Author Archives: dh8bqa

Nice X-mas present: 4 m allowed in Germany again :-)

Posted on December 19, 2018 by dh8bqa

Bundesnetzagentur (the German equivalent to FCC in the USA and Ofcom in the UK) released it’s note 414/2018 today allowing the use of the 4 m band by radio amateurs in Germany again! 😎 Two facts make it even more … Continue reading →

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ARRL-10M 2018 – or – another VHF contest ;-)

Posted on December 9, 2018 by dh8bqa

I think I mentioned over and over again on this blog and in my contest reports that I’m a real 10 m addict. It’s as fascinating a frequency spectrum as 6 m which is called the “magic band” for a … Continue reading →

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CQ WWDX CW 2018

Posted on November 26, 2018 by dh8bqa

This time a part time participation only. While driving the 700 km to the station Thursday night I somehow caught a painful tonsilitis. 🙁 Waking up Friday morning I already had a sore throat. Fever and shivers added during the … Continue reading →

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Weekend (VHF) activities … some tropo again

Posted on November 18, 2018 by dh8bqa

As the YL was working weekend shifts in QRL I had some more spare time than usual this weekend. 😉 Decided to spend the time in the shack and finally start working on a new project idea I’ve been thinking … Continue reading →

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WAE-RTTY 2018

Posted on November 11, 2018 by dh8bqa

It’s been a while since I last participated in WAE-RTTY. I wanted to just hand out a few points remotely on Saturday and then on Sunday again. But you know … first goal was 250 QSOs, when reaching that it … Continue reading →

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CQ WWDX SSB 2018

Posted on October 29, 2018 by dh8bqa

Another WWDX-SSB is in the books. I decided to do SOSB15(A) as condx before the contest were surprisingly good and hoped it would stay like this during the weekend. I was indeed very astonished when working a bunch of JAs … Continue reading →

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Tropo vanished …

Posted on October 25, 2018 by dh8bqa

Still a bit of tropo when arriving at the station this afternoon (seems it was better this morning), but all very unstable, signals readible only a few times then vanishing again. —————————————————————— TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR TX RX BAND MODE PROP. … Continue reading →

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Totally unexpected tropo!

Posted on October 24, 2018 by dh8bqa

Two blog posts on the same day always mean something special! 😉 Well, after all the hard antenna work today I spent the evening at the contest station, working a few DX stations on HF here and there, working my … Continue reading →

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Groundplane for 80 m set up

Posted on October 24, 2018 by dh8bqa

Arrived in JO73 Monday evening, have a week of holidays now. 🙂 Was busy yesterday helping my mom with some paperwork as she’s in pension now. Good to be inside as the weather was really ugly, heavy winds and rain. … Continue reading →

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WAG ’18

Posted on October 21, 2018 by dh8bqa

Only a small contribution this year. Had a good night’s sleep of 6 hours and stopped a little earlier, too, as I had visiting guests (my birthday today ). Anyway, always big fun to operate in the Worked All Germany … Continue reading →

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Makrothen RTTY Contest ’18

Posted on October 19, 2018 by dh8bqa

Ever since I coincidentally stumbled across the TMC (The Makrothen Contest) back in 2014 I wanted to do a full time entry in that contest one time. I really like the format: It’s 8 hours operating, 8 hours off, 8 on, … Continue reading →

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Golden October

Posted on October 9, 2018 by dh8bqa

Germany has been experiencing a great indian summer during the last few days. Nice high pressure zone, clear blue sky, warm temperatures … we usually call it a “Golden October”. As a VHF guy this kinda “smells” like Tropo is … Continue reading →

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CQ WWDX RTTY 2018

Posted on September 30, 2018 by dh8bqa

Uwe, DL3BQA, who has historically the choice of band in RTTY contests at our station, was going to do an SOSB20 entry in this weekend’s CQ WWDX RTTY contest. As 15 m does not open much these days there was … Continue reading →

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IOTA World Winner :-)

Posted on September 19, 2018 by dh8bqa

Just got a mail from Oliver, DL2ARD, that we made it #1 world-wide in this year’s IOTA contest! 😎 It was great to have been part of the team! Let’s see how it fits next year. 😉

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IARU-VHF 2018 & Antenna Repairs

Posted on September 5, 2018 by dh8bqa

Before being able to do the IARU-VHF contest last weekend we had to do some serious antenna repair work. It was just 2 weeks ago when Uwe called to tell me something was broken, he could not tune the 2 … Continue reading →

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Perseids Meteor Shower ’18

Posted on August 15, 2018 by dh8bqa

Not much time this year for the Perseids Meteor Shower. At least managed to be QRV for a few hours during the weekend … Not many expeditions QRV this year and overall activity not as high as I was used … Continue reading →

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ARRL certificates now online

Posted on August 5, 2018 by dh8bqa

ARRL decided to put their contest certificates online (as most other organizations are doing, too). That means that everybody can now generate & download certificates for their contest participations in ARRL contests no matter the result. Earlier they just sent … Continue reading →

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Results of July VHF contest :-)

Posted on July 31, 2018 by dh8bqa

Claimed scores for the July VHF contest are out, see right side screenshot. It seems I was spot on with my assumptions. 😉 I’m sure I’ll loose a few points after logchecking but the margin to 3rd place is big … Continue reading →

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DK3R – EU-057 – IOTA 2018

Posted on July 30, 2018 by dh8bqa

A few month’ ago I received a phone call by Oliver, DL2ARD, asking if I would like to join their team during this year’s IOTA contest as they were still looking for another good operator. I’ve known Oliver for over … Continue reading →

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ARRL-10M 2017 results

Posted on July 25, 2018 by dh8bqa

A real pity DL2ARD decided not to go for SSB-only in this one as he usually does but also go for mixed mode else this would have been my first world win in ARRL-10M! 🙁 😉

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