People who know me a bit, know that i love things that are awesome. Then again, who doesn’t? Specifically, i love things that make my already tough life easier I think i have found something like that. Just like a lot of hams i’m collecting new DXCC’s all of the time, but once you passed the first 50, things get harder. Of course you can just wait and hope to get lucky, but you can also use some usefull tools to help you find the DXCC’s you haven’t worked yet. Recently i did a check on which european DXCC’s i haven’t worked yet and i was quite surprised about the number i didn’t have in my logbook yet. I searched, and found the ve7cc DX cluster program. It looks like it’s developed somewhere in the 80′s, which it probably is, but it does what it should be doing. There are of course many online clusters, but this little application has the posibillity to set e-mailalerts. If you have a windowsmachine running 24/7 (which i have), you can install it and set e-mailalerts on the prefixes you haven’t got yet, on the parts of the band you prefer. As soon as a wanted station is being spotted, you will receive an e-mail instantly. I have the alerts set for the bands where i’m allowed to transmit, with an exception for the CW parts, because CW is for old guys and i’m obviously a young god No but seriously, CW isn’t my thing, so no need to have alerts for that.

Find the ve7cc cluster at http://www.ve7cc.net/ and have fun with it

Secondly, by now we already know that the people at HRD headquarters have decided to introduce payed licences for Hamradio Deluxe. I’ve heard a lot of hams complain about it, and to be honest, i also like my software cheap (and by cheap i mean: for free. But i can’t help it, i’m dutch so it’s in our nature ). The most reactions i hear is that people are massively going over to FLDigi, as if that is the only alternative, which it isn’t. If you’re also looking for new software with a logbook and the possibility to work digimodes, i would suggest to check out PZTLog which is created by my friend Charlie (M0PZT). You can use it for logging, contestlogging, PSK/RTTY, rigcontrol and more awesomeness. Just check it out at http://www.m0pzt.com/?pztlog and give it a try!

Recently, just before turning 75, the dutch Queen Beatrix announced she is handing the throne over to her son Willem-Alexander. She will formally end her reign on April 30, the 33rd anniversary of her coronation. Now of course i don’t want to bore you too much with news like this, but news like this usually means there will be several special callsigns on-air in honour of this, which is also the case right now. I found a list of special callsigns being on-air:

PA00KING
PA6KING
PA30ALEX
PA13KING
PA33KBX
PA200KING
PB33Q
PB200KING
PB2013KING
PC6KING
PC13KING
PD6KING
PE6KING
PG6KING
PB13ROYAL
PH6KING


For more information on when the stations are active and the QSL info, check out this website. I already have to of them in the logbook.

It’s been a while since the last blogpost and like mentioned before, i entered the dutch pacc contest. I wasn’t really as die-hard as some colleagues (which were QRV for the full 24 hours), but i spent the biggest part of the saturday (and a small part of the sunday) in the shack. The results aren’t shocking: 73 qso’s. 2 new DXCC entities (with one of them being Belgium of all places ) and a few points for the clubcompetition.

Furthermore i had a problem with my Icom 706mk2 with the VHF band. The problem was that the VHF band wasn’t really working on the rig. I had it fixed and right away ordered me a big wheel antenna for 2 meters :



It’s an omnidirectional horizontal polarised antenna. Now that i have the capabilities of working SSB on 2 meters i found this the perfect antenna to really go ahead and discover what the 2 meter band has to offer besides the local repeaters. I ordered it at http://ris.scouting.nl/service-bureau/ (only interesting for dutch ham’s. For foreighn hams, you can get one at Wimo ). In a couple of weeks i will have it, and i am really curious to the performance of this compact antenna. I will, of course, keep you updated about it.

It’s been a couple of months now since my last update, but there hasn’t been much going on the last months really Busy with other things in life then hamradio, except for some QSO’s every now and then. Of course i want to wish everyone a happy new year, and good dx in 2013.

Just a couple of weeks before the real fun starts again, because in the weekend of februari the 10th, the biggest dutch contest of the year takes place : the PACC Contest. It runs from saturday the 9th 12:00utc to sunday the 10th 12:00utc. I will probably be hanging around on 20 meters most of the time, but maybe some points can be made on 10 meters as well. Since 40 meters doesn’t really work here (QRM of about S9+20), i guess i’ll have to skip that band.

Really looking forward to the contest, and hope to work many of you. If you want to find more information on the PACC contest, look at http://www.dutchpacc.com/

The 11th of september, the day i finally got my HF equipment together. My G5RV Junior was connected to my tuner, and i started listening and calling on 20 meters. Shortly after that the first HF QSO with OH8JV was a fact. Yesterday i had the pleasure to get it confirmed with his QSL card. Thanks Juhani!

The CQ Worldwide DX SSB Contest, it’s still going on for a couple of hours, but i’m finished for today . It was a very good weekend, with 150 qso’s made, and 18 new DXCC’s worked. Canada, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Ireland, Brazil, Estonia, Balearic Is., England, Trinidad & Tobago, Sardinia, Morocco, Azores, Wales, Jersey, Moldova, Aland Island, Kazakhstan and Norway. I believe i have a lot of cards to write out the next week

Since i’ve been active on HF, i’ve mostly had contacts within Europe. Really great. Since i’ve been testing the Hyendfedantenna i was talking about in my previous blog, i’ve managed to get some countries outside europe, like f.i. Asia (Turkey, Asiatic Russia, Tajikistan, Armenia) and Afrika (Algeria, Canary Islands, Madeira Island). All very awesome, but the real awesomeness came tonight. I switched on the rig, and the conditions were bad, so i decided to check out the 20m psk section. Now 30 minutes later i have worked 2 stations in North America ! W4PKU from the United States, and HI8CSS from the Dominican Republic. Both are already confirmed with an eQsl card. Awesome yes

Lately i have been experimenting with something that is quite known with Hams in the Netherlands, but is less known in the rest of the world. The HyEndFedantenna. Once i found out that the G5RV Junior antenna wasn’t the best pick for me to have, i was wondering if this antenna was more suitable for my situation. A fellow ham decided to lend me one, so i could try it.

The Hyendfedantenna is an endfed wireantenna. Some dutch hams are really calling it the best thing since sliced bread, which it isn’t, but it’s doing a great job nonetheless. It is perfect when you have limited space, and don’t want to put a big beam on your rooftop. It’s also perfect as a portable antenna. They come in several configurations, and the one i’m using at the moment is the multiband version which is suitable for 10m, 20m and 40m, which are exactly the 3 HF bands where i’m allowed to transmit on my licence. So in short, it’s the perfect antenna for when you have the dutch Novice Licence.



Besides this multiband version, there are also monobandversions, and even multiband versions suitable for every band between 160 and 6 meters. For now i’m just sticking to the 3-band version, because that’s the one i’m using at this moment. As you can see on the pictures, it’s nothing more then a little box with a PL connector, and a single wire of about 12 meters (with one coil in it, to make it suitable for 40 meters).



One good thing about this antenna is the fact that you don’t need a Tuner. It has good SWR on all 3 bands, as you can see on the picture below :



After a couple of weeks testing with it, i’m very sure i want to have one for myself ! Is it such a miracleantenna as some hams say? No, but is it good? Yes, very good ! Check out more information at www.hyendfedantenna.nl

Yes, that’s the only word to describe this

As said in the last post, i ordered my QSL cards at on5ur, and yesterday i received them. Like expected, they are printed in outstanding quality.