DX On The HF Bands

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I recently injured my back which is slowly getting less painful and to avoid aggravating it I have been resting up and monitoring the HF bands. I have heard plenty of DX stations from 80m through to 15m throughout the day and late into the evening. Propagation is definitely up and good reliable openings have made it possible to fully test out my equipment in preparation for the up and coming CQWW contest next weekend.

My DXCC count has risen to 135 as I have worked lots of stations over the past 10 days.
I listed a few of my recent favourite DX using my Yaesu FT-1000 and amp Running 400w into the 3 element Cushcraft MA5B were:

XE1CQ - MEXICO on 15M
V55JOTA - NAMIBIA on 15M
V31JW - BELIZE on 20M
ZD7FT - ST HELENA ISLAND on 17M
JH1MDJ - JAPAN on 17M
A41NN - OMAN on 15M
OD5VB - LEBANON on 20M

The beam is excellent on the higher portion of HF and the recently constructed homebrew 80m dipole is everything I hoped it would be, im hearing N.America most evenings. The performance was put to the test with a 5/9 easy copy with VY2WW - CANADA on 80M just before bedtime.

Band conditions are much better than some might expect at this stage of the solar cycle, its definitely worth checking them out. I have had some nice qso with long distances involved on a variety of bands.

In the meantime I will be continuing to work as many rare and distant stations that are on air warming up the equipment ready for CQWW 2019. There will be plenty of new DX stations all week setting up and operating from their portable contest sites. I will be back with more shortly. Best 73. Happy ham ing.


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