Oscar M7OJA

Amateur Radio Station

Tag: dx

  • 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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  • Sunday 9th March 2025

    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.

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  • Very Good Weekend on HF

    Due to the activity of Solar Cycle 25 and a high SFI and Sunspot count, the HF bands have been particularly good this weekend.

    I took full advantage of the good conditions this weekend and operated over a variety of modes and bands on HF from Friday to Sunday.

    To summarise my activity:

    Total In The Log (ITL)575 QSOs
    New Countries (DXCCs)9 New (Nigeria, Trinidad and Tobago, Bahrain, Armenia, French Guiana, Thailand, Dominica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize)
    Total Countries (DXCCs)70 ITL This Weekend
    Parks on the Air (POTA) References10 References
    Bunkers on the Air (WWBOTA) References2 References

    A statistical view of my weekend activity is below, showing my overall statistics, a list of worked countries, a map of Europe and a worldwide map.

    General Statistics 21/02/25 – 23/02/25
    Countries (DXCCs) Worked this Weekend
    European Map
    Worldwide Map

    I have been lucky enough to work the DXPedition to Nigeria this weekend and a bonus contact as I am writing this to 4S7SPG, DXPedition to Sri Lanka.

    Always take advantage when the bands are strong, as you never know what DX is possible with a limited setup.

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  • Good DX on 10m

    Today, 18/02/2025, conditions have been far better than average on 10m. Over the course of about 5 hours, I have worked into the US, several Caribbean stations and South America on FT8/FT4

    Stations worked today

    Pleased to have worked Martinique, Chile and Curacao for the first time, and QSL cards have been/will be requested.

    Map of today’s QSOs on 10m.

    Equipment and working conditions can be found HERE.

    Below is a graph of all contacts on 17/02/2025 by country count:

    73 de M7OJA!

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  • 1500km contact on 2m FM

    (Blog posted retrospectively from my old website, NE Ham Radio).

    VHF can work in wonderful ways! I was sitting listening to my radio when I heard a station (signal 5,9) calling CQ. I asked them to repeat the callsign, and I heard “ES8TJM”. They were calling CQ on 145.500FM, and I worked them (receiving a 5 and 9 signal in return).

    The usual range of VHF is “just beyond line of sight”. If you can make a 30 mile contact line of sight, you can expect somewhere in the range of 40 miles radio range. This contact occurred due to an atmospheric condition called “Sporadic-E”. You just have to be in the right place and the right time to benefit from VHF propagation, and I was very lucky to have such a clear contact so far away! I have never worked Estonia on HF either, so a totally new country in the log for me.

    I firstly thought that this might be a “troll” station, but the station I spoke to happily confirmed the contact via email. Definitely worth me sending a QSL card!

    Moral of the story – keep calling CQ! You never know who might respond…

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