Greece on 12m (SV3AQR)

Testing my Yaesu FT-897D with an internal LDG YT-100 antenna tuner and an internal LiPO battery, using 20W into a random wire on 12m SSB.

The Clansman PRC-320 with a random wire

This is a video of a QSO with the Clansman PRC-320 and a randon wire antenna.

In favour of the Clansman I should say that I hadn't recharged the battery for months so I hardly had energy left for a single QSO, and I made this QSO calling CQ without the help of any cluster anouncement.

EA1/YO8SOY: QSO with YO8OW

On this video Anca (YO8SOY) makes a QSO with the trainer of her Radioclub, Adrian Zait (YO8OW) on the 15m band.

She was very happy to have the opportunity to make a QSO with the trainer of the Radioclub Suceava, in her home town.

Propagation towards South America was not as good as before, but the conditions between Romania and Spain were excellent. The fact that Adi Zait (YO8OW) was running a kilowatt into a yagi beam also helped...

On this video I am celebrating the successful QSOs with our third operator Adi.

As you can see, he was also very happy for the QSOs...

Romania on 15m (YO8OW and YO8SXX)

This is a video of a QSO on the 15m band with Romanian station YO8OW from the city of Suceava.

Adi is a friend and it was great to be able to hear him so well in A Coruña. You can also hear another fellow ham from Suceava named Radu (YO8SXX).

On this video I went home and tuned him on my FT-990 with a Butternut HF6V antenna. It was only a couple of minutes from the car park to the home shack.

Great signal on the FT-990 as well.

Ukraine (UT7UV)

This is a video of a QSo with Ukraine on the 15m band with my FT-897 manpack in my summer QTH.

I have made several QSOs with this Ukranian station in the past, always with good reports.

Croatia (9A3WL)

This is a video of a very nice QSO on the 17m band with Croatian station 9A3WL (operator: Milan).

I made this QSO on my summer QTH with 20W and a short whip antenna, whereas he had 300W and a yagi beam.

Cyprus (5B4AIX)

This is a video of a QSO with Cypriot station 5B4AIX on the 15m band.

I was using a 2.4m whip of British military origin.

Sicily (IT9PQO)

This is a QSO with a Sicilian station IT9PQO (Tony) on the 17m band from my summer QTH.

I was using the 2.4m whip with my Yaesu manpack's internal antenna tuner.

Moldova (ER3ZZ)

This is a video of a difficult QSO with the Republic of Moldova on 17m SSB. At a given point I decided to replace the 2.4m whip with a longer 4m whip to see if I could get though.

The effort paid off because this is not an easy DXCC entity to work, and despite the fact that I have worked Moldovan stations in the past, I still don't have that country confirmed for my eDX award.

Greece (SV2MAP)

Yesterday I was on he countryside and I made several contacts with my Yaesu manpack. This one is with Greek station SV2MAP, from Ptolemaida, on the 17m band.

Ptolemaida (Greek: Πτολεμαΐδα, Ptolemaïda, Katharevousa: Πτολεμαΐς, Ptolemaïs) is a city in Northern Greece. It lies in the prefecture of Kozani, which is part of the periphery of West Macedonia. It is known for its coal (lignite) mines and its power stations.
According to archaeologists, the Ptolemaida region has been occupied since 6000 BCE. Prehistoric jewelry found in Ptolemaida. Archaeologists, in November 2005, discovered the remains of two farming villages dating back to the Neolithic period. A press report notes that such farming villages were trading centres and had a "developed knowledge of metalworking".
A golden necklace dating to roughly 4500 BCE was discovered on February 16, 2006. Associated Press reporter Costas Kantouris describes the item as a "flat, roughly ring-shaped [which] probably had religious significance and would have been worn on a necklace by a prominent member of society."
Lately in the lake Zazari near Ptolemaida there were found 16 houses that belong in the Neolithic era due to archaaeologists. These houses were in the lake and were exposed because of the decreased water level of the lake. That particular small settlement gives information about the society and the people in the Neolithic era.

Portugal on 20m with the FT-897 manpack

This is another video of a QSO with Portugal on the 20m band using a 4m whip.

I still don't have Portugal validly confirmed on eQSL so these are potential new countries for my eDX diploma.

Portugal (CR6M) on 20m

This is a video of a quick QSO with Portuguese special event station CR6M on the 20m band.

I made this QSO last Thursday in preparation for the activation of Monte de Oural. As you can see on the video, I am not using the 2.4m whip this time but a longer 4m whip.

Germany on 17m (DL5XAT)

This is a video of a QSO on the 17m band using my FT-897 manpack with a 2.4m whip and the FC-40 antenna tuner.

That day I was also using several solar panels making a total of 37W. When I started operating the batteries were completely empty and at the end of the day they were full. I even disconnected the panels at some point because I was afraid they would overcharge the beteries.

A Yankee Sunday

This Sunday was a Yankee day for me as far as ham radio is concerned, and not because I have made many QSOs with the United States. The main reason is that the three QSOs of the day were with stations whose callsigns started with Y, namely YO8THG, YL3FT, and YC1FWO.
I was driving to a house my father has in the countryside just in order to collect a solar power generator that I intend to use with my Clansman PRC-320. A fellow ham (Ernesto, EA1LQ) convinced me to switch on my station in the house and try my favourite band (15m) on both SSB and CW. He looked at the cluster and told me that some Indonesian stations had been spotted on that band.
YO8THG (Geo) from Bacau was the first contact. As he was only working with 100W in SSB, this QSO gave me an idea that the propagation was not bad at all. Then I decided to move to CW and made a QSO with the fellow Yuris (YL3FT).
But the achievement of the day was a QSO with the station YC1FWO from Indonesia (operator Syarif ). I had to wait for quite a bit on the pile-up but it finally paid out. 13,000km is a good record.
Syarif graduated from Padjadjaran University Bandung in 1990. In 1997 he got a Master's degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC). Now he is working as a govt employee and sometimes teaching Economics in a university.
He became a member of Indonesian amateur Radio in 1983 (when he was in a high school) and since then he has been active on the air.