20 meters was quiet this evening but still had a nice QSO with Walid OD5ZZ from Lebanon, adding a new DXCC country to my list.
Monthly Archives: December 2014
ARRL 10m / DXCC #100 #101: Guatemala
Did not have the opportunity to fully participate in the 10m ARRL contest due to other important obligations, but still got a couple of hours of single-op low-power contesting fun on the crowded 10 meter band. I recorded 100 QSO’s and just finished converting my paper scribblings to Cabrillo and ADIF formats so the various logs are all updated. I also added DXCC # 100 to my list by working TG9ANF from Guatemala, so my goal of 100 countries before year’s end has been reached just in time!
UPDATE 16 DEC 2014: QRZ lists this as country #101 because a QSO with Kosovo in my log claimed “Republic of Kosovo” as its DXCC while Kosovo is not recognized as a separate DXCC at this time.
Filters & fun
This morning , I took the notorious ice machine (see previous posts) apart and installed a R/C filter on the most noisy switch. 100pf in series with 47ohms across the terminals. So far so good, haven’t heard a scratch yet, fingers crossed! Later in the afternoon I had a small hour of CQ DX fun on 10 meters, including a short but nice QSO with Saudi Young Lady Laila HZ1HZ operating a special event station for the International Day of People with Disability with callsign HZ1WDD. I recognized her voice immediately. She is alway fun to talk to, and the only fully licensed YL in all of Saudi Arabia! We had a chat before on 15 meters a few months back but I was operating at the club station, not my with own call sign. Another special thing about today’s QSO was that I heard the last second or so of my words back through the speaker of my radio. I have no other explanation than that I heard myself back over the long path on the back of the G3TXQ hex! Weirdness!