Well it's been 6 months now that I got my RH-770 antenna for the Wouxun, and tried it on the first satellite pass that day. And to my surprise and great pleasure I made it. Not an entirely successful QSO as I was cut off in the middle of it (it was AO-27 with the annoying habit of shutting off mid-pass) but it did foresight a great satellite experience. And it did...
With ever increasing number of QSOs, full contacts, longer or shorter chats, it's been a wonderful half year. It had some hard works in the afternoon pileups, early wakeup for surely getting in, and working from some extraordinary places to, it never stopped fascinating me.
So where did I get in 6 months?
368 QSOs
worked 33 countries and 79 squares
got confirmation on 20 countries (including YO) and 25 squares
And where I headed now?
well I'm aiming for some of the AMSAT awards, of which I'm very close, and of course to stay at least as much on the birdies.
Sadly the number of QSOs has started to drop, and I foresee this dropping tendency to continue, as AO-51 has a failing health, and being the best satellite and the main one I could use, it's frequent crashing affects me greatly. Of course there are some other FM satellites, but AO-27 and SO-50 are more or less useless because of the extremely high QRM in Brasov where I'm staying during the weekdays, and because the weekend zoo in there largely prohibiting me of getting in with my modest setup when I'm home. And of course there is still SO-67, but is rather scarcely turned on over Europe, and it is also experiencing some problems lately, with some crashes of the firmware, and there is another thing I've experienced lately, having more trouble hearing it steadily and getting in in a constant form, I'm guessing some polarization problem, or maybe the satellite spinning to fast or something, but having some difficulties with the whip.
But hey let's stay optimistic and get going on the next morning pass, I can get on.
