Category Archives: Aurora

Good Aurora Opening

Posted on September 4, 2022 by dh8bqa

One day too late! 😀 Good ol’ sun was quite active lately so we were regularly checking the Aurora predictions and Space Weather websites during the contest. Unfortunately nothing during the competition but the band finally opened late this afternoon … Continue reading →

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Sporadic-E on 4 m & Aurora on 2 m

Posted on July 7, 2022 by dh8bqa

Interesting day today! Four was open this morning via ES to the UK & Ireland as well as EA & EA6. It closed at 12z and never opened again, MUF down. Thus nothing to expect on 2 m either, right? … Continue reading →

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Marconi Memorial VHF Contest ’21

Posted on November 7, 2021 by dh8bqa

I really like the MMC. Being CW-only on VHF it provides plenty of opportunities to work DX while using your own brain to decode the signals. And it’s always good for a surprise. Being in autumn it’s “usually” some tropo … Continue reading →

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CQ WWDX SSB ’19

Posted on October 29, 2019 by dh8bqa

Uwe, DL3BQA, was going for a serious 80 m entry as DMØY in this one. For me it was only a part time activity. Travelled the 420 km from Hamburg to the station after QRL on Friday and had to … Continue reading →

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Major X9 solar flare – Aurora all around!

Posted on September 8, 2017 by dh8bqa

Wednesday saw a massive sun eruption not expected (especially that strong) being so far down the solar cycle already. In fact it has been the strongest solar flare in Cycle 24! spaceweatherlive.com has an interesting article about it. After hearing … Continue reading →

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Aurora & ES – just returned from HAMRADIO fair

Posted on July 16, 2017 by dh8bqa

Just returned from the HAMRADIO fair in Friedrichshafen. Good show and great to meet some old friends again like Enrico, I5WBE. Have worked him several times on 2 m Meteor Scatter some 20 years ago in HSCW (high speed CW, … Continue reading →

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CQ WPX CW 2017 with some interesting propagation

Posted on May 29, 2017 by dh8bqa

My decision to start SOSB10(A) was made a few days ago already. Last year I did indeed set a new DL record although I would not have expected my result to stay above the record after the log check. Obviously my … Continue reading →

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Surprising Aurora opening

Posted on March 27, 2017 by dh8bqa

Being back from the WPX-SSB tour to JO73 I checked QRL emails Monday afternoon to make sure it would not be too much when returning into the office on Tuesday. Being done I just had a quick look at the … Continue reading →

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Aurora once more

Posted on May 8, 2016 by dh8bqa

After getting back from the hilltop and having unloaded all the contest equipment we enjoyed a nice medium strength Aurora opening this evening: —————————————————————— TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR TX RX BAND MODE PROP. QRB —————————————————————— 16:02 YL2FZ KO37QI 59A 59A 2 … Continue reading →

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Santa’s early Christmas present: ufb Aurora again

Posted on December 20, 2015 by dh8bqa

Oh boy, what a great VHF DX day today! Already late morning there were spots on the DX cluster reporting Aurora QSOs some 2.500 to 3.500 km east from here, i.e. between UA4 and UA9. It did not look like we … Continue reading →

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Meteors & Northern Lights …

Posted on December 16, 2015 by dh8bqa

Besides handing out a few QSOs in the ARRL-10M contest last weekend I also spent some time on VHF as the Geminids meteor shower was around. It almost always coincides with the 10 m contest so one can share time … Continue reading →

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Small Aurora opening

Posted on August 27, 2015 by dh8bqa

Caught a small Aurora opening when returning home from QRL. Sorrily nil on 4 m agn … —————————————————————— TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR TX RX BAND MODE PROP. QRB —————————————————————— 17:52 SM4IVE JO79SD 59A 55A 2 m. CW AUR 667 17:54 LA3BO … Continue reading →

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July VHF contest 2015

Posted on July 5, 2015 by dh8bqa

Not been much active lately … QRL, QRL, QRL. So it was good to get out of all the business stuff for a few hours this weekend and free up my mind. 😎 Condx were rather average, didn’t recognize any of … Continue reading →

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More 4 m and a nice one hour Sporadic-E opening on 2 m

Posted on June 22, 2015 by dh8bqa

Arriving from QRL seemed to be just in time this evening! Switching on the radio I heard Geoff, EA5/G3XGS, on 4 m and grabbed him easily for a new square. Looking at LiveMUF by Dave, G7RAU, it seemed to be … Continue reading →

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Small Aurora tonight

Posted on May 6, 2015 by dh8bqa

Had a rather small Aurora opening this evening with signals fast in & out. Worked: —————————————————————— TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR TX RX BAND MODE PROP. QRB —————————————————————— 17:05 LAØBY JO59FW 55A 55A 2 m. CW AUR 784 17:13 SM5KWU JO89IP 57A 57A … Continue reading →

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Superb Aurora opening

Posted on March 18, 2015 by dh8bqa

Thanks to the phone alert by Heiko, DG1BHA, I managed to get out of QRL not too late yesterday evening. There was a very strong Aurora going on and Heiko being at our station had already worked over 20 stations … Continue reading →

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Weak and short Aurora opening this evening

Posted on February 17, 2015 by dh8bqa

Had a very small and weak Aurora opening on 2 m this evening. Did not last longer than 20 minutes. The SK4MPI Aurora warning beacon was barely audible via Aurora which is quite unusual even in weak openings. Elsewise only … Continue reading →

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Aurora this afternoon

Posted on January 4, 2015 by dh8bqa

Certainly not too good for HF propagation and all the guys doing the ARRL RTTY Roundup this weekend but a nice start into the new year for the VHF fans. 😉 QSO by DH8BQA on 2 m. Type of propagation: … Continue reading →

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Short-lived but intense Aurora opening

Posted on October 20, 2014 by dh8bqa

We had another short-lived but intense Aurora opening this afternoon/early evening. Signals were very strong, SM4IVE was peaking 59A+20! It didn’t extend much south but nevertheless always enjoyable to work those other VHF enthusiasts. 😉 —————————————————————— DATE TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR … Continue reading →

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Another small Aurora opening

Posted on September 12, 2014 by dh8bqa

We had another small Aurora opening tonight. Was really waiting for it after the big solar flare 2 days ago. Unfortunately it arrived a little bit too late on earth so the major “impact” was over the Atlantic Ocean. Must … Continue reading →

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