I was very fortunate to work Mellish Reef on 20 Meter CW around 0800Z April 4th. While there was some discussion about them abandoning the reef due to very bad weather, they were still plugging away. Propagation charts indicated that they should be booming into New England on 30 meters, but when I got up at 0400L, I could barely hear them on 17m, heard them weakly (S2-3) on 20m, and heard them no place else. As I listened to the 20m station, it became apparent that there wasn’t a lot going on at his end, so I gave a couple of calls — sure enough I snagged a contact. Shortly after that their 30m station went on the air with a S5-7 signal. I spent the next four hours trying to make a second contact, with no luck. Little did I know that they would be off the air for good less than six hours after my one QSO.
Confirmation of QSO with Mellish Reef, VK9MT
As for the current standings, LotW shows me at 197 countries confirmed, with 829 points toward DXCC Challenge, and I need 19 more countries on 80m to complete 5BDXCC.
Looking at my log, I’ve worked 232 countries and 1108 DXCC Challenge points. QSL cards have brought my total to 206 confirmed with 848 DXCC Challenge points. Finally, I need 18 more countries on 80m for 5BDXCC.
In terms of WAS, I need 13 more states on 160m, 4 more on 30m, 2 more on 17m, and 8 more for 12m to complete 9BWAS.
