The special callsign E7POTA from Bosnia-Herzegovina is now active on the HF bands for the Parks on the Air (POTA) program.
E7POTA and OE/E7POTA will be active across the HF bands on SSB and FT8/FT4. Keep an eye on the POTA cluster HERE (link opens in new tab) for information. The callsign is also active on Facebook and you can follow them HERE (link opens in new tab).
An award scheme for the special callsign is also available, awarding diplomas for making QSOs with the station. Details of the award scheme is available on their website HERE.
I am pleased to have received the Bronze Award so far, and I will continue to work the callsign in their POTA activations.
Despite a minor solar storm causing disruption and poor propagation on HF, I enjoyed operating today. I achieved 200 QSOs on Sunday, including 60 Youngsters on the Air (YOTA) contacts, 11 Parks on the Air (POTA) contacts and a new DXCC (Cocos Keeling Island) on 20m SSB.
On Sunday 10th March 2025, the first round of the Youngsters on the Air (YOTA) contest took place. The aim of the contest is to provide an opportunity for young people (under age 25) to be the focus of a contest. For 12 hours, amateurs all over the world made contact with each other, with bonus points available for QSOs with under 25s.
I chose to take part in the “6 hour” category of the contest, and as I am 21, I am classed as a “YOTA” station. In between other things, I put a few CQs out on 20m and 40m and finished the contest with 60 in the log. The oldest operator I spoke to was 82, and the youngest was only 7 years old operating with a youth club in Hungary!
Log submissions are to be in Cabrillo format and can be submitted HERE (link opens in new tab).
A few statistics from my log is below:
Map of my YOTA contacts (M7OJA) – Courtesy of Adventureradio.YOTA Contest Submission – M7OJADXCC list for my YOTA QSOs – Courtesy of QScope
I am currently in the process of writing an article on how to improve your QRZ.com page. I will cover the basic format and imaging of your page, ensuring all of your details are correct in the “detail” section, uploading an image and setting a main image (which is displayed automatically when DX stations search for you in their logging software), signing up to external services which can provide information and logging, updating your QSL information on QRZ.com and embedding external services into your QRZ.com page (such as HamAlert Cluster Spots for your station, POTA statistics, etc.).
Keep an eye on the website for more information. When the article is published, it will appear under the “Getting Started” tab on the navigation menu. I will also notify via Instagram and my free newsletter.
Last night, the 24th Feb 2025, I took part in the RSGB FT4 contest for the first time. I was using a 20.5m 49:1 end-fed. As the contest began, my strategy was to start on 20m for any DX contacts before moving on to 40m for as many European DXCCs as possible.
Within about 5 minutes of the contest starting, I realised I wasn’t going to get far on the 10w I was using to enter into the “10w Restricted” category, so I increased my power to the maximum 25w as permitted by my licence. This meant I was able to achieve more points and countries, but this was a disadvantage as I had to enter in the 100w category.
My first contacts as the contest began were to the USA, Morocco and the Canary Islands before moving on to 40m. Unfortunately, I do not have access to 80m at my home QTH, meaning I was unable to collect DXCCs from this band.
On 40m, I was slowly but surely beginning to collect DXCCs, until my computer crashed and I had to restart before JTDX would work again. This set me back around 10 minutes.
Owing to a couple of last minute DXCCs, I finished with 40 QSOs and 25 DXCCs in the log, which was nowhere near the highest score, but still fun to participate and nice to gain a couple of new countries on FT4.
Overall Log Statistics – Courtesy of Qscope.DXCCs Worked – Courtesy of Qscope.QSO Map – Courtesy of Qscope.
You can read more about the RSGB FT4 contest HERE (link opens in new tab).
The bands have been remarkably open over the past week or two. In the past few days, there have been many DX opportunities on 10m, 20m and 40m particularly. Please see the snapshot of today’s activities.
Working Conditions
Between 5W-25W into an end-fed antenna (49:1, 20.5m wire) positioned over the roof. Transceiver is a Yaesu FT-991a.
Statistics
Thank you to qscope.org for the statistics.Thank you to qscope.org for the statistics.Thank you to qscope.org for the statistics.
During February, the International Space Station (ISS) has been performing a test called Fram2Ham in preparation for the first human space flight in polar orbit. The test reduced the power of the space station’s transmitter from 25w to 5w, and transmitted a series of images via Slow Scan Television (SSTV).
I have enjoyed the test, and received these images from space.
You can find out more about the mission on the website HERE (link opens in new tab).
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