Ham Radio Forum - G6NHU - 365 Days of QSOs

In 2011 I am attempting to have at least one QSO per day and I will document these QSOs in this blog. I won’t blog every day but I will provide details of my QSOs here. The caveat to this is that if I’m away from home (holiday, working away, etc) then I won’t be able to have a QSO on those days – It’s difficult to have any contacts when one isn’t near a wireless!

I will also blog about other amateur radio and electronics related subjects as I feel the need so this blog won’t just be a list of callsigns and names.

Background

My name is Keith and I’ve been a licensed amateur radio operator since 1982, my callsign is G6NHU. My interests in amateur radio have largely been operating on VHF and upwards and specifically dx hunting, data communication and operating contests. I am an active member of the Martello Tower Group

In 2010 I put up HF aerials for the first time and currently have a 5/8 vertical for 28MHz and a long wire for 1.8MHz to 24MHz with an FT-847 in the shack. On 144MHz I operate the FT-847, a Microset SR200 amplifier and a 9 element Vargarda at around 9m AGL.

Some Stats so far:-

1259 Qs in 150 days
83 DXCC worked in 2011
67 confirmed on LoTW
55 confirmed on eQSL
7 QSL cards received (all direct)
389 QSL cards sent as of 3rd May

To read more, please take a look at my webpage at www.qso365.co.uk

1 Comment

AB3NK - Sat 15th Oct 2011, 12:33

The weekend I got my call sign, I got on the repeaters and I talked to about 200 people in one weekend.I worked the USA over a period of this summer with just a old broke Ranger 2950 - 25 watts on SSB.When I finally managed to save up enough money to buy my first HF - Kenwood TS 590S, I managed to make 200 contacts in my spare time - even though I don't have a HF antenna yet and have to go up to our club shack to use the 20 meters beam or be satisfied with my Solorcon 99a - 10 meters verticle.Through all of that, I have made about 1000 contacts in the past 7 months and probably have close to 2500 look up's on QRZ.It isn't as important to talk every day and collect call signs as it is to make quality contacts.It is more important to listen then it is to talk.Let me rephrase that.If you listen before you come back to a person - you already have their call sign, their name, their locations, you can log the time of the contact and you can even get to know the person - if they are not contesting - and can find people that has things in common with you that you can talk about when you make the contact.As a matter of fact, I have been listening since about 1970, so it has taught me volumes about all forms of communications.I was a firm proponent that if amateur radio is to survive, that we must belong to a local club and participate in civic functions - because in the USA that is pretty much the reason why the FCC allows us to have a license and participate in Amateur Radio.It's pretty hard to work a parade or a marithon by yourself, or to teach amateur radio to others.If you really want to be of help - and if there is a type of Voulenteer Examiner type program - like in the USA where regular hams gives out the examinations or teaches the classes to become a ham - that is where you really want to get involved - because without new hams, this sport is eventually going to die.Be a doer and not just a taker.Forget about those contesters and their certificates and awards.Some of the best hams in the world has never received any type of award or any type of recognition, but are the people who can go on any frequency and people will line up to talk to them and people will recognize their voice and their call sign and they will want to talk to this person and send them their QSL card because they enjoyed talking to that person.If you do something just to get recognition, in time it won't mean much of anything to anyone except you because records are quickly forgotten but a good ham radio operator is never forgotten.
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