Category Archives: Propagation

4 m allowed again in DL :-)

Posted on May 16, 2017 by dh8bqa

As of today we do have a special permit again to use 4 m in Germany! 😎 Same conditions as in 2015 apply, i.e. only 70.150 to 70.180 MHz, limited until 31.08. this year, a.s.o. Looking forward to a lot … 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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Year-end tropo

Posted on December 30, 2016 by dh8bqa

Coming back from a Christmas trip to JO73 yesterday, December 29, driving westwards to Cologne (JO30) we enjoyed a very nice sunset. Sky was crystal blue, sun was shining and turning everything into dark when setting with a slight flicker … Continue reading →

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ARRL 10 Meter Contest 2016

Posted on December 13, 2016 by dh8bqa

ARRL10M – one of my favourite contests! Nothing big to be expected during sunspot minimum, of course, nevertheless always fun and a nice opportunity for some propagation studies. 😎 Time I could spend last weekend was limited to a few … Continue reading →

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Small tropo opening …

Posted on November 29, 2016 by dh8bqa

Speaking of last weekend being in the middle of a rather boring CQWW CW contest I couldn’t resist switching to 2 m Saturday morning after seeing some DX spots on the cluster showing tropo between the UK and Northern Franconia as … Continue reading →

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CQ WWDX CW ’16

Posted on November 29, 2016 by dh8bqa

I had planned to drive the 700 km to the station for CQWW CW last weekend but QRL thwarted my plans and I had to sacrifice Friday/Monday which were planned for travelling. Therefor only played SOSB15 remotely … CONDX sucked! … Continue reading →

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CQ WWDX SSB ’16

Posted on October 31, 2016 by dh8bqa

As mentioned in my WAG blog post I was not sure what to do in CQ WW SSB. We usually do 2-3 Single Band entries in the big SSB contests altering year by year who has the first band choice. … Continue reading →

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A bit 6 m DX at least

Posted on June 19, 2016 by dh8bqa

There was a great opening to the Middle East on 6 m this morning. Unfortunately not much activity … —————————————————————— TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR TX RX BAND MODE PROP. QRB —————————————————————— 07:35 9K2NO LL39XG 599 559 6 m. CW 3813 07:41 … Continue reading →

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Great Sporadic-E on 144 MHz again

Posted on June 18, 2016 by dh8bqa

Lucky me! Mother nature was calling early this morning and before going back to bed I just checked the MUF on DXMAPS on the smartphone. Glad I did! There was already some ES going on 2 m. Quickly switched on … Continue reading →

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CQ WPX CW and some Magic Band frustration

Posted on May 29, 2016 by dh8bqa

Unfortunately I couldn’t make it to the QTH this weekend so only spent some limited time in the CQ WPX CW remotely. Great Sporadic-E conditions all weekend long so kept going on 10 m single band and managed a whopping … Continue reading →

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What a great day on VHF today …

Posted on May 26, 2016 by dh8bqa

Luckily Corpus Christi is a local holiday overhere so I had the day off. 😎 Waking up at 5:30z I was not sure if I should get up or turn around for some more sleep. Seems it was a good decision … Continue reading →

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Caught the first 2 m ES opening this year …

Posted on May 22, 2016 by dh8bqa

Finally caught the first 2 m ES this year! 🙂 6 m had been hot all afternoon. Later also 4 m opened up nicely. It was kind of masochistic listening to all the activity on 70 MHz and not being able … 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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No 70 MHz permit in Germany this year :-(

Posted on May 5, 2016 by dh8bqa

The bad news is official now: For some (political) reasons there won’t be a temporary permit to use the 4 m band during this year’s Sporadic-E season in DL. What a shame. 🙁 Let’s hope we will get a few good … Continue reading →

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TY – Benin #138 on 6 m

Posted on April 24, 2016 by dh8bqa

Had the first 6 m ES opening of the season today. The band opened nicely from here into Southern Europe, i.e. 9H & IT9 around 15:30z with S9+ signals. Saw TY2AC spotting southern Europe stations himself on the cluster. He finally … Continue reading →

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First 6 m ES this year & a few ARRL-RTTY-RU contacts

Posted on January 4, 2016 by dh8bqa

Our station was reserved for DL3BQA to operate in the ARRL-RTTY-Roundup last weekend. While he enjoyed some great runs on 15 m Sunday afternoon I had some fun on 6 m as there was a great winter E-skip opening into EI, signals … 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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ARRL-10M 2015

Posted on December 14, 2015 by dh8bqa

Condx not very good so did not plan to put in a full effort and had some other weekend duties, too. Spent some time Saturday morning but except a few UA9’s there was nothing to be worked on the north-eastern … Continue reading →

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ARRL-160M & 10M-RTTY

Posted on December 6, 2015 by dh8bqa

Not much time recently but managed to do a few QSOs in these two single band contests on the opposite ends of the HF (contest) spectrum this weekend. Seems condx were quite nice Saturday morning during ARRL-160M judging from cluster spots … Continue reading →

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