Category Archives: VHF

Sporadic-E on 2 m again

Posted on June 21, 2020 by dh8bqa

Not very active during the last 2 weeks. Either no condx or me being too busy with QRL stuff. Just caught two smaller 4 m openings last Sunday (June 14) to Finland in the morning and Greece in the afternoon … Continue reading →

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A new square on 6 m & some thoughts

Posted on June 7, 2020 by dh8bqa

Only one QSO today: TA7OM from KN80 providing square #690 on 50 MHz. Despite this I haven’t done much on 6 m this season yet. Seems I somehow lost interest in the band as almost all activity has shifted to … Continue reading →

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Finland on 4 m

Posted on June 6, 2020 by dh8bqa

A short opening to Finland this morning, doesn’t happen too often. KP13 for a new square, now #206. All references for OH8JGG show KP24AE as his locator but he was clearly sending KP23 himself so will probably have to wait … Continue reading →

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OY – Faröer Islands #45 on 70 MHz

Posted on June 1, 2020 by dh8bqa

Another new country in the log on 4 m and square #205! 😎 Glad to catch him this morning, had heard him a few days ago already but no luck back then. This time skip fitted perfectly so easy going. … Continue reading →

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Another 2 m Sporadic-E …

Posted on May 31, 2020 by dh8bqa

Being active in the WPX-CW contest this weekend (report to follow) I monitored 2 m in parallel and caught another ES opening. 😎 —————————————————————— TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR TX RX BAND MODE PROP. QRB —————————————————————— 15:25 EA6VQ JM19MP -08 -02 2 … Continue reading →

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Best VHF-DX day ever!

Posted on May 29, 2020 by dh8bqa

I’ve been active on the VHF bands for almost 30 years now and certainly experienced one or another great VHF-DX day. But what we experienced today certainly deserves the definition as “Best VHF-DX day ever”! The 6, 4 & 2 … Continue reading →

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Another 2 m ES opening

Posted on May 27, 2020 by dh8bqa

Another short ES opening this morning! Not positioned favourably, signals very much in & out, but some QSOs made at least: —————————————————————— TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR TX RX BAND MODE PROP. QRB —————————————————————— 08:49 UA4ALU LN29LA -17 -05 2 m. FT8 … Continue reading →

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First 2 m ES / 4 m to the UK

Posted on May 26, 2020 by dh8bqa

Glad to catch my first 2 m Sporadic-E this year! Marginal opening to UA6 from here, FT8 had to deliver. 😉 LN26 was a new square, #587. Almost missed the opening! Was sitting on the balcony sipping my morning coffee … Continue reading →

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Great VHF day!

Posted on May 25, 2020 by dh8bqa

Great day on VHF today! First QSO was with RD4AN in LN19 on 6 m. A new square, of course, as operation on 50 MHz in Russia is officially not yet allowed as far as I know. There were a … Continue reading →

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Patchy 70 MHz openings today

Posted on May 24, 2020 by dh8bqa

A few patchy openings this morning. Great to see the first double hop ES that early in the season! Looking at the differences between sent and received reports I feel I probably need more power! 😉 —————————————————————— TIME CALLSIGN LOCATOR … Continue reading →

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Sporadic-E season hast started

Posted on May 23, 2020 by dh8bqa

Time to dedust the station. 😉 Didn’t do much (not to say nothing) during the last few weeks. But being a VHF addict as you know it’s time to pay more attention to the radio from mid-May for possible Sporadic-E … Continue reading →

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Another January Tropo

Posted on January 21, 2020 by dh8bqa

Again some tropo, this time also fitting for JO73. 🙂 Forecast showed some possible condx for yesterday already but nothing over here while the colleagues in JO64 could already work some DX. Today sigs came up over here, too. Signals … Continue reading →

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VHF condx around the turn of the year

Posted on January 5, 2020 by dh8bqa

There were some great tropo openings between 28th December and 5th January, just not here. 🙁 😉 Besides the usual path between EA and G it also opened between EA and PA/ON + West-DL, then extended up to OZ/SM6 and … Continue reading →

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IARU VHF Contest ’19

Posted on September 9, 2019 by dh8bqa

Took part in the VHF September contest a.k.a. the IARU VHF contest last weekend as a small team from the club station again. Equipment played well, lucky with the weather (just some drizzle Saturday evening) and good company, what else … Continue reading →

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Perseids Meteor Scatter Report ’19

Posted on August 16, 2019 by dh8bqa

Moving QTH is basically finished, everything’s setup in the new flat … living room, kitchen, children’s room, a.s.o. all operational, just the shack/office needs a bit more work. 😀 Anyway, time to play some radio again in the Perseids meteor … Continue reading →

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More new ones on 6 & 4 m :-)

Posted on July 7, 2019 by dh8bqa

I had left the IC-7300 switched on during the contest to monitor 4 m propagation as an indicator for possible 2 m ES. There was indeed an opening just not here. 🙁 When I saw EI9E/P pop up on the … Continue reading →

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July VHF Contest ’19

Posted on July 7, 2019 by dh8bqa

Another July contest in the books. Condx were rather average most of the time. The night hours brought some nice DX so the average per QSO was 420 km which is unusually high. Around 400 km/QSO is quite normal for … Continue reading →

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Massive JA opening on 6 m & WAS on 4 m ;-)

Posted on July 6, 2019 by dh8bqa

Had a big opening to Japan on 6 m this morning lasting well over 4 hours, wow! Up to 25 different JA calls per RX period in FT8 but rather difficult to do any QSOs at all. Either too big … Continue reading →

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A difficult new one on 6 m & OIRT on 4 m

Posted on July 5, 2019 by dh8bqa

A day off QRL so used the time to finally install our new IC-9700 at the club station. Eager to learn how it performs in heavy contest use on 2 m this weekend. 😉 Also brought along the IC-7300 for … Continue reading →

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Another 4 m ES, great 6 m NA opening & working Paul ;-)

Posted on July 3, 2019 by dh8bqa

The lower VHF bands were hot again today! 😎 Uwe, DL3BQA, was very busy working a great North America opening on 6 m with lots of new squares for him. Although it was again much better elsewhere no need to … Continue reading →

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