Managed a little more 136kHz operating this weekend than recently; stations
worked using normal speed CW:
Friday 26/2
G4BMO (20.48UT, crossband: he was 599 on 80m, gave me 329), EI0CF (21.21,
'reverse' crossband: Finbar was 589 on 136, gave me 579 on 80m).
Saturday 27/2
DF0WD (08.16: 569, 559), HB9ASB (08.56: 559, 329), G6RO (09.26: 589, 599),
PA0LQ (10.24: 569, 569), EI0CF (15.43: 589, 529), G3YXM (17.45: 59+9, 59+9).
Sunday 28/2
PA0LQ (08.06: 569, 569), DF0WD (08.56: 559, 559), DJ5DI (09.22: 559, 559),
MM0ALM (15.14: 559, 559).
I re-rigged the antenna on Thursday evening so was ready to go again Friday,
despite the heavy rain. The crossband contact with G4BMO in Yeovil was
interesting as he reported that I was the first signal he had ever heard on
136kHz; hence my report! I then had to resort to transmitting on 'UHF' (80m)
myself to work Finbar, who was still suffering from his noise problem.
The band was very busy Saturday morning with plenty of good DX signals about.
DF0WD was an excellent signal when I worked him and we had a very solid QSO.
Wolf was only running 20W, but said that the club station was located at a
football stadium and he had a 200m antenna suspended from the masts! The
contact with HB9ASB was a little bit of a struggle - Toni's signal is also
very good now when it peaks at around that time, but he was having some
difficulty copying me - presumably the noise you reported last week, Toni?
Both contacts with PA0LQ were very easy and we chat quite freely these days -
it's astonishing just how well Harry does from that apartment.....
The good news of the day was that Finbar had found a way to 'cancel out' his
local noise and he could copy me again; the first decent 2-way we've had on
136 for several months.
Sunday morning conditions were very similar to Saturday. Wolf was a little
down on the previous QSO, but we still had a comfortable chat. He asked me
if I could copy DF2PY here (yes!) and commented that even he had had problems
being heard by DF2PY - no wonder the rest of us get no response! When we had
finished, I was called by DJ5DI and we also had a very solid contact, rather
better than the first time I worked Fred.
During the morning the weather here deteriorated considerably and by mid
afternoon a howling gale was threatening to snap my new wire. Consequently,
the contact I made with MM0ALM (nr. Aberdeen) was probably the most risky I
have made to date on 136 - both the SWR and PA current meters were waving
madly from one end of the scale to the other! We made it OK, but I would be
interested to know just how much my signal was varying......
Including a few passing comments exchanged with GW4ALG whilst we were chasing
DX, that makes 7 countries 2-way in two days of casual operating - who says
normal speed CW is out moded?? Have FUN on LF!
Regards John G4GVC near Leicester, IO92JP
** TX: Synth + 400W RF from modified 'G3YXM' Mosfet PA **
** RX: TS-850S with 3 x CW filters and 0.5ppm TCXO **
** Ant: Inv-L 60m long, 6m high at feed end, 12m high at far end **
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