I think that, in a previous life, I should have belonged to a Signal Corps. Since I became an ham (my 1st year of license recurred in the last week), I’m convinced that a day without a radio on my shoulders is a lost day. But if the radio you’re carrying is a VHF, like my FT-290 IIR, there are a few chances to score nice receptions, or contacts, if you don’t climb as high as possible. Read more →

Any serious DXer can’t forget today is “day one” of the activity from Sovereign Military Order of Malta, 1A0C. Woke up a bit late (7.30 UTC), and at first I got someway disappointed. The cluster reported Giorgio, Francesco, Gabriele and the rest of the international team on 40, 20 and 15 meters. I couldn’t hear them on any of these frequencies, and I noticed a generally high noise floor (I have Read more →

It’s not impossible, as I’ve yet to find something falling completely out of radio boundaries, but it’s neither usual to receive strong signals from a distance on higher bands at late night. With the heat wave rocking my sleep (around 27° C inside home), last night I decided to give a go to the radios. You can guess my surprise in finding 20 meters quite alive at 01.30 UTC. I told myself Read more →

First the news: I had my first contact ever with an /AM (Aeronautical Mobile) station. It happened yesterday night, at 20.32 UTC, when DF1CHB/AM, officer onboard a Boeing 737-75B flying to Hurgada (Egypt), took some time to operate on 20 meters.  Plane’s altitude, at the moment, was 11300 meters (so, 37073 feet). When I started listening to Cyril, engaged in other QSOs, airliner Read more →

It all started in 2007, when a friend (I won’t mention you again, but you know who you are!) came by and said something like: “shortwaves aren’t today the shade of what they were 20 years ago. The only band giving a meaning to the DX concept is currently MW”. At first, it puzzled me. I had to understand how the frequencies used to listen to a station I could see the antenna from my window were Read more →

There are places that an amateur radio operator feels as “dear” even if he’s never been there. Saint Helena Island, in the South Atlantic Ocean, is one of those, for your truly (and I guess my crush on broadcasting also counts on this!). So, whenever a station from ZD7 is on, I try to be there. So far, I didn’t manage to work the Island, but if you try sometimes, you might get what you need. Read more →