February 2013 – Rockall DX Group

The day after

February 26, 2013 | 9U4U | No Comments

We saw today that 500+ mails arrived with requests for bands/modes or log corrections. You can imagine that besides our hobby, our daily job has to be done, and that it will take some time to check and correct any mistakes we made. We will do this with care and consider all possibilities to make your QSO appear into our log. If we see that the time and date matches your call we wrongly put in, it will be a good one for sure!

Further more we want to thank the many HAM’s for their individual donation! It gives us more and more strength to fulfill our goal, to get you in our log, now and in the future ! We also want to thank you all for writing the many encouraging words into our guestbook!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

By Marc Cosemans

Game over for 9U4U

February 25, 2013 | 9U4U | No Comments

After 10 days of operating with 8 outstanding guys, the final curtain has fallen on a wonderful expedition. Going home to a temperature change from +35 deg. to -1 deg, made us chiver. All goods got through the customs with ease. The last update on clublog is done. Now begins the final stage: QSLing and the LOTW upload. This will be done shortly by our QSL manager, Tim, M0URX.

Here you have a satisfied DXpedition team!

The final score can be found here:

By Marc Cosemans

The challenge to get the 70k QSO mark…will we get there?

February 24, 2013 | 9U4U | No Comments

Our last day…..reporting that we are heading for 70k QSO’s. The one who enters the 70k QSO has to order a bottle of champagne hihi.
Two firsts again on 80m! ZL1IU and FK8CP… The last one was peaking just above the noise level. Trying to beat the static around the equator is a hard job to do, as we were QRV for our last night on the low bands. It was one of those days that you can’t beat nature. The evening began promising but ended in a disaster. We called “CQ” in repeat mode on 160 m but no reply…. Almost all antenna’s are dismantled, except our 2 HEX beams which we can be used on 4 different bands simultaneously to run our 4 stations to reach our 70k target. Our new team members did a fantastic job, and we have the feeling we have some new friends forever. If 9U4U is not in your log, turn the antenna towards Africa and call us, it’s your last chance.

By Marc Cosemans

Guestoperator

February 23, 2013 | 9U4U | No Comments

Today Anton, ON6NL joint us for a few hours to operate. Theo, ON4ATW left us a few days ago so we had an operator less. The 30 PSK QSO’s have been merged into the clublog, for those who have been worrying not being in the log. We are already at our 65k QSO mark, wauw!

By Marc Cosemans

Two VK stations worked on 80m!

February 23, 2013 | 9U4U | No Comments

Last night 2 VK stations were worked on 80m! We also tried for 160m with one of them. We heard something but it was not good enough for a QSO. This would probably be a “first”. Our signals were heard in ZL on 80, but no QSO was made. 80m was great later in the night, with JA’s worked 2 hours before their sunrise. Some were even stronger than the European pileup. No thunder crashes heard. Only the heavy QSB made it a bit difficult. Further there were about 30 PSK stations worked on 30m, and even a SSB QSO on 160, and a RTTY QSO on 80. We will do some 160m CW operation this night around 1811 Mhz. Hopefully we don’t have to much interfearance from the SSB conteststations.

Please don’t send a talk message through the cluster because we all see the popup on our screen. If there is something to say, send a mail please. We can’t give everybody there request, but try to activate in as many modes en bands as possible.

Tomorrow around noon our operation will be over. Logs can not always be updated because of the slow internet connection we have.We shall see if we hold one station operational until the final curtain falls

By Marc Cosemans

Again a good run around sunrise on 80 and 160 m

February 22, 2013 | 9U4U | No Comments

Round sunrise signals were very strong on 160 and 80. We reached as far as the West Coast. We even worked a mobile station on 80. What a thrill! Without our receiving antennas this wasn’t possible. The EWE antenna we recently put up over classes the K9AY loop, but is to close to the 80 an 160 m vertical, so we have heavy interference from each other at the receiving end. On 40, 30, 12 and 10 meters we gave many RTTY operators a new one. It was hard to work US stations on 10m RTTY because of the fluttering signals. We even got “marked” as pirats when someone blocked our transmission frequency, claiming there was no propagation between Africa and Stateside! We will be on 160 during the CQ 160 SSB but not in SSB. We hope we can get some of you guys in the log around sunrise. As things go like this we estimated we should end around 65K QSO’s. Sunday morning will be the end of our operation. The team is tiried but in good shape. Energy drinks keeps us going. Be sure to get your call in our log. WE’RE 9U “FOR” YOU!!!!!

By Marc Cosemans

Dipole for 12m

February 21, 2013 | 9U4U | No Comments

We just made a dipole for 12m. Now we can use 12 & 17 meters again at the same time. Enjoy the pileups. Logs are again updated + some more pictures can be seen in our picture gallery

By Marc Cosemans

Good openings on 160 and 80m last night

February 21, 2013 | 9U4U | No Comments

It began with a good SSB opening on 80m. We continuously changed from continent so everybody had a chance. Japan was worked on 803 and the US on 805. Others were worked 5 to 10 up. Static and QSB slowed down the rate. Later on signals were getting better and better. Static disappeared so signals could be heard with ease. At one time we logged 3 stations a minute on 160! About 50 US stations were logged in that time. We hope to work West Coast and VK/ZL tonight. We gave many guys a new bandpoint on 40 RTTY. Our 4 square array helped us doing that. At one time stations from different continents could be worked simultaneously, just by switching directions.

By Marc Cosemans

160m for Europe

February 20, 2013 | 9U4U | No Comments

We understand there was some frustration about the 160m operation last night. We fully understand that Europe was a bit frustrated about the fact that we only called for Japan. The openings towards JA on 160m are much less as they are to Europe. WE WILL BE QRV FOR EUROPE TONIGHT, DON’T WORRY. We can’t be QRV at the moment on 17 and 12 meter at the same time, because we lost an antenna. We will make a dipole for 12 or 17. Theo, ON4ATW will leave today, so one 160m less….but don’t worry we have a replacement hihi. More pictures can be found on this link

By Marc Cosemans

A minor thunderstorm came over today!

February 19, 2013 | 9U4U | No Comments

Today a minor thunderstorm came over and damaged 2 of our HEX beams. 1 HEX beam could be fixed and the other home made HEX beam was definitively damaged. We tried to hold the HEX with 2 persons but the guy-wire broke and came down on the ground. The 160 & 80 m vertical managed to stay up in the air. Some wires had to be tightened again. Last night Theo, ON4ATW managed to work KV4FZ after sunrise on 160m. The K9AY loop we put up yesterday did a great job. Logs keep on updated daily. Thanks to all operators to be patient in the pileup.We have 38k QSO’s in the log. We managed to work about 30 US stations LP on 30M.

By Marc Cosemans

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Month: February 2013