A few days ago I received an eQSL card from the English Service of China Radio International for my reception of China National Radio CNR2 on 22nd June 2022.

Today via email I received an eQSL from the the Voice of the Martyrs re my reception of their station on 13th November 2021.

I mailed a Reception Report to their station via postal mail last year, but had not had a reply, so I sent an email a few days ago and received the eQSL below.

More information on the Voice of the Martyrs can be found on my previous post at…….

Or on their website at……

I have been chasing/hunting quite a bit of DX SOTA/WWFF of late. Last Sunday (18th September 2022) was another great day. Below are the SOTA/WWFF activators that I logged.

YU1FKJ/p – Deliblatska pescara YUFF-0031

EA8BJ/p – EAFF-0740

DL8ECA/p – Gülper See NSG DLFF-0511

EC2AG/p – SOTA EA2/ BI-063

EA8W/p – Parque Natural Los Volcanes EAFF-0069

EA8BM/p – Área de Reserva de la Biosfera La Palma EAFF-0079

MI/EI3ISB – SOTA GI/ CA-001

EA8CNR Jose – EAFF-0739

“I inform you that the QSO is spectacular for me, because I was with an MFJ 1620t mobile antenna…….Thanks again for the Fantastic contact on the 14 Mhz band.”

Yesterday I applied for my latest VKFF award certificate. It is the VKFF Hunter Honour Roll 1,700 issued for having worked 1,700 different VKFF references.

Thanks to all of the VKFF activators and thanks to Adam VK2YK the VK5 VKFF State Rep for the certificate.

On Thursday 15th and Friday 16th September 2022, I operated with the special event call of VK90ABC to celebrate the 90 year anniversary of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

I made a total of 502 QSOs on 10, 15, 20, 40, & 80m SSB. This included 53 different DXCC entities.

The vast majority of my contacts were on the 20m band with 359 QSOs. This was followed by 61 QSOs on 40m, 38 QSOs on 15m, 37 QSOs on 10m, and just 7 QSOs on the 80m band. I tried 80m briefly on both nights, but the band was so noisy with static crashes. As a result there were few callers.

The maps below show my contacts around the world. The different pins show the bands.

• Green – 10m
• Blue – 15m
• Orange – 20m
• Red – 40m
• Blue – 80m

I worked the following DXCC entities:-

1. Andorra
2. Australia
3. Austria
4. Belgium
5. Bulgaria
6. Canada
7. China
8. Corsica
9. Costa Rica
10. Croatia
11. Cyprus
12. Czech Republic
13. Denmark
14. East Malaysia
15. England
16. European Russia
17. Federal Republic of Germany
18. Finland
19. France
20. Hawaii
21. Hungary
22. Indonesia
23. Ireland
24. Isle of Man
25. Italy
26. Japan
27. Latvia
28. Malta
29. Mexico
30. Mozambique
31. Netherlands
32. New Zealand
33. Northern Ireland
34. Norway
35. Philippines
36. Poland
37. Portugal
38. Puerto Rico
39. Republic of Korea
40. Romania
41. Scotland
42. Slovak Republic
43. Slovenia
44. South Africa
45. Southg Cook Islands
46. Spain
47. Sri Lanka
48. Sweden
49. Switzerland
50. Trinidad & Tobago
51. Ukraine
52. United States of America
53. Wales

Conditions into Europe and the United Kingdom on the long path on the 20m band were the best I had heard in a number of years.

The map below shows my European/UK QSOs.

I also worked 37 of the 50 US States. These contacts were made on the 10m, 20m, and 40m bands. Short path propagation on 20m into the USA during the evening was very good.

There was a very nice opening to Japan on 15m on Thursday afternoon.

The highlight for me was working a number of South African stations on 40m.

Thank you to everyone who called. It was another fun 2 days. Thanks also go to the organisers of VK90ABC who allowed me to use the call ocne again.

Last Wednesday (14th September 2022) I attended the monthly Strathalbyn Amateur Radio Group meeting at the home of Tony VK5MRT at Strathalbyn.

I spent an enjoyable couple of hours there and delivered a short presentation on the upcoming trip to Troubridge Island.

PerthTech is on the weekend 22-23 October 2022.

Marija VK5MAZ and myself will be attending to deliver a presentation on Saturday on WWFF and operating portable.

On Sunday, I will be one of a handful of ‘team leaders’ who will be taking amateurs out into the field to activate VKFF parks around Perth. For some this will be their very first park activation.

I would encourage other VKFF activators to head out that day to hopefully make contact with the VK6 activators.

I had a great day out yesterday (Saturday 3rd September 2022) at the Amateur Radio Experimenters Group (AREG) Car Boot Sale.

Adam VK2YK and myself manned a small table promoting WWFF/VKKF. We had a lot of interest in the program.

I also checked a number of QSL cards for ARRL DXCC as an official ARRL card checker. I also checked ID for persons wanting to register with Logbook of the World.

Caught up with a lot of hams I had not seen in a while.

Congrats to AREG for organising such a great event.

Last weekend (Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th 2022) was the 32nd ALARA Contest for the Australian Ladies Amateur Radio Association (ALARA).

My wife Marija VK5MAZ is the ALARA Contest Manager.

Marija and I had a number of other commitments over the weekend. Marija spent most of Saturday out in the garden and on Sunday we went for a drive down to Goolwa and Hindmarsh Island in the 72 Chrysler VH. It was such a beautiful sunny day for a ‘cruise’.

Marija did manage a few hours on Saturday afternoon and a few hours again on Sunday afternoon for the ALARA Contest.

Marija ended up with 201 QSOs and a claimed score of 648 points.

Worked:-

• VK1
• VK2
• VK3
• VK4
• VK5
• VK6
• VK7
• Austria
• Croatia
• Czech Republic
• Finland
• Germany
• Italy
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Poland
• Romania

YLs logged were:-

• Alisha VK2FASH
• Leonie VK2LDM
• Mora VK2LLJ
• Stacey VK2SJC
• Jenny VK2TOT
• Julie VK3FOWL
• Jenny VK3WQ
• Lesley VK5LOL
• Catherine VK7C/VK4
• Tania VK7MMT
• Linda VK7QP
• Ngaire ZL2UJT

The 2022 International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend (ILLW) was held over the weekend of Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st August 2022.

I was unable to get out to activate a lighthouse this year, so whenever possible I snuck out to the shack to work some of the lighthouses.

I worked a total of 22 Australian lighthouse activators.

1. Steve VK2NCS/p – Sugarloaf Point AU0033
2. Ross VK7LH – Low Head Lighthouse AU0048
3. Andrew VK5WT – Port Adelaide lighthouse AU0107
4. Joe VK3SRC – Queenscliff lighthouse AU-0051
5. Phil VK6ADF – Cape Leeuwin lighthouse AU0008 & VKFF-0283
6. VK6CNL – Cape Naturaliste lighthouse AU0010
7. Graham VK2UGB – Sugarloaf Point AU0033
8. VK4BAR – Cleveland Point lighthouse AU0014. Op – Russ
9. Paul VK3IH – Cape Liptrap AU0037 & VKFF-0745
10. VK2HQ – Cape St George lighthouse AU0132 & Booderee National Park VKFF-0043
11. Barry VK5ARC – Point Malcolm lighthouse.
12. VK3ILH – Cape Nelson AU0055. Op – Darren
13. VK6CLL – Cape Leeuwin lighthouse AU0008 & VKFF-0283. Op – Shaun
14. VK2FM – South Solitary Island AU0054 & OC-194
15. VK2FRE – Crowdy Head AU-0044. Op – Wade
16. VK3SPL – Split Point AU0032. Op Stuart
17. VK3BJA – Cape Schanck AU-0012. Op – Tom
18. Gerald VK2HBG – Warden Head AU-0035
19. VK3SWV – Whalers Bluff AU0117. Op – Mark VK3UA
20. VK3DX – Lady Bay Upper & Lower AU0049 & AU-0096. Op – Steve
21. VK2AEJ – MV Cape Don AU-0023
22. Gerard VK2IO – Sydney Harbour National Park VKFF-0473 and AU-0041

The map below shows the Australia lighthouse locations I worked.

I worked 16 overseas lighthouses.

1. Tom ZL2LH – Cape Palliser NZ0007 NEW ZEALAND
2. OZ5EBS – Saeding Strand Mellem Fyr lighthouse DK0014 DENMARK
3. GB2SL – Spurn Point High and Low lighthouse UK0080 & 0081 ENGLAND
4. DL0HGW – Lighthouse DE0002 GERMANY
5. II1L – La Lanterna di Genova LH IT00177 ITALY
6. 9H6LH – Delimara Point MT0001 MALTA
7. SZ8G – Lighthouse GR0005 GREECE
8. 4X03LH – Ashdod lighthouse IL0003 ISRAEL
9. TN2LW – Kerjean lighthouse FRANCE
10. PD0FSB – NET006 Nl-0041 NETHERLANDS
11. ZB2LGT – ILLW GI-0001 GIBRALTAR
12. OP8L – Lighthouse BEL008 BELGIUM
13. DL0PJ – lighthouse DL0055 GERMANY
14. 4X01LH – Jaffa lighthouse IL0001 ISRAEL
15. 4X04LH – Akko lighthouse IL0004 ISRAEL
16. ZL2X – Baring Head NZ0005 NEW ZEALAND

Below is a video showing some of the lighthouses I worked around the world.