[ADXA] Heard and the Herd

Mon Mar 28 13:17:32 EDT 2016

Dennis,

CONGRATS on the 30 meter Q !!!! Very FB.

All - If you need VK0 for an all time new one or on a specific band here
is a good example of what can be achieved if you do not currently have an
antenna for one band. We have discuss this here on the reflector a few
times. Throw some wire up in a  tree, off the edge of the house or
anything that can support one end (do NOT use a power line pole !!!!!) and
orient it for the major lobe, or one of the major lobes, to point down to
Heard.

73 Joel W5ZN

> I don't have a 30 meter antenna, but after Pat, W5VY, reported success
> working them with an end-fed half wave on 30, I put up a sloping dipole on
> the South side of my tower.  Two nights ago, I didn't hear them very well
> until 0400Z, when they got a lot stronger.   Pat suspected they turned
> their 4-square from Europe to the US at that time.   Once their signal
> came up, it was relatively easy to work them at 0405.
>
> 73,
> Dennis, W5RZ
>
>> On Mar 27, 2016, at 3:06 PM, Joel Harrison <w5zn at w5zn.org> wrote:
>>
>> Heard Island came on the air a few days ago and the wild herd of DX'ers
>> seeking to work them fired up!
>>
>> Propagation to the island from W5 land has not been good. The first
>> couple
>> of nights they had set up 40 and 30 meters. The 30 meter sig was decent
>> but 40 was not good. After a couple more days of antenna work they fired
>> on more bands but we are still experiencing poor conditions here in W5
>> land. Our common daylight/darkness with Heard doesn't help. In the
>> evenings we only have about one hour of common darkness at the most so
>> low
>> band possibilities are extremely difficult. By the same token the common
>> daylight is also only about an hour so that doesn't give much time for
>> the
>> sun to do its magic on the higher bands, plus the SFI and A index
>> haven't
>> helped either.
>>
>> Right now we have some weak prop on 17, 15 and 12 around 8:00 AM and
>> that
>> is it. In the evenings from around 7:30 - 9:00 PM listen on 30 meters
>> and
>> lower.
>>
>> I do not need Heard Island for an all time new one as I have it on 20
>> meters and 30 meters, SSB, CW and RTTY from previous operations but I am
>> deeply involved in the DXCC Challenge and working individual band
>> countries and on a pursuit to reach the 3000 mark. I am currently at
>> 2940
>> so every little one counts and Heard is one I need everywhere except 20
>> and 30. I was very lucky to work them not only on 40 meters and 80
>> meters
>> as well Friday evening......an accomplishment I call 99% luck and 1%
>> skill! This morning I was able to nab them on 12 meters. They had a
>> really
>> nice SSB sign from about 1300z to 1330z and then the bad died here.
>>
>> Deciding which band to listen to when they are spotted several places is
>> a
>> hard decision. When I was a boy I loved to quail hunt with my dad. It
>> took
>> me a few times to learn when a covey erupted from their cover and birds
>> were everywhere to focus on one rather than just shoot among the entire
>> covey feverishly flying away. Working a DXpedition like Heard is
>> similar.
>> This morning I was trying to listen for them on 17, 15 and 12. Their CW
>> sig was weak on 15 but was the only band I could hear them on and given
>> the sig was weak I simply assumed there was no propagation on a higher
>> freq, so I focused on 17 and 15. After a bit I just happened to notice a
>> signal on their freq on 12 meters on another radio I had on and it was
>> VK0EK, a very good 59 sig!!! I almost missed the brief opening because I
>> had given up on 12 meters based on their 17 and 15 meter sigs.
>>
>> So, the lesson from this is focus on one band at a time but stay
>> cognizant
>> of the other bands as well. After you shoot the one bird you need to
>> know
>> where to move quickly to next! Understand propagation and when you
>> should
>> expect to hear the DX station. Our W5 land band openings to VK0 are
>> short.
>>
>> VK0EK is scheduled to be on for another 13 days so you have some time to
>> get them in the log. As time goes by the pileups will calm down a bit
>> and
>> hopefully the sunspot #'s will improve. Just remember, this is one you
>> really need to focus on and work because it will not be back on the air
>> for a very, very long time if ever again. The last operation I recall
>> was
>> VK0IR in 1997.
>>
>> I still need them on 160, 17, 15 and 10 so if you're in the pile on
>> those
>> bands I will be as well.....assuming we can hear them!!!
>>
>> Oh yea....and one other VERY IMPORTANT POINT - remember they are working
>> SPLIT so make sure you're not calling on their xmit freq. Also they are
>> listening DOWN so don't go up and call unless you hear the op
>> specifically
>> say so.
>>
>> 73 Joel W5ZN
>>
>>
>>
>>
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