Author - Chris Cloclough G1VDP

CQWW DX SSB Contest

This weekend (29 October to 30 October 2022) sees the CQWW DX SSB contest take place on the HF Bands 160M through to 10M, and this is the busiest and biggest of the year for SSB contacts. It is an opportunity for a modest station to make contact with some of the rarer DX entities as it draws out expeditions and some pf the locals who wouldn’t normally get on the air. It is also a fun contest to choose your strongest band and enter a lesser category to get the winners certificate, if you choose wisely. 

Here is a list of some of the announced expeditions for this years contest:

https://www.ng3k.com/Misc/cqs2022.html?fbclid=IwAR1krY8cz8UeHWeIvsURm7j66Lodq6bdBVqrBdlNKdpEqVHZywi6LKyTbo4

Bureau Mailing October 2022

The following has been taken from my friend Tim (M0URX) website. Looks like himself and Charles (M0OXO) had a very busy day sorting and getting these out to the UK post office, hopefully they will be with the world bureau’s soon.

QSL cards have been posted to 82 World Bureaus – Monday 24th October 2022
This mailing is a joint mailing between M0OXO Charles & M0URX Tim. (also thanks K3ZO Fred)
I would very much appreciate feedback from you when the QSL cards start arriving at World Bureaus or received by hams around the world? 

This mailing had been delayed due to Covid-19 restrictions. Also due to issues caused by the World Customs Organisation regulations.

The parcels are sent by Priority Business Mail to get to the Bureaus quickly.

Total amount of QSL cards dispatched: 16,607 
Via M0URX 9,476,  Via M0OXO 7,131. 
,Total Weight: 67240g

Total Shipping Cost: £355.59 – £5.29 per kg. (gross weight)

Average postage cost 2.14p per QSL card. Dispatch listed below in grams to each destination.
The below volumes are measured in grams per parcel

UK United Kingdom   1650
Europe Austria  1000
Belgium  2020
Bulgaria  193
Croatia  530
Cyprus
Czech Republic  1190
Denmark  260
Estonia 46
Finland  52
France 11860
Germany  14,000
Greece  330
Gibraltar
Hungary  355
Italy 5,544
Ireland  83
Latvia  63
Netherlands   2400
Malta  7
Norway  335
Poland  2,020
Portugal  275
Romania  200
Slovenia   295
Slovakia  375
Spain  2970
Sweden  900

R.O.W Andorra  ROW
Algeria
Argentina   350
Armenia
Aruba
Australia   235
Barbados
Belarus  62
Bermuda
Brunei
Bosnia Herzegovina  71
Brazil  156
Canada 530
Chile 23
China  145
Colombia  11
Costa Rica 
Cuba  81
Dominican Republic  10
Ecuador 20
El Salvador
Faroe Islands 
Falkland Islands 
Guatemala
Georgia 
Honduras 
Hong Kong  14
Iceland  7
India  29
Indonesia  50
Iran
Israel  50
Japan 14,990
Jordan
Kazakhstan  11
Kyrgyzstan
Kuwait 20
Lebanon
Liechtenstein  7
Lithuania  126
Luxembourg   135
Macau
Macedonia 17
Malaysia 14
Mexico  10
Moldova  20
Monaco
Mongolia
Namibia
New Caledonia
New Zealand 43
Nicaragua
Oman
Kazakistan
Panama  15
Paraguay
Peru    8
Philippines  17
Qatar
Russian Fed 2410
Saudi Arabia
Serbia  345
Singapore
South Africa 26
South Korea  305
Sri Lanka
Switzerland  665
Taiwan  17
Tajjikistan
Thailand 60
Trinidad
Tunisia
Turkey  250
United Arab Emirates
Ukraine  695
Uzbekistan
Uruguay
Venezuela  190
Fiji 23

USA W0, W1, W2 W3, W4, WW4 W5, W6, W7, W8, W9 5,550
WP3  26
WL7 24
WH6  46
KP2

 

All quiet on the G1VDP front

Well guys sorry I haven’t posted for a couple of weeks, I came back home from the convention with a stinking cold/flu – tested Covid negative each day – that knocked me off my feet. It was only the early part of this week that I started to feel human. Along with having to attend the Newark Hamfest in my roll for the RSGB as the Beyond Exams co-ordinator it was a long suffering week. But hopefully we have shaken that and can get on with life again.

RSGB 2022 Convention

This weekend here in the UK we have our annual convention, a meeting with a number of talks amateur radio related. This takes place at Kents Hill Park, Milton Keynes and will be attended by delegates from around the world. It used to be called the HF convention many years ago, and it was then amalgamated with the VHF amateur convention and AMSATS convention to what we now have. 

It also gives many of us chance to meet up with old friends and catch up on the news. On the Saturday evening a gala dinner is held where in the past some major expeditions have been announced, especially the Five Star groups, and some interesting speakers sharing their knowledge or presentations to exotic parts of the world. This is my first visit there for a number of years, and I am looking forward to seeing some old friends. I am also giving a talk on the RSGB Beyond Exams Brickworks scheme, this is on Sunday morning and will be well worth attending if you are a member of a club and need ideas for what to do within the clubs calendar. 

RSGB 2022 Convention

Pirate Alert – ZL8AC from central EU

All day today (26/09/2022) there has been a station on 20M FT8 and FT4 claiming to be from a very rare island near New Zealand – ZL8 Kermadec. Turns out it has been a pirate in central Europe pirating the call. Shame as it would have been an all time new country for my DXCC count.

https://dxnews.com/forum/forum/dxing/44683-zl8ac-pirate-alert

GPDX Monthly IOTA listing.

Once more the GPDX group share their list of upcoming IOTA’s. Some fun ones due. Lets hope we can get on the air and work them.

CQ World Wide RTTY DX Contest

Teletype Corporation Model 19ASR

This weekend is the CQ World Wide RTTY DX Contest, another one of my favourite contests of the year. And it is also my favourite mode of RTTY, a digital mode that is now transmitted and decoded by computer, but used to be transmitted/decoded by a machine before we all had PC’s. These machines used to sit in a corner of the shack “chattering” away to themselves where the sent message was on a tape typed by the typewriter kind of letters. All good fun but noisy, now the computer sends the tones and is a lot quieter as the received message is on screen.

If you have never had a go and have your kit set up for FT8 or other digi modes then this is easy to have a go. The software used here is N1MM which will log the QSO and create a contest entry for you too.

Funeral of Her Majesty the Queen – Elizabeth II

Today we here in the UK laid to rest our Queen, Elizabeth II. A sad day and a day of mourning for the whole country. I for one have been a supporter of the royal family and will do so for the remainder of my life.

As a radio amateur I have been honoured to be allowed to use the “Q” as a secondary letter to my prefix and call, GQ1VDP, to celebrate her majesties Diamond and Platinum (60 and 70 years) jubilees but could not bring myself to use it on such a sad occasion. I am also proud watching the TV coverage of the funeral and all the pageantry and ceremony that goes with a state funeral, and think we Brits certainly know how to do it with style. I am also proud of all the service men and women who have taken part in the whole event over the past 10 days since her death.

We now need to  look forward and to the reign of our new King, King Charles III. I will be on air using the special prefix, I am sure we will be granted it, upon the occasion of his coronation some time in 2023 with a special QSL card made to celebrate the occasion (watch this space). 

For now RIP ma’am, God Save the King.

(Image taken from SKY TV, with gracious thanks)

RIP Queen Elizabeth II

Today. 8th September 2022, we have received the sad news that our monarch Queen Elizabeth II has passed away. She served with grace, humility, and dignity. Carrying out her duties right through to the last days, meeting and instating our new prime minister just 48 hours earlier. She was our Queen for 70 years, celebrating her platinum jubilee this year. But it was 10 years ago I activated a special call GQ1VDP to celebrate the diamond jubilee and had this special card printed to remember the occasion, again I operated as GQ1VDP this year also to celebrate the platinum jubilee.

We here in the UK are saddened by the news and will miss her, Rest In Peace your majesty.

With this in mind we now have a new king, the Queens eldest son Charles. 

Long live King Charles III

GPDX IOTA Calendar

GPDX Group have just posted their updated IOTA Calendar to their Facebook page. Some interesting stuff coming up over the next few months, lets hope we all get in the log.