Yeah, and maybe not.


No.

Half of the 10 QSOs I had with 3D2C were with 100w or less.

That's what you get for:

1.  Having a crappy attitude.
2.  Having a crappy antenna.
3.  Not knowing CW.

If you haven't read The Complete DXer by W9KNI, read it.
If you haven't read DX Power by K5RSG, read it.

You especially should read Hugh Cassidy, WA6AUD's DX stories.  Pay special attention the the attitude displayed by the QRPer.  If you're convinced that you won't work a DX station, you have already guaranteed the outcome.
http://www.reocities.com/k2cddx/dxstories.html

PS:  Don't kill the messenger.

The Russian LEOs, RS-10, 11 and 12, were actually active for years and years.  They were great fun.  I worked 6 countries without trying hard.  No special equipment was required as they were, depending on mode, 15m up and 10m down or 2m up and 10m down.  Occasionally, IIRC, they were 10m up and 2m down, but that was rare.  2m FM antennas worked great for the 2m uplink which was SSB or CW, but not FM.  I used to be able to get into the satellite easily when it was over the US east coast using 10w on the 2m uplink with a pair of Cushcraft 11 element terrestrial  beams from here in Colorado.  My KT-34XA was my 10m RX antenna.

I used to work a K4, can't recall his callsign now, that had DXCC on the LEOs.  He would use the 15m uplink and work the satellite when it was over Europe via F2.  Pretty neat.  I remember hearing the beacon on 10m when the satellite was over Antarctica.  As I recall the beacon was 1 watt or less. Unfortunately the satellites were taken out by a solar flare. 

You had to have a good tracking program with current Keps as the satellite moved pretty quickly across the sky.  LEO=Low Earth Orbit.  A good pass would give you five or six minutes into the bird...one hand on the rotor control and one on the key.  Oh, and your third hand on the VFO dial to compensate for Doppler.  A good op was listening to his own downlink signal and would adjust his transmit frequency to compensate for Doppler.  It was, as they say, an acquired skill.

Well, I worked 'em on 80m this AM @1155Z (5:55AM local) for a clean sweep 160~10m.  No 60m, but I haven't heard they have been active there (yet?).

I almost didn't get up.  It's been cool here at 9000 ft ASL at nights.  Already a couple of fresh snows on Pikes Peak, just east of the house.  The electric blanket sure is toasty in the mornings.  Not condusive to dragging myself out of bed and heading for the radio room.  Now I'm glad I did.

Absolute killer signal on 30m here at 1500Z (9AM local), S9+20db.  Holy cow.  Worked easily on 2nd call with 100w.  V85TL was 1 kHz below them on 10104 and he was S9 also.  Great condx.  Seems to be working the entire US, even the east coast at this late hour.  Mixing in some JAs too.

I worked them this morning on 160m from central Colorado @1138Z.  Lots of 4s, 8s, 9s and other Øs getting thru at the same time.

Copying them equally poorly LP or SP on 14.025 @2236Z, just a half hour after your worked them.  He answered me on SP path, but very marginal.  Wow, I can't believe he heard me...right down in the mud.  Great op.

I've had that one happen too.  Embarassing, but there's not always solid copy on your end, huh?  Especially on the low bands.

Sorry I missed them on 80m, still need that one, and 10m too.  I did get them on 160m @ 1138Z.  Good signal here, but I think that's too late for the east coast isn't it?  I got up yesterday @1000Z (4am local) looking for 80 or 160 but nada, so I decided to wait until later today.  I guess they'd already been and gone on 80 today.  Bad karma on that one.

It still isn't light here yet as I type this.  They should have a nice peak here at SR.  Plenty of lids calling on their frequency.  How can they not know?  He's sending "up 3" after every Q.

PS:  I've got 338 worked on just 20m alone and I don't have Conway there either!

Christmas can actually be a tough propagation path from the US, particularly the eastern US.  It's a lot more liking hearing VK6 than, say, VK3.  With its Indian Ocean location it's definitely not your "shooting fish in a barrel" QTH that many south Pacific islands are.  Fortunately with the island promoting tourism and good access from VK it isn't all that rare anymore.

A neighbor of mine used to travel to VK9X to activate it.  I remember my friend going to Christmas one winter and being able to hear him long path on 40m in my late afternoon.  That might be a good bet for some east coast stations.

Well, I'm good with Banaba.  I sure need a lot more band fills for T33 than Clipperton, which like most on this list, I have from daylight to dark.  I remember stringing up an end-fed longwire to work Clipperton on 160m years ago, one that turned out to be very difficult to tune.  I spent a day stringing the thing around the yard, up and down the tower and thru trees, wherever I could find a support.  Evening came and I went in the house and worked 'em first call.  After all that work, I thought "That's it ?!?"

Anyway I'm still wondering what a Lockheed Banaba is?

Maybe K7MH was thinking of this: http://www.worth1000.com/entries/258128/flying-banana (maybe a Lockheed Skunk Works project...)

Not this: http://www.panamair.org/aircraft/clippernames.htm

Actually, it's not a secret or copyrighted.  Bernie has already published it in his schedule of DXpeditions and it's on NG3K's website too.  There's also a website up for the expedition itself at:

http://www.cordell.org/CI/index.html

I am assuming this is the one Peter is speaking of.  Some famliar faces on the team, including at least one denizen of eHam's DX forum.  If you can't work these guys you better try another hobby!

All my QSOs had been spot on in the log until I worked them on 40 CW this morning.  That one showed up as a 30m meter contact.  Seems as though their biggest logging problem has been QSOs getting moved from one band to another.  No matter, I have N8S on both 40 and 30.  At least I got a 10m contact, the only band I was missing Swain's.  Made two QRP Qs on 12 and 17 CW, that was cool.  The 17m Q was first call with a rather substantial pileup.  Was kinda hoping for a 60m contact for something different, but it sounds like that's unlikely given condx on their end.

I should think a classic Dow-Key relay, such as the DK-1, would do the job.  Granted they are no longer manufactured, but neither are the rigs that they are commonly used with.  That said, they aren't difficult to find on swap lists or eBay.  Just don't pay an arm and a leg.  They are available with a host of relay voltages, from 6v DC all the way up to 240v AC.  The most common ones have either a 117v AC or 12v DC coil.  If you purchase one, make sure the coil voltage is appropriate for your application. Many vintage transmitters have a tap on the rear to provide voltage on transmit expressly for operation of T/R relays.  Many Dow-Keys have an external pair of contacts for operating a linear, muting, or any other function that's convenient when transmitting.

EF Johnson made a T/R relay similar in function to the MFJ model, but much larger and capable of 4KW.  It was tube-type.  These are rare and expensive.  The model # was 250-39.  See a picture here: http://antiqueradios.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=170170

See a nice collection of Dow-Keys here:  http://www.n4mw.com/gdowkey.htm

Hard to believe so many need Swain's when N8S did such a good job in 2007.  Got 'em on all bands except 10m back then.  Pretty easy path from NA.

For those of you using McAfee security software, be aware that McAfee pushed out an update on Friday, 8/24 with a bad .DAT file.  Symptoms on your machine may vary depending on your OS or Windows version, but range from complete loss of internet connectivity to slow or incomplete loading of pages, error messages or even the blue screen of death.  Files were fixed by McAfee on Monday, 8/27.

McAfee claims the program can fixed by running McAfee Virtual Technician (MVT), but that was what started the problem on one of my machines.  I spent the better part of Monday figuring out and correcting the problem on my three PCs.  Fortunately my Windows 7 machine didn't lose internet connectivity entirely and I was able to get to the McAfee website.

The only sure way to correct the problem is do an uninstall from the Windows program manager.  Then run an uninstall program available from McAfee called MCPR.exe, available from McAfee.  It is important that you do this in that order.  You will, naturally, need to reinstall your security program, which can be downloaded from your user profile on the McAfee website and will have the new corrected files.

Of course none of this does you any good if you've lost internet connectivity entirely.  What a PITA.

Yoland, FR5AI, who was stationed in Reunion and worked for the French WX service, used to circulate through Tromelin, Europa, Juan de Nova and Glorioso periodically.  When he was active he was a real savior for those needing these rare islands.  He would show on 20 CW around 1200~1400Z.  I worked him from all these places, always on 20 CW and always long path from Colorado.  He didn't like big pile-ups, so the secret was to be there early and get him quickly.  That was before internet spotting, so the pile-ups tended to build more slowly then.  He was a 100% QSLer and the French postal service was secure.  I've tried to find him in the French callbook, but his somewhat unusual name, Yoland Hoarau, is no longer listed.  He may be SK by now.