My career started as a
wireless officer.
I have done that from 1965 - 1974, serving on
board freighters and passenger liners like the s/s Statendam and the
(old) s/s Nieuw Amsterdam. So 'wireless' is rather familiar.
I did my N exam in 2011. My call sign then was
PD3TRU.
The first QSO with my legacy and
vintage YAESU FT-7 was
on april 23rd 2011 at 09:15 UTC with
F8CSL. A memorable
day to reach the middle of France with only 10 Watts in the antenna.
It was my first QSO after I stopped being a 'sparks' 37 years ago. A
true adrenaline boost. On
March 5th 2014 I successfully
passed my F exam. From here on my call sign is
PC4Y. I have chosen PC4Y for a reason: my first ship I
worked on as an independent R/O was the KNSM
m/v ATTIS with call
sign PCVY. For nostalgia reasons I just added one dot
to the V and made it a 4 in CW language. The button below gives access to
the F study I did with the help of the VERON ham
radio club and the very useful help from
PA0WV.
Some four or five spots in the above map are
incorrect, like the one in Alaska and the one in
the Gulf of Guinea. Apparently these guys have
their coordinates incorrect in their profile. It didn't help to adjust their locator coordinates
afterwards.
Clicking on the above button gives access to a series of
interesting
HAM Radio topics and answers from Dave Kesler KE0OG
My logbook is updated in HamRadioDeLuxe with daily updates to LoTW,
QRZ.com, eQSL, HRDlog.net and QRZCQ. LoTW clearly gives the most QSL's but no
QSL cards. eQSL gives nice electronic QSL cards and QRZ.com
is giving disappointing results w.r.t. QSL's. Some figures: On 1
March 2017 I have made 5169 QSO's from both the PD3TRU
and PC4Y call signs. I received 1692 QSL's from LoTW (32,7%),
1465 eQSL cards (28,4%) and 966 confirmed QSO's from
QRZ.com (18%).
Latest
days now on top as per request from many visitors
☺ And
only the last 12 months or so are published. Older data is
removed.
Thursday 19 December 2024. Joined the NTC QSO Party
from 19:00 till 20:00 zulu. The 40 and 80 meter bands were moderate
to poor unfortunately, but I received a nice QSL card from PF6SINT
and made 9 QSO's only
Weekend 14/15 December 2024: Joined the famous 10
meter band contest from ARRL. A quarter of an hour here and there
and made 50 QSO's including Nepal, Cape Verde and Argentine. Nepal
is a new DX for me. It was very busy in the band and it was great
fun.
Friday 6 December 2024. Joined the Latvian Straight
Key contest using my Junker key. It was on the 80 meter band only
for which my setup is insufficient, but I made 3 QSO's nonetheless.
And received a beautiful certificate!
Saturday 16 November 2024. Joined the Bulgarian LZ
DX CW contest for a few hours and made 74 QSO's in the 10, 15, 20
and 40 meter bands. Lots of stations and good conditions. See map
below.
Wednesday 13 November 2024. Resolved an major issue
in the shack. When I worked the FT450 or the FT991A in full power,
both transceivers went blank. I could however work the FT7900 with
full power. By eliminating all equipment between antenna and
transceivers and between the power supply and the transceiver, like antenna switches, 12 VDC distribution panel from
MFJ, AMP meter and alike, I found a main fuse in the 12 VDC
distribution panel to make an insufficient contact with the fuse
holder. I replaced the fuse (40 amp) and cleaned the fuse holder
that showed some black burning spots. I had to open up the
distribution panel for that purpose taking all the 12 VDC leads out.
So after I had replaced the fuse and cleaned the fuse holder I had
to put the lot together again, allowing me to make some changes in
the way the transceiver power leads were routed to the distribution
panel. It made me think it wouldn't be bad idea to take the whole
shack apart every now and then and do some cosmetic changes to the
wiring and the way the equipment is placed. I think it could do
wonders to the way the shack looks.
Saturday 9 November 2024. Joined the PA Beker CW
contest. QSO's between Dutch stations only. made 60 QSO's in two
hours. It was fun again. See map below Click on the map for details.
Weekend 26/27 October 2024. Joined the famous
CQWWDX SSB contest. The first time I joined an SSB contest. It was
fun though, although I was amazed by the many ways the NATO alphabet
can be pronounced :). I made 39 QSO's during the few moments I was
in the air as it were lovely sunny days inviting me to go out. See
map below for the QSO's. One with China B0A. Click on the map for
more details.
Weekend 19/20 October 2024. Joined the Worked All
Germany (WAG) contest and made 60 QSO's in the 40 and 80 meter
bands. Lots of stations and good conditions.
Thursday 17 October 2024. Worked the NTC QP in the
20, 40 and 80 meter band, but still only 11 QSO's. It was fun
nevertheless.
Tuesday 15 October 2024. Worked the AGCW NTC QSO
Party in the 40 meter band from 18:00 zulu till about 18:30 zulu.
Only 8 QSO's with both AGCW and NTC members.
Sunday 22 September 2024 afternoon. Worked
9J2BO on 28.045 (Zambia,
Lusaka). It was my 150th DX. Great.
Weekend 21/22 September 2024. Joined the SAC
contest. Conditions were moderate, but worked 60 stations in 3
bands.
Thursday 19 September 2024. Joined the NTC QP (QSO
Party) from 19.00 - 20.00 UTC. Only worked the 40 meter band with
lots of QRM by Over the horizon radar. Tried the 20 and 80 meter
band though, but no NTC members there.
Monday 16 September 2024. Worked PA80OMG and GB80MG
as special event stations for Operation Market Garden which was 80
years ago this day today. It was busy on the 40 meter band
frequencies on which both stations worked.
Thursday 12 September 2024. Joined the Bavarian BCC
contest for some time. Only 80 meter band. Worked some German
stations with a favourable distance. Never had so much luck in the
80 meter band.
Saturday 7 September 2024. Joined the CWOps contest
for some time. Mostly 15 meter band.
Tuesday 3 September 2024. The RSGB gave the
IOTA results with an UBN:
Reverse
UBN - These stations failed to copy your details
correctly (no loss of points for you)
Call
27/07/24
22:01
PC4Y
599
297
43
Duplicate
5Q5W
28/07/24
08:29
PC4Y
599
584
155
55
Broken:Serial RX
HA6NL
QSO Error rate =
4.92% Average Error Rate for this contest = 4.23%
Weekend 24/25 August 2024. The Romanian (YO)
contest from 12.00 zulu till 12.00 zulu. I worked the 10,15, 20, 40
and 80 meter bands and worked 75 stations. I only worked three hours
in total. Only a few real DX, otherwise mostly Europe. Click on the
map below for more details
Saturday 3 August 2024. EUHFC contest. Only
European stations working one another. Made 62 QSO's. In the 15, 20
and 40 meter bands. Fine connditions.
Weekend 27/28 July 2024. The famous IOTA contest. I
made 61 QSO's. Great fun
Saturday 6 July 2024. Joined the Marconi Memorial
Contest (MMC). Unfortunately only for a few brief moments due to
family visits. So I only made 25 QSO's. In de 15 and 20 meter bands.
Lots of activity. The log was uploaded successfully.
Tuesday 2 July 2024. ARRL informed me that LOTW was
back on line since well over one month. So I uploaded my logs from
May onwards successfully.
Monday 1 July 2024. Tried to work the Canadian RAC
Canada Day contest. But conditions were poor, so I only made five
QSO's and only one with Canada.
Tuesday 18 June 2024. The results came in from the
King of Spain contest:
Call
Category
Claimed
QSO
Valid
Points
Mult.
Total
PC4Y
SINGLE-OP ALL LOW DX
2,448
50
45
59
30
1,770
Weekend 25/26 May 2024. The (in)famous CQ WPX CW
contest running for 48 hours. I picked an hour here and there and
stopped when I had made 200 QSO's late Sunday evening. I came across
fellows who had made over 4,500 QSO's. Holy moly. I worked mostly
Europe, but also US, Canada, Brazil and Cape Verde. Conditions
seemed fair. And I worked all the bands except 80 and 160 meters.
See map below for more details.
Saturday 18 May 2024. Joined the King of Spain
(KOS) contest every now and then until I had 50 QSO's in the 15, 20
and 40 meter bands. Conditions were moderate.
Weekend 11 and 12 May 2024. The EUDXCW contest
results came in. The award can be found at the bottom in the right
column on this page.
#273
PC4Y
NL10
58
504
74
37296
-0,56
-1,16
Saturday 20 April 2024. Joined the YU contest from
Serbia, but there were too many conflicts with the MM, WSEM and the HL
contest all at the same time. And some contesters didn't say for
which contest they were on the air. Unfortunately one cannot
participate in more than one contest at the time if using the N1MM
logging programme. So I called it quits after 14 QSO's. Somewhat
later I started to participate in the MM contest and made 36 QSO's
including SA, NA, AF and AS regions. Click on the map for more
details.
Thursday 18 April 2024. NTC QP (QSO Party) from
19:00 - 20:00 zulu. All of a sudden my N1MM logging programme
stopped working saying I have to reinstall. Shit happens, but after
15 minutes I was back in the air. In total only 17 QSO's in de 40
meter band. Click on the map below for full info.
Tuesday 16 April 2024. Joined the AGCW/NTC
friendship QSO party. I stopped when the thunder hit our spot but
still made 13 QSO's
Sunday 14 and Monday 15 April 2024. Participated in
the Maritime Radio Days (MRD) where former radio officers contact
one another in HF exchanging info about former ships and/or coastal
radio stations where they have been working on. Conditions were poor
for DX, so I only worked Europe in the 20 and 40 meter bands. Both
from home as PC4Y and from the ss Rotterdam/PHEG as PI4HAL. In total
some 50 or so stations were worked with. It was fun again. And there
were many stations I worked with in the past.
Saturday 6 April 23024. DARES field exercise named
Last Mile. Nationwide field test. Participated from home and
worked the field stations in the county. National coordination PI9D
at 7115 kHz. Operator Louis. Worked him to. It was good to test the
coverage in the county (Haaglanden/Hollands Midden). It turned out
that coverage needs improvement. Work in progress.
Thursday 21 March 2024. Joined the NTC QSO Party.
But got called away after 15 minutes. So it is a short list of only
11 QSO's in the 40 meter band with my Yaesu FT-450. See map below.
Sunday 10 March 2024. Joined YOTA for one hour or
so. Made 21 QSO's. The youngest was 14 years of age, the eldest was
83 years of age. Great to hear so many stations participating.
Evaluation category
QSOs
Points
Multipliers
Claimed score
Single
Operator 3 bands
21
54
19
1026
Weekend 24/25 February 2024. UBA CW contest. Many
participants. Busy and open bands. It was nice, although I only
worked Europe for some reason. And I had to quit as I had unexpected
transmission problems. They appeared both on the FT-450 and the
FT-991A, so I assume it must be an antenna problem or tuner issue.
But even when I bypass all of the cables and switches between
transceiver and antenna the problem still exists. It is an
intermittent problem, so it is kind of difficult to tackle. Click on
the map below to get the full info. So I only made 72 QSO's.
Weekend 17/18 February 2024. ARRL DX contest. Only
US/Can stations. I only worked 24 stations as there were just to
many other things to do this weekend.
Thursday 15 February 2024. NTC QSO Party during one
hour. Made 26 QSO's. Was busy in the band (40 mtrs)
Weekend 10/11 February 2024. Joined the PACC
contest in CW mode. Made 260 QSO's; an all time high for me in one
contest. Worked the 10, 15, 20 and 40 meter bands. It was fun and
exhausting :) . See map below. Click on the map to get the full
picture. It again became apparent that when sending out the CQ
yourself, the results are much better than when you respond to a CQ
(quantity wise that is)
Weekend 3/4 February 2024. Joined the EU-DX contest
and worked 58 stations in the 15, 20 and 40 meter bands. CW only.
Ended #387 in the SOAB category.
Evaluation category
QSOs
Points
Multipliers
Claimed score
Single
Operator All Band CW Low Power
58
534
79
42186
Weekend 27/28 January 2024: Firstly resolved an
unpredictable error with the transmissions: the transceiver went
blank during key-down and came back to live when key-up. After
deduction through reduction (bypassing of all interconnecting
cables, auto-tuner, switches etc.) it turned out the coax connector on the
antenna cable was faulty. So the antenna cable was replaced as I
couldn't quickly fix the connector. Then I joined the French REF
contest and worked all the bands including the 80 meter band. Liked
to be able to work Martinique and French Guyana. Also heard New
Caledonia, but they didn't hear me unfortunately. See map below. You
may expand the map by clicking on it. Worked 61 stations in total
during Saturday afternoon, evening and Sunday morning for a few
hours only.
Weekend 20/21 January 2024. Joined the HA-DX
contest here and then totalling 100 QSO's in the 10, 15, 20 and 40
meter bands. All of a sudden my xmitter went blank in the 15 meter
band. Reducing the xmit power to 60 watt kind of solved the problem,
but I assume it is an antenna issue that needs investigating on a
later moment.
Evaluation category
QSOs
Points
Multipliers
Claimed score
Single
Operator All Band CW Low Power
100
507
66
33462
Thursday 18 January 2024. Joined the NTC_QP event,
but only made 3 QSO's in the 40 meter band due to poor conditions.
Didn't hear thing on the 80 meter band.
Sunday 14 January 2024: Joined the DARC 10 meter
contest for approx 1 hour. And added one DX: Saudi Arabia
HZ1HZ. All other QSO's
were mainly within Europe.
Summe 18 18 0 9 ==> 162
Friday 12 January 2024: Received an e-mail from
ARRL about the validity of my TQSL certificate which ends on Jan.
31. So I had to update my certificate and could follow the
instructions. My updated TQSL is now valid for an additional 3
years.
Weekend 18/19 November 2023. Joined the LZ
(Bulgarian) CW contest for two or so hours in de 40, 20, 15 and 10
meter bands. Mostly Europe and a few US QSO's.
Weekend 11 / 12 November 2023. Joined the PA Beker
contest this weekend. On Saturday for CW on Sunday for SSB (LSB).
Only worked the 40 meter band. The 80 meter band was quiet. Made 35
CW QSO's and 14 LSB QSO's. The logs were sent and accepted.
Having worked many contests it becomes clear to me that the best
results are obtained when I select a frequency and start calling
instead of responding to calling stations. The other advantage is to
be one one frequency instead of dialling over the entire band. The
disadvantage: I feel obliged to remain on that frequency and
continue calling as many stations want to contact you, whereas if
you are responding to a calling station, you can quit whenever you
like.
Wednesday 25 October 2023. Had a QSO with T2C
the Tuvalu German DXpedition
adding one DX to my count. Now 147 DX worked. Mostly CW. Also worked
W1WCC; an amateur station
in the previous offices of Chatham Radio WCC. I have worked WCC very
often as R/O on board the ss Nieuw Amsterdam and the operator of
W1WCC had been a WCC operator for 15 years between 1970 and 1985. So
it is very likely we have worked one another during my maritime
days. Spent the morning hours on board the ss Rotterdam PI4HAL club
station. It was very busy with visitors. Nice!
Friday 25 August 2023. DARES field exercise in the
county of Zuid Holland with three field stations. This is me in the
picture below, working from Kijkduin near the dunes and the North
sea. Useful lessons learnt again as it was quite some time ago that
we had a field exercise, due to COVID.
The following frequencies are currently used for Amateur Radio ISS
contacts (QSOs): Voice and SSTV
Downlink: 145.800 (Worldwide)
Voice Uplink: 144.490 for ITU Regions 2 and 3
(The Americas, and the Pacific and Southern Asia)
Voice Uplink: 145.200 for ITU Region 1 (Europe, Russia and Africa)
VHF Packet Uplink and Downlink: 145.825
(Worldwide)
UHF Packet Uplink and Downlink: 437.550
UHF/VHF Repeater Uplink: 437.800
UHF/VHF Repeater Downlink: 145.800
Radioshack information:
Registration number at Dutch
Administration: 6629107. Above pictures are from May 2011 onwards.
Antenna: G5RV junior, best suitable for 160, 80, 40, 30, 20, 17, 15, 12 and
10
meter bands with an external ATU and ATU extender, sloping dipole. Highest point apporox.
10 meters. Lowest point: 4 meters. Diamond V-2000 vertical for VHF/UHF (6 m, 2 m and 70 cm)
usage. Height of the antenna: approx. 10 meters. Diamond X30N VHF/UHF (2 meter and 70 centimeter) antenna for
field work.
MFJ-1768 Yagi for the 2 meter and 70 cm bands, also for field
work. MFJ1022, active indoor antenna for receive only.
ATU
and other auxilliary equipment: MFJ 925 autotuner, MFJ 914 auto tuner extender.
Tigertronics SignaLInk USB to connect the
audio from FT-450 to PC and vice versa. For
digi modes.
SWR meter
TNC-X modem for Winlink usage
SignaLink USB for Digi modes
Dummy HF antenna
K-PO power unit
13.8 Volt distribution panel MFJ-1128
West Mountain Radio PWRgate PG40S, allowing
automatic battery backup when regular power
fails.
90Ah GEL battery system with USB, Neutrik and
Anderson Powerpole connectors.
Software: Ham Radio de Luxe with DM780 software for transceiver
control (CAT), logging and digimodes version 6.5.0.199
N1MM for contests
Winlink 2000
RMS (Radio Mail Server)
Transceiver
(RIG): YAESU FT 991A
YAESU FT-450AT max. output: 100 Watt All amateur bands, incl WARC and (modified for) all maritime bands CW, SSB, PSK31, FM
and C4FM on VHF and UHF incl. 28 MHz and 50 MHz.
and: YAESU FT-60E
output: 5 Watt VHF/UHF, 144 MHZ and 430 MHz amateur bands. FM
and: BAOFENG UV82-HP
hand held for 2 meter maritime, 2 meter amateur
and 70 cm amateur bands.
Output 8 Watt
FM and FM Radio bands.
and: YAESU FT-7900 dualband (2m and 70 cm) transceiver
modes: FM and AM. Output 50 Watts (2 meter) and 45 Watt (70 cm)
Attached to my TNC-X packet modem to work
with Winlink (Paclink) thru the PI8HGL RMS
on 144.850 MHz. Try me on
PC4Y@winlink.org
and: vintage YAESU FT-7 max. output: 10 Watt bands: 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters CW, USB and LSB only.
Extra receiver: Vintage SAILOR R-104 MW, LW and SW 80 and 160 meter bands AM, A1, A2 and USB only.
Straight CW keys (Junker and Kent), a Begali paddle and a HAM Gadgets Master Keyer
MK-1 complete the ability to use Morse during the QSO's.
Click here for the CQ serenade
I am a member of the
PI4HAL
association and work the on board
radio-station mostly one day
per week, using a Yaesu FT-897, an ICOM-271, ICOM-765, a Skanti and/or a Yaesu FT-1000. The station is on board the former cruise ship s/s
Rotterdam and is now a hotel/museum ship operated by
WestCord hotels.We
have a team of about 10 operators and 5 technicians. We are
still looking for more operators as it is our ultimate goal to
operate the shack every day of the week. So if you are
interested please don't hesitate to visit the PI4HAL site (click
on the logo at the left) and send an email.
Or you can send me an e-mail.
HERE you get
access to the PI4HAL newsletters (in Dutch). Every Wednesday at
09.00 UTC we have a VHF round thru either the PI3RTD or the
PI3RAZ repeater (2 meter band). The PI3RAZ repeater can also be
accessed thru echolink. So one week is thru PI3RTD and the next
week is thru PI3RAZ visa versa.
I joined the NTC in November 2021. They have a QSO party every
third Thursday of the month from 19.00 - 20.00 zulu, in the 80,
40 and 20 meter bands on frequencies around the official NTC
frequencies, 3.568, 7.038 and 14.068 kHz. Any HAM operator can
apply for membership.
https://www.qsl.net/ntc/
I also joined the DARES foundation in 2011 and
have already done quite a few field tests. I
am part of a so called SIGCO team.
Why is a
ship called she ? A ship is called a "she'' because there is
always a great deal of bustle around her. There is usually a gang of
men about, she has a waist and stays. It takes a lot of paint to
keep her good looking. It is not the initial expense that breaks
you, it is the upkeep. She can be all decked out. It takes an
experienced man to handle her correctly. Without a man at the wheel,
she is absolutely uncontrollable. She shows her topsides, hides her
bottom and, when coming into port, always heads for the buoys. When
you see her lying at the berth, you are proud of her like she is
your attractive girlfriend.
Extra proof:
Why she is a ship, or
a ship is she:
We always call a ship a She, And not without
a reason, For she displays a well-shaped knee Regardless of the
season. She corns the man whose heart is faint And does not show
him pity And like a girl she needs the paint To keep her looking
pretty. For love she’ll brave the oceans vast, Be she a gig or
cruiser, But if you fail to tie her fast You’re almost sure to
lose her.
me in the shack
| Gerard in the museum | Wil and Karel at the antenna's
Announcement from Agentschap Telecom:
As
per
1
April
2017
significant
limitations
have
become
effective
though.
F
15 watt e.i.r.p.
5,351.5
–
5,366.5
s
So
the
usage
of
the
band
is
now
limited
to
between
5,351.5
MHz
and
5,366.5
MHz
with
a
max
power
of
15
Watt
EIRP.
We
used
to
have
the
band
from
5,350
MHz
to
5,450
MHz
with
100
Watt
PEP.
So I
don't
think
this
band
is
still
very
attractive
for
DX.
The
full
legislation
can
be
read
HERE
(in
Dutch).
Want
to
know
how
much
EIRP
is
in
relation
to
PEP?
HERE
you
can
find
the
calculator.
On
Tuesday
24
November
2015
I
saw
Andorra
station
C37N
had
confirmed
our
QSO
in
LoTW
completing
my
100
DX
count
in
my
DXCC
Award
tally
from
ARRL
LoTW.
So I
have
applied
for
'the
Certificate'.
See
below.
At the beginning of this year 2015 I had hoped to achieve this goal
this year and so I did even well before the end of the year. Of
course most of the credit goes to the hams who have confirmed our
QSO's in LoTW. Thanks YL's and OM's.
My chances of getting a 200 DXCC credit Award are small as I have
worked most of the DX's I can reach with my current station set up.
But who knows? Writing 1 March 2021, I have 121 DXCC's though
as a few QSO's from quite some time ago have recently been confirmed, like Bermuda,
Cuba, Albania, Ceuta and Melilla, Uruguay and San
Marino. So I am still adding to my list. Like the one from ITU HQ.
In addition to the 100 DX list, the latest 28 additions as per July
2022 are:
On the top of the list is
4X4DK who has worked
394 DX entities! I wonder though how that can be as ARRL says
they have listed 'only' 340 DX entities. Wim PA0WV explained me
how: in time quite a few entities have disappeared (like e.g.
the DDR) and others emerged.
Lesson to learn and use Morse code:
Much to my surprise I received a 'worked 100
grid squares' award on my old call sign: PD3TRU, which I have
not been using since March 2014. The big black dot in the lower
left corner is in fact a golden 'Certified QRZ authentic'
stamp that my scanner wasn't able to reproduce apparently
J.
Click on this picture about the engine room fire
on board the m/s Prinsendam/PJTA and the rescue of well over 500
passengers and crew on 4 October 1980 in the stormy Gulf of Alaska. It
still took a week for the ship to sink beyond salvage. Listen to
the
MP3 audio file with the SOS transmissions starting with the
transmission of 12 long dashes of 4 seconds each (twice) to activate the Automatic
Alarm Systems which ships had installed those days giving an
alarming chime in both the radio room and the bridge during
times the R/O was off duty.
See
also this article. I remember to have sailed under captain
Wabeke when he was a first officer on the s/s Nieuw Amsterdam/PGGF
(/PJRS when under the Antillian flag).
PC4Y as a rookie R/O on board s/s Nieuw Amsterdam (1969)
Click
HERE for ancient Morse transmissions from various coastal
stations
CW Forever
You must have at
times,
Thought into the past,
Where some things go out
While others last
What comes to my mind is
The old Morse code,
That has weathered the storms
From any abode.
To talk with ones
fingers
Is surely an art,
Of any info you
Care to impart,
In most conditions
The signals get through,
While the same about phone
Is simply not true.
Those dits and
dahs
Cut through the trash,
Of near by noise or
Lightning's crash.
To the sensitive ears
Of the hams receiver,
Who records this data
With ardent fever.
He knows he's
doing
Something unique,
(in such poor conditions,
That's quite a feat)
To roger the message
That came off the air,
These brass pounders
Sure do have that flair
They say Morse ops
Are a dying breed,
But don't despair,
There's always that need,
That when conditions get rough
for the new automation,
Be rest assured,
There'll be need for your station.
CW is dying?
Believe it never,
This mode will be 'round
Forever and ever.
But one thing is sure,
What we really need,
Is to relay our knowledge
To the younger breed.
To carry the torch,
Long after we're gone,
To send Morse code
Through the air like a song.
When at last,
Silent keys pull that lever,
We can rest in peace,
It's CW forever.
Written by:
Jim Hatherley, WA1TBY (SK)
A promo video about HAM radio. Made in 2014 by VERON. In
Dutch. But pictures speak for themselves.
Every now and then I get
the question: 'what is the fun of a contest ?' 'It is often not much
more then a quick exchange of some data and then on to the next
one'. Well to be honest, this is what I thought in the beginning
as well. But let me try to summarize the fun:
There is a lot more activity in the air than usual. If you
ever doubt if there are still hams around: listen to the radio
during a contest.
It is an art to distinguish the various stations from one
another when they are tumbling over each other. They cannot help
it really because when you participate in a contest and pick a
frequency say in the 20 meter band, you cannot hear your fellow
hams in the same region in that band.
It is a nice addition to your logbook. In one weekend or one
day you can easily add a hundred (or a thousand) QSO's in your
log and receive many eQSL cards (and/or hard copies).
You hear stations you have never worked before.
It is nice to notice so many stations actually hear you!
It proves your setup is working fine.
Often a plaque is provided that can decorate your shack.
A multi operator contest in e.g. a club station is adding to
the fun as you meet fellow hams.
Of course there are also some reasons why NOT to join the
contest:
Lack of time. A contest often runs a whole weekend (48
hours) or a whole day (24 hours). If you cannot join the contest
during a couple or hours, you are missing some of the fun, like
# stations worked or # increasing exchange number. This is the
main reason for me NOT to join a given contest.
Lack of experience. Well this is not really an excuse as you
can only build up experience by doing it.
Contests that require a serial number (exchange number). It
can be de-motivating to hear a station giving a serial number up
in the hundreds, where you just fired up your system and starts
with 001.
Bad conditions, like an Asian contest or Oceanic contest,
where the stations can hardly be heard (in my region).
Nobody hears you. Can be due to poor conditions or your own
system setup. Remember: the antenna is much more important than
the transmit power.
In addition there is a major choice one has to make: do you wish
to send out the CQ, or do you wish to respond to the CQ's. Of course
you can also decide to do both. But the operating practise differs
somewhat between the two options. The option to respond to a CQ is
far more relaxed than the option to send the CQ as many stations
will then try to make contact with you, often causing lots of QRM.
If you want to go for the highest scores you'd better send out the
CQ yourself. The advantage to send out the CQ yourself is you can
remain on the same frequency or have to change frequency only a few
times, whereas if you respond to a CQ you will have to work the
whole band in every band. When you send out the CQ there is yet
another consequence: you will have to take and send the call sign of
the one who responds to your CQ. If you only respond to a CQ all you
most often will do is send out your own call only once, where upon
the contester will answer you by sending your call and RST and
additional info that is required by the contest rules.
Form my own experience: you can make far more QSO's when
sending the CQ than when you only respond to a CQ within the
same time frame.
It would be interesting to hear other reactions. So don't
hesitate to contact me: pc4y@veron.nl
# 16 of the 25 participating Dutchmen (PA). I made 100 QSO's in the
2024 HA contest
