The ones that got away ... and the others.

What got away? Well on 70MHz Ceuta and Melilla. And on 50MHz Angola, Guadeloupe, Malawi, Namibia and Venezuela.

Eh? Angola, Guadeloupe, Malawi, Namibia and Venezuela? Don't you do VHF?

I cannot deny it, I have called those five and they all got away. Not a contact with any of them. Not even a reply. Most of Europe was calling at the same time and they either never heard me, or I never reached the head of the queue. They were all strong enough to work, I just did not make it.

Time for my usual refrain that I never thought such things were possible, not just when I did my training but even during the last sunspot peak. Or even last year actually.

I did get a few of course. Columbia. Just a place over 8500km away, with which I had a 6m contact yesterday. I tried to mention this quietly, a bit casually, as if to suggest that me working Columbia was something that was an everyday occurrence. 

To fill in since the last blog report I have a map.

50MHz contacts at GM4FVM 20 to 26 May 2023.

Not a bad week, though the map is a bit skewed because it is a long way to Columbia. That 8527km contact managed to bring my 2023 DXCC count up to 46. Scarily, my all time DXCC total on 6m is up to 89. Will I need to be thinking about 100?

One of those 46 countries was Ceuta and Melilla. I might have missed it on 70MHz but I did bag it on 50MHz. EA9 was not a new country for me of 6m, but Columbia certainly was, and of course a new square too.

Also not a bad week on 4m either. A nice opening bagged 5 countries for the 2023 list, but nothing for the all time list. It was interesting to think about places I still have to work on 4m which are around at the moment. A station from Lebanon appearing was unusual though I did not hear him, and nor did I hear Kosovo. There is still a range of undone places for the 70MHz all time list. The 2023 list has rattled up to 15, at which point it threatens to overtake the 2023 list for 144MHz which stands at 16.

70MHz contacts at GM4FVM 20 to 26 May 2023.

In some previous years I have been looking for squares. This year it is firmly countries, though a few new squares would be nice. 

On 4m at the moment I am using my 8 year old 5 element PowAbeam, while the 7 year old 50MHz 5 element Powabeam is also in use. For 4m though the output power is just 50W PEP at the moment. Will that be enough power if 4m opens into the Caribbean this Summer, now that there are several Caribbean stations to work - at last? On the other hand, with a national power limit of 150W perhaps there is not so much to gain anyway.

I managed to work this stuff during a week in which I took down four antennas and put up three. More on that later. Doing antenna work did mean that I missed a 2m Es opening into Italy, but the work had to be done.

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As I was about to press "publish" I just worked FG8OJ in Guadeloupe. Again, not an all time new country, but one to add to this year's list. 

But hey, at 6600km, hardly worth a mention.

73 Jim GM4FVM