I’m now active on APRS via APRSDroid. Find me when I’m mobile. I am usually active on HF on CW or SSB. I run an Icom 706mkIIg at 100 watts with a AH-4 tuner and a 2.75m steel whip. Hope to see you on the bands!
he_track = “K1RA-4”; // track this callsign
he_width = 680;
he_height = 500;
I was fortunate enough to catch a 2m ESkip opening on the evening commute home Tues. July 24 from about 630p to 8p local. Many locals in the Va/D.C./Md area were on from fixed locations working the opening. Locals K1HTV, K4RTS, W4CLJ, KE2N, N3ALN, N4MM, K3ZO and K4HJF among others, were all heard working the DX from 0 land and 5 land, much of I which I couldn’t hear. I was only using an Icom 706 MKIIG @ ~ 50w and a dual-band magmount vertical on the roof of the SUV, but I was able to work 4 stations in the mid-west. Click any of the following calls and then the |> Play button to hear what I heard. I logged N0IGZ (KS – EM27 @ 932 mi.), K0WYN (MO – EM48 @ 759 mi.), W0BLD (MO – EM37 @ 844 mi.) and K5SW (OK – EM25 @ 985 mi.). I copied 8 other unique calls during this time to include AF5CC (OK – EM04 @ 1174 mi.) who heard me but never completed, WA0CNS (MO – EM48 @ 645 mi.), K0DOK (MO – EM48 @ 714 mi.), KC0SNN (MO – EM27 @ 918 mi.), WB5AFY (TX – EM04 @ 1233 mi.), W7QJQ (OK – EM25 @ 959 mi.), KB5MR (OK – EM25 @ 1016 mi.) and N5UWY (OK – EM15 @ 1100 mi.). Click on any of the calls above to hear what I recorded from the mobile on my Android phone using an MP3 recorder acoustically coupled to the rig’s speaker.
Here’s what the APRS 144 MHz real-time propagation map looked like for that time frame. You can see that many portions of the U.S. were experiencing wide area ESkip over 600 miles.
APRS 144 MHz real-time propagation map 07-24-2012
Another useful VHF propagation tool to watch on a daily basis for these types of openings is the DXMaps VHF MUF Map of North America, which offers a real-time view of the maximum usable frequency (MUF) across the country.
VaQP is over! You can read about my weekend experience by clicking the following K1RA as KW4VA /M in Virginia QSO Party 2012. In the article you can read and learn more about my operation as well as see pictures and videos from the weekend event.
I activated KW4VA from the mobile this past Mar 17-18 for the 2012 Virginia QSO Party. I ran 10 bands: 160-6m (SSB/CW) and 2m, 1.25m, and 70cm (FM). As the contest was broken into two segments 10A-10P Sat. and 8A-8P Sun., I’ve decided to run 2 separate routes.
Day 1 on Sat. I was to run west of Warrenton and down Skyline Dr. That consisted of 10 stops covering 12 counties: FAU, LDN, CLA, FRE, WAR, RAP, PAG, MAD, RHM, GRN, ALB and AUG. I didn’t quite make all the counties I planned.
Day 2 on Sun. I was to run an eastern route towards D.C. and south down I-95. That was to consist of 17 stops covering 17 counties and cities: FAU, PRW, LDN, MAX, MPX, FFX, FXX, FCX. ARL, ALX, STA, FBX, KGE, CLN, SPO, ORG and CUL. Again I didn’t quite cover all the ground.
You can see my planned route on the map below. It not exactly what I managed to cover. Read to follow on article mentioned above to find out the actual details.
Above you can click on the icons to read more info about the locations. You can also view a larger more interactive map by click the link under the map.
For more info on the Virginia QSO Party please visit the SPARC VaQP 2012 web page and the VaQP statistics and tips page.
Terry W8ZN and I attempt to rove in the past ARRL Jan. VHF SS. If you care to check out the article I put together that covers our preparations leading up to the contest as well as our adventure on contest weekend please click here or the picture below.
