General Update

 Yesterday I made it over the 100 point level for the DX Marathon!.  76 entities and 27 zones in the log -  I do think I will be able to hit 130 - 140 points before the end of the year.  I am not seeing a lot of what i would call "rare ones" on the bands.  There are about a dozen entities that are somewhat common on there that i haven't got yet, and maybe 2 or 3 zones as well.  Then it will be a matter of being on the right band at the right time.

The Goodies Just Keep On Coming!

 Saturday (Jan 26,2025} was another decent day to be QRV

a)  Worked YS (El Salvador) for a new one on 12m

b)  Worked UT (Ukraine) for a new one on 40m

c)  DX Marathon score is now at 73 DXCC/26 Zones for a total of 99 points

A Very Good Day!

Friday was a very good day on the radio!  First, a new state was worked and confirmed on 12m - now sitting at 47 worked/44 confirmed.  Second two new ones on 12m were worked - TK (Corsica) and FM (Martinique).  And Corsica confirmed on LoTW within a half hour!  And finally, I am now sitting with a score of 97 on the DX Marathon - 71 entities and 26 Zones.  A very good day indeed

15m DXCC Received Today & New ARRL DXCC Award

 I received my 15m DXCC certificate in the mail today!  Looks good on the wall for sure!

Also, this was in the ARRL Letter yesterday:

The Programs & Services Committee and headquarters staff from the Radiosport Department are moving ahead with the creation of a new DXCC award — DXCC Trident — which will recognize those who achieve DXCC using CW, phone and digital modes. Higher achievement endorsements can be earned at the 200, 300, and Honor Roll levels. The DXCC Trident award is intended to spur greater on-air operating and to inspire those using digital modes to also develop their skills in, and practice, CW and SSB.

This appears to be the DXCC equivalent to the WAS Triple Play award.  Sitting at 95 worked and 64 confirmed on CW for DXCC.  I want this - so going to do research on what I may be able to dig up from the two decade old CW contacts, but start to work on getting this one.

I have added a block to track the DXCC Trident award and the WAS Triple Play award as well to the site.  I have also taken the opportunity to tidy things up as well on that area of the site.

Totals Update

 Everything up to 0830L on 1/23/2025 has been incorporated into the totals on the right side of this site.

Update

 66 DX & 24 Zones = 90 Points!  Go me!!!

Weekly Update - Monday 20 Jan 2025

1)    Been a pretty good DXing week as well - picked up a few new ones and confirmed some of them already too!  12m has been especially good this week and it may very well be the next DXCC domino to fall for me.  One metric that I don't check often is that it is incidental to my main DXCC focus - the ARRL DXCC Challenge.  You have to work 1000 band/entities to get it, i.e. a total of all of your DXCC confirmations on all of the bands 160m through 6m (except 60m).  I am sitting at 656 (or 65.6% of the required counters).  That one is a long way off for sure.

2)    DX Marathon is sitting at 88 points - 64 DXCC entities and 24 Zones.  Not to worry as this is a year long event, so I am sure that I will get a fair amount of new counters.  Still, not bad for just under 3 weeks of the event.

Review: HamClock

    It would take paragraphs of verbiage to adequately describe this fantastic application, so the best thing is to give you a link to the developers website here.  

    At its core, it is a clone of a Geochron clock (which are insanely expensive) with a lot of added bits.  The options are many, so you will want to set your version to your operating goals and/or interests.  The best way that I can show that is to detail how I have mine set up.  

    This is the overall configuration that you have to work with.  A data block in the upper left with your call as well as the date/time.  It also has an alarm function as well.  Then there are four programmable "data blocks" across the top.  Then there are 2 data blocks on the left side of the screen.  And then there is the map section.  I won't go into the options for each block, click the link above and select the "User Guide" tab at the bottom of the page for the current version manual.

    In the first block have all of the solar/geomagnetic real-time data rotating there every 5 seconds.  The next block is a display of predicted band conditions (VOACAP) between my QTH and another specific location based on my normal mode, power output, and antenna type.  The third block rotates between a graphic of the PSKReporter data of the number of times my station was monitored on FT4/FT8 within the last 15 minutes.  This data is then sent to the map which displays it as such:

Note that the best DX is labeled as well.  At the time this was saved, VK7OO was hearing my 17m 30w FT8 signal.  If a station is using any of the WSJT software flavors, and they have opted in to reporting to the PSKReporter network - all received signals that you copy will be sent to them.  It is a fantastic way to know where your signal is getting to as well as the signal strength that was received.  

    The last block is an aggregation of the four most significant solar/geomagnetic indices that may impact HF propagation.

There is another map overlay that I use very frequently, that that is the band reliability overlay:

Using the parameters that I selected for the VOACAP calculations, it displays the reliability of having a workable path to an area of the world.  At the bottom of the map is a percentage scale that is color coded.  I am sure you can figure that out.

    The data blocks on the left of the screen contain my information (DE) and a selected location (DX).  I select the DX location either by clicking the mouse on an area of the map - or by clicking on and then editing the grid in the DX data box.

    In my opinion it is a significant enhancement for those ops that primarily use FT4/FT8 like myself.  It is also very useful for other HF ops as well.

Now the downside - the one company that was making an almost plug and play solution has stopped making and selling them.  But, you can still roll your own using a Raspberry Pi Zero.  That is well beyond the scope of this review.  And this is the only downside!

Overall, this application is a hard must have if you are into FT4/FT8 - and I cannot emphasize this strongly enough.

15m DXCC Now Shows "Issued" on LoTW

 A couple days ago, I noticed that the ARRL has finally added the "*" to the matrix for 15m.  Supposedly this indicates that the certificate has been printed, so I should get it this week or the next in the mail!  More wallpaper to put on the wall!

Start of 2025 DX Marathon

 Decided to try my hand in this for the year.  Running digital only (FT4/FT8) and < 100w under the new "Formula 100W" class.    Will try and keep a running total here someplace.