Still no QSO.....

[KK4JJF]

GRRRRRR. Nothing tonight either. Barcelona was coming in strong with a 9+ db signal. The pile up cleared out, and I wasn't heard over the noise even with no competition..... Now I need a local contact just to make sure the blasted radio even works... It's putting 100W somewhere. Perhaps it's all being beamed into my neighbor home!

[G4OTU]

Choose the right time of day ( Afternoons for you),find a reasonably clear spot on 20m and call "CQ Europe"....you will get a reply ...almost guaranteed.

You do not need high power or gigantic antennas to work into EU....there are thousands of stations in Europe who work the US/Canada or VK/ZL regularly on 100watts(or less) and simple wire antennas.

[KD3NE]

Well I may have to give in. Wanted my first QSO to be an awesome far away DX contact. I found a great one last night out of Croatia. That would have been a super cool first! But. with my puny station, I never stood a chance in the mini pile up.. I was without amp, and unfortunately I was using a 40M dipole on 20 meters. I was using a tuner, but power output was way down, and I assume it was due to the wrong antenna. I'm off to Home depot for wire to add a additional 20M wire to the dipole this afternoon. If I don't get through tonight I'm buying a giant amp, and erecting the tower I bought last month! Where can I get a 20 element yagi?

73's

My first HF QSO was a struggle.

I was a lowly Technician back when Morse Code was REQUIRED!

I timidly hooked up the paddles to my HF rig, adjusted the tuner to match the long wire to the rig.

I used about 20 watts RF to tune.

Now to call CQ.....

CQ CQ CQ de N3EQG N3EQG ... ( my original call )

Now I waited and WHAT'S THAT ???

I hear my call being answered.....

But WHO is answering my call? I cannot understand his call, so I asked him to repeat several times before I realized it was not a US call.

My first HF contact was on CW and it was DX.

I never even increased power from tuning.

I was working a CW DX contact with 20 watts RF out.

Sure it was Canadian, but hey it was DX!

I'll never forget that contact, expecting to copy an American call .... VE3 was foreign to me.


FWIW: Over the Field Day weekend, I worked Croatia SSB with 100 watts and a crappy dipole installation you would not believe. Dipole center point 11 feet high, end points about 6-7 feet high. We tossed it up in a hurry, in true emergency field day fashion !!!


.

[WD5GWY]

First QSO's are rarely with DX stations. Not that it cannot happen, but, if you limit yourself to DX only,
you may be disappointed quite a bit. Grab any contact you can get, DX or not. Enjoy the contact and
learn as you go along. This time of year, and with conditions as they are, can make for a frustrating
DX experience. This Fall, things will (hopefully) improve. Once Summertime thunderstorms start going
away, it will get much better. And the higher bands, like 10 meters, start to come alive more.
Practice on the easy stuff (stateside etc.) first. Working DX stations that are involved in a pileup can
be tough. Even for the best of operators. As has already been mentioned, even though the DX station
is coming in loud and clear for you, you have no way of knowing what he is having to listen to.
1,000's of LOUD stations calling at once would be tough for anyone to dig thru.
Don't worry it'll happen and in less time than you imagine, you'll be building up your country count.
james
WD5GWY

[AB1QP]

GRRRRRR. Nothing tonight either. Barcelona was coming in strong with a 9+ db signal. The pile up cleared out, and I wasn't heard over the noise even with no competition..... Now I need a local contact just to make sure the blasted radio even works... It's putting 100W somewhere. Perhaps it's all being beamed into my neighbor home!

Describe again your antenna in detail? 40 and 20 both were open to eu last evening. Also, although I discourage excess reliance on stuff like this at your stage of the game, Check out www.reversebeacon.net. Robot CW skimmers will pick up your CQ & call sign, and spot it. You can filter to your call sign, and see where, and with what S/N you are picked up.

if your not being heard on the beacons with 100 wts, it's time to look at your feed line, connectors and antenna. If you are making it out, it's time to look at you operating technique.

AB1QP

[M0GVZ]

THat last guy was way over 9db, and I don't think he could even hear me.

You'd probably reach him around 5/7 with a resonant dipole and 100W. The problem is there'd be lots of 5/9+ stations calling him.

You should be able to work the UK quite easily on 20m at the moment. I'm working east coast USA from east coast England whilst out /M with just 100W most evenings here around 2200-2400 UTC which is around 1800-2000hrs Eastern Daylight time.

[KK4JJF]

The antenna is a DIY inverted V fan dipole for 20m, and 40m. 100' of 213 feed line to a 1:1 Comtec baun. Tuned with a 259B SWR analyzer. Never could get SWR below 1.2 on both wires. Center isolator / baun is at 25'.

[AB1QP]

The antenna is a DIY inverted V fan dipole for 20m, and 40m. 100' of 213 feed line to a 1:1 Comtec baun. Tuned with a 259B SWR analyzer. Never could get SWR below 1.2 on both wires. Center isolator / baun is at 25'.

Nothing obvious there. Let us know what happens with a visit to the reverse beacon site tonite.

[K0RGR]

I was listening on 20 meters from my mobile rig last night, on a 3 hour drive home that ended just before midnight our time. I was a little amazed and somewhat delighted to be hearing some of the stations I was hearing. There was a loud KL7 working a station in Tennessee, and an even louder KH6, working a pileup of mainland U.S. stations for hours. Oddly enough, from up here, about all I could hear besides the DX were a KF5 who kept calling the KH6, a W7 who was working the KL7 a bit later, and a VP2 who was calling the KH6.

Friday afternoon, I worked 9A209A in Croatia on 20 CW from the mobile rig, and a few other Europeans - again, about all I was hearing was the DX - no domestic stations to speak of. Odd conditions to say the least.

Bizarro radio conditions notwithstanding, I'd expect to be able to work Europe with a wet noodle antenna from Florida. Adding the 20 meter element was a good move. Take a listen on 15 meters, your fan dipole should also work there somewhat. CW and the digital modes are much more fruitful for lower power stations with less than fabulous antennas.

See if you can check into the Maritime Mobile Service Net on 14.300, or any of the nets on 40. If not, check the not so obvious things - is your RIT or XIT turned on, so you're not transmitting on your receive frequency?

[KC8QMU]

Does your tuner have balanced line terminals? If it does, and if it was me, I'd ditch the coax and feed the 40 meter antenna with 300 or 450 ohm line...... then you would have an antenna that works well on 40,30,20,17,15,12, and 10 meters..........