"This Week In DX" Is Now "2 Week DX Synopsis"

 As part of the streamlining of this blog, I have replaced the weekly review of DX activity with a two-week running listing of new ones as well as newly confirmed ones.  There will be a fixed post at the top of the posting section of the blog that will have the date, band, prefix, entity name, and what the entity did for my numbers.  If the entry is still on the listing when the QSL arrives, that will be indicated by the entry being highlighted and the date of confirmation appended to the end.

I have removed all of the other data from the post as it was duplicated by the stats on the rightmost column on here.  I was going to start this on September 1, but decided to start it now.

This Week In DX - 8/17 Thru 8/24

• Have trimmed this posting format down for this week and the next.  Starting in September, there will be a running post pinned that will run for the entire month.
• Working the T8 was a very nice surprise Wednesday morning - given the poor solar numbers.
• Two new ones confirmed on 30m as well - now at 114 worked / 96 confirmed on that band.  30m has basically caught up with 12m based on the numbers worked / confirmed.

DX Worked
8/19    30m    Western Kiribati (T30)

8/19    30m    Wales (GW) CONFIRMED

8/19    30m    Ireland (EI)

8/20    20m    Palau (T80) ATNO

8/20    17m    Hungary (HA)

8/22    10m    Samoa (5W) CONFIRMED

8/23    30m    Trinidad & Tobago (9Y)

8/23    30m    Azores (CU)

8/24    30m    Latvia (LY) CONFIRMED

8/24    30m    Ceuta & Melilla (EA9) *

*Previously Worked

This Week In DX - 8/12 Thru 8/17

Getting this back on schedule where I will be posting this Sunday afternoon so the info will be from Sunday afternoon through Saturday night.  Have tightened up the FTx DXpeditions page as well.

Redid my Status Board and cleaned it up and will now only update it a couple times a week.  Trying to write on it when it is on the wall and having to reach across a desk does not help my poor handwriting one bit! I can take it off the wall as I used Commander strips to secure it.

The bands were pretty darn good Friday night and Saturday morning.  Worked 4 new ones Friday night/early Saturday morning on 30m - including an ATNO for the Digital DXCC.  20m was really good after sunrise on Saturday morning.  Copies several JA and YB station well into the early morning hours and actually work a KL7 around 0845 Local!  I normally don't see them on 20m until evening gray line propagation.

Saturday night and pre-dawn Sunday morning were good as well.  I worked an ATNO that I thought I would never work - Iran.  Very, very pleased with that one.

DX Needs Worked
8/13    30m    Suriname (PZ)
8/16    30m    Serbia (YU) CONFIRMED
8/16    30m    Scotland (GM) * CONFIRMED
8/16    30m    Guyana (8R) Digital ATNO
8/16    30m    Balearic Is. (EA6) *
8/17    30m    Iran (EP) ATNO

*Previously Worked

WAZ Needs Worked
None

WAS Needs Worked
None

DX Marathon
Zones 36 (-0-)
Entities 136 (+1)
Score 172 (+1)

DXCC Challenge
Worked        888 (+3)
Confirmed     782 (+5)

Plans For The Upcoming Fall/Winter Season

 It is mid-August, so that means the summer doldrums on HF will being ending soon (but not soon enough IMHO).  So it is now time to set out my plans and priorities.

First is finishing up my 40m, 30m, 17m, and 12m DXCC awards - all are within reach of completing them.  I will need to do a bunch of OQRS ones to get over the top.  Right now, it looks like 12m will be the first one completed with 30m not too far behind.  17m and 40m are tied for third, but I think that 17m will complete first.  I think I will have to wait for full on winter solstice to get 40m.  It is very possible that I will get all four completed by the time spring rolls around.  I hope to have 12m and 30m by Thanksgiving as I want to send off a major submission for DXCC then.  Add the 12m and 30m ones to get those in the bank as well as everything else that I have credit for on LotW for all of the bands.  I should also qualify for the 150-entity endorsement on the Digital DXCC as well.  

Second is to work on the rest of the WAS - mainly 80m and 10m.  I want that 5BWAS certificate on the wall really, really bad!  And it would be even better with three WARC band endorsement stickers on it!  So, I have to work on 12m as well.  With the yearlong event for the 250th anniversary of the US and the WAS award that will go with it - the first few months should be pretty wild!  I need to get a better antenna for 80m, which I plan on doing around the first of December.  I want to finish up my Phone WAS as well - I only need AR, MO, and MS.  I will prioritize those states during November SS Phone, as eventually I will go after the CW ones for the Triple Play Award.

Finally Got 'Em

 Finally received my FT4 and 15m Digital WAS endorsement stickers.  Not 100% sure what the issue was, but I have a feeling that it was never sent out for some reason. It doesn't matter now as I have them - and they are on the certificate hanging on the wall!

Now all I need is a few more for 10m (sitting at 46/44), 12m (48/47) and 80m (48/47).

This Week In DX - 8/4 Thru 8/11

Here is this week's synopsis of what I was able to work.  It seems that the tree removal did help the signals a little bit - and any improvement is OK in my opinion.

Band conditions were pretty poor this week, but was unable to really get on the air until Wednesday.  Saturday started off ugly with a geomagnetic storm.  It went thru Sunday as well.  The best thing was of the four new ones worked, three have already confirmed - and an ATNO was worked.

Revamped the format just a bit and added WAZ to the list as well.

GAINS (Worked/Confirmed)
Mixed (1/0)

Phone (0/0)

Digital (1/0)

CW (0/0)

80m (0/0)

40m (0/0)

30m (0/2)

20m (2/1)

17m (1/1)

15m (0/0)

12m (0/0)

10m (0/0)

DX Needs Worked
8/5    17m    Portugal (CT) CONFIRMED
8/6    20m    Denmark (OZ) CONFIRMED
8/7    20m    Kenya (5Z) ATNO
8/9    30m    Peru (OA) CONFIRMED

*Previously Worked

WAZ Needs Worked
None

WAS Needs Worked
None

DX Marathon
Zones 36 (-0-)
Entities 135 (+1)
Score 171 (+1)

DXCC Challenge
Worked        885 (+3)
Confirmed     780 (+5)

DXCC Trident Information On ARRL Web Page - My Thoughts

 Here is the information on this award.  There is no certificate offered, just a $95 plaque.  In looking at the rules, it pretty much allows contacts from 1976 forward to now.

To be honest, this smells like a "cash grab" to sell a plaque for something that a whole lot of DXers/contesters have already qualified for.  Heck, I am 36 CW entity confirmations away from qualifying myself, and I basically took a couple decades off ham radio.

If they would have offered a $20 Certificate, I would strongly consider trying for it - but not at $95!  So, I will not be pursuing it at all.

Tree is Down!

 Well, the tree has been taken down, but all of the debris won't be removed for another day or two - so I can't park the car in its normal spot.  I experimented with the Buddistick and the results were OK - but I didn't want to leave the whole rig out overnight.  So will try a different idea today using the ground spike I made over a year ago (that I have never used) and the 20m Ham Stick.  Will make some radials and see where that goes.

UPDATE

That worked fairly well - not as good as the car mounting, but pretty good.  Of course, the band could be a bit on the soft side as well.

This Week In DX - 7/28 Thru 8/3

This is a day early as due to the tree removal, I probably won't be capable of getting on the air until Monday morning sometime.  I am very curious to see if the removal of that tree improves my signal strength on both TX and RX.

Another decent week during the mid-summer period.   Ten new ones worked and half of them have already confirmed, not too bad.  Got a couple confirmed from last week as well.

I am pretty happy with my DX Marathon score so far this year.  Earlier this year, I estimated that I would only be around the 175 range at the end of 2025, I now think that I may be in the 185 range.

I may try this week to figure out what the issue is with 40m RF getting into the computer system and messing with the CAT commands.  This may require a complete reconfiguration of the operating position, but I won't know until I do some experimenting.  

GAINS
Mixed (-0-)

Phone (-0-)

Digital (+2)

CW (-0-)

80m (-0-)

40m (-0-)

30m (+5)

20m (+1)

17m (+1)

15m (-0-)

12m (+1)

10m (-0-)

DX Needs Worked

7/29    30m    Nicaragua (YN)*

7/29    30m    Guam (KH2) CONFIRMED

7/29    30m    Turkey (TA) CONFIRMED

7/29    17m    China (BA) CONFIRMED

7/29    12m    N. Cook Is (E51)

7/31    17m    Israel (4X)

7/31    30m    Denmark (OZ) CONFIRMED

7/31    30m    Benin (TY)

8/01    30m    US Virgin Is. (KP2)*

8/01    20m    Fiji (3D2-F) CONFIRMED

* - Previously Worked

WAS Needs Worked

None

DX Marathon

Zones 36 (-0-)

Entities 134 (+2)

Score 170 (+2)

DXCC Challenge

Worked        882 (+7)

Confirmed     775 (+7)