and would be willing to help me out, please send me an email to set up a sked with me. I would greatly appreciate the help.
- Maine - Somerset County
- Vermont - Grand Isle County
- New Jersey - Hudson County
- Maryland - Kent County, Worchester County
- Arizona - Greenlee County
- Virgin Islands - Saint John County
If you are an amateur radio County hunter, please leave a comment with what you have found to work well for you. It would be wonderful to learn from you.
January 13, 2024
Digital QSL Card from N0JL - January 13, 2024
Thank you to John (N0JL) for sending a beautiful digital QSL card for our January 13, 2024 FT4 contact on 12m. I really love the QSL card photograph with the reflection of the bucolic scene in the mirror like surface of the pond. It looks so peaceful and serene. John, I look forward to our next contact further on down the log.
January 3, 2024
2023 - My amateur radio year in review
Each year, I like to take a look at my progress toward my amateur radio related goals. The New Year is a perfect time for reflection and evaluation. Here are a few statistics I collected related to my amateur radio operations for 2023 as of January 1, 2024. It was a very good year for radio thanks to the abundance of sunspots. Looking forward to even better conditions 2024 as the 11 year sunspot cycle peaks.
Logbook of the World
- Total QSO records = 16,788 (3360 added in 2023)
- Total QSL records = 11,141 (2,315 added in 2023)
- DXCC unique countries = 177 (20 added in 2023)
- DXCC Challenge progress = 827/1000 = 66% (171 added in 2023)
- DXCC 80m = 46
- DXCC 40m = 100 ☑
- DXCC 30m = 107 ☑
- DXCC 20m = 123 ☑
- DXCC 17m = 117 ☑
- DXCC 15m = 123 ☑
- DXCC 12m = 87
- DXCC 10m = 117 ☑
- DXCC 6m = 5
- WAS from Santa Cruz, County California
- WAS 12m completed in 2023
- WAS 12m digital completed in 2023
- WAS band awards: 80m, 40m,30m, 20m, 17m, 15m, 12m, 10m
- WAS 6m = 22 states
- WAS FT4 = 48 states
QRZ.com
- Number of grid squares confirmed = 1216 (144 added in 2023)
- Number of US Counties confirmed = 2098 (463 added in 2023)
- Number of bands with confirmed continents award = 8 (0 added in 2023)
- Number of bands with all 50 states confirmed = 8 (1 added in 2023)
- Leaderboard:
- Most Confirmed QSOs = #6,748 (11,816 QSOs)
- Most Countries Worked = #10,170 (180 QSOs)
- Most Band-Countries Worked = #7,492 (847 QSOs)
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