Name calling

Something that's been puzzling me for the last couple of years, particularly on the digital modes, is the number of people who address me by name before I've told them. These are not stations I've worked before - KComm will alert me to those. But increasingly often when I reply to a station they will come right back with "Good afternoon, Julian." I've even had people end JT65A contacts with "TU JULIAN 73", despite the fact that the operator's name is not part of the exchange.

I'm not egotistical enough to think that half of hamdom know my name because of my blog. I've had people address me as "Mr Julian Moss" which I think is a bit formal for the amateur bands. But it makes me suspect that some database is involved.

It would shake my faith in the parsimony of hams to think that 50% - because that's about how often it happens nowadays - have stumped up for a subscription to QRZ. But if they haven't, where do they get the information from? Is there a free callsign lookup database I haven't heard of? And if there is, doesn't the fact that you can access a station's details at the click of a button render somewhat pointless the rest of the QSO?

Andalucia Day

I switched on the radio this afternoon, started up KComm, and the first station that printed up on the screen was EG7DCA, a special call to mark Andalucia Day. A rapid exchange of signal reports and he was in the logbook.

Andalucia Day, as this link will tell you, is the anniversary of a referendum held in 1980 in which people voted for the southern province of Spain, Andalucia, to become an autonomous region. This year that anniversary falls on 26 February, today.

I love Andalucia. The name immediately conjures up for me a vista of whitewashed villages nestling among rugged mountains, memories of walks on mountain paths and lazy days enjoying a glass or three of local wine in a tapas bar.

I often used to dream of living in an Andalucian village. I could happily have become one of the many British expats out there. But dreams don't always turn out how you imagine. The endless sunshine seems irresistible but summers can be unbearably hot and as one gets older you start to need things like healthcare, which is good, free and English-speaking in Britain. In view of what has happened to me in the last two years it's probably a good thing I didn't become an expat!

Still, I can't look at a picture like this without feeling nostalgic!

Canillas de Albaida, Andalucia

A 40m transceiver kit

It has been a while since my soldering iron has been warmed up and I have been feeling the urge to build something. The challenge of building something from scratch has usually proved too much, so I have decided to build a kit. I've read a lot of good things about the "Iler 40" and its 20m brother so I decided to get one.

Iler 40 transceiver (EA9GCY photo)

I thought that this kit was sold on Ebay but a search for "Iler 20" came up blank. A more generic search produced some interesting hits including this 40m transceiver kit from a UK seller. This kit is quite a bit cheaper than the Iler kits but without any reviews it is a bit of an unknown quantity. I eventually found that the Iler kits can be bought from the maker's own site. The excellent reviews plus a higher output (4w vs 1w) were the decider. I was a bit unsure of which version to go for but I eventually plumped for the 40m version. More to follow once it gets here.

QSLs sent

I have just sent a new batch of QSLs via GlobalQSL for printing and distributing via the bureau. I like the Global QSL service. It takes away the chore of sending QSL cards and reduces the work to a simple log export to ADIF file.

I had to purchase 1000 new card credits before I could upload them. Today's batch, from last summer until now, was over 400 contacts on 398 cards. That's excluding local FM QSOs and contest contacts. I didn't realize I was so active on the air. At that rate I'll be ordering another batch before the year is out!

The prettiest ham and the longest call

Fifteen metres was again in good shape today. The contacts I made included the prettiest ham I've yet worked, and the station with the longest call I've ever logged.

Natali, RV3ADL

Call me a male chauvinist if you like, but whenever I work a YL (young lady) on the bands I can't resist looking to see if I can find a picture of her. I worked Natali from Moscow on PSK31 this afternoon and she must be the prettiest ham radio operator I've worked in my long career. She keeps a pretty neat shack, too.

The prize for the longest callsign ever logged goes to YO2013EYOWF which is the official call of the European Youth Olympic Winter Festival 2013 in Brasov, Romania. I pity anyone having to send that in CW! I don't have any pictures of the YO2013EYOWF operators but they do have a very pretty logo which I expect will be on their QSL.