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Just worked them myself on 10 SSB @100 watts on my OCFD. I had just settled myself into my chair for what I thought was going to be a protracted wait...set up the split and called them when he said QRZ, listening up. I set the B VFO to 5 up and got them on the first call. Now what am I going to do for the next several hours? I could sit on his TX frequency and yell "HE'S LISTENING UP! SPLIT, SPLIT, SPLIT" when the LIDS show up.Just now in the shack. I turned the radio on before heading up to dinner and managed to log 3G0YA (Easter Island DXpedtion) on 15m CW after no more than two minutes of trying. He heard me calling at 2.5kHz up.
Worked him on 10m phone yesterday.
Yeah me! Now I am going upstairs for a steak and baked potato.
....and just worked them on 20 but I had to turn on the amp for that one. Not very strong in MO. They were about S-3 (the bands kinda suck today). I got them first call though. I haven't heard them on 40 or 80 though. Last I saw on their website, they were having issues with antennas on those bands.Just worked Easter Island again on 15 meters....they aren't banging in like they were when I worked them on 10 the other day but still very Q5....they are about S-5 here in SoMo. Took three calls. I'm actually surprised they heard me because the OCFD I'm using isn't real efficient on 15 (or really any band for that matter, if truth must be told ) .
Or turn the power downPut some 2" rubber ducky antennas on a bunch of Baofeng radios. They work just fine so far for very local comms (which is what I want)
Ya they're probably not much better than a dummy load, but reduced range is the goal.
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Yep, bands have been pretty rough the past few days. I was listening to ten this morning (didn’t hear anything) and I saw a bright flash through the window in front of my desk and then a very loud thunder clap…WTF! I don’t remember seeing a weather warning for t-storms in my area. I quick shut everything down and unplugged everything. Thunder storms lasted all day…I guess more are due tomorrow and Sunday. I need to keep a better eye on the forecasts.Or turn the power down
Man, the bands were rubbish today. I don't know who forgot to pay the ionosphere bill, but they shut that shit off. I was having no luck at home, so I went out to a park while it was still warm, which it wasn't, and I couldn't even get picked up by the RBN. I tried 15, 17, and 20m and called for about 20 minutes with zero luck. Then I tried 30m, nope. Not a single spot from the RBN. I thought maybe I had break-in turned off again like a retard. Then finally 40m worked. I couldn't believe it. Once I got rolling the signals were strong, so it must have just been a rubbish day on the higher bands.
I had stuck a piece of tape over the speaker on my X5105 to stop the constant background hiss. I noticed I had to turn the volume up pretty high to the point it would distort, so I took that off. Damn, that was really blocking a lot. Then I noticed I had the preamp turned on, so I killed that. Good grief, no wonder so many stations were 599+40dB. I wonder how long that'd been on. I almost never use the pre-amp at home, so I'm not sure why I would have turned it on. Probably just while I was fussing with it.
Just worked Easter Island again on 15 meters....they aren't banging in like they were when I worked them on 10 the other day but still very Q5....they are about S-5 here in SoMo. Took three calls. I'm actually surprised they heard me because the OCFD I'm using isn't real efficient on 15 (or really any band for that matter, if truth must be told ) .