Category: Uncategorized

QRT for now…

As you’ve may have noticed: the last QSO is long time ago ago. Due to personal circumstances and more due to a lack of time I wasn’t active the last 2 years and won’t be for the upcoming time.

December 2019 NAC contest on 144 MHz

Reasonable tropo. I’ve made 57 QSO’s in 25 grids. ODX: SQ7POM (716km). Problems with the amplifier let me run only about 4 Watts power. Results: 3th place in the Netherlands.

Sporadic E opening towards IM76

Today there were some nice Sporadic E openings on 144 MHz from my locator (JO22) towards IM76. I’ve worked 2 stations about 2.000 kilometers away. Normally I always mis Sporadic E openings on 144 MHz but today I was lucky to be in the shack on time to prepare for the 144 MHz NAC this …

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GridTracker from N0TTL

I stumbled across a nice program for grid hunters on the VHF and above bands, reading an article on the local radio club’s website. The program is called GridTracker and is written by N0TTL. Versions are available for Windows, Linux and Mac OSX. Perfect to see if new grids are workable via digimodes like FT8.

Half way VUCC award

The most difficult VUCC award to get is obviously the 144 MHz one. For 50 MHz one summer with Sporadic E should be enough to fulfill the 100 maidenhead grid locators one. For 432 MHz, 50 grids are enough, for 1296 MHz only 25 locators are required, for 2330 MHz only 10 and higher bands …

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New HAMNET link

Last weeks I’ve changed the HAMNET set-up. The radio is switched from Ubiquiti PBE M5-400 to Mikrotik using a 60 cm dish. The s/n ratio is now 50 dB(!) from my home to PI1UTR in the Gerbrandy tower, 31 km away. Furthermore I’ve switched to BGP-based routing with the fiber internet connection as back-up.

Tropo on VHF

No. The map below is not the map with the route asilum seekers are taking from Syria towards rich country in Western Europe. It’s a real-time map showing tropo ducts on VHF. This data is bases on APRS stations transmitting there GPS-position on 144.800 MHz. You should save it on your bookmarks is active on VHF …

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Just passed my HAREC license

It’s more than 15 years back since I did exam for the Novice license. Today I took the shot to go for the Full/HAREC exam. Totally unprepared I passed the exam with 11 wrong answers, where 15 is allowed. So I passed. Finally access to WARC and the 6 meter band.

GlobalQSL

I’m using GlobalQSL to send out batches of QSL cards if needed, tough my normal policy is only to reply cards since I’m not a collector. GlobalQSL works quite easy. Just upload your (ADIF) logfile, select QSO’s to be confirmed and they’ll print and send them in batches direct to your local bureau once every …

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Sporadic E season started

Around half may the Sporadic E season starts. That brings a few good things for the summer months. The first one is that the 6 and 4 meter bands open. I don’t have a 4 meter transceiver but am able to transmit on the 6 meter band. The only problem for me is that it’s …

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My first certificate

When I’ve just logged in to my eqsl.cc account I saw a certificate was waiting for me, to confirm 2-way QSO’s with 25 country’s. Well, thanks for that. I hope the next one will be the DXCC-100 certificate to confirm I’ve worked 100+ country’s. Currently the counter is on 75 countries with 36 confirmed. Hereby …

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Welcome

I’m Randy, a 40-year old ham living in Amersfoort, which is located about 25 miles east from Amsterdam. Licensed since aged 17 (1997) and active on all bands from 160 meters up till 3cm tough VHF, UHF and SHF are prefered in (SSB) voice, ATV, CW and weak-signal/DIGI modes. On the day to day job …

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