Category Archives: VHF

TJ – Cameroon #134 on 6 m

Posted on May 16, 2015 by dh8bqa

Propagation sucked today. Six and above stayed closed all day long. Thus I had to rely on Meteor Scatter to work something new. The Camb-Hams are currently active as GS3PYE/P from the Isle of Mull, IOTA EU-008, in the relatively rare … Continue reading →

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More 4 m and first 2 m Sporadic E this year

Posted on May 15, 2015 by dh8bqa

What an interesting day! Just worked two OH1’s on MS for a new country and square before leaving for QRL in the morning. So could only watch all the fun on the cluster and DXMaps website. Seems 6 & 4 … Continue reading →

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First 4 m ES opening + 6 m ES/TEP link

Posted on May 14, 2015 by dh8bqa

Father’s Day is a public holiday overhere so I had the chance to be at the station early morning already. Sporadic E season has started and the whole day saw massive ES propagation over all of Europe. MUF went up … Continue reading →

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My first week on “four”

Posted on May 12, 2015 by dh8bqa

Having spent my first week on the new for me 4 m band it might be a good time to sum up my first experiences. As anticipated the band is very interesting. Despite running QRP only into a small 5 ele Yagi … 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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First 4 m QSOs done

Posted on May 5, 2015 by dh8bqa

Finally found a bit time late this evening and worked my first two 70 MHz tropo QSOs with Greg, SP3RNZ, in JO92 (300 km) and Marek, SP2MKO, in JO93 (267 km). Also tried with SP9HWY in JO90 (465 km) whom … Continue reading →

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DFØFA results DARC May VHF contest ’15

Posted on May 4, 2015 by dh8bqa

Back from the “mountain”. Well, “hilltop” is certainly a better description for our location about 100 km north-east of Berlin near the German-Polish border. 😉 Expected bad weather but after all we were quite lucky! A few guys already made … Continue reading →

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Temporary permit to use 4 m in DL again! :-)

Posted on April 29, 2015 by dh8bqa

German BNetzA informed today (Amtsblatt 8/2015, Mitteilung Nr. 412/2015) that they allow German class A radio amateurs to operate on 4 m again during the upcoming Sporadic E season. 😎 Effective from today the permit is valid until 31 August 2015 … 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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Tropo – the final

Posted on February 12, 2015 by dh8bqa

Taking the F5LEN tropo forecast into account I anticipated the tropo would move further east this morning and then start to vanish. Today is Fat Thursday in the Cologne carnival which means we only have to work half-day. What a … Continue reading →

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More tropo and square #507 on 2 m

Posted on February 11, 2015 by dh8bqa

      Seems I was correct with my yesterday’s assumption concerning tropo moving. 😉 Sorrily I was rather under the duct tonight thus the really big distance contacts where done i.e. from LAØBY down into 9A & S5 over 1.600 km, … Continue reading →

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Nice 2 m tropo opening tonight

Posted on February 10, 2015 by dh8bqa

Coming home after work today I saw a few spots on the cluster that looked like a bit of tropo enhancement between the UK and Western Europe. So I switched on the radio to check condx and boy, was lucky … 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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A few 2014 statistics

Posted on January 2, 2015 by dh8bqa

Now that 2014 is history time has come to do some statistical work. 😉 As already mentioned before this has been my most “radio active” year so far. I made almost 23.000 QSOs in total: 17.845 as DH8BQA, 2.816 as … Continue reading →

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Marconi Memorial Contest ’14

Posted on November 2, 2014 by dh8bqa

Was busy with a few other things over the weekend but managed to squeeze in a few QSOs every now and then Saturday evening and Sunday morning. Worked some nice DX, too! Hope to have a bit more time next … 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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No QSOs this week but one – ZS on 6 m

Posted on October 17, 2014 by dh8bqa

This week has been quite busy at work again so I was not in the mood to do any amateur radio in the evenings. I even ignored VK9DLX becoming active from Lord Howe which is a new one for me and … Continue reading →

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Trophy with a difference :-)

Posted on September 25, 2014 by dh8bqa

I had an information in my post box yesterday that a parcel was waiting for me at the local post office. I was very curious what it was as I could not remember having ordered something. 😉 So I went … Continue reading →

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VK9N – Norfolk #295 … but bad luck on 6 m

Posted on September 20, 2014 by dh8bqa

Worked VK9NT on 20 m SSB via long path this morning for another ATNO. 🙂 6 m saw a nice Sporadic E opening late afternoon into France and southern Spain. Additionally there was some TEP so TJ3SN & TY1AA who would … Continue reading →

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