I guess this doesn't really count as a contact with Australia.

I had a QSO, today, with a gentleman who was in Queensland, Australia.  But, he was broadcasting remotely from a station in Florida.  Not sure why I'm surprised, but I never thought about this type of thing,  until today. I think he was using RemoteHams.com, but I'm not totally sure about that.

Anyway, I learned something new.

Was it the Salvation Army Net?

Nope, just a guy with a radio.

Counts as Florida

I hate it when that happens...ugh

Yeah, it was a little disappointing.  I heard his accent and call sign, and thought I had struck pay dirt.

That's probably as close as I'll ever get to contacting Australia, with my attic dipole.  

Don't give up so easily. Just attack it from a different front.
Assuming you have 100w and attic dipoles you just need to tailor your operating to compensate for less than stellar antennas.

Digi modes. Of my 8 QSOs to VK land, 6 have been on JT65, 1 on RTTY, and 1 on CW. Bands covered are from 40m to 10m including WARC bands. Go in the digi direction and you'll be raising your entity count in no time. We both are saddled with wire in the attic but trust me, it's do-able.

+1 on digi modes. It's amazing what a few watts and a crappy antenna will get you.
Definately not for rag-chewers, but fun to make the contacts with less than idea conditions

From the guy with the BFE QSL cards.....I'm still mad yours won't count for Egypt.

JT65 is just about the best thing today for weak signal contacts. When the band is open it's amazing what 5w can do. Once worked a ZL where he was pushing 5w to a SteppIR and I was doing 15w to the attic dipole rat nest. Don't think even CW could touch that one. Big problem with JT65 is that information transfer other than call, grid, and signal report is very limited which limits its use in SHTF situations.

When the SHTF there will be two modes I'll use. RTTY and CW. 100w with either has netted me a whole bunch of DX and steadily working toward every US state on several bands. With either mode you can ragchew and pass useful information. I used to use PSK31 a lot but the mode has an issue with QSB dropping characters and the message getting kinda scrambled on the receiving end. Olivia is what the ARFCOM net uses and I believe is a more robust mode than RTTY and PSK. Problem with that one is that it's not mainstream so again when the SHTF you may be able to get a sig out but nobody will be there to hear it. CW is still king in my book. Yeah you have to put some effort out to learn it and it takes time on the air to get good and stay good at it but when the balloon goes up it will be there to do the job.

Phone for me just blows due to my crappy antenna situation. Once I get my phone endorsement for DXCC I'm done with it. For DXing anyway.

Yesterday, I directly hooked my radio up to the computer, using nothing more than the serial port/USB cable.  It's the same cable I use to calibrate and update the software on the K3. I opened Fldigi, clicked a few buttons, and VOILA,  I was receiving PSK31.  That's about as far as I could get with it, though, as I really don't have a clue what I'm doing.  I guess I need to read the instructions.

Not sure why this worked, as I always thought I would need some type of interface, such as a SignaLink???  




I know I'm not setting any records, but I've only been on the air one month, and so far, I've contacted 30 states, and 22 countries.  All with 100 watts on SSB, and all  with my attic dipole.  I'm really surprised with the  performance, and I'm pretty happy with it, too. I'm going to hang on to my phone, for a while.

Don't get discouraged. You'l be surprised when 10 meter band opens up.
Are you allowed to have a flag pole at your QTH? Here is a link to an article about making a "flag pole" antenna:  LINK

The K3 has the interface built in.  
One, you have a top shelf rig that blows mine out of the water to a thousand bits. Anything can transmit. It's the receiver that determines whether you can hear 'em or not. Second, the first 100 entities is actually pretty easy. The next 50 is a bit tougher. The next 50 tougher yet. And so on.

Make no mistake. I've nearly got Phone DXCC endorsement but to get much past that first 100 the attic dipole isn't going to cut it. Not near enough gain to hear the weak ones.

Dirty secret is that DXCC isn't all that tough. Do 5BWAS and you do have my respect. But you got to start somewhere. WAS is as good as place as any. Triple Play Award was a really cool 6 months in chasing. Keep plugging at it. I make it a point to find a new DX entity, DX band/entity, DX mode/entity, band/state, or mode/state every time I fire up the Marconi.

Just to show how dumb I am....

Turns out, the cable wasn't doing anything.  The microphone on the laptop  computer was just picking up the sound directly from the receiver.  I completely unhooked the cable, and got the same results.  
I spent about 3 hours yesterday, trying to get the damn thing to work.  No joy.   Screw this digital stuff...at least for now.  




Honestly, I don't even expect to get 50, with the phone. Don't think I'll get WAS, either.   At least, not with my current antenna.  I rarely hear Europe, and I can't hear anything west of California.  Can't hear Alaska, either.   All my contacts have been south.  Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.  Oh, and Canada.  

But I'm still having fun with it.

Thanks for the link.

A 10 meter antenna is on my short list.  I have a flag pole in my front yard, but it is right next to the house, and is a light duty, temporary type of thing.  I thought about putting up a flag pole antenna, but I'm not so sure about the front yard.  If I move it far enough away from the front of the house (as the instructions suggest), it would be too close to the street.  Plus, I think it would look a little odd, out by the sidewalk. I guess I could put it in the backyard.  I think I'm going to try the 10 meter dipole first, and see how it goes.