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KH7AL/KH9 Update (Dec 13)
I was working with a ham in India over the past week to schedule a contact. We had no luck last night so we decided to give it another try tonight around 0800z. I arrived at my ham shack in the woods early to set up. I was really early so I decided to tune around on 15m to see what propagation was like. This was just before 0700z, plenty of time before my 0800z meet-up, so I decided to find a clear spot and call CQ. My first contact was with a ham in Munich, who initially gave me a 53 report, and later called back as the band began to open and gave me a 57 "long path". This was a sign of good things to come.
Long path is a new experience for me here on Wake. That ominous echo you get from those far-off stations is really just amazing when you stop to think about how those radio waves are racing around the globe toward your antenna in opposite directions at the speed of light. As a wise man once told me, "If that does not light your fire, then your logs are wet." Speaking of putting a damper on things... Tonight's activity was off and going. I had many stations calling from VK/ZL, to JA and friends nearby, and a whole slew of hams in Europe. I switched to operating split early this time after learning my lesson on previous outings. However, this evening I was faced with all too many impatient people who decided not to listen to whom I was asking for, nor were they even listening to what country I was calling for.
Maybe it has been a long week, and I was a bit tired. Maybe Friday the 13th and a waxing moon brought out the animal in some folks. Whatever it was, I did not have the patience for some hams not following the DX Code of Conduct. I chose to shut down after about only twenty minutes. I could not make out any of the calls I was asking to repeat due to the unruly behavior. We could have had a lot of fun. My apologies to those who were being courteous. I wish there was a way to filter out the nonsense. I think next time I will focus only on a specific region for the duration. Hopefully by setting the expectation at the beginning it will result in us being able to make more contacts together.
Below is the DX Code of Conduct** from the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU). I'll just repost this here and hope more people will take it to heart.
1) I will listen, and listen, and then listen again before calling.
2) I will only call, if I can copy the DX station properly.
3) I will not trust the DX cluster and will be sure of the DX station’s call sign before calling.
4) I will not interfere with the DX station nor anyone calling and will never tune up on the DX frequency or in the QSX slot.
5) I will wait for the DX station to end a contact before I call.
6) I will always send my full call sign.
7) I will call and then listen for a reasonable interval. I will not call continuously.
8) I will not transmit when the DX operator calls another call sign, not mine.
9) I will not transmit when the DX operator queries a call sign not like mine.
10) I will not transmit when the DX station requests geographic areas other than mine.
11) When the DX operator calls me, I will not repeat my call sign unless I think he has copied it incorrectly.
12) I will be thankful if and when I do make a contact.
13) I will respect my fellow hams and conduct myself so as to earn their respect.
**Retrieved from: https://www.iaru-r1.org/on-the-air/spectrum-abuse/dx-code-of-conduct/
73!
KH7AL/KH9 Update (Dec 08)
A week later and Wake is still popular to a lot of hams apparently. This go around I tried my luck running split on the radio for the first time. I was expecting peace and tranquility. What I got was 5 kilohertz of people trying to call me. It reminded me of trying to find a place to operate on a big contest or Field Day. Perhaps this helped and was slightly better than the week prior, but daunting nonetheless. I had to quickly train my brain on listening to those off frequency calls to focus on them and pull them out of the crowd.
Another morning filling the log book. I found 115 friends during the morning shift on 10m. Side note, prior to this past summer I had never made a contact on 10m. It's quickly becoming one of my favorite bands during this heightened solar cycle. The morning shift saw most of the action into north and south Americas. That also included a great contact with my hometown friend, Bill, N7MSI. Being way out here in the middle of the ocean, ham radio has allowed many connections to help displace any possible feeling of being disconnected.
Maybe I'm a glutton for punishment, but after a challenging morning, I decided to head back out for a late shift to try and work into Europe. I got more than I hoped for and another 100 contacts on 15m. The signals from Europe were not strong but definitely good enough to make a solid contact. The challenge was to keep different parts of the globe from all calling me at once. I really do appreciate all the eager operators who wait to call until it's their turn. Highlights of the evening were working many VK, JA, and Europoe stations. And to end the evening, two contacts to Kuwait.
My total contacts from Wake are now over 600, and counting!
KH7AL/KH9 Update (Dec 01)
After a successful first go, I moved locations closer to the ocean and setup my linked dipole. I used my SOTAbeams collapsible mast and tied the ends to some nearby shrubs. On the short drive over to this location I realized I forgot my hat. From the pictures you should be able to tell I'm a fan of shade, or rather, I don't like to burn the top of my head. Thankfully, I had invited a coworker out to see what this was all about. About 10 minutes into the mele he showed up and helped provide some shade for us. This was my first really big pile up.
I have gotten used to working pile ups from my 150+ activation with Summits On The Air, but this was like putting twenty of those together at once. Based on my speaker's inability to project any intelligible audio to my ears due to the steady stream of letters and numbers blended together through an apparent transoceanic and ionospheric wormhole, I decided to break the pile up into groups. Thankfully the crowd did their best to contain their, and my, enthusiasm as I started working through the call numbers for North America. Never had counting from 1 to 9 seemed to take so long, and I almost forgot the Zero call group, as Japan and others patiently waited. This went on for over two hours when I had to call it off for the day with 200 contacts in my log.
Thankfully I got through it largely without emotional scars. I also think I learned a thing or two. Like I need to figure out how to run split. I never had a need to do that before here. Much to learn...
KH7AL/KH9 Update (Nov 14)
I arrived on Wake on 14 November 2024, two days after leaving Montana to start a new job here. The final leg to get here involved flying from Honolulu. It's an odd feeling to take off in one day and land in another without witnessing a sunset. Wake sits about 2000 miles west of Hawai'i, and just over 900 miles west of the international dateline. For a quick background on Wake Island's history check out the Wikipedia page about it here.
I lived on O'ahu for four years about a decade ago and the weather here is very similar. There really is not much of a temperature swing between day and night. Lows are in the low 80s or upper 70s (25-27 C), and the highs get into the upper 80s to low 90s (30-33 C). What I am not used to is the elevated humidity that varies between 65 and 85% that helps to push the heat index up. What helps is the trade winds that blow steadily from the east that provide some comfort.
After getting used to the time change and getting oriented with my new role, I was getting excited to get on the air. That took place on the afternoon of 28 November. They say that "All's fair in love and war." It could also be said that playing radio from a DX location is all fun and games until someone spots you on a cluster. Well, I think I did this one to myself by posting an alert on the Parks On The Air page. I was glad I did because a couple of my first contacts were with some familiar voices back in my home state of Montana. My friends in Bozeman, and POTA power couple, Stacy (KK7CJV) and Eric (KE7NLU), were my first two in the log. 115 contacts later I had to call it a day. Longest contact of the day was to Brazil with PY2TWI, over 10,000 miles (16,500km) away. Bring on the DX.
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