Finally Got VK9WA, Willis Island, on 12 SSB!

Ken - NM9P

I finally just got him on 12 SSB at 23:14Z from SW Indiana!  He was very weak, down in the noise, (barely moving the meter) but the 6500 pulled him out.  My DX Narrow Profile punched through the noise and QRM.  Barefoot with the T-11 at 38 ft.   Loving this rig and antenna combo!

Ken - NM9P

Pileups on 20/17/15 CW are brutal!  Found him on 12 SSB with more manageable traffic.

Greg

Rob is an excellent operator and I hear they are doing a great job.

Duane_AC5AA

They've had a good signal most days on 12m and since today is the last day I'll be able to try to work them, had hoped they'd be on 12m again. Nope, they were on 15 and the pileup was big. With only 100W and a 40m vertical, I didn't even wade in. (I've spent hours on 12m chasing with no lock due to pileup size.) Sigh. Next time! And, yes Greg, Rob is incredible. His QSO rate has been huge when I've been listening.

Walt - KZ1F

I worked them 3 time, 3 bands. I think one was a pirate. There were warnings about pirates yesterday.

Rick Hadley - W0FG

I hope they're still on when I get back home from WI.  I sure wish I had a Maestro and 2.0 up here in the woods!

Simon Lewis

busted all the pile ups with the 6500 inc some whoppers on 10m CW with NA JA and EU all calling!

waterfalls find the holes ... 6500 bunches through and gets them every time!

Flex rocks!

Walt - KZ1F

Aren't you right in the Willis back yard? A pileup is a pileup though. I find it highly successful to park at + 1kHz. First rule of being lost in the woods is stop moving, let the rescuers (dx fox) find you. Ken, seriously, congrats on that, I certainly didn't mean to minimize the accomplishment. That's great. To tie this into the other thread, 38' is almost precisely 1 wavelength at 12m. Cool huh?

Simon Lewis

right in the backyard ... well ... 4000km or more .. backyard .. and makes little difference really in fact sometimes worse as they get pounded by 9+++ JA's and EU etc but it goes over us! sticking 1 KHz up here won't get you heard .. when he has 30 KHz wide and the waterfall is FULL .. and I mean little gaps .. the flex sees the hole .. you see the pattern the ops using and just in a hole ... now I have to **** you as I told you the secret

KY6LA_Howard

Seems to be in my backyard as well.. S9+20dB in SOCAL on 10M SSB
Worked him first call....  He seems to be begging for Q's on 10M

Duane_AC5AA

The "hole" in the pile is a great idea, however most of the time what we hear at this end is completely different than what he hears at his end. Still, it's better than shooting in the dark! Now if you're really close to him - different ballgame!

Simon Lewis

Ken - NM9P

No slight taken Walt.  I haven't tried more than a few times.  I like to hunt DX, But I don't have a lot of time to just sit and send my call for hours on end!  ha ha.  Hopefully I can get them in the morning, or tomorrow evening on some other bands.  

I have been pleased with the T-11, even on 12 Meters where the SWR stinks because I have the rear shorting stub too long.  I haven't been able to get a bucket truck to go up and move two bolts and shorten it.  It would only take 15 minutes... will take longer than that to put the outriggers down!

Walt - KZ1F

I never do more than about 30 minutes of
onFound("tu", send("kz1f"));

I made that mistake with k1v. The tower was at 21' and the ant was 98 degrees off axis. I finally gave up after either 60 min or 90 min. I now understand the pathology that is gambling. It's called Monte Carlo effect. I, ultimately, worked them, just not that day.

Simon, my friend, you have to tell me how that hole tracking works. I understand some will watch for qrx hints in dxcluster but by the time the post is entered and received the dx is long past that qso so it would seem to me the hole is where the dxcluster chasers recently left. It's easier on phone to, when you're lucky you can tell what station the dx is talking with (half duplex) go there and right after tu, make your call. Sometimes they've already left though.

I, honestly, don't know if there is a system better that let them find you...b u t...I am willing to learn new things.

Walt - KZ1F

@howard, its a water path for both you and simon. 2000 erp doesn't hurt either. Oops, 1500.

Ken - NM9P

With all that antenna gain I am sure it is much more than 2000 ERP, even with a legal limit amp! Btw, I got them on 17 CW a bout 45 minutes ago. Trying on 15 but he is all over the JA's right now....

Walt - KZ1F

Now that is just unfair.... 20-10 is largely, mostly eating static.I did notice area 9's are doing pretty well. There have been a few nights where 15-10 have been open...just not tonight. No way am I going to get them on 30 or lower.

KY6LA_Howard

I was running the 2K-FA on mid power so I only had 10KW ERP with antenna gain.

DrTeeth

Just do your best Howard and be brave. Just don't be lealous about those 'big boys' with a plasma haze around their antennas.

Steve W6SDM

Yeah, I got him too, on 15 meter phone.  It was their first day on the air and the pileup was viscious.  The trick I used was looking at the panadapter, seeing where the last contact was made and calling on that frequency. It sure beats calling and calling and waiting for the DX to be in the right place at the right time.  It keeps the noise down too.

Bill W2PKY

Managed a contact on 30M RTTY. The new RTTY mode works very well and using the Flex control to navigate the XIT to a clear spot is very easy. The LID FEST was at an all time high today on 20M RTTY.

Rick Hadley - W0FG

Got home from Door County and fired up the rig.  He was there on 12 SSB, but I was having to divide my time between calling and trying to get my furnace to start, then in the middle of a call my computer did it's periodic freeze up and I had to reboot the whole thing.  Fortunately SSDR came right back up with my two slices in place and I went back to calling.  Got him on the 2nd or 3rd try, for an ATNO!  Thank you, Flex!

Walt - KZ1F

One was definitely a pirate, very clear positive exchange, but not showing up in clublog.

Simon Lewis

W9OY

I got them tonight on 15 CW.  I didn't expect much given my setup but the 6500 did the trick!

  Willis

73  W9OY

Walt - KZ1F

Most of the contacts do show on clublog but I have more in the log than show on clublog.

Rick Hadley - W0FG

Got a good solid one on 30 CW tonight, plus two hopefuls on 20 RTTY and 12 CW earlier today.

Mark_WS7M

Ken, Could you shoot me an email describing how you have setup your beringer mixer?  I got one and I'm about to go through the process on how to set it up.

My email is  ws7m@arrl.net

I have a yamaha headset with mic.  What I'd like is to route computer audio, rig output into the mixer.   I was thinking I could take the mic from the headset and plug it in as my computer mic.

Anyway a guide on how you have yours wired and setup would be appreciated.

Ken - NM9P

I have my Heil PR-22 Connected to the Balanced input on the Behringer mixer.  
Mixer levels for mike input and main output are pretty much straight up - mid-level for my mike.  I am not using the EQ on the Behringer mixer - all settings are straight up - no boost or cut.  I do all my EQ internally in the 6500.
I take the right channel output in balanced format (using a TRS Cable) and feed it into the Balanced input of the 6500.  
I also used to have an AUX output feeding to the "line-input" pin on the 9 pin AUX connector on my 1500 with a reduced setting as needed to keep from over-driving it.  But I just sold the 1500 and don't need it any more.

I also have the USB Cable of the Q802USB mixer connected to my computer for use in recording spots for the radio station.  I use Audacity to record radio spots and/or record voice keyer stuff for my contesting.

I find that I get better audio directly, not using the USB and computer interface - i.e. if I send the TX audio through the USB to the computer and then back out to the rig via the "PC" mike input on the 6500, then the audio is not as clean and crisp.

Actually, now that I have sold the 1500, I will take the mixer out of the audio chain of the 6500, once I have enough time to re-tweak my profiles.  The mixer gives just a little color to the audio.  It is actually just a little better going direct without the mixer, but I sacrificed just a little in the name of convenience when I had both rigs connected to it.  In that case, I will manually unplug the mike cable and connect it to the mixer when I want to record on the computer.  (Or I may wire up a simple switch to change it).

I am not using any audio OUT from the rig into the mixer.  My Bose speakers have twin inputs - one for the rig and one for the computer.

Hope this helps.

James Kennedy-WU5E

WOW! got them also, on 12m SSB , with 1,500 watts on my beam, weeeeee a new one!

WU5E

Ken - NM9P

In their web log on 12 SSB, 15 and 17 CW so far.