In February this year I passed the examinations for my Standard amateur radio licence. As a result I have been able to operate on the 20m band. In recent weeks I have gathered up the courage to start calling CQ DX on 20m. As a result I have had to manage some extremely big pile-ups from Europe and the United Kingdom on 20m on the long path which has been challenging, but a lot of fun.
On 10th October I was working the pile-up when I heard I heard a faint signal at the tail end of some stronger signals. I picked out ‘Delta Lima One Delta November’ and called that station in.
The caller turned out to be David DL1DN in Germany who was pedestrian mobile, operating with a Yaesu FT-817 and just 5 watts and a home brew telescopic 1.4 metre whip antenna.
I am very lucky to live on a rural property and as a result my noise floor is zero, so I was able to copy David very well.
My equipment was a Yaesu FTdx101MP, 100 watts, and a 5 element tri band yagi which is about 50 feet in the air.
It was a real pleasure to be able to work David.
To say that David was surprised that I heard his signal is an understatement. He described it as ‘the best moment I ever had in my HAM life’. To see David’s reaction, please have a look at the You Tube video he has put together. It can be located at….
https://youtu.be/nqyfTZaPkIc
73
Marija VK5MAZ
On 10th October I was working the pile-up when I heard I heard a faint signal at the tail end of some stronger signals. I picked out ‘Delta Lima One Delta November’ and called that station in.
The caller turned out to be David DL1DN in Germany who was pedestrian mobile, operating with a Yaesu FT-817 and just 5 watts and a home brew telescopic 1.4 metre whip antenna.
I am very lucky to live on a rural property and as a result my noise floor is zero, so I was able to copy David very well.
My equipment was a Yaesu FTdx101MP, 100 watts, and a 5 element tri band yagi which is about 50 feet in the air.
It was a real pleasure to be able to work David.
To say that David was surprised that I heard his signal is an understatement. He described it as ‘the best moment I ever had in my HAM life’. To see David’s reaction, please have a look at the You Tube video he has put together. It can be located at….
https://youtu.be/nqyfTZaPkIc
73
Marija VK5MAZ