Amateur Radio/Scanner & Linux blog

First before anyone gets their knickers in a twist I'm not trying to push the code on anyone. I was never a hard core CW person and am still not but being honest I don't work more CW for two reasons. One, I'm not very proficient at it. The guys that I know the really enjoy CW speak it just like another language. I can do about ten words a minute which in the world of avid CW operators is about like driving a moped on the interstate. Two, I am the worlds worst speller, I kid you not. I won't even go into grammar. I have gotten somewhat better since I have been writing blogs which I guess proves that if you exercise the brain cells like any other muscle it gets stronger.

Some people just have no desire to work CW and I understand that. My good friend and now silent key Paul / K3VIP passed the novice, the technician and the general all in one day. Latter he upgraded to Extra, for which he had to pass a twenty (20) word per minute code exam and was very proud of the fact that he had never worked a CW contact in his life. I suspect that a lot of the current crop of hams don't spend time on CW for the same reasons that I don't though.

Having said that my recent post about bad band conditions caused me to comment how well some of the CW operators are doing. I mentioned Jack/W9UK and he was kind enough to send me that list of recent contacts that he has worked. So take a look at what Jack has done with a wire antenna and 100 watts of transmitter power. See Jack's log below.

DX STATIONS IN THE W9UK LOG FOR 12-18 TO 12-28

80 Meters

DR800GRZ Special Event Germany
HB9LCW Switzerland
OZ1CTK Denmark
S51HU Slovenia
ES3AX Estonia
OZ1CT Denmark
F6GCP France

40 Meters

UA6GO European Russia
YU5RA Serbia
CO6CAC Cuba
CO6RD Cuba
VK4PN Australia

30 Meters

PY2NHK Brazil
DL2DSL Germany
IK2VET Italy
JQ2VVH Japan
JA1LZR Japan
EA8OM Canary Islands
YN4SU Nicaragua
CO6RD Cuba
IZ5EKV Italy
EA5CLU Spain
DF4BV Germany
WP4L Puerto Rico
DJ6EA Germany
UT7UJ Ukraine

20 Meters

HK4CZE Columbia
UA0FAI Asiatic Russia
7N1PRD Japan
JH2GZY Japan
ON6ZI Belgium

17 Meters

ZL1BYZ New Zealand
4A1DXXE Mexico
PY2LSM Brazil
IK5ZWU
PZ5RA Suriname
HB9QQ Switzerland
G5SWH England

All CW
ICOM 756PRO 100 watts
200 ft center fed Zepp 50 ft high
MFJ Twin Tee Antenna Tuner (modified)

Labels: band conditions CW DX contacts