A5 Update

We arrived at our hotel In Paro around noon on Thursday , and were met with Yeshey and his team. They helped us with the antennas, and within dark, we had them all in the air, but for the 80m dipole. Switching on our RX’s we found that there is S9 QRN on 40m; and we are not sure what is the cause. A52DL Just, started up with BPSK on 20m, while A52VM, Erling ran CW on 30m. The initial operation also served as a break-in test for the filters that Just has made; band pass, low pass and notch filters. These enables us to work on adjacent bands with full power with a minimum of inter station QRM.

Today, Friday, we have been on 10m, 15m 20m and 30m; with 15m as the best band. 15m was even open to W/K about 1 hr in the afternoon. We will try to find out on the 40m QRN, and may try to change the antenna location. We will be partly QRT for two days next week for sightseeing. But as sightseeing will take place in daylight, only part of the day that is spoiled, radio wise.

Guidance

1. Pile-ups
Because of the interest by the Deserving to work A5, pile-ups are pretty crowded. And, because of the pile-ups we are working split. In order to achieve the best QSO rate, the pile-up must not be too compact; so spread out reasonably, we will listen several kHz up! It could look like that a lot of you guys are using CW skimmers to monitor the CW pile up. Answering a caller in a quiet spot, we find that the spot is overcrowded when the QSO is finished, and with everyone in zero beat. Even though each single signal maybe S7, the compounded signal may be S9+20; making it impossible to read anyone. This reduces the effectiveness of the operation, as we have to tune around these Walls of Sound. Try to find a quiet frequency, stay put, and we will find you! Make your call on CW not faster than 30 wpm!

2. Selected areas
In order to give everyone around the world a chance to work A5, we may ask for callers from some areas to stand by while we are utilizing propagation openings to reach far away areas. Please respect the instructions by the operator to stand by while we are trying to work these selected areas.

3. Frequencies
We have no sets of selected frequencies, but we will be operating in the part of the bands where most DX operates, as per available frequencies and space for listening up.

4. Bottom lines

UP’s: Reception, local people, QTH and hotel, 15m condx and beam; and the huge interest to work A5 by the Deserving!

Down’s: S9 QRN on 40m and 80m 2011-011-04 Erling LA6VM/A52VM