VK5PAS

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VI100AF

Posted: 11 Mar 2021 08:36 PM PST
https://vk5pas.org/2021/03/12/vi100af/



Over the past 2 days (Wednesday 10th March 2021 & Thursday 11th March 2021)
Marija VK5MAZ and I were on air using the special callsign of VI100AF to
celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the Royal Australian Air Force
(RAAF). On the 31st day of March 2021, the RAAF will mark 100 years of
service to Australia.








Below is a short video on the Centenary of the Royal Australian Air Force.










Over the 2 days Marija and I made a total of 516 QSOs on 15, 20, 40, & 80m
SSB & 2m with a total of 34 different countries logged. We were very
pleased to work a number of serving and former members of the RAAF.




DXCC entities worked were as follows:-



AustraliaAustriaBelgiumBulgariaCanadaChinaCroatiaC zech
RepublicEnglandEstonia,European
RussiaGermanyFijiFranceGreeceHungaryItalyJapanMalt aNetherlandsNew
ZealandNorwayPolandPortugalKoreaRomaniaSloveniaSou th AfricaSouth Cook
IslandsSpainSwitzerlandUkraineUnited States of AmericaWales




The map below shows our contacts around the world.








The majority of our contacts (347) were to VKs all around Australia. We
also made contact with 17 New Zealand stations, and one station in Fiji.








On both days it was very very noisy at night on 80m and 40m with static
crashes getting up to strength 9 and above. The map below shows the storms
around Australia on Saturday.








To our great pleasure, long path on the 20m band opened up to Europe on
Wednesday with 41 European stations logged. I then pointed the beam to the
north and logged 22 stations from Japan and one from Korea.




The 20m band performed even better on Thursday with 70 European stations
logged, many with strength 9 and above signals. However, the opening only
lasted for about one hour and dropped out very quickly.




The map below shows our contacts into Europe and the United Kingdom.








Below is a short video of the European pile up on 20m on Thursday afternoon.










VI100AF will be on air until the end of May, while VK100AF will be on air
until the end of August, being used by a number of operators around
Australia. Marija and I are fortunate to have the use of both calls quite
a few times over the next few months.




For more information on VI100AF and VK100AF check out QRZ.com. You can
find lots of great photos there, video, and QSL information.




You might also want to check out the RAAF website.