Wow, what an amazing March and April I’ve had on 10 metres!
Other than the Easter break where I had a good 20 metre session using the Buddipole which I’ve already posted on – Portable Operation from Lower King, Albany, I’ve been using 10 metres 95% of the time.
I’ve just looked through the log and see that I worked close to 250 DX contacts on 10 metres from March 9 to April 28. This was done over 15 sessions and the majority were using the mobile set up in the car. I did use the Buddipole a few times. For reasons I don’t know, the car set up works extremely well on 10 metres when I’m at Port Walter.
Yes, it’s by the water with obvious advantages but it seems to work particularly well on this band. I’ve generally operated between 08:00UTC and 11:00 UTC and the band regularly surprises me with strong signals when I think it’s dead. I’ve been told on a number of occasions that I’m the only VK/VK6 they are hearing on the band before congratulating me on the mobile setup. I’ve ended up in pileups during most of these sessions, working as many as 30 stations whilst sitting in my motor vehicle.
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My trusty Ford Falcon at Port Walter – Click on either of the photographs for a larger view
What has surprised me most is that there are stations calling that I can hardly hear and that I receive signal reports from stations running high power with big directional antennas similar to what I give out. This is certainly not my experience on 20 metres.
I usually operate with 100 watts but today, I lowered my power to 40 watts and saw little difference other than an S point or so. I’ll be out every Saturday and Sunday in the car at Point Walter from 08:00 UTC whilst these amazing conditions prevail so if you hear me, say ‘hello’.
Tagged with: amateur radio • mobile
Filed under: Amateur Radio
