Worked Philippines - DU9/W1JET

 

I've only just recently worked the Philippines for the first time.  Last night I saw DU9/W1JET on 12m FT8.  As I typically do, I looked into the operator and found that Paul was a pilot (hence the W1JET vanity call) and is now retired and living in the Philippines.  What an interesting contact and at over 9,000 miles away, it was great to work another station in the Philippines and on a new band!

73 and good DX de K4LST sk 

Worked Japan on 10m SSB Phone - JA8COE

 

Takahashi-san (JA8COE)

I was very excited to have worked Japan on 12m SSB phone a couple days ago.  Last night, I worked JA8COE "Taka" in Hokkaido Japan on 10m SSB phone!  The conditions lately on 12m and 10m have been really good from my QTH in Georgia USA to Asia.  I'm glad I have resumed radio operations after a couple years of being QRT.  Solar cycle 25 is providing great DX.  This was a great and memorable contact in the log and my first SSB phone QSO on 10m with Japan.

K4LST to JA8COE

73 and good DX de K4LST sk

Worked Japan on 12m SSB Phone - JE1RXJ

JE1RXJ Antennas

For some reason, I find great joy in working the many skilled operators in Japan.  When I first got on HF, I deemed Japan and Australia as my 2 most wanted countries.  I first worked Japan on 20m SSB phone in January of 2018 with 100w and a wire antenna.  I've since worked many Japanese stations on FT8 and SSB.  Recently, I've found that 10m and 12m FT8 yielded many Japanese stations too.  About 7:30PM, I was tuning through the 12m SSB band when I found JE1RXJ "Tack"-san working US stations. I only had 100w and a OCF dipole, but made a call to him anyway.  He returned quickly and made a nice QSO.  This was my first time working Japan on 12m SSB phone!  I think his antenna did most of the work...and possibly solar cycle 25.  None the less, it was a fun contact and I thought it was worth sharing.

K4LST to JE1RXJ

73 and good DX de K4LST sk

Worked Crozet Island - FT8WW

 

I was still getting my shack at my new QTH put together when FT8WW went QRV from Crozet Island.  I was under the impression that the OM would be on the air until March of 2023.  By the time I got my OCF dipole in the air, I realized that the FT8WW station only had a temporary permit and it had expired.  I thought I had missed my chance. 

Last night, I got a DX spot from some local friends for 9U5R in Burundi (which I did work on 40m!).  After working them, I decided to try my chances with 3Y0J on Bouvet Island on 30m.  No success there.  When I was about ready to give up on Bouvet, I noticed a spot on the DX cluster for FT8WW on 20m. A quick QSY and I was decoding FT8WW!  Sadly corruption occurs in ham radio too.  On the cluster, people were reporting that FT8WW was a pirate.  I was unsure. I checked their website for news and it indicated that the permit had been extended.  So I called.  After just a few calls, I got a reply and logged the contact.  I went QRT for the night not sure if I worked a ATNO or a pirate.  

This morning, I checked the FT8WW website again and saw an update that the OM is back on the air on 20m and 15m.  I went to Clublog and queried their log for my callsign and sure enough, I'm logged on 20m!  It's a little sad that I have to verify contacts like this due to frequent pirates.  I'm glad I got the chance to work Crozet Island and hope to get them again on 15m before they are QRT.

The Crozet Islands (#3 on the Clublog most wanted list) are a sub-Antarctic archipelago of small islands in the southern Indian Ocean. They form one of the five administrative districts of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands.

73 and good DX de K4LST sk

Worked Burundi - 9U5R

 I got a spot from our local DX group showing 9U5R in Burundi on 40m FT8.  I tuned my radio and was decoding them pretty well.  I gave several calls and got a response.  However due to changing conditions, I lost the decode of their signal before getting to the 73.  So what is a guy to do?  My OCD brain refused to log it.  I continued to try to work them again as their signal came back.  No luck.  I somehow managed to find their clublog recent worked stations and saw that my callsign was in fact listed.  A bit later, I found that they had updated their clublog and queried it for my callsign.  There it was!  Logged on 40m!  

Now what?  I didn't log it and therefor didn't have the details.  So I explored my WSJT-X all.txt files and found the QSO.  That gave me the timestamp and signal reports for the log.  Now I've got them in there!  Burundi was an ATNO for me!

Burundi (#64 on the Clublog most wanted list) is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Great Lakes region and East Africa. It is bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and southeast, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west.

73 and good DX de K4LST

My OCF Dipole and the 30m Miracle

 
As modern radio operators, we take a lot for granted.  It's my understanding that back in the old days a ham might have several dipoles that might each work on 1 or 2 bands.  Now we have good multiband antennas like the off-center-fed dipoles.  I use an OCF dipole made locally in Georgia called a Maxcon OCF-3K80.  This antenna claims "Operating bands 10, 12, 17, 20, 40 & 80 meters without a tuner."  Let me tell you, it works FB just as advertised.  I've also used the Maxcon OCF-3K80 on 6m, 15m, 30m and on even 60m with fairly good results using just the built-in tuner on my rig.  

Unlike a lot of folks, I like to use LMR400 equivalent feedline even on HF especially to reduce noise (in and out of the coax) and to prevent loss since I'm feeding my OCF dipole with 100+ft of coax.  I do use the Maxcon line isolator choke to isolate the antenna from the feedline.  I'm not sure this is working exactly as it should...

Maxcon OCF-3K80

When I first got setup at my new QTH with my OCF dipole, I was able to use it on all advertised bands plus 6m, 15m, and 30m with the tuner.  I could not use it on 60m as I could at my previous QTH.  At that location, I was feeding the antenna with 150ft of LMR400.  So I assume the line isolator isn't fully isolating the antenna from the feedline and therefor the longer length of feedline was allowing the radio tuner to see a different resonance.  

Yesterday, I added a barrel connector and 15ft of LMR400 to the 100ft already feeding my OCF dipole.  After a little cable management, I tested and found that it no longer was able to tune 30m.  I removed the 15ft coax extension and tested and was still not able to tune 30m.  Quite frustrated, I went to bed. This morning, still bothered, I went to check again.  I pressed the tune button on my FTDX-101D...just a beep and it gave up.  I pressed it again...and it tuned it flat.  What the hell?  All I can figure is that it's a miracle my rig's tuner is able to tune this OCF dipole flat on 30m.  Looking at the antenna on an analyzer shows no discernible dip for 30m and the SWR is about 5.4:1 on the entire 30m band.  That is beyond an internal tuners capabilities.  Somehow, my rig's tuner apparently can do it but slight adjustments to the antenna (or feedline by extension) might push it out of the tuners capabilities.  Apparently even the time of day, moisture in the air, or other unknown variables can also prevent it from tuning (such as last night it wouldn't tune and this morning it would).  The weird part is that when the rig does tune it, it will memorize this tuning and so the antenna is usable on 30m until another adjustment is done that might need a retuning.  

I was rather frustrated with losing 30m.  Even though this antenna doesn't advertise 30m capabilities, it works quite well and I've worked some good DX with it.  I only use FT8 on 30m, so I really didn't want build a 30m dipole for this one band considering I can pretty much work all the other bands except 160m with the Maxcon.  Spoiled little modern operator.  In any case, I'm hoping that I can once again extend my coax and clean up the cable management without losing 30m.  Here's hoping I hold my mouth right.

UPDATE 2/7/2023

I found that again, I couldn't not get my tuner to retune and the SWR was just a bit high on 30m.  After moving (separating) my coax feedlines for HF and VHF antennas, I was once again able to tune 30m flat.  The latest theory is that the VHF feedline right beside the HF feedline was somehow coupling and presenting as additional "length" on my OCF dipole.  All is ok for now...except the wheels are turning for additional antennas.

73 de K4LST sk   

Worked Guinea - 3X1A

3X1A Guinea

We have a good group of  locals here in North Georgia that chase DX.  We try to help each other out and share "spots" over the repeater, text, and other messaging apps.  I received a spot from a friend for 3X1A, Jean Philippe Paulino, in Guinea.  I had not worked Guinea before, so I tuned to 10.133Mhz in Hound mode and began calling.  After a few minutes, I got a good signal report and put this new entity in the log!

The next day I found 3X1A on 21.081Mhz and worked him again.  It's nice to have this new entity on 2 bands!

Guinea is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Cote d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sierra Leone and Liberia to the south.

73 de K4LST sk