Monthly Archives: January 2016

Honored to have contacted VP8STI

What an amazing DXpedition to two islands off the coast of Antarctica, South Sandwich, and South Georgia.  Despite the fact that it is summer there, it’s still one of the most inhospitable areas on the planet.  Case in point, from … Continue reading

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Goodbye Solar Cycle 24

Goodbye Solar Cycle 24, you were fun while you lasted! Propagation is really impacting the K5P (Palmyra Island), VP8STI (South Sandwich Island), and VP8SGI (South Georgia Island), DXpeditions. I note that solar levels appear to be somewhat higher than when I … Continue reading

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First QSOs with K1

I finally had some time to hook the K1 up to a real antenna.  I gave 30 meters a whirl because that was where there was some transmit issues due to the wrong supplied toroid size, as well as the … Continue reading

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AUXCOM Certificate

The certificates for the AUXCOM class at the end of September were mailed out to the students this week.

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K1 Assembly Complete

I completed and installed the two coils in 50 minutes.  I then spent another 40 minutes doing the TX tests and alignment.  That brings the total time to 25.75 hours. The initial transmitter testing went well, with coils almost peaked … Continue reading

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Goals for 2016 and 2015 in Review

I completed almost all my 2015 goals. Complete DXCC Challenge with 1000+ points YES (1136) Complete 30m and 12m DXCC (7BDXCC) (80m seems unlikely) Yes – Bonus did 80 too Complete 12m WAS (7BWAS) (a stretch to get DE and … Continue reading

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DX Standings at End of 2015

2015 was a pretty good year for DX. At the beginning of 2015, I had just completed my fifth DXCC band (but not 80 meters), with 217 countries confirmed, and 918 Challenge points. A year later, I have 245 confirmed countries … Continue reading

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