All the countries out to play (radio, that is)

Ive spent the last number of weeks popping on and off the air trying to chase some of those elusive countries Ive never been able to catch, to my surprise there are significantly more than I thought  for me to nab.

Some of the recent contests saw nice new stations on the air from different continents, which I have been unsuccessful in having a QSO with to date.  DXcc's like Zambia, Togo and Honduras have now entered my logs and given me a few new entities to my credit.  I know there are more exotic ones on the air, which I have heard, but the stampede of European stations have prevented me from working them ... yet.  Islands like Mariana and Malpelo have made an appearance in the cluster and have been heard by me about an S2-3 but again, operators 40db+ have totally drowned them out and no doubt similar responses have occurred on the other side on the receive.

I recently answered a PSK call from an operator in Korea (would have been a new DXcc) however 3 European stations from Russia, Ukraine and Germany called him over his response to me and drowned him out, I tried to go back to him to ensure he answered me (and that I had read correctly) but there was no signal from him after this, which made me extremely annoyed.

Despite this, Ive spent a lot of time listening, and also working PSK.  I have managed to work more DXcc's on new band slots than previously, and have also been looking at new modes for each entity when it arises.  This has resulted in my single band slots increasing with the new stations worked.  I was quite surprised to notice that some of the easier countries to work had not been done to date eg Spain on 17m, so it was nice to see those WARC bands getting a lot of action over the past few weeks.

My HRD map showing my QSO spots is looking a lot like a little childs drawing, lots of colour with very little to be seen underneath lol Europe is now invisible, so need to get working on those blank areas!

Ciao for now
Lisa, EI9GSB

Anyone know where I can buy spare time?

Its been a while since I've posted here but it appears 24 hours in the day just isn't long enough!

I've a busy year to date, already had a great club activity at Blackrock Castle, arranged another activity for Marconi Day, and it's rally season again. 

Blackrock Castle was a great day, we kicked off Engineers Week on the 9 February and made some lovely contacts on 15m, including lots of US stations!  We were "fishing" for DX out the classroom window and Ciaran was surprised, to say the least, at being heard in the States with 1 watt!!! We also met some lovely people, some licensed, some not, but all having a great interest in the hobby.  We hope they enjoyed their experience. 

Out next planned event will be at Mizen Head Visitors Centre for Marconi Day which falls on the 26 April this year. As per usual, we spend the weekend at the location, which is absolutely beautiful, and make contacts all weekend long. Hopefully conditions will be good this year but if any of you are in the locale, pop in and say hello (subject to the Centres entrance fee of course)

I am also delighted to say that my son, Jordan, has now become licensed, having passed the HAREC exam last October. He is now better known as EI4HLB. He is currently working the world and in the process of chasing a few awards, and taking over the shack, which was already hard enough to use between me and Tony EI3GAB, but now I might as well build an extension for all the luck I'll get trying to operate lol

But most surprising of all is that I have been nominated by the IRTS (out national society) to be part of the committee for the forthcoming year. Being nominated alone is an achievement for me and well just have to wait and see what happens next, watch this space!

However the next few weeks will be taken over with personal commitments, trips to the big smoke (recreational of course) and rallies!  I love rallies, it's a great way to pick up bargains and chat to your friends, always a great buzz around. The next one for me is Limerick on 9th March, I'll be there with bells on!

Now I've just got to organise our Groups one for 7th September, details to follow

Ciao for now

Lisa EI9GSB