Worked Burkina Faso - XT2BR

Ok, I'm terrible at geography.  But I'm learning! Ham radio has forced me to at least look at maps and become familiar with the names of countries and I feel like I've never heard of.  Burkina Faso is one such country. 

I was working FT8 on 20m and saw XT2BR from this unfamiliar country show up.  I was happy to work the station getting only a -19 signal report from him and then take a look to see where it was.

 Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa. It covers an area of around 105,900 square miles and is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north; Niger to the east; Benin to the southeast; Togo and Ghana to the south; and Ivory Coast to the southwest.

73 and good DX de KG4LST sk

Worked Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan - VR2XMT, BG7BDB, BV3UF, BX5AA

Since I installed my Mosley 3 element Yagi, I've been working harder to try to find and work new countries.  I decided to take a day off of work to get some service done on my truck.  Before my appointment, I went into my shack and casually sat down with a cup of coffee to play radio.  I saw Hong Kong (VR2XMT) calling CQ, so I tried to answer.  It took a little bit, but we made the contact!

VR2XMT - Hong Kong

Later, I saw China (BG7BDB) calling CQ and I was able to work him too!

BG7BDB - China

I was excited about Hong Kong and China, but then I saw Taiwan (BV3UF).  That was a first! I was able to work him!

BV3UF - Taiwan

To my surprise, I found and worked another station in Taiwan (BX5AA)! 

BX5AA (left) - Taiwan

Wow! What a morning!  Before I knew it, it was time to go to my appointment and I had to go QRT.

73 and good DX de KG4LST sk

Worked South Korea - DS5USH

I get a great deal of enjoyment from working DX and I'm always on the hunt for a new county.  With my Yagi pointed towards Asia, I saw South Korea show up on 20m FT8 for the first time!  I replied to the CQ call from DS5USH and was pleased to get a response! At over 7,100 miles, I'm proud to get South Korea in the log!

Joo Ho Nam - DS5USH in South Korea

South Korea is in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and lying east to the Asian mainland.

KG4LST to DS5USH

73 and good DX de KG4LST sk

Worked Guantanamo Bay - KG4WH

A while back I wrote about people incorrectly assuming I was in Guantanamo Bay Cuba because my callsign starts with KG4 (Guantanamo is KG4XX but KG4XXX was issued in "4 land").  Well now, I've had the pleasure of working a station in Guantanamo Bay myself!

I worked Wade (KG4WH) on 20m FT8!

Guantanamo Bay is a United States military base and detention camp located on 45 sq miles of land and water at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, which the U.S. leased for use as a coaling station and naval base in 1903.

Early Morning Japanese Contacts on 30m

I very rarely get up early and get on the radio during the week.  I had some stuff happening at work early one morning and I had to go in before 5:30AM to do something minor and then I was back home by 6:00AM.  I decided to try a little FT8 while I drank my coffee before I had to go back to work at 8:00AM.  I heard John (K4WCL) talking about having some good DX contacts on 30m recently.  That got me to thinking about how long it had been since I had been on 30m and that I'm not sure if I had worked great DX on that band or not.

I tuned my radio over to the FT8 frequency on 30m, switched over to my Maxcon OCF dipole, and enabled my internal tuner.  I started decoding singals from Asia!  I started making my calls to the stations calling CQ from Japan.  Before I knew it, I had been sitting there for an hour and had worked 12 stations in Japan with just 50watts into the dipole!

I saw Masa (JE1LET) spotted on the DX cluster on 20m voice. So I moved over there, switched to my yagi, and switched on the amp.  Masa must have had his dual 6 element yagis pointed directly at my 3 element.  He was 59+10db and absolutely booming into North Georgia!  We had a pleasant QSO and then it was time to go QRT and get ready for work.  What a way to set the tone for the day!

KG4LST log snip

73 and good DX de KG4LST sk

Worked Uzbekistan - UK9AA

I was able to log another new country! This time I was able to get my signal into Uzbekistan.  UK9AA and I made contact on 20m FT8.

UK9AA

Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked sovereign state in Central Asia.

73 and good DX de KG4LST sk

Worked Sri Lanka - 4S7AVR

I had the privilege of working Sri Lanka for the first time on 20m FT8!  I was using the yagi, but FT8 impresses me in the fact that I was able to work 4S7AVR at 9,300+ miles away with only 50watts of power.  Sadly, Noel has not yet confirmed this contact via QRZ or LoTW.

Sri Lanka is an island country in South Asia, located in the Indian Ocean to the southwest of the Bay of Bengal and to the southeast of the Arabian Sea. It is separated from the Indian subcontinent by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait.

4S7AVR in Sri Lanka

73 and good DX de KG4LST sk