Weekly Report

Propagation rather more lively. K=3, A=2 Flux=72.

0630z - 0730z Europe - Anzo Net on 14,293 Long Path.

I was obviously on the wrong side of the "ion curtain" ! Thanks to Klaus for this report : -

Greetings Bill,

The past week saw a couple of tiny sunspots and after a pause of about 6 months on this Sunday the ANZO net again deserved its name. What a surprise! The bad news is that not all European stations were able to benefit from the opening. The Scandinavian Activity Contest was on and it did not improve things. Here is an extract from my log:

06:37z VK2GWK, Henk, as controller. 57 here. Got 56. By 07:00Z Henk had dropped to 55.

06:41z ZL1RD, Rob. Got Q 4-5 and S2. Rob was the same with me. Rob faded out fairly quickly after the first contact.

06:43z VK3KCD, Peter. 55 - 56 here. Got 54 - 55. Peter has got a new rig now giving 200 w. The antenna was not changed.

06:45z VK4ZD, Bill. 43 both ways. Bill was very active and worked W1QUO, Jim, as the International net was closing down.

06:xxz Henk had contact with JM2HBO, Terusan. No copy on Terusan here.

06:57z EA7GSU, Pertti. Anything between no copy and 59+10 here.

07:09z OH6SM, Martti. 59 / 59 after I turned the beam north. Martty had Rotary visitors, introducing them to ROAR.

07:10z G4YZE; Bill. Very poor copy here. At best RS 45.

07.29z Pertti worked Bill VK4ZD. Gave "good copy 5/5"

07.45z Net ended.

It was wonderful to work old ANZO friends again. Hope that this will be the start of a good sunspot cycle.

73 de Klaus HB9CQS.

And thanks to Peter VK3KCD for this report : -

Good Morning Bill

Well the sun god has finally smiled upon us here in the deep south! First heard Klaus HB9CQS at about 0635z and he was still workable strength at 0705 when I went QRT. Also worked Henk VK2GWK and Teru JM2HBO. Heard Bill VK4ZD at poor strength but Rob ZL1RD was good strength early on but went down later and he was unable to hear me. Hope the conditions continue to improve.

73 YIR Peter VK3KCD

And thanks to Bill VK4ZD for this contribution : -

Hi Bill
Last Sunday turned out to be an exciting one for the contacts that were made from my portable qth at Lockyer Waters.
At this end we had VK2GWK Henk, VK3KCD Peter, JA2HBO Teru & ZL1RD Rob.
I had no real copy on VK3KCD but HB9CQS Klaus was worked well by all of the VK's and of particular note, Peter got 55 from Klaus.
When the net closed at this end at around 0710z I continued to listen on frequency whilst getting my logbook up to date.
I heard Pertti EA7GSU getting stronger and so gave him a call.
He came back to me with a report of 57, so we were able to establish a viable qso for the first time in ages.

There's more !.....

0800z - 0900z UK 80-metre Net on 3694.

G0SQH Derek in charge from Ringwood in good conditions.

Supported by:- G4MVO Jim , G3JJR John, G4WRU Mike,

G0MMO Norman, G0JWE Don, G0PCF Bruce, M0BDI Ralph,

G2FUU Tommy, G8LES Mike, and G4YZE Bill.

1100z - 1200z International Net on 14,293.

1045z - W1QUO Jim from Leominster MA 5/9

1045z - EA7GSU Pertti from Genalguacil 4/5 up to 5/9

1047z - G8LES Mike from Alton 3/4, got 5/9 from Jim

1109z - PA3AHC Malcolm from Naarden 1/1 here, got 5/5 from Jim.

1116z - PA2X Cees from Bussum 1/1 here got 5/7 from Jim

1130z - HB9CQS Klaus from Sachseln 5/6, got 5/9 from Jim.

1140z - PA0SDZ Les from Zwolle 3/4 here got 5/7 from Jim.

1203z - Net ended. (I had to go for lunch and missed the big one)

Next Sunday Jim will try to get a taxicab from their apartment to "The Manor"

in time to operate the International Roar net. Sometime later it might be

possible for Jim Junior (of radio-astronomy fame) and his colleagues

at Harvard to install a remote control system so that Jim can

operate his big rig from the apartment. He is not giving up !

More from Bill VK4ZD : -

I stayed at Lockyer Waters for the 1100z net into the USA.
I was hoping to make a contact with Jim W1QUO on his last sched from his current home.

I could hear various Europeans weakly including G4YZE and PA0SDZ.
At around 1140z Jim W1QUO's signal started to come up reaching 57, easy copy.
In vain I tried to break in.

When the net closed at just after 1200z I continued to call Jim repeatedly.
At last he asked who was calling him and I was able to establish good contact with him.
We exchanged 55 reports and were able to talk for around 10 minutes before the band started to fade.
It was an amazing 30 minute propagation window that was a minor miracle.
Jim asked me how Bill Pollitt (ex VK5CV) was and I promised to phone Bill which I have done.
Bill is alive and kicking in a nursing home. He has a phone and internet access on his computer.
His hearing has deteriorated but he still sounds very chipper.
Bill's cardiologist now has the call sign VK5CV with Bill's blessing.
Bill passes his very best wishes to all on the ROAR nets.
73's de Bill, VK4ZD

From Coos VE2GTI : -

Hi Bill.

I was there at 11.00. High noise level. Heard someone vaguely about contests but could not hear what was going on.

I shall be back at the earliest 15 November, probably later.

73's VE2GTI

(Coos departs for Europe on Saturday 3rd October)

1800z - 1830z UK evening 80-metre Net on 3,694.

G3LUW Brian in charge from Devon in good conditions.

Supported by :- G0JWE Don, G0SQH Derek, G2FUU Tommy,

G3JJR John, and G4YZE Bill.

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That's all for this week,

73 de Bill g4yze