OH2MM DE ZF2NU
I turned on the K3 in the morning and heard the tail end of a call on 12M, nothing on 10M, but OH2MM calling a fluttery CW CQ on 18.082. I answered Ole with 60W to the Cushcraft R6 and got a 569 and sent 579 "FINE DX CALL," Ole said about ZF2NU as we bid 73.

Labels: DXPedition, QRV

- posted by Leigh @ 14:38 z 0 comments

 
V31MR QRV ZF2NU
First contact on our Cayman Islands DXPedition as ZF2NU is V31MR on 10.109 with 100W to a Cushcraft R6 and Elecraft K3.

Labels: DXPedition, QRV

- posted by Leigh @ 00:05 z 0 comments

 
NH6JC/M
After I packed up my K3 for the ZF2NU DXPedition, I finished installing software on an Ubuntu Thinkpad. I tried PG4I's XDX cluster client, and saw that NH6JC/M was still calling CQ on 10.108. I'd heard him earlier so decided to give another listen with the K2 and 40m OCF doublet about 15' off the ground. Mitch came back right away with 569 and I returned 579 with some QSB. Mitch was using a IC-7000 to a Hustler antenna on his car parked near the water. The QSB got a bit worse and we called it quits, but the band was quiet and Mitch's rig did a find job picking up my 5W.

Labels: QSO

- posted by Leigh @ 06:33 z 0 comments

 
KL7J

I worked KL7J again on 30M (10.112 Mhz) but this time with my KX1 at 3W to a 33ft wire on a picnic table and a 28ft wire as high as I could throw in a tree at Palo Verde Elementary School. Les gave me a 339 but pulled my "QRP" out of the considerable pileup.

After that Les called "QRZ QRP" and I heard him work a few more, including N9OHW Mike who was running a similar setup from the Sunnyvale Baylands, though he got a 449! I guess it's the saltwater advantage.

Labels: QSO

- posted by Leigh @ 01:25 z 0 comments

 
KI6IMM
I had a brief CW chat with KI6IMM on 7.037.50 using 100mW from my K3. Hunter gave me a 599 from his K2.

Labels: QSO

- posted by Leigh @ 01:35 z 0 comments

 
TX5C
Elecraft announced they're nearing production on their K3 second receiver board, so I hope to get mine soon. It would have helped today, as 30M was quiet and I heard TX5C running EU on 10.107 CW with a small 3KHz split. I listened politely for an NA opening. I heard a few JA's and some others get chastised, but in general it was a polite pileup. When I started hearing my "neighbor" AE6RR get called back I gave it a try with a slightly wider split; the trick was a narrower split though! 100W to the SteppIR 30m dipole for a 599/599.

Labels: QSO

- posted by Leigh @ 05:11 z 0 comments

 
H7/IV3IYH
I heard H7/IV3IYH in Nicragua on 7.005 CW and tried 5W, 15W, and finally 100W from my K3 to my SteppIR 40/30 dipole up 12m. ON sent me 599 and I sent 599.

Labels: QSO

- posted by Leigh @ 02:47 z 0 comments

 
3.579545
I used my Elecraft K3 and fldigi combine to copy the colorburst on 357954551 Hz. I calibrated the K3 with WWV, and then calibrated the fldigi soundcard against the WWV 1Hz ticks using fldigi's WWV mode.
- posted by Leigh @ 05:04 z 0 comments