Watches, Warnings & Advisories for Sunflower Co.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

K5JAW Operating Notes, 2014 Week 12 (March 16-22, 2014)

On The Air: 
Aside from the routine nets that occur each day of the week, I've enjoyed some DX activity on the HF bands.  Four new DXCC entities were logged this week.  That brings my 2014 total of new DXCC entries to 16, if I counted correctly!  It has been fun, and quite a challenge to break through the huge pileups that come with DXCC's that aren't heard that often.  I can tell you it is very satisfying to hear the DX station call back "Kilo 5?" or "Juliette Alpha Whiskey?" from among the big guns that are trying to call him.  The new DXCC's logged this week were Greece, Latvia, South Korea, and Kuwait.

Top 5 Distances This Week:
9K2QA - Kuwait, 7300 miles
HL5FUA - Republic of Korea (S. Korea), 6800 miles
RT0F - Russia, 5900 miles
SV2CXI - Greece, 5700 miles
YT0W - Serbia, 5500 miles

International Contacts:

Aruba, Bahamas, France, Greece, Kuwait, Latvia, Republic of Korea, Russia, Serbia

States Worked:
Arizona, California, Hawaii, Mississippi, New Mexico

Bands Worked this Week:
80m - 5 contacts
20m - 5 contacts
17m - 1 contact
12m - 5 contacts
10m - 2 contacts
2m - 6 contacts

Around the Station:
The highlight of the week was receiving my Worked All Continents award!  I had my cards checked and the application sent off about two months ago.  Since that time, I've "worked all continents" on 10 meters in one day, as well as truly working ALL continents by getting Antarctica in the log a couple of weeks ago.


QSL Cards Received this week
None
QSL Cards Going Out in the coming week
No cards this week, I'm waiting on some new QSL cards to be delivered.  I'll catch up as soon as I get them!

Sunday, March 16, 2014

K5JAW Operating Notes Weeks 10 & 11 (Mar 2-15, 2014)

On The Air: 
Well I missed publishing Week 10 Operating Notes, so you get a double-helping this week!  Such is the ebb and flow of this hobby; sometimes we don't get to spend the time on it that we plan.  Over the past two weeks I've been subject to that ebb and flow, with my on-air time ranging from quick visits to the shack for participation in regular nets, to spending a few hours at a time working DX contacts.

I won't recap every little bit of the last two weeks, other than to say that I've added new DXCC entries to the log.  Although they're not yet "confirmed" for awards purposes, they're in the log!   Probably the biggest highlight was logging Antarctica with a SSB contact to RI1ANT, just over 10,000 miles away on the "far side" of Antarctica from the United States.  That meant my signal went over the South Pole, or pretty dog-gone close to it.  I've got confirmations on the six major continents, and now I can say that I've got all seven in the log.

Top 4 Distances This Week:
RI1ANT - Antarctica, 10,157 miles
RT0F - Russia, 5700 miles
YT0W, YU1JW, and YT0A - Serbia, 5500 miles

International Contacts:
Antigua & Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas, Bonaire Island, Brazil, Canary Islands, Chile, Croatia, Cuba, Curacao Island, European Russia, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Spain, Turks & Caicos

States Worked:
Mississippi, Texas, Virginia

QSL Cards Received this week
W4V - Virginia

QSL Cards Going Out in the coming week
No cards this week, I'm waiting on some new QSL cards to be delivered.  I'll catch up as soon as I get them!

Sunday, March 2, 2014

K5JAW Operating Notes 2014 Week 9 (Feb 23-Mar 1)

On The Air: 
What started out as a slow week radio-wise certainly ended with a bang!  Most of this week's activity was centered around routine nets on 2 meters and 80 meters.  Work and personal obligations have overtaken most of my radio-leisure time, resulting in quick visits to the shack to participate in a couple nets each evening.  The good thing about measuring time according to UTC is that as I get home from work, one UTC day is ending and another begins, thus giving me two "days" that I can operate spread over just a couple of hours.  This is very helpful with the QSO-365 project as well.

The highlight of the week was Saturday, March 1.  I hadn't consulted the various contest calendars, so I was surprised to find all the activity on HF before I realized the ARRL SSB DX contest was being held.  I don't normally participate in contests for my own benefit.  Instead, I'm happy to dial around and reply to contestant's QRZ calls and give them the points they're looking for.  It's an easy way to pick up locations you may need for Worked all States, Worked all Continents, or DXCC awards.

For a few hours' worth of leisurely operating, I logged 33 DX contacts, including 3 new DXCC entities.  One unexpected outcome was that I worked all continents in those few hours, all on 10 meters!  While I've got a application pending for the Worked All Continents award, I may try to get QSL's for today's contacts so I can get the 10 meter WAC endorsement.

The take-away lesson here is this: even if you don't participate in contests for the contest's sake, take time to work through some of the pileups.  You may be surprised what you can do with 100 watts, and your log will benefit as well!

One final highlight of the week involved the ARRL's Centennial QSO Party, when I was able to work ARRL President Kay Craigie N3KN on 20 meters.

Top 4 Distances This Week:
ZM1G - New Zealand, 7988 miles
JK1YMM and JH1GBZ - Japan, 6775 miles
JE1LFX - Japan, 6682 miles
JA1BPA- Japan, 6659 miles
RT0F - Russia, 5966 miles

International Contacts:
Antigua & Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas, Bonaire Island, Brazil, Canary Islands, Chile, Croatia, Cuba, Curacao Island, European Russia, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Spain, Turks & Caicos

States Worked:
Mississippi, Texas, Virginia

QSL Cards Received this week
W4V - Virginia

QSL Cards Going Out in the coming week
No cards this week, I'm waiting on some new QSL cards to be delivered.  I'll catch up as soon as I get them!