DX On The HF Bands
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