OJ0V QSL status

At this moment I received some 400 direct QSL request for OJ0V.

Labels are printed, addresses are ready. The only thing we don't have at this moment is... the QSL card.

Hopely Max, on5ur, will do the layout and printing job quickly because my shack is full of paper at this moment.

OJ0V : EQSL authenticity Guaranteed

Today I received the confirmation for EQSL Authenticity.

We hope to make happy those who are applying for EQSL awardss...

OJ0V on EQSL - Authenticity not yet guaranteed

Today, I made an EQSL login for OJ0V and a special QSL card.

Because Peter ON8VP has the license documents and I'm on Holiday, we are still not "authenticity guaranteed".  This will be fixed in the coming weeks.

All bands - except 17 and 40m - are corrected and this info will be used for a Clublog update tonight.

I'm very sorry to see that there are some stations asking for confirmation, but who are not in our log.

In the mean time, the paper QSL has been ordered.  Hopely, this can be handled very quickly because the amount of direct QSL and OQRS is enormous.

Welcome back Optibeam 2-40

Sometimes you do things that you regret.

Fortunately in our hobby we mostly can undo mistakes.

For example the super 2 element 40m Optibeam yagi that I sold a few years ago because it detroyed my Yaesy rotor.

I could catch a new one from ON7SU.

Maybe I'll will play 40m SOAB-A in the CQWW CW contest.

Problems with the OJ0V log (hopely) solved

Ok, it is true and also written in the stars : when you do not use a transceiver-pc controller logging software, you will have have problems with band and mode settings and/or changes.

Of course not the first day, when everybody is full of energy and attention for the logging, but after a few days when operator changes occur more often and sleep is missing...

It was clear at the beginning : not all operators were used to play with software like N1MM, even worse (viewed from the logging side), half of the team would play morse with the keyer manually and not with the computer.
These factors let me decide to use a simple self-written software that had proofed reliability during our TM3X and TM4X operations on Ile De Aix a decade ago.

Big extra advantage : while using small netbooks, the input window could be made very big (versus eg. N1MM software).



But you have to change slots manually and there was the problem...

Thanks to clublog we received very quickly complaints about wrong band indications, so the solution could be quickly adapted.  There was mainly a problem with 28Mhz SSB at July 2nd and 18Mhz SSB at July 3rd.

Furthermore we had an ADIF incompatibily issue :  on LOTW, the syntax mode:3 Rty  is allowed for rtty contacts.  On clublog only the more logical mode 4: rtty is accepted.  I had to change my source code for it.  A similar issue occured with PSK modes.

OJ0V : lucky bastards !

We are lucky bastards !




On Tuesday the Saterday weatherforecast was 7 nuts from north.  The boatsman doens't come near the reefs at 10 nuts.  Than you have to take a zodiac to go to deeper water.

So we decided to leave on Friday without taking risks.

On Saturday the speed was 13 nuts and here is the result for our Finnish friends :

The zodiac turned into the water and 2 men felt into te sea.

 I don't dare to think about our transceivers and amplifiers falling in the water...  value 15.000 €

OJ0V pile-up by OT1A on youtube

Here is a video of my 14 Mhz pile-up at Market Reef, received in Uruguay.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=S4vSYglEZbM

Thanks CX6DZ

OJ0V QRT !

OJ0V is out of the air !

Because of bad weather forecasts we must leave Market Reef one day earlier as foreseen.

So the contacts were stopped around 00h00 UTC this night.

We made 17.200 contacts with 142 countries.
The final log is uploaded to clublog taking into account that there will be errors on it.  They will be fixed during the coming weeks.

Thanks to everybody to help us on the bands with propagation reports and putting us on the cluster  !

Very best 73s.
The OJ0V team.

Message in a bottle

I continue to have problems with our telecom operator in Belgium that has blocked my data connexion.  They are not able to bring it back into service although daily promises.

The Finnish team here is so friendly to give me access to upload our log to clublog, but I can't continue this blog on their access.

We made over 10.000 contacts until now and the pile ups continue...

OJ0V versus USA

We have now a nice amount of contacts in the log.  But we are missing the USA.

I did an analysis this afternoon based on last year contacts between Sweden and the USA.
First conclusion : not so much contacts in June between the two countries.
 It seems that we must be active between 0h UTC and 4h UTC. 

This is exactly the timestamp where most operators like to sleep.

I will stand up this night to be active on 30 and 40 meters only for North America contacts.

Hope this will hope to increase our NA counter.

USA and Canada : keep your morse keyers ready !

This evening was chocolate evening : we did a quality test between the Finnish and Belgian chocolats...

OJ0V status July 1st

We made 4000 contacts until now.  Yesterday was a very busy day and the 3 stations were active all the time.

The log has been sent to Clublog a few minutes ago.

We see that US stations aren't worked frequently until yet.  There is no clear explanation for it, because SA, AS and OC are in the log as expected. 

This night at 2330 UTC 40m was completely fallen down into noise.

We will do an extra effort to call for North America.

This isn't a 5 star expedition, we have to take "manual showers" with the water of the sea, everything is very basic and limited at this location.  But we'll do our best to  activate the bands as much as possible.

There was also a little ceremony between the Finnish volunteer group and our team...  There is a very good understanding between both teams.  An Atomium (this building is a well known contruction in Brussels) was given as a souvenir.