Squares Worked

On this page are maps of my activities on 6m, 4m, 2m, 70cms, 23cms, 6cms and 3cms. I operated all of these bands as G4KLX or G4KLX/P, and all of them except 4m as HB9DRD. I have included all of my activity maps on all bands from both locations and callsigns, you can probably see where my interests have changed over time by the success or otherwise on the different bands.

All of the maps on these pages were created by the AZ_PROJ program written by Joe NA3T and Michael NV3Z. It is not the easiest program to get going but it is incredibly flexible and once mastered it is possible to customise the maps it produces to a huge extent. I have still not fully explored the possibilities of the program even now, I suggest you download it and check it out, but give yourself a few hours to understand it. If anyone wants to see how I produced the following maps, drop me a line and I'll send you copies of the files that I wrote/modified.

6m

This was never one of my favourite bands. The UK was one of the first (the first ?) country in Europe to have 6m generally available. Like most other people I got active to see what the fuss was about, at the time we were not in a sunspot maximum and no great DX was available. However I worked a few stations and then gave up on it. I am again active on 6m, more by chance than design as my IC-706 has it built in. I have had one QSO on 6m from Switzerland which was with a G via Sporadic E. I was using an IC-706 and a horizontal dipole and 100W, exactly the same as the G station ! The only problem is that at the time the limit in Switzerland was 25W ERP and vertical polarisation, oops.

Here are the results:

G4KLX   HB9DRD 

4m

Now this is a fun band ! I really like this band, very few lids on here and the whole atmosphere is more akin to the microwave bands. I originally got active in order to provide the 4m station for the Parallel Lines Contest Group (G4LIP/G8P) and so I bought a transverter and a cheap HF radio to drive it. I had to rebuild the contest PA but I also bought a surplus commercial transistor PA (no not an A200) for home use after the contest PA was running. The good news is that Slovenia now has 4m so activity has probably increased a little. My HF radio and 4m transverter are still in use by the group.

G4KLX 

2m

For the record I have worked 219 squares on 2m without using meteor scatter. The equipment that I used varied considerably, but included:

G4KLX   HB9DRD 

70cms

All of the operation took place from IO93FB. One of the problems with putting the data into the program is that many of my old contacts are in the old QRA system and I had to mentally work it all back to the newer system. I have 97 squares on 70cms and amazingly I think I have two firsts on the band, Lithuania and Slovakia, yet it isn't even my favourite band ! The equipment used was:

G4KLX   HB9DRD 

23cms

I have 47 squares on 23cms, one of my favourite bands, and I think I could easily get past the fifty mark once I get a new QTH. I had the same problems on 23cms as with 70cms of transcribing the data from the old QRA system to the new system, its amazing how much you forget. This band suffered from me always building new equipment, leading to a tangled web of transverters and amplifiers:

The old LMW transverter is not dead, but saw service as the uplink to AO-13 on mode L on 1269MHz with a new oscillator board. The transverter drivers were at various times an IC-202S or the TS770.

G4KLX   HB9DRD 

6cms

The equipment is described in more detail on other pages:

The driver radios have been an FT290R and an IC-706.

G4KLX/P   HB9DRD 

3cms

The equipment is described in more detail on other pages:

The driver radios have been an FT290R and an IC-706.

G4KLX/P   HB9DRD 

 

Last updated on 27.07.2004