DX Is Out There

There’s DX to be had on the higher bands despite the low solar activity. A few hours ago I worked UT3UA, Sergey in Kiev, Ukraine. This was on 20 meter psk close to 1 am in the morning local time here near Ottawa (0441Z). Another, EV1P, Vlad in Minsk, Belarus at 2231Z on 20m psk. All contacts were using 20 watts into my Cushcraft R6000 vertical and my Yaesu FT-950. Signals were 599, good solid contacts.

I use Ham Radio Deluxe with the latest build – it fixes some lookup issues with QRZ.com. I sometimes use the DX cluster clients but usually I just casually listen around the bands, even if they sound dead. ZL stations were booming in that same morning on 20 calling CQ with few answering his calls.

Beacons are another favourite method of determining band openings. My favourite and most up to date site is G3USF's Worldwide List of HF Beacons. Martyn is the RSGB Propagation Studies Committee chairman and does a good job of keeping his lists up to date.

In other news, Ottawa is still in the grips of a major heat wave. Temperatures south of the city this afternoon sit at +36C. It’s downright uncomfortable even in the shade.

July 8th is also a significant date for UFO enthusiasts. The Roswell incident happened on this date way back in 1947 – it’s still a controversial subject still much talked about on UFO and conspiracy web sites.

The Roswell Daily Record headlined the story “RAAF Captures Flying Saucer on Ranch in Roswell Region,” providing a historical artefact that, in retrospect, seems ready-made for fuelling an episode of The X-Files. The truth is out there. . . . and so is DX.

Radio Society of Great Britain

Roswell Incident Launches UFO Controversy