Doug Smith W9WI wrote:
Someone in a deed-restricted neighborhood said they worked VP6DX (on 80
meters!) with a Hamstick mobile antenna. Come to think of it, I worked
them from the mobile on 17m last week as well. If you can come up with a
radio and a few feet of wire, I'd bet you can work them.

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I got Tonga (A3RK) & Christmas Is. (T32OU) during the contest using an
end-fed random-length wire (shaped in a rectangle) inside my studio apt,
but couldn't get VP6DX, who was coming in 599 on both 40 and 15 meters.
Unfortunately, I was working QRP & everybody & their brother were trying
for him, probably drowning out my sig. I'll see if I can get him later
this week.
--
MGFoster:::mgf00 at earthlink decimal-point net
Oakland, CA (USA)
KI6OFN

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MGFoster wrote:
I got Tonga (A3RK) & Christmas Is. (T32OU) during the contest using an
end-fed random-length wire (shaped in a rectangle) inside my studio apt,
... I was working QRP ...

long low whistle of admiration

Good work OM! Congratulations!

_______________________________________________
Ken Kuzenski AC4RD atsign mindspring dotsign com
_______________________________________________
All disclaimers apply, see? www.duke.edu/~kuzen001

wrote:
MGFoster wrote:
I got Tonga (A3RK) & Christmas Is. (T32OU) during the contest using an
end-fed random-length wire (shaped in a rectangle) inside my studio apt,
... I was working QRP ...

long low whistle of admiration

Good work OM! Congratulations!

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Thanks. I'll be realistic and assume the ops had a good set of "ears"
(aka antennas), and were eager hunters. A35RK came right back to my 1st
call like it was a day in the park. Of course he was operating "way up
there" (21.053MHz) and not down amongst the noisy fray. I got T32OU 3
mins after the start of the contest and A35RK 32 mins before the end.
Both stations were putting out 100W and came in 5x5 on 15 meters. I
guess ya gotta get in early and stay late to get the pretty stuff G.

Cheers,
--
MGFoster:::mgf00 at earthlink decimal-point net
Oakland, CA (USA)
KI6OFN

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On Tue, 19 Feb 2008 04:26:35 -0800, MGFoster wrote:
I got Tonga (A3RK) & Christmas Is. (T32OU) during the contest using an
end-fed random-length wire (shaped in a rectangle) inside my studio apt,
but couldn't get VP6DX, who was coming in 599 on both 40 and 15 meters.
Unfortunately, I was working QRP & everybody & their brother were trying
for him, probably drowning out my sig. I'll see if I can get him later
this week.

Shoot, I missed Tonga...

I did work VP6DX on 15 meters - and I was running QRP. Pretty big antenna
though. They've been loud enough (and on frequently enough) that I'm sure
you'll have plenty of opportunities.

Doug Smith W9WI wrote:

I meant the above in the particular case of Kosovo, not in general,
obviously. There have been sovereign countries that existed for
centuries, yet did not seek the UN membership for whatever reason. Their
sovereignty, however, had never been disputed.

The problem with Kosovo is that if the UN does not accept it (due to the
Russian and Chinese veto, or Serbian objection, or whatever else), there
is no legal ground on which it can be assigned a prefix block.

But isn't that pretty much the same as the situation as with E4? (the
primary difference being which Security Council member would veto UN
membership)

Not really. Palestine has "received a standing invitation to participate
as observer in the sessions and the work of the General Assembly and
maintaining permanent observer mission at Headquarters", i.e. it is as
close as it can get to the full UN membership without the ultimate
solution of its territory, etc. It is a tacit acknowledgment that the
state is de facto there with a future promise of a membership once the
peace process results in the permanent settlement.
Kosovo is a much crazier socio-political situation, if that's even possible.

It would be interesting to know whether the membership is granted by the
member-state vote and whether the permanent UN Security Council members
have a veto right in such issues.


I did some digging around and best I can tell, the Security Council *does*
have a veto with regard to new members.

So much for a new one, eh? In the meantime, the ARRL DXCC manager issued
a clarification on the YU8:

"The 'Event Date' will be either the date Kosovo became a UN member or
it receives its prefix from the ITU."

Which, as things stand right now, means never. Either way, the present
YU8 operation can only ever count as YU.


73 ..... WA7AA

As of when I left for work yesterday, I still needed them on 160, 80, and
40.

Landed them on 40 on the way home from work. (yes, from the mobile. I
work second shift so this was around 0700 UTC +/-.)

Got home & found them on the bottom of 80. Had just turned on the amp to
give 'em a call - phone rang. Server upgrade that worked when I left had
gone bad. Had to turn around & go back in. Figured that was the end of
my shot at working them yesterday on 80.

Guess not. Stuck the 80m resonator on the car on the way home. Found 'em
on 3503 working up 3. Took about 10 minutes of calling - but they heard
me. Worked on 80 from the mobile.

I don't have a 160 resonator, so had to wait until I got home to try
there. On 160, the problem was QRN. HORRIBLE on this end - severe storms
about 250km south of here in Alabama - and from what I hear it wasn't any
better on their end. And, my amp doesn't work on 160 so was limited to
100 watts.

Got 'em anyway.

Still need 30 and 10 meters. Heard them on 10 during the DX Contest but
was a QRP entry & that wasn't enough "soup" to make a QSO.