LA8AJA's homepage

Can you believe it? I have had my hamradio licence for 20 years this May. I don’t remember exactly the date anymore, but it was back in 1995 I got the callsign LB4WE. I wasn’t old enough to get the LA back then, because the agelimit was 16 years at the time. It wasn’t until October that year that I got LA8AJA.

Little did I know back then how much fun I would have in this hobby and all the people I would meet and get to know. Hadn’t it been for LB3RE (ex LA6FJA) and his father LA5FHA, I would probably never had gotten to know this hobby.

After over 25000 qsoes and 335 dxcc’s in the log, I’m still active. Perhaps not as much as I used to be, but I am on the radio now and then. I have been active from OJ0 Market Reef in 2003 and 2006, JW Svalbard in 2002, 2006 and 2011 (x2), iota’s EU056, EU055 and EU062 in 2005 and also operated contests from LA3Z, LA8W and OH8X. I have also participated in several hamradio gatherings in England, Denmark, Sweden, Åland and Norway.

Who knows what the next 20 years will bring? I’m still enjoying it. See you on the air!

A few weeks ago, the log for E30FB was uploaded to LoTW. That means I got #326 confirmed on LoTW. Thank you to the team and to the manager for a new one on LoTW.

Here is a small report since last time. I’ve been fortunate to work a few new islands lately and a new dxcc on CW.

On March 6th, I worked VK7FG on 30M CW from OC-195. That was a new iota, and it was confirmed on LoTW recently.

On March 8th, I worked E30FB on 40M CW. Or at least I thought I did. The contact didn’t show up in the log, so I guess it was a pirate.

On March 10th, I worked E30FB on 12M CW. This was a good qso and it was a new one on CW.

On March 12th, I worked E30FB on 10M CW for a new one on 10M. 9Q0HQ was worked on 12M CW for a new one on 12M.

On April 1st, I worked Craig VK5CE/p on 15M SSB. This time he was activating OC-220, which was a new iota for me. A few hours later, I managed to work K2ZR/4 on 12M CW from NA-062. That was new iota for me. I know he is active from there several times a year, and I have tried before, but signals has been too weak. This time the signal was quite good, but as I called him, the qsb almost made it impossible. YB8RW/3 was worked on 15M CW from OC-250 for a new iota.

On April 4th, I worked YB4IR/7 on 15M CW from OC-269 for a new iota. A few hours later, I worked YB8RW/3 on 20M CW, this time from OC-237. I duped him, as I had a station calling cq test for a very long time on the same qrg. I was pretty sure of the first qso, but I found it better to be safe than sorry.

Soundclips:

• E30FB 15M CW
• E30FB 12M CW

I didn’t bother to work the XR0ZR expedition back in 2013. I had Juan Fernandez worked on several slots. What I didn’t know at the time, was that I needed CE0Z on LoTW. I found out that fact after the expedition. That has been nagging me since.

Thankfully another expedition came up. I managed to work 3G0ZC on 10M CW on February 28th. The signal was quite good, but so was the pile-up. After a while, I managed to get them in the log.

The log was uploaded to LoTW on March 11th. That was #325 on LoTW. Thank you very much for the expedition and the confirmation.

I made a soundclip on 30M one early morning. I didn’t manage to work them there, even though they had a good signal. Suddenly they just disappeared twice. Luckily I have the confirmation on 30M from a past expedition.

Soundclip:

• 3G0ZC 30M CW

Finally an all-time new one on the air. They are rare these days for me. I only need 9 total to have worked them all. Navassa K1N started the operation on February 1st. I heard them on 40M very early Monday morning with quite a nice signal. I did not bother to call them, as the pile-up was quite big. During the week, I have heard them on several bands, but the pile-up’s has just been way to big for me. On February 5th, I was up quite early, and they were on 40M CW with a great signal. The pile-up was big, but as they had quite a nice and strong signal, I went for it. I found the listening frequency several times, but I didn’t have a strong enough signal to get myself heard over the pile-up. After maybe 45minutes or so in the pile-up, the operator came back with LA? I sent my call again, and #335 was in the log. Hopefully I can get them on a few others bands and modes before they leave.

Here is a short DX report since my last post.

On December 29th, I worked YB4IR/8 on 20M CW from OC-224 for a new iota.

On January 10th, I worked C98RF on 30M CW from AF-061 for a new iota. That was also my first qso in 2015.

On January 24th, I worked EP6T on 12M SSB from AS-166 for a new iota.

On January 27th, I worked HH5/KC0W on 40M CW for a new one on 40M.

On February 2nd, I worked HH5/KC0W on 80M CW for a new one on 80m.

On February 8th, I worked K1N on 20M CW. He had a very smal pile-up at this time. OX3LX Bo showed up on 15M CW from NA-220. I logged him for a new iota. A few hours later I got K1N on 12M CW.

Soundclips:

• K1N 40M CW
• EP6T 15M CW – I could not bust the pile-up
• C98RF 30M CW – new iota for me