The ‘card fairy’ delivered me a VP6R QSL card from Pitcairn Island.

Yesterday I received a QSL card and some photos from my good mate Dave G4AKC who regularly goes pedestrian and bicycle mobile in ENGLAND.

Found out yesterday that I came 3rd overall in VK in the 2021 Remembrance Day Contest and 1st in VK5 – Single-Op Phone section.

Thanks to everyone who called and thanks to Alan VK4SN the Contest Manager.

Yesterday I qualified for my latest VKFF award certificate, the VKFF Hunter Honour Roll 1,575, issued for having worked a total of 1,575 different VKFF references.

Thank you to all of the VKFF Activators.

Here is a selection of QSL cards I have received in the past couple of weeks.

Last night (Monday 12th September 2021) I burnt the midnight oil a little and worked a handful of DX portable/mobile stations on 20m on the short path. The band was alive with European signals due to the Worked All Europe DX Contest, but I focussed on the portable operators who were operating outside of the Contest.

First in the log was Joe M1DLS who was activating Northumbrian Coast SPA-Blyth North Beach GFF-0339. Joe was 5/3 and gave me a 5/3 also. The map below shows his location.

The photos below show GFF-0339 (c/o Google maps).

I found the video below that was put together by Joe of his activation.

Next in the log was Mark M0NOM/p who was activating SOTA peak Whitbarrow-Lords Seat G/ LD-056 in GFF-0233. Mark was 5/3 and he gave me a 5/7.

The map below shows the location of G/ LD-056 and GFF-0233.

More info on the summit can be found at……..

This was followed by Balazs HA5GB/p who was activating SOTA peak HA/ KM-028 in Hungary. The signal reports were 5/3 sent and 4/5 received.

Next was Rodolfo I4RHP/p who was activating Natura 2000 – Alta Valle Del Torrente Sintria IFF-1888 in Italy. The signals were 5/5 both ways. The photos below are c/o https://ambiente.regione.emilia-romagna.it/

I then spoke with Steve G5EPC who was operating portable with 100 watts and a 5/8th vertical antenna. Steve was 5/5 and he gave a 5/6 signal report. Steve has a website which can be found at…….

https://g5epc.blogspot.com/

And finally I spoke with Fraser MM0JHCD/p who was stationary mobile about 40 miles east of Edinburgh. He was running an Icom IC7100, Heil headset, and a MFJ telescopic vertical antenna on the roof of his van. Fraser was 5/4 and he gave me a 5/5 signal report.

I did hear a number of other European/UK SOTA and Park activators, but unfortunately they were being drowned out by other European stations taking part in the Worked All Europe DX Contest.

A selection of QSL cards I have received in recent weeks…..

Found out today the results of the 2021 CQ World Wide WPX Contest.

I entered into the Single Operator Low Power All Bands section. I came 1st in Australia and 12th in Oceania.

And this is the certificate in the overlay category – Tribander (10, 15, 20m) and single element for 40 & 80m. I came 1st in Australia and 2nd in Oceania.

Over the weekend just gone, Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th August 2021, the annual ALARA Contest was held. ALARA is the acronym for the Australian Ladies Amateur Radio Association.

Although we had a number of commitments over the weekend, Marija did manage to sneak in about 3 hours on air during the contest. This was Marija’s first ever contest.

Marija made a total of 124 QSOs on 40m and 80m SSB. Not bad at all considering the amount of time she spent on air. Our Sunday afternoon was spent with the family, including our little grandson Flynn.

Between March and August, Marija VK5MAZ and myself were honoured to use the special event callsigns of VK100AF and VI100AF, to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the Royal Australian Air Force.

We would like to thank Stuie VK8NSB who organised the event. He did a fantastic job putting it all together.

Marija and me were one of around 50 amateurs who took part using the calls. VI100AF was on air from March until the end of May. VK100AF remains on air until the end of August.

We had the 2 callsigns on 9 different occasions. We made a total of 3,078 QSOs. This was into 66 different DXCC entities.

Countries worked were:-

• Alaska
• Antarctica
• Asiatic Russia
• Australia
• Austria
• Balearic Islands
• Belarus
• Belgium
• Bosnia-Herzegovina
• Bulgaria
• Canada
• Canary Islands
• Cayman Islands
• China
• Croatia
• Cyprus
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• England
• Estonia
• European Russia
• Federal Republic of Germany
• Fiji
• Finland
• France
• Georgia
• Greece
• Guadeloupe
• Hawaii
• Hungary
• Indonesia
• Ireland
• Israel
• Italy
• Japan
• Latvia
• Lord Howe Island
• Malta
• Morocco
• Netherlands
• New Caledonia
• New Zealand
• Northern Ireland
• Norway
• Panama
• Philippines
• Poland
• Portugal
• Puerto Rico
• Republic of Korea
• Romania
• Scotland
• Slovak Republic
• Slovenia
• South Africa
• South Cook Islands
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Tajikistan
• Thailand
• Ukraine
• United States of America
• Virgin Islands
• Wake Island
• Wales

The map below shows our contacts around the world.

During March, April, May, June, and July we found that long path 20m band conditions into Europe & the UK were good. Unfortunately there was virtually no long path propagation during August.

The map below shows our contacts into Europe.

Our 40m antenna is a rotatable dipole at about 55 feet, and with 100 watts, it is difficult to make good contacts on that band into the USA. However, we did make a few, and also made North American contacts on 20m.

The map below shows our contacts into North America and the Carribean.

We only found some propagation on the 15m band to Asia during March, and very little if any on 10m, so we did not make a lot of contacts into Asia. The map below shows our contacts into that part of the world.

We were very happy to make some contacts on 20m into Africa. The map below shows our contacts into that part of the world.

Most of our contacts were on the 40m band as can be seen in the graph below.

• 10m – 27 QSOs
• 15m – 32 QSOs
• 20m – 1,137 QSOs
• 40m – 1,256 QSOs
• 80m – 624 QSOs

THANK YOU to everyone who called us between March and August whilst we had the calls. We had a terrific time and it was a real honour to be able to use the special event callsigns. Thanks to Stuie VK8NSB for asking us to take part.