The ARRL’s LoTW (Logbook of The World) home page at https://p1k.arrl.org/lotwuser/default has some new info on LoTW and the new PJ entities that became active in October. I’m not sure about others but I rarely view that page and instead go direct to other links within the LoTW site so many folks like myself  might miss this info posted there:

Dec 14, 2010: New PJ Entities and LoTW — We have received some questions about when the new PJ entities will appear in LoTW and the associated DXCC lists.

Before we can change any of the DXCC records in the electronic systems, we have to finish processing all the DXCC applications from 2010.  We need to do this to produce data for the Annual Lists that appear in the DXCC Yearbook, and for the Honor Roll listing in QST.

The DXpeditioners have asked about when they can obtain certificates for the new entities. Most of the PJ operators have wanted to place their logs into LoTW, but we are waiting until we can manage the process from the DXCC side. It won’t be much longer though —  likely sometime in January.

When we make the deletions and add the new entities, most DXers will “lose” up to 20 entities from their totals in the DXCC Challenge. Those band entities will be shown in the “total” DXCC number (which includes deleted entities) on the Awards chart.  Obviously, as DXers apply their new entities to DXCC those numbers will return.

Thanks for the patience.

I submitted a combination of LoTW and paper QSL cards to update my DXCC status for the year back in September and I received the updates and my new RTTY DXCC certificate. My current award status is 163 Mixed, 152 on 20m and now 110 entities for RTTY DXCC. RTTY DXCC shows I’m #2,597.

I already have some new paper QSL cards and LoTW QSLs to apply to next years DXCC.

Looking at my award totals, I have enough to apply and receive DXCC for Phone and CW so maybe I’ll apply for those next year along with additional DXCCs for the awards I already have.

Thanks for all the contacts!!

73 & good DX,
K2DSL

This past weekend was the 2010 WAE RTTY ham radio contest. My pneumonia is gone and I was able to get on the air, albeit for less then half of the allowed contest time of 30 hours over the course of 40 hours. I did manage 11 hours (with short breaks during those 11 hours) with it mostly being on Saturday.

The contest is different in that it uses QTCs which is the exchange of 10 contacts between stations. In the RTTY contest, I can exchange (send or receive) 10 contacts with a station outside of North America. Though the 10 contacts don’t count for any multipliers, they do count as points so it’s a great way to really increase your score. This year I ended up making 305 contacts and exchanged 220 QTCs for a total of 525 contact points and 162,225 total points. I worked 2x the number of hours last year and did about 3x the number of total points. Maybe next year I’ll be able to work more hours as it is an enjoyable contest to participate in.

Started out late on Fri night making contacts on 40m & 80 for 1.5 hours before I was beat. I had a good run on 80m with about 1 per min for 40 mins calling CQ.

Started at 1pm ET (1800z) on Saturday after running errands and spent a total of 6 hrs 45 mins on the radio on Saturday. 20m was busy and 15m less crowded and quiter so most time was spent flipping between 20m and 15m with occasional checks on 10m. I ended up with 6 Q’s on 10m Saturday and even exchanged QTCs with LV5V in Argentina.  Saturday around 5pm ET (2200z) I started to switch between 20m and 40m until we went out to dinner. When I got back, I spent time on 80m switching back and forth with 40m to pick up anyone new I could hear and called it quits before 10:30pm ET (0330z).

Sunday I got back on the air at 8:40am ET (1340z) and 15m was already busy and I worked 15m for 1 hour before switching to 20m. Worked 20m for about 50 mins, switched back to 15m for 40 mins and then finished up on 20m for 15 min before I was done with the contest at 11:20am ET (1620z). Sunday’s 2hr & 45 min on air time added 61 Q’s and 150 QTCs to my total. Those QTCs sure do help. I set off to the Giants football game, but they played horribly and the lights went out in the stadium twice, once completely. I would have been better off staying home and making more contacts!

During the contest on Saturday night, I took a quick break to log 8J1RL in Antarctica. On Saturday afternoon, VK3TDX in Australia was booming in and I quickly logged him before there was any pile up. I did log 1 Japanese station on Saturday just after sunset here but didn’t hear/log any others, though they were spotted on the cluster. I also noticed that Africa was pretty quiet this weekend with not a lot of activity in the contest, or that I could hear/work.

Here’s a map of the 305 contacts made and you can click on it to see a larger view:

Here’s the score summary from N1MM:

 Band   Q/QTC  QSOs    Pts  Cty
  3.5    QSO    82      82   56
    7    QSO    52      52   81
   14    QSO   107     107   96
   14   RQTC    70      70    0
   14   SQTC    10      10    0
   21    QSO    58      58   68
   21   RQTC    90      90    0
   21   SQTC    40      40    0
   28    QSO     6       6    8
   28   SQTC    10      10    0
Total    All   525     525  309

Score : 162,225

73 & good DX,
K2DSL

During the 2010 WAE RTTY contest I saw a spot for 8J1RL which is the Japanese research amateur radio station in Antarctica. I took a moment to tune to SSB and the station was booming in with a true S9 on my TS-2000, much louder then the US station KC4AAA which I previously made contact with on phone. I listened for a couple mins and he worked stations and then identified himself as 8J1RL. I had a feeling since he was ending the contacts with sayonara, but I wanted to be sure so I waited for him to id. I had the headphones out and my wife was listening too. I put out K2DSL and on the first call he came back with K2 so I put it out there again and he came back with K2DSL and gave me a nice 58.

The QRZ detail page lists a different grid locator then listed on the main page which is KC90tx. You can see their location by going to http://levinecentral.com/ham/grid_square.php?Grid=KC90tx and zooming out a little.

KC4AAA was also listed on the cluster and active at the same time and when I tuned to his frequency he was much weaker then 8J1RL. I’ve now worked 4 different Antarctica stations:
KC4AAA – 20m phone – US station
DP1POL – 40m RTTY – German station
R1ANP – 40m RTTY – Russian station
8J1RL – 20m phone – Japanese station

73 & good DX,
K2DSL

I turned the radio on tonight to do a little packet work with the ISS as it passed overhead. I had my APRS position received and digipeated as well as a message to RS0ISS-4.

I then fired up VE7CC’s cluster program and saw 5V7TT on 40m CW spotted and I could hear them fine. I went split up 1.5 and after just a few calls I heard them come back to K2DIL. I resent K2DSL a few times before he came back with K2DSL and I confirmed. I then went to their site at http://www.i2ysb.com to check out their info and it showed an online log for 5V7TT. I entered my call and in less then 2 minutes after making the contact, I was already showing in their logs!  I’ll be filling out a QSL card to G6BMY via the bureau for a new one.

73 & good DX,
K2DSL

Spent some of the weekend working the TARA PSK Rumble contest and then the California QSO Party (CQP) got going and I made a bunch of contacts there in between all the other goings on over the weekend. The CQP is nice because it has a tremendous amount of activity and a lot of stations on the air for both CW & SSB contacts.

I switched to CW and noticed a spot for KA3DDR/6 and immediately recognized the call being that of Scot Morrison, a blogger I’ve followed for quite a while now. Unfortunately, Scot was no longer on the frequency but I was able to subsequently work Scot on 40m CW and then 20m CW on Sunday. Probably the highlight of my ham activities for the weekend!

I had a difficult time this weekend on 15m. I couldn’t hear but a few stations that were spotted in the cluster. It could have been just that 15m wasn’t good between NJ and CA or it could be that throwing up a 15m dipole vs tuning the G5RV will provide me a better chance.

I stopped early on Sunday to get ready to head out to watch the Giants beat the Bears on Sunday night. A good ending to a good weekend.

Here’s the score summary for the contest. Looking back at last year I had a few more Q’s and a couple more counties. I didn’t hear any counties for the ones I missed. Must have just not been on the air when I was.

  Band  Mode  QSOs    Pts  Sec
     7  CW      27     81    4
     7  LSB      5     10    0
    14  CW      58    174   11
    14  USB     70    140   35
    21  CW       2      6    0
    21  USB      4      8    1
 Total  Both   166    419   51

 Score : 21,369

73,
K2DSL

Read about Market Reef getting active in the Daily DX and this morning, while waiting for more California stations to come on the air for their QSO Party, I saw a spot for OJ0B on 17m so I tuned there and they were load. They were working split on CW so I went up a little and put my call out. After about 10 or so times they came back to me and I had them logged for a new one @ 1253z!

QSL for OJ0B is via OH2BH. The OJ0B QRZ page isn’t updated with any 2010 info and reflects what must have been their last DXpedition there in 2009. The Daily DX indicated that OH2BH & OH2PM were the operators as well as OH2BH being the QSL manager.

Hopefully I can work them on some other bands, especially 20m. The info from Daily DX says they should be there until the 11th of October or so.

73 & Good DX,
K2DSL

After just making my first packet radio contact with the ISS, I was able to log my first voice contact with the ISS! I was just finishing up the BARTG 75 RTTY Sprint contest as there was a great overhead pass of the ISS and I wanted to see if I could make some packet contacts via the ISS. I was listening on 145.825 but I wasn’t hearing anything at all. So I went to 145.800 and I could hear Col Doug Wheelock (KF5BOC) as if he was in the room with me. I put the TS-2000 in split and set the xmit frequency to 144.490 and gave him a call. He came back to me at 21:07z, said my call and that I was coming in loud and clear. Wow, what a thrill! With less power then your average light bulb, we can make a contact 280+ miles into space and speak with someone moving at 17,000+ mph. Unbelievable!

Time to send for that QSL card.

73,
K2DSL