Yesterday evenings contact into the Dominican Republic was technically a contact for today considering GMT times and dates; but this morning I hit the jackpot with two stations between 4,450 miles and 5,169 miles.
The first was IK2SND in northern Italy near the Swiss border. It was a weak signal but fortunately the operator was patient and repeated his call several times in order for me to verify it correctly. I was only able to work him on the high nulls of the signal. I was amazed he could hear me.
The second station was a "nightmare".... but finally resolved due to "one" posting on the DX cluster by WA3GM in Pennsylvania. I sent Greg (WA3GM) an e-mail expressing my gratitude for his efforts. I saw no other posting and no other stations working this club station in Bulgaria. (he was not visible on the cluster when I worked him)
This club call was unbelievably confusing for me. I knew it was in Bulgaria but, despite my best efforts, I could NOT copy the entire string of characters and numbers. I'm not a high speed CW op but can usually copy around 25 WPM (DX contact). Despite my best efforts, I could NOT get this operator to slow down. He moved on quickly when he repeated my call correctly and I acknowledged with a QSL.
I found this call VERY difficult to copy ------ LZ1771SDG -----
This club station isn't the first I've worked in Bulgaria, but was undoubtedly the most difficult for me to copy. Without the spot on the cluster, I would have had to write this off at a loss.
This morning was my 6th contact into Bulgaria and my 14th into Italy.
3 comments:
Hello John, these long LZ-calls can be very confusing. But it's also great to figure out the call.hi
I often try to work these special stations, because I know the QSO is appreciated. GL. 73, Bert
Hello Bert,
I've ran into a "few" that takes me 10 minutes or so to decipher at high speed; but looking at all possibilities, I can usually decipher them. Sort of strange, but I've found the "quick handshakes" aren't as difficult as first thought, when they're repeated over and over and over again.
Puzzling, this one was one of the "special event stations" which used a longer call--- instead of a shorter one. It really threw me off the tracks; and unfortunately he shut down and changed frequencies very quickly.
Two characters, four numerals, and followed by three more characters at around 30 wpm is a bit too much for me. hihi----It reminded me of some of those long Croatian calls.
One like this one takes me a full 10 minutes or so to get right. hihi
Maybe in a few more years, I'll catch them all on the first transmission.... but I doubt it.
Hello John, I am on the air with CW for more than 20 years, but I can not get a long call at once. I find it more important to listen carefully and get the call correct. 73, Bert
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