Half a DX Station

Richard Fryer VA7AA/XE1 sent me an email the other day. Something about strange DX. Read it below.


…know you guys are really into contests, beams, towers and traditional ham related stuff but I thought I’d share an oddball strange DX contact I had recently… 

It was DX for me… but in reality only 1/2 DX … lemme explain… remembering I am here in Melaque Mexico… VA7AA/XE1.. I installed a new EFHW vertical for 20… good antenna and it also works fine on 10m  

Listening on 29.640 to the VE3MMX-R 10m FM repeater near Chatham Ontario… it comes in here every day, so it seems…must have a pipeline LOL… but all of a sudden GI0BQX in Belfast Ireland is heard calling… worked him “full quieting” as they say in repeater lingo, .LOL …him running 40 watts into a home brew vertical on his house roof. Me… an FT 891 100 watts.. so sorta the same antenna. So I worked half a DX station.. the repeater did all the work.  Somehow I don’t think I’ll be doin that too often….

Richard VA7AA/XE1

All Hail Cycle 25!

10 m was *hot* last night.  How hot you ask?  Well, around 19:00 PST, I worked VL2A on 28045 on CW using 1 watt from IC705 to inverted L antenna (27 ft legs), center-fed with narrow homebrew window line.  He was in Berkelely Vale, Australia which makes it 12,384 km/watt – so far my lifetime personal best. Woohoo – this stuff never gets old!  72, Scott  VA7SNJ

RAC Report on Canadian Amateurs

Alan VE7UBA discovered this interesting RAC study of Canadian Amateurs, which includes how active they are in various specific aspects of the hobby, the frequencies utilized, antennas used, and some key demographics.