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Ina YD1NAA
Long-path QSOs are noteworthy for me in that I don’t have many of them that I am able to verify via antenna rotation. I need to work on exploring other propagation paths…
And, in a male-dominated hobby, QSOs with YLs are also rare.
This morning Ina YD1NAA provided both. Continue reading 'Long-path QSO with YL'»
Radio
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DX, propagation
Earth passing through tail of Comet ISON Jan 14-15, 2014
Meteor scatter, anyone?
It’s not very often that radio propagation and photographic opportunity are enhanced by a single phenomena phenomenon but that may very well be the case in 10 months.
No doubt you’ve heard of the comet due to pass within 800,000 miles of Earth next December.
Comet ISON is expected to be visible in broad daylight with an estimated brightness range anywhere from equal to the full moon to 15 times as bright.
If the forecasts prove correct, it will become naked eye visible in November 2013. Break out the Nikon/Canon.
Then, on January 14-15, Earth will pass through the tail of the comet resulting in “the meteor shower of the century” according to one source. Get your JT65 software ready. Continue reading 'The comets are coming'»
I’m gradually changing my definition of what constitutes an “open” band, at least when it comes to the higher bands.
Normally, if someone told me 10 meters was open, I’d expect to hear European signals in the morning and JA/VK in the evening. Afternoons would consist of South American and Caribbean sigs.
For the past two days, there’s been none of that, but…
Band openings on both 10 and 12 meters have occurred via atypical paths to very specific regions. Continue reading 'How to define an open band?'»
As the year draws to a close and plans are made for 2013, I like to look back and see what 2012 offered.
Thanks to the efforts of many people from many different countries I was able to add 11 entities to my “Worked” list, bringing my total to 299. Number 300 will most likely be Clipperton Island in late February 2013 although there are rumors that a very rare one will be activated perhaps before then.
These are the New Ones added to the log in 2012:
Misses: Swains Island (away on a biz trip) and Cambodia (can’t hear them).
After Malta, my tower and Yagi were installed but St. Peter & St. Paul were worked on 80 meters bringing my “dipole country” total to 295. Even though I now have a Yagi on 10-20 meters, I still have a goal of 300 countries with the dipole and will be chasing them not only on the low bands but also on 10-20 if I think I can get them there w/o the Yagi.
Band conditions were better on the high bands and noisier on the low bands in 2012 compared to previous years. Continue reading '2012 at AE5X; and looking ahead'»
Or actually, a broadband linear transponder.
Yes, I know – money. But humor me for a minute:
In just the past few years, EME has moved from being a highly-specialized mode practiced by very few to a DXpedition mode for some and is now even backyard do-able by many. This is primarily due to JT65.
Two such stations won’t work each other but JT65 and CW make QSOs now possible for a 100-watt station with a single Yagi antenna. This, despite the fact that the lunar surface only reflects 7% of the RF hitting it.
We have amateur satellites carrying linear transponders, making many QSOs possible at once. But their footprint is small and their time overhead is brief. Continue reading 'Why not a repeater on the moon?'»
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