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Happy new DX year everyone. I know it’s a bit late, but now it’s done.

I haven’t posted a radio report in a while, so here it goes. Radio has been slow the least year, but I did work a few contacts.

On August 12th, I worked AL3/AA7CH on 20M. I’m not in the log, so I do not really know which call he did log.

On August 13th, I worked AL3/AA7CH on 30M CW from NA-042. I was in the log this time, and a new iota for me.

On August 26th, I worked NL6/AA7CH on 30M CW from NA-157 for a new iota.

On August 27th, I worked NL6/AA7CH on 20M CW from NA-157.

On October 6th, I worked RI1F on 30M CW from EU-190 for a new iota.

On October 8th, I worked RI1F on 40M CW from EU-190.

On October 15th, I worked H40GC on 40M CW for a new one on 40M.

On October 17th, I worked 3C0L on 30M CW for a new one on 30M.

On October 22nd, I worked F6KOP/p on 17M CW and 20M SSB from iota EU-148. That was a new iota for me.

On October 29th, I worked 3XY3D/p on 17M CW from AF-096 for a new iota.

On November 5th, I worked VK9MA on 30M CW for a new one on 30M. My friend LB8DC was one of the operators on that trip.

On November 19th, I worked EG1ET on 20M CW from EU-077 for a new iota.

That was it for a late report from 2017.

Soundclips:

• VK9MA 30M CW
• NL6/AA7CH 20M CW NA-042
• AL3/AA7CH 20M CW NA-157

I got a nice surprise about a week ago. I’ve been waiting for ET7L to be acknowledged for DXCC, but it seems like that will neverhappen. I hear they used a commercial licence to work the contacts. Anyway, 9E1C suddenly popped up when I checked the most recent QSLs. That means I finally got Ethiopia confirmed. I’m now at #333 on LoTW, and I only need 5 more to have all my worked DXCC’s confirmed on LoTW.

Keep the confirmations coming 🙂

On July 29th, 6M suddenly opened to North America. This time I got a shot at trying out the new FT8 mode.

I started calling and I was answered by K3WW. W4YZJ, N3RG, K1JT, AK4QR, VE3MMQ, N2WK, VE3CKO and W3LL quickly followed in my log. The opening lasted around 35 minutes.

The opening was quite widespread as can be seen on the pictures from Pskreporter. It was fun to try out the new mode, and the shorter periods made it possible to use shorter time to work stations. I did struggle with the decode several times. I don’t know why, as the signal was audible and strong. It might have been qsb, the time might have been off, or it could have been related to the mode being in beta at that time.

This was quite a good aurora, and it started early in the day. My first qso was worked at 1253z.
The last qso was worked at 1537z. I worked a total of 48 qsoes, and many stations were new in my log. Usually I work quite a lot of dupes during these opening, but this time it was different.

I worked 33 gridsquares, and the longest qso was G4ELJ in IO91. I worked these 12 DXCC’s: DL, ES, G, GM, LA, LY, OH, OZ, PA, SM, SP and YL.

The map was made with a tool made by DL4MFM.

It was July 4th. I was out cutting the gras. When I was finished, I had gotten a message from LA7QIA wondering if he should be home now.
As I had been outside, I didn’t really understand what he meant. I started checking things and noticed LA-stations were reporting hearing
stations from the west coast on 6M on JT65. I quickly ran to my station and turned everything on. On my first decode the frequency
were quite active with loud stations coming in.

I quickly started calling CQ, hoping to work a few stations. The first station in the log was NA6L. He was quickly followed by K7JA.
I noticed at the same time that I was hearing XE2CQ very strong. I have never heard Mexico on 6M, and I know only a few LA’s worked into Mexico during the F2-days several years ago. Luckily I managed to work him for #151 on 6M. That was something I had only dreamt about until this day, and it was also a new waz at the same time.

The opening continued on and I logged KR7O, K7JE, AA7A (WAS #41), KF2T (WAS #42), N7CW, N6RW, AI1K and finally N6ML. The opening lasted from 1710z until 1803z. I know I was being heard several places, but I couldn’t hear any stations at all. I can’t say why, and I don’t think my noiselevel was that high. K7ULS heard me in Utah, but I could never copy him. That would have been a new state. N6SPP even reported hearing me on a dipole 3M above ground. W7MEM heard me in Idaho, and I did notice that VE5UF had heard me as well.

This was the first time I worked into the west coast. I managed to work New Mexico a few years back, but I never made it any further. I know a few other LA’s did work all the way to the west coast.

The pictures are from pskreporter. The first are stations I heard, and the second are stations that heard me. I hope I’ll get one opening like this again.