Are you sure this wasn't a lid ? I didn't think they were going to get
set up for about another 3 days.

Wes Stewart wrote:

High line noise here but worked him fairly easily on 20 meters.

Ron wrote:
Are you sure this wasn't a lid ? I didn't think they were going to get
set up for about another 3 days.

On 17 they're peaking the right direction.

http://www.peterone.com/updates.htm says they're on the island and
expected to be on the air as of 0400 UTC today. (i.e. last night USA
time) There's no further news but I'm sure updating the website is
pretty low on their priority list right nowgrin!

On a very vaguely related subject...

I note in the last hour, three different 3Y calls have been spotted on
DX Summit... Either someone out there isn't paying attention, or there
are in fact a couple of "Slims" out there. To be honest I suspect the
former...
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com

Ham stuff for sale:
http://www.w9wi.com/articles/4sale.htm

The QRM on 40 CW was significant. A continuous carrier exactly on frequency
that was not too strong, but fatiguing. A very strong carrier that would
pop on at random. The latter caused me not to be sure of a contact at about
0200. I admit coming back two or three hours latter for a certain contact -
well, I never did hear the 3Y's call sign ...

I can not make sense out of the calling when 3Y was working. It could
be that many who do not work CW or do not have break-in called for a few
minutes and then listened to see if 3Y was waiting for them. Sure filled up
the band.

73 Mac N8TT

--
J. Mc Laughlin; Michigan U.S.A.
Home:
"Doug Smith W9WI" wrote in message
...
Ron wrote:
Are you sure this wasn't a lid ? I didn't think they were going to get
set up for about another 3 days.

On 17 they're peaking the right direction.

http://www.peterone.com/updates.htm says they're on the island and
expected to be on the air as of 0400 UTC today. (i.e. last night USA
time) There's no further news but I'm sure updating the website is
pretty low on their priority list right nowgrin!

On a very vaguely related subject...

I note in the last hour, three different 3Y calls have been spotted on
DX Summit... Either someone out there isn't paying attention, or there
are in fact a couple of "Slims" out there. To be honest I suspect the
former...
--
Doug Smith W9WI

J. Mc Laughlin wrote:
The QRM on 40 CW was significant. A continuous carrier exactly on frequency
that was not too strong, but fatiguing. A very strong carrier that would
pop on at random. The latter caused me not to be sure of a contact at about
0200. I admit coming back two or three hours latter for a certain contact -
well, I never did hear the 3Y's call sign ...

I can not make sense out of the calling when 3Y was working. It could
be that many who do not work CW or do not have break-in called for a few
minutes and then listened to see if 3Y was waiting for them. Sure filled up
the band.

I tried for a few minutes on 40 last night but because of the continuous
callers I couldn't figure out where he was listening - and with the
pileup at least 20KHz wide I sure didn't think blind calling was
worthwhile. (OTOH, it's pretty cold here this week & I could have used
the added heat from the ampgrin!) (yikes, you think maybe *THAT'S*
why people who can't copy the 3Y are calling him??g)

The intentional QRM was certainly a lot worse last night than it was
previously. I shudder to think what it sounds like on SSB.

The online log search is working this morning -- hopefully that means
the weather lifted & allowed the delivery of the rest of the supplies.
I suppose those on the island would consider the arrival of the rest of
their food to be the most important part of that news, but I suppose the
rest of us would consider the iminent arrival of the rest of their
simultaneous stations to be more importantgrin!

I've found in the past... that a major DXpedition is a good time to
find *other* good DX -- while all the big guns are busy with the 3Y,
some other stuff like FO/m goes begging...
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com

Ham stuff for sale:
http://www.w9wi.com/articles/4sale.htm

Dear Doug: Interesting observations.

The intentional interference has been frequent and often effective - if that
is the right word. On various of their frequencies, the use of a continuous
carrier that is within 2 Hz of 3Y0X's frequency is heard. It appears not to
be from NA or SA. It would be interesting, though little more, to hear a
psychologist's analysis of what causes persons deliberately to cause
interference.

Miraculously, I heard 3Y0X on 8o meters CW last night and appear to have
worked them. I have gone over the propagation predictions again that
suggest the unlikelihood of such a contact. I will wait for the geophysical
parameters to be posed and look again. However, my guess is it was a
combination of about 100 Hz effective BW, exceptionally low noise at both
ends, a vertical reflecting off of salt water at their end, a tall antenna
at this end, and (most important of all) the use of CW. I also heard them
very weakly on 24900 about Noon.

The place with the worst propagation path from here is VU4.

Guys at Peter I have shown how to do it. Only criticism I have is that
they could profit from providing us with some idea of how long they will
work only (fill in the blank). To say EU for one hour and then Region 2
for an hour and then Region 3 for half an hour - or some such - would
benefit many.

73 Mac N8TT

--
J. Mc Laughlin; Michigan U.S.A.
Home:
"Doug Smith W9WI" wrote in message
...
J. Mc Laughlin wrote:
The QRM on 40 CW was significant. A continuous carrier exactly on
frequency
that was not too strong, but fatiguing. A very strong carrier that
would
pop on at random. The latter caused me not to be sure of a contact at
about
0200. I admit coming back two or three hours latter for a certain
contact -
well, I never did hear the 3Y's call sign ...

I can not make sense out of the calling when 3Y was working. It
could
be that many who do not work CW or do not have break-in called for a few
minutes and then listened to see if 3Y was waiting for them. Sure
filled up
the band.

I tried for a few minutes on 40 last night but because of the continuous
callers I couldn't figure out where he was listening - and with the
pileup at least 20KHz wide I sure didn't think blind calling was
worthwhile. (OTOH, it's pretty cold here this week & I could have used
the added heat from the ampgrin!) (yikes, you think maybe *THAT'S*
why people who can't copy the 3Y are calling him??g)

The intentional QRM was certainly a lot worse last night than it was
previously. I shudder to think what it sounds like on SSB.

The online log search is working this morning -- hopefully that means
the weather lifted & allowed the delivery of the rest of the supplies.
I suppose those on the island would consider the arrival of the rest of
their food to be the most important part of that news, but I suppose the
rest of us would consider the iminent arrival of the rest of their
simultaneous stations to be more importantgrin!

I've found in the past... that a major DXpedition is a good time to
find *other* good DX -- while all the big guns are busy with the 3Y,
some other stuff like FO/m goes begging...
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com

Ham stuff for sale:
http://www.w9wi.com/articles/4sale.htm

J. Mc Laughlin wrote:
The intentional interference has been frequent and often effective - if that
is the right word. On various of their frequencies, the use of a continuous
carrier that is within 2 Hz of 3Y0X's frequency is heard. It appears not to
be from NA or SA. It would be interesting, though little more, to hear a
psychologist's analysis of what causes persons deliberately to cause
interference.

I landed another QSO on 15 CW this afternoon. Intentional QRM was
nearly non-existant and general behavior good but not perfect.

Miraculously, I heard 3Y0X on 8o meters CW last night and appear to have
worked them. I have gone over the propagation predictions again that
suggest the unlikelihood of such a contact. I will wait for the geophysical
parameters to be posed and look again. However, my guess is it was a
combination of about 100 Hz effective BW, exceptionally low noise at both
ends, a vertical reflecting off of salt water at their end, a tall antenna
at this end, and (most important of all) the use of CW. I also heard them
very weakly on 24900 about Noon.

I've learned not to put too horribly much credence in propagation
predictions on polar paths. Reality seems to have a way of trumping
theorygrin.

I also heard them weakly on 24900 about the same time - not strong
enough to work. It almost appeared they had better propagation to
California than they did to here. They were fair on 15 SSB at the same
time (and the pileup was surprisingly well-behaved) but they announced
an operator change before I could work them & the new op never showed
up. (unless he was the one who took them to CW!)

The place with the worst propagation path from here is VU4.

Agreed. (not sure where in 8-land you are but I'm probably not much
more than 1000km from your QTH) When the VU4 was on a bit over a year
ago, I heard them an entire once, and again not strong enough to work.
I hear there's going to be an Indian national amateur radio convention
on VU4 later this year & operations will be permitted. Hopefully
propagation will cooperate!

Guys at Peter I have shown how to do it. Only criticism I have is that
they could profit from providing us with some idea of how long they will
work only (fill in the blank). To say EU for one hour and then Region 2
for an hour and then Region 3 for half an hour - or some such - would
benefit many.

I might guess they figure that dynamically based on propagation & other
duties. But that's just a guess.
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com

Ham stuff for sale:
http://www.w9wi.com/articles/4sale.htm

Any chance you guys that have worked them or even heard them could put it on
here so the rest of the folks could stand a chance.

Seems every time I get on where there supposed to be the signals are poor to
say the least.

I am equiped with a TA-33SR on 20-10 with 500 W amp.

Can do 40 plus 30 and WARC with my Delta loop for 40 with L/L feed.

160 with a "U".

Dan/W4NTI

Dear Doug: please see comment below...

--
J. Mc Laughlin; Michigan U.S.A.
Home:
"Doug Smith W9WI" wrote in message
...
J. Mc Laughlin wrote:


snip

The place with the worst propagation path from here is VU4.

Agreed. (not sure where in 8-land you are but I'm probably not much
more than 1000km from your QTH) When the VU4 was on a bit over a year
ago, I heard them an entire once, and again not strong enough to work.
I hear there's going to be an Indian national amateur radio convention
on VU4 later this year & operations will be permitted. Hopefully
propagation will cooperate!

I am located well out in the country in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. (A
troll because I am below The Bridge.) The nearest large city is Flint.

I had the same experience with the last VU4 group (December 2004). I heard
them well enough to be almost certain of call signs about twice for a few
tens of seconds. I have a quiet location - well, most of the time, P-noise
can be a major problem - and one can take to the bank that they (VU4) were
weak.
I was invited to give a paper in April, but I am not in shape to do such
a thing in person. Several other members of my department are also radio
amateurs, but they too are not able to go. In this modern age, I will
present electronically. We all hope that those who attend with licenses and
antennas will be effective with the path our way right through the magnetic
pole. Have you heard of a group with a track-record that proposes to
attend?

73 Mac N8TT

snip
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com