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Several QSL cards have arrived after the last 630m 'crossband' event ... including one from ZF1EJ in the Cayman Islands confirming our 630m QSO in January.



 

The contact was made on JT-9, the 'WSPR QSO' mode, and represents DXCC country #3 for me on 630m ... only 97 more to go! ZF1EJ was running just 32 watts output when we had our 630m JT-9 contact but has since cranked his output to around 60 watts. Eden is beaconing most nights on WSPR and puts out a well-heard signal. He is very interested in two-way JT-9 work with other VE stations as well as any Europeans and down-under stations.

From what I can tell, it looks like JT-9 (similar to JT-65 but a much narrower bandwidth of 15.6Hz) is establishing itself as the go-to mode for weak signal two-way work on 630m. It has a couple of things going for it that makes it very attractive for this band ... it can dig way down into the noise (-25 db approximately) and communicate with very weak signals and, it does not require amateurs to know CW, a growing trend with newer operators and a real hindrance to two-way CW work. I suspect, and hope, that there will be much more CW activity on 630m once amateurs in the U.S.A. get the band as the amount of information that can be exchanged per transmission on JT-9 is limited ... time will tell.

In the meantime, here is a request for more two-way 'crossband' CW activity with amateurs in all parts of North America. I have recently totally revised the 'CQ Crossband' page on my website, 'The VE7SL Radio Notebook'. Please note that my web address for well over a decade, is no longer valid and everything has been moved to this new location. If you have the old one bookmarked or are linking to it from your own site, please be aware that previous links will now be dead.

The crossband concept allows amateurs not yet on 630m to still participate in this exciting part of the spectrum ... and to check out their ability to hear anything on MF. If we were to make a schedule for a crossband contact, I would be transmitting on 630m at full ERP while you would be answering on one of the HF bands ... usually 160, 80 or 40m.

I am very much interested in setting up crossband schedules for 630m at any time and can very likely enlist several other VE7s to be there as well so that you can work more than one station. I have full details on my updated 'CQ Crossband' web page but please do not hesitate to give crossband a try!


Roger, VE7VV in Victoria, B.C., recently became the 8th VE7 to muster RF on 630m, with power limited to 1 watt at present. Our contact was on CW while he worked stations in Vancouver on JT-9. Hopefully he will continue to build his station and become more active on the band.

Crossband continues to be a subject of much interest both here and with many U.S. stations that are waiting for the band. Recent cards from Colorado and California, shown below, are the latest to arrive.




K6YK gave me an RST of '519' but explained the reason for this was because he was receiving on his 3 el HF tri-bander which provided the best signal-to-noise value! This is often the case on 630m so try what you have. Many times a 'non-resonant' antenna will pick up less noise and yield the best signal readability.

If you would like to try a crossband QSO, please contact me at VE7SL (at) shaw.ca ... I'll keep the rig warmed up!

The postwoman was very kind to me last week, leaving five QSL's in two days, as well as a package of cards from the QSL bureau. It rather evoked memories of anxiously watching for the Saturday morning postman (do you remember when they actually delivered mail to your door on Saturday's!) as an 11 year old SWL, hoping that there might be another QSL for my attic radio shack wall.

Four of the cards were for recent 2m EME contacts ...








 ... and one was for 160m, confirming a winter CW QSO with Haiti, bringing my 160m DXCC total to 158 confirmed.



I have always loved QSL's, and looking back, the whole concept of collecting these small treasures was one of the things that initially attracted me to the radio world, when reading a magazine article about shortwave listening and collecting QSL's. I'm not so sure I love the QSL bureau though, but that's a whole other topic ...

Confirmed DXCC entity #332 arrived in the mail last week. With a total of 339 active DXCC entities, this leaves just seven to go.




Although I had worked Tunisia a couple of years ago on 15m, I was never able to get the contact confirmed. In spite of sending an SAE and green stamps for postage, 3V8HQ's several promises of his card 'soon to be mailed', proved to be hollow.

The contact with 3V8HQ was my first and only one with Tunisia, since being licenced in 1963. The low level of ham radio activity from 3V8 combined with the challenges of VE7 to Meditteranean Africa propagation, made it a difficult one to work.

courtesy: https://www.google.ca/maps

I was excited to see one other station becoming active this past year, club station 3V8SS ... but it seemed that whenever they were on (very early out on the west coast), they were on RTTY and not on CW. During the past recent ARRL CW DX test, I noticed that they were active ... a rare event and maybe another opportunity to work Tunisia on CW once again. As luck would have it, propagation was good enough to make the QSO, as my old (twice refurbished) Cushcraft A3S tribander came through once again.

My present confirmed list sitting at 332, combined with my 10 confirmed 'deleted' entities, brings the overall confirmed total to 342. The seven remaining entities will be very difficult, if not impossible, unless I live to be 150. They are:

            FT/G, TO - Glorioso
            HK0 - Malpelo Island
            KP5 - Desecheo Island
            P5 - N. Korea
            SV/A - Mt. Athos
            Z8 - S. Sudan
            ZL9 - Auckland / Campbell Islands

A couple of these have been active in past recent years ... for some, I was asleep at the switch and for others, I was away travelling at the time. With solar conditions heading downhill quickly, and possibly staying there for many many years, the prospects of working these last seven is looking pretty bleak.

On the other hand, my favorite winter band (160m) should continue to improve. Last week also brought a new DXCC QSL for me on that band, A35T in Tonga, bringing my confirmed total on that band to 157.

Getting new entities from here on out will be increasingly challenging ... I guess I need to remember, that if it was easy, it just wouldn't be any fun!

The summer propagation doldrums, as well as my roof reshingling projects, received a short respite this week with the arrival of a new DXCC QSL for 160m. The K1N card (Navassa Island Expedition) was received for my CW QSO this past winter. The card brought my 160m DXCC total to 155 worked and confirmed while adding one more to my overall all-band total of 336 / 336.


Sunday afternoon brought a rare and welcome 2m sporadic-E opening. Signals on 6m towards Colorado quickly rose from a normal 'S9' to ear-shattering S9 + 30-40db with one signal putting the S-meter of my IC-756PROIII hard against the right pin and completely blanking the bandscope's lower regions ... I have only seen this happen once before, when beaming semi-local VE7XF while he is running high-power.

I immediately activated my Es MUF receiver (Icom R-7000), tuned to an empty FM frequency and squelched. Not long after, the squelch broke with a strong signal also from Colorado and several more throughout the band. It is difficult to ID FM signals as they rarely identify except at the top of the hour.

After several CQ's on 144.200 (9el yagi and 150 watts) aimed to the SE, W9RM in Colorado popped-up briefly with an S9 signal and was quickly worked before he faded. Unfortunately, either due to lack of activity or fast-deteriorating conditions, his was the only signal heard. In terms of 'quality' of the opening, it was poor, but any 2m Es is always exciting.

I once had a two-hour 2m Es opening to southern California and worked 32 Californians on 2m SSB before conditions faded ... it would be nice to see that once again. One of the fellows I worked that night had just set up his new 2m transceiver and, not being familiar with 2m propagation, told me 'I'll look for you again tomorrow night'. I told him that he could look for me for the next 20 years and he'd likely not hear me ... that opening was 32 years ago!

Let's hope we get some more 2m Es before the season ends as it is one of the most exciting propagation experiences there is.

When initially listening for the station in Calgary, CFVP on 6030, I was never able to detect more than a weak, watery carrier. Conditions must have been much worse than I had suspected as normally this path is an easy one. A few weeks later, when I started looking for them again, I found their 100 watt signal to be quite robust, several days in a row. In the early afternoon, their signal was peaking 5x7 and continued to build until Radio Marti in Florida signed on a few hours before sunset and dominated the frequency for the rest of the night.

An e- mail report to long-time veri-signer and Ontario DX Association mainstay, Harold Sellers, brought a quick e-mail verification. I was hoping that CFVP would still be issuing a paper QSL but nowadays that is getting to be a rarer and rarer policy.


Harold also reports the following details about CFVP:

Next on the the list was Toronto's CFRX, 6070, whose signal has been strong, starting well before local sunset. Veri-signer Steve Canney, VA3SC, requested a written report and an SASE which was quickly rewarded by a rare and very real paper QSL.



Steve reports that CFRX is simulcasting CFRB (1010kHz) using 1000 watts into an omnidirectional vertical antenna. They have received several reports from Europe over the many years that he has been sending verifications.

Now to tackle CKZU!

Ever since receiving my first QSL in the mail, as an 11 year-old SWL in Cycle 19, I've always loved getting new cards. Strange as it sounds, I can still recall the fresh ink smell and the brown manila envelope that arrived from "Switzerland Calling". In those days the world was a much larger place and Switzerland may as well have been on the moon. It was a world away ... and the envelope was addressed just to me!

I had a similar thrill this week, when my rural mailbox revealed a much-needed card from Afghanistan. It was from Shuravi, T6T, worked a few weeks ago on 20m ... surprising, as he was using just a low wire dipole supported with bamboo poles.

The card confirmed DXCC country #335 for me with most of them, like T6T, being on CW.

I keep a separate country count, and albums, for my two favorite bands ...160m and 6m, where it seems that new ones come either very slowly or in bunches.

As of today, my 160m total stands at 154 worked and confirmed while my total on the magic band stands at 86 worked and 85 confirmed ... proof of the Pacific  Northwest's 6m black hole phenomenon. Sadly I neglected to quickly post a card to 4U1UN for a Saturday morning F2 QSO during Cycle 21. Later attempts proved futile as the logs were subsequently destroyed in a small fire.

The nine remaining DXCC countries will be tough, as, from what I can determine, there is little or no regular amateur radio activity from most of them:

H40  Temotu Province
FT/TO  Glorioso Island
HK0  Malpelo Island
KP5  Descecheo Island
P5  DPR of Korea
SV/A  Mt. Athos
VP8  South Sandwich Islands
Z8  Southern Sudan
ZL9  Auckland / Campbell Island


I've stayed away from e-QSLing as the look and the feel of a written paper card, was one of the first things that attracted me to the hobby and it seems, to me anyway, an important ham radio tradition to keep alive as long as possible. After all these years, I'm still hooked on QSLs.

In the day to day, sometimes it's easy to forget the little things that make life worthwhile.

1) Like that yesterday was my daughter Cara's 13th birthday - she's officially a teenager now!



3) That while I was eating my chicken corn chowder in my Jeep, I managed to work DL4ISX in Germany (with some difficulty due to QSB) and HF37SONDA in Poland (who was super loud).

4) That I came home to a packet of QSL cards from the Bureau, including:






Yeah, it's the little things in life that are the absolute best!

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!