PA0O ham radio

WSPR 80 and 160 has been closed for DX  long time here so..  As expected poor propagation for the Stew Perry 160 DX challenge   unfortunately.     The SP to pband DX chalence  is a contest where DX counts and  lower power is rewarded with a multiplier. x2  or QRP x4 The contest time is 24 hou r Sat. Sun . 1500-1500UTC    2 Effective time's   SS Saturday and SR S u nday Sat urday evening A65BP  as best dx with reasonable signal and goo d ears and   some UA9 N ot much activi ty  60 QSO Sund ay morning SR  to west  glad to make 3 Q   (with 100 W )  1833 CW 2012-10-21 0511 PA0O          599 JO33   KK3AN         599 FN00           20  1830 CW 2012-10-21 0519 PA0O          599 JO33 ...

I don't know.. Some seem to run  high power  with attenuator  on. Is my antenna working 1 way only? The pileups and QRI must be killing.   Is the "competition" all  using   3 phase type of PA's  with stacked beams? T30PY was good copy 30m in the short breaks between the QRI 3B9SP  579  real  30m  should be easy even from here.  I do not expect   immediate return but a couple of 100 call's  around the  QSX  should give some result some time?  

It cycles up and down  the 28MHz props last week(s)  v ery poor. C omplete absent propagation in last Oceania CW week end . B ut some USA decodes showed up these last days. Always a good sign for 28 MHz.   Today we got the maximum DX possible  PA <-> ZL Only thing that could make it an even better day is longpath to VK later tonight. I have learned that EA CT I   not only have bett er and longer propagation but also the DX is better >19000 km   ZL<> CT   EA8 to W6  is a greater distance then from here to W6   I would not have known this but WSPR   showe d this.  2012-10-17 18:28   EA8FF   28.126101   -4   0   IL18pc   2   KO6SY   DM13   9191   304   2012-10-17 18:58   N6RY   28.126066   -20   1   DM13id   5   PA0...

Propagation  is about as low as it goes   zero almost max DX WSPR 80 is   890km!  OK2SAM max DX in EU is 1300km pfff In this situation  any antenna looks  trash .. I changed back to the vertical shunt type antenna f.t.t.b. I lowered the Delta loop..   or is it an inverted delta. A 80m  wire loop automatic gets the delta / triangle form using 1 high central mast and trees around. It is very easy to swap and get the vertical up again. Almost as changing the scenery in a play. Just lower the loop and up the wire  in a few minutes the loop is a vertical again. This time I hung the vertical wire closer to he mast.  At the top about 40 cm  separated only. This way this line is coupled with the steel mast  like a skeleton or  lecher line. It tunes  SW about 1:1.6 at minimum   for a wire bit shorter then 20m. But with this absolute  trash propagation  no conclusion  ...

Trying to get TT8TT  on 80M cw  good copy but many many calls no reply it felt like tx-ing in  a dummy load. I heard the lid festival too long and start ing to think those lids that QRM-ing the DX  sending:  "idiots" do have a point.   My 80m antenna  was a vertical wire hanging down in parallel separated a few meters from the mast of 27m high. S ometimes it seemed to work good but the performance was never real good.  In times of good conditions the efficiency is of lower importance. But since the last good times on 10m  in the start of October the propagation went down a lot. So exit  80m GPand see if there is an antenna that gives more joy. Now I am testing  a full wave loop for 80m The lowest SWR  2 bit high at the cw part of 80m But it seems to work even at 12M  easy QSO VK9XM in a pile Not a bad start for a piece of wire.. I had to bring the mast down since the pulley on top felt down and then I h...

Stranded  on 20 QSO That means no point for the Veron competition.. Not easy to collect more then 25 VK/ZL Oceania VK ZL hams  general don't look very contest minded. Besides a few club stations like ZM4T  ZM1G VK4NM VK7ZX  Since there are only a few on the bands the pileups are big. They take it easy VI2VIP f.i.  took a break in the middle of a pile   and did not return again. Calling in competition with South-east EU is useless Some signals very loud  like VK7ZX on 7.172 almost a full S9   Sunday I woke up early but found no WSPR VK decodes like Saturday 28 and 21 closed for ZL/VK This contest is ending Sunday 08 UTC  that is not a good time to end it is the best time for EU - VK for the high bands. Heard TT8TT very well and long time on 80m  but I gave up after  long  calling they seem to have high QRN  and mainly working East and  South-east  EU   On 160m TT8TT  weak b...

1704 -12 -0.9  28.126060  0 N6OIL DM14 23   200mW   I normally "need"   a lot more in the pile ups 20121004 0838  28017.1 CW   PA0O         559  AH0KT           559  wkd lowpower                        20121004 0939  28460.0 USB  PA0O          59  ZD9UW            59                     20121004 1541  28450.0 USB  PA0O          59  TT8TT            59       ...