There’s been lots going on in my life throughout January but that hasn’t stopped me playing radio – I’ve made a point of sitting in the shack for a few minutes every day just to take my mind off of other things and as a result, I’ve managed nearly 550 QSOs so far working 73 DXCC entities.
I know that will pale into comparison with other people but I do work every day and I’ve not made any contest QSOs. Most of that 550 are data, either FT8 or FT4 but there are some CW and SSB contacts in there as well. There was a couple of nice Sporadic E openings mid month and I spoke to quite a few Italians, Spaniards and Germans on 10m SSB. Most of these were proper QSOs as well, consisting of a few actual overs of conversation and not just contest style “five nine, next” contacts.
My Hexbeam still isn’t fixed following the storms in December because it’s just been too wet, windy, cold and soggy outside for me to safely lower the mast. To make things worse, the dangling 17m element has blown and caught around the mast so I can’t turn the aerial. It’s also affecting the 15m element so I’m down two bands and fixed pointing at 300°. Most of my contacts this month have been on 40m, 30m or 12m (when it’s been open) and I’ve been using my Sirio 827 on 12m because the tuner in the TS-590SG can cope with it.
As a result I’m now up to 121 confirmed on 12m, 106 confirmed on 30m and 120 confirmed on 40m.
I posted back in 2018 that I’d got my DX Cluster active again and I’ve noticed recently that some hams are actually using it. I’m really pleased about this because I run these things for other people as well as myself. If you want to use my DX Cluster, just telnet to g6nhu.getmyip.com:7300. I do have a static IP address so the dynamic service isn’t really needed but it does mean that if I ever change ISP in the future, the link will still work.
I’m hoping that the weather will clear up a bit and that there’s a vague possibility I’ll be able to lower the aerial for repairs soon. I’ve really grown to like 17m over the last couple of years so I’m missing it.
