 News
from the 3B7C team
3B7C passed the 100,000 QSO mark earlier
today. Our DXCC total is also at 187 - quite remarkable.
We have been posting occasional updates on our web page, but felt this
was a good moment for a more complete update.
Our data link with the outside world is limited to a satellite uplink
and the priority has been daily log uploads. We are very pleased with
the feedback on our web page, especially the novel features on the log
lookup and the band/mode listings.
The team is in good spirits and all equipment and antennas are working
well. We are particularly pleased at the way we have been able to run
two modes simultaneously on both 80 and 20 right from the start. In the
last few days we have also added a limited capability to do this on 15
and 17 to make the most of limited band openings.
The disappointment has been that band openings have been somewhat more
limited than we had hoped and propagation on all bands varies substantially
from day to day so we ask forbearance from the DX community - we try to
hit all major band openings when conditions permit. Noise levels also
vary substantially from day to day on the LF bands - yesterday was good
and we were able to work a number of US stations on 160 SSB.
The good news is that we have some real successes, for example working
the US West Coast on 160 at our sunset, and consistent West Coast openings
both short- and long-path on 80 and 40. We started RTTY operations last
weekend and currently have about 3.5k RTTY QSOs in the log, many stations
telling us that 3B7 is new for them on that mode.
However, and with some reluctance, we have decided not to work PSK31
as we feel this will very much be a repeat of those stations we have already
worked on RTTY (and bearing in mind that the RTTY DXCC does not differentiate
between data modes), whereas there is still a huge demand on all the traditional
modes. Indeed, this is perhaps the greatest surprise - that with so many
QSOs made from 3B7 in recent weeks the pile-ups remain at a very high
level when bands are open.
Our beacon has been running continuously on six meters, but we have no
reports of reception apart from VQ9. Nonetheless we will keep trying as
this will be a new one for the Deserving.
We will be very QRV over this coming weekend, trying to work round the
SAC SSB contest where possible (e.g. by working RTTY and/or CW on those
bands during the 24 hours of the contest). Station break-down will start
on Monday 24th, though we will try to keep at least some stations QRV
until shortly before our departure for Mauritius at first light on Wednesday
26th (i.e. around 0200 GMT). We have already been making efforts to work
US General Class licencees in their limited band segments and will, as
promised, be looking for QRS CW stations during the last few days of activity.
Keep checking the website, http://3b7c.com
for the latest news, and expect more backgrounds, statistics, photos,
etc, on our return to our various home countries.
Don G3XTT, Don G3BJ, Neville G3NUG
(on behalf of the 3B7C team)
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