Oscar M7OJA

Amateur Radio Station

Month: April 2025

  • Great HF Conditions – 26.04.2025

    This evening, the 26th April 2025, band conditions were fantastic. Across 15m, 17m and 20m, there was a wide opening from the United Kingdom to North and South America and Australia in particular. I managed to work all 6 continents this evening, and the distribution of FT8 contacts were scattered across the globe.

    Map of Contacts, 26.04.2025, courtesy of Qscope.org
    List of DXCCs, 26-04-2025 (evening) and 27-04-2025 (early hours of morning)

    Thanks to the high sunspot number and SFI, the bands have been in great shape recently. In addition to widespread FT8 openings, many SSB contacts to North America were also possible. Did you manage to get any in the log?

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  • Support Your Parks Weekend – Spring

    Last weekend (19-20th April 2025) was the Spring edition of the “Support Your Parks Weekend” event. This is a quarterly event run by the Parks on the Air (POTA) team encouraging radio amateurs to “get on the air” from/to a park to support the program.

    I was pleased to be able to make contact with Riso OM6RT in his activation of Rumanovský park. Luckily for me, this meant I was issued with the special award for the event, which you can view below.

    I continue to support the Parks on the Air program, and I am pleased that such events exist to support the portable community within the hobby. Some of my best contacts have been while activating a local park/beach, and the proximity to the sea in my local area boosts signal propagation.

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  • DX Century Club Award

    I was very pleased to open an airmail letter to find my DX Century Club (DXCC) award. One of the most prestigious and most sought-after awards in amateur radio, I was delighted to receive mine.

    The award celebrates making QSOs to 100 different DX entities, and proof of contact (QSL) must be provided for each.

    More on the scheme can be found HERE (link opens in new tab).

    My DXCC Award

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  • New Series – Foundation Stories

    I have launched a new series of articles on my site, titled “Foundation Stories”. In the United Kingdom, there are three tiers of amateur radio licence; foundation (M3, M6, M7 prefix), Intermediate (2E0 and 2E1 prefix) and Full (M and G prefix).

    This series focuses on the first of these, celebrating the entry level licence and opening the hobby to new people. Thanks to online examinations offered by the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB), more people than ever are taking up the hobby and getting involved.

    In the first of these articles, I had a Q&A session with John M7DDL (now 2E0IYB) on his experience in amateur radio, particularly with getting his foundation licence and the online examination.

    You can view this HERE (link opens in a new tab).

    If you are a foundation licence holder and would like to share your story as part of this series, please contact me HERE.

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