Shack to Shack

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I recently received the provisional Results from the IOTA 2010 Contest which took place back in July. I took part in this years IOTA Contest for the very first time really enjoying the whole experience and to my recent surprise doing quite well considering my low output power. I entered the Fixed, Single Operator, Unassisted, Single Sideband, 24hr, Low Power Section of the contest (a bit of a tongue twister to say the least). The shortened abbreviated version can be seen below with my score and position.

11 - 2E0HTS - EU005 - Great Britain - IOTA FIX SOU SSB 24H LP - 143 - 57 - 68913

Follow this link to see the full IOTA 2010 Provisional Results .

Other recent activity has been mainly on the HF bands especially 40M, 20M, 17M and 15M. Over the past week I have worked some nice DX using the FT1000mp MKV and recent CW160 antenna, the good propagation has provided some excellent openings on the higher end of the HF bands. On 15M, I have worked into Brazil - PY2DN & New Zealand - ZL4LP, On 20M I worked several stations from the USA, including - WX3B. On 40M Saudi Arabia - HZ1BL and the USA - N9NC as well as other USA stations were worked throughout the week. I picked a few of the stations out of the log, many thanks to all other Stations from near and far also worked throughout the week.

I have also been active via the HO-68 and VO-52 Satellites, where I managed a couple of nice little pile ups as I worked a few Stations out of Europe during one of the many passes. I also got into AO-7 for the first time which is another Satellite I am going to have to find more time to play around with.

The past three evenings has rekindled the fire for the 2M band as I have heard spectacular openings all over the band both on SSB and FM. I was able to work into Germany on 2M FM making QSO with DL1EBQ due to the Tropospheric Ducting that has been taking place. I have also made plenty of QSOs down into the South of the UK on both FM as well as SSB. The band has remained open this evening and looks like it will stay open until tomorrow. Check out theforecast and see for yourself.

And Finally The Big Story
2E0HTS is proud to announce that he is a Father to be, as Baby "hts" will be arriving early next year around the 25th of Feb. My lovely YL - M3TLL is doing a brilliant job so far and I will be starting He or She off with Ham radio as soon as there is a voice hi hi, watch out for an up and coming new baby ham. 73 from a happy 2E0HTS.

Comments

PE4BAS, Bas said…
Hello Simon, congratulation to you and your wife. I hope you both will be proud of a healthy new born next year. We just became parents of a lovely daughter. I did show her my radio gear, but till now there isn't much attention for that ;-)
Great to read you sat adventures, it does remind me of my sat contacts UO14 and AO27 about a decade ago. Nice score in the IOTA by the way, I did get the e-mail but still have to look up my score.
73, Bas
7:36 am
Unknown said…
Congratulations on the forthcoming harmonic. I'm glad to hear that you will be introducing him/her to the microphone as soon as s/he can speak, but don't forget that even before that a morse key and oscillator can provide hours of amusement (though perhaps less for yourself and your xyl!)

73 de Julian, G4ILO
8:56 am
MØYKS Simon said…
Hello Bas, and thank you very much. Also congratulations to your side for your lovely daughter.
I like Julian's suggestion of a "morse key and oscillator" hi hi I bet that could possibly create some infant interest.

We are getting excited now and are looking forward to meeting our Son/Daughter - The surprise will be nice.

I recently acquired a Yaesu GS5500 azi/ele rotator which I will be using in the near future to work the SATs. The existing set up is still doing an excellent job.

I was pleased with the result I received regarding IOTA and hope to do better next time.
Hope to hear you somewhere on the Bands one day soon.

Best 73 , de Simon
8:23 pm
MØYKS Simon said…
Thank you Julian,

I believe your advice is excellent regarding the oscillating tones that could be flying around Baildon in the near future. But! could be extremely risky to one's sanity. h.i

All the best and many thanks.

73 de Simon
8:28 pm
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