As Kate has been away, I've been without email for nearly a week. This
report is rather out of date in consequence, but might be of interest to
give a flavour of what is happening on 73kHz. I spent the complete weekend
on the lower band only, missing the chance to work G4KLF on 136kHz, but
making up for it by working a lot of new stations and some new countries
using 73kHz.
On Friday 7th I had 2-way normal CW QSOs with G3YXM and M0BMU, and
crossband QSOs to 136kHz with GI3PDN (two), G8RW and GW4ALG. I wasn't
sure if this was the first G/GW:73/136 as I knew Mike had previously done
a lot of sterling work on LF from GW, so I was pleasantly surprised to
learn from him that it was. Particular thanks to Steve for scrambling
about at short notice retuning his receive setup to 73kHz and then keeping
it there to work some of the other lads during the rest of the weekend.
Ray had kindly alerted Finbar that I was audible on 73, and we did briefly
try a crossband on Friday afternoon, but Finbar had also thrown together
a lashup (and had crawled out of bed after a night-shift!), so when he
didn't hear me then, I suggested we abandon it until Saturday.
73kHz was really busy on Saturday and I had 2-way QSOs with G2AJV,
M0BMU, G3KAU and G3LDO, plus two excellent crossbands to 136 with EI0CF.
The contacts with Roger and Lech were firsts for me on the band and the
initial crossband with Finbar was his first - although I only just beat
Dave 'YXM to it!! Finbar, like Ray, now seems pretty hooked and worked
quite a few stations over the weekend. I was really pleased to hear G3LDO
work Finbar, which I imagine is the furthest normal CW contact that has
been made using 73kHz(?). First thing that morning I also made a QRSS
transmission, as planned, and was very happy to find that Valerio managed
to copy it at 'M/T'.
On Sunday I repeated the QRSS transmission, then had 2-way QSOs with
G3XTZ, G0MRF at Hastings (both new ones for me) and G3XDV, plus crossband
QSOs to 136 with EI0CF, G3OLB, GI3PDN and MM0ALM. The latter was again set
up for me by Ray, catching Dave 'ALM rather on the hop as he wasn't tuned
up at all on 73kHz! Nevertheless we did manage to swap reports, so the
contact was completed. I gather Dave 'YXM and Graham also worked MM0ALM
later.
Despite what some would have us believe, it is certainly much harder to
radiate a good signal on 73kHz than on 136kHz, with ALL signals noticibly
weaker on the lower band. After all this time, it's wonderful to see
the renewed interest in this band before we loose it for ever, and a
tremendous relief to have it clear of the Rugby QRM for a while. Thanks
indeed to everyone who made the effort to provide a little fun down there
over the weekend.
Also congratulations are due to Derek and Lech, with help from Mike and
Jim, for the excellent work they did in getting the Puckeridge station
on the air on Tuesday. They were an amazing signal on 136kHz (although
the report I gave them seems to have increased somewhat from the S9+20dB
at the time!) and were even up to S7 on 73kHz when still off tune. I didn't
stay around long enough to work them on 73 that night, so really hope
I get a chance over the weekend. (At present, Thurs evening, the Rugby RTTY
signal is still off despite MSF coming back up - it would be fantastic if
it stayed off until these tests are completed). It's all too easy to
underestimate how much physical effort is involved in a project like this,
and when you consider that neither Derek or Lech are 'youngsters' any more,
they deserve nothing but praise for what they achieved. Well done, fellas,
and good luck over the coming weekend.
John G4GVC
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