Bouvet Isl. in the log

   For those that don't know. Bouvet is a Norwegian island in the south arctic region. It is the worlds most remote island and there are no people living there. It is also one of the most wanted DXCC that radio amateurs want to contact with their radio. Getting there is a challenge, getting on the island is an even bigger challenge. Right now there is a group af radio amateurs on a DXpedition on the island to give radio amateurs worldwide a chance to work this DXCC.

This exceptional DXpedition did cost 2 million dollars. A huge amount of money for just a hobby I think. Some people really take this radio hobby serious in their lives.

One of the team members OY1R Regin has been visiting me years ago. I really hope to work him on CW or SSB on this DXpedition. But the chance to do that will not be very high I think.

I heard 3Y0K on 20m SSB yesterday, they had a good signal. But the pile-up was huge, so I kept listening. Most times working a DXpedition like this is just waiting for the last days of it, when most big stations have worked them and the smaller ones like me get a chance. I hope for a CW or SSB contact but for insurance a FT8 contact will do. So I heard them on 15m FT8 this evening, quite strong but unable to get in the log. I switched over to 20m FT8 and found them with a real strong signal and 5 or 6 streams. My S-meter was on about S7 in peaks, which is really strong. I decided to call them but had to leave the computer since other chores were calling. Suddenly my phone went crazy as others saw 3Y0K calling me and warned me with messages. I switched over to remote on my phone and saw that 3Y0K gave me a report but no RR73. So I went upstairs in my shack and changed my calling frequency slightly. I called again and...

Second ATNO (All Time New One) of 2026.

The two FT2 modes battle

 

Pic from VU3DXR's blogsite.

Not that I'm interested in FT2 at all. I think it is way to broadbanded and way too insensitive. It could be used for contesting, if you like such a thing.

I really didn't know but there seems be be kind of a battle going on between two FT2 developers. Read the article on the blog from VU3DXR:

https://vu3dxr.in/the-ft2-schism-when-a-new-digital-mode-split-in-two/

Really, this reminds me of something that happened years ago when Julian G4ILO (SK) had some issues with the ROS/VARA developer. He was forbidden to use the software anymore. For a while I was even "persona non grata" because I agreed with Julian his statement which was about the bandwidth of the ROS mode. Luckily things settled down and I believe the ROS mode still exists, although not sure if it still is in use by anyone. 

Funny that these days you don't need programming skills really. If you know the right AI model and tell it what you wish for it will write your program or website for you. If I open my social media I see a lot of posts about FT2 all made with AI. It tells you how great and fast this mode is and that you need to try it.

Well, my dear blogreaders. Everyone makes their own decisions. My decision is not to use it and keep it as much as possible at CW and SSB. I want to have fun, I don't need 240 QSOs in an hour...

My quest to learn CW (27) CWA Intermediate finished

 

Finally the CW Academy Intermediate course has finished. It was tough at times. If you do this course you need at least exercise for 1 hour a day 8 weeks long. That is a lot of commitment. Besides that you actually need to make some CW QSOs and of course there is a video meeting twice a week. It was not easy to do the hour training every day, especially in the weekends. Other chores are waiting, I'm rebuilding the second floor of the house, have to go to the job through the week. The family does not always understand you need to do homework. The other participants had the same issues of course and it was nice to talk about the progress but also about the things you encounter. We had a nice group of people that followed the course and we decided to stay in contact after the course sharing our CW learning progress. 

Click on the picture to get a readable one.

What I found most difficult is the LCWO random letters/figures. I already did train that for over 2 years but it is still difficult to get it at a good speed. 25/25 wpm is far too fast. I'm now at 25/20 wpm and struggle with about 60-80% score. But I keep on doing that almost every day. Also short stories at 25/18 wpm and higher are too fast for me. I recognize some words but don't know what the story is about. It might be easier if it was in my native language. But some things went very well. Training words with 25/25 wpm is no problem at all, english sentences with 25/22 wpm about 80-100% score and Morserunner at 25 wpm is a lot of fun! Overall I think I made nice progress in the last 2 months and I'm confident that a QSO at about 18 wpm should be no problem. 

Well, I keep on training in this quest to learn morsecode. I wish to thank again PE2V Vincent and PA3GPX Rene for their time and efforts to cheer us up and do exercises at the video meetings. And of course I thank the fellow participants in the intermediate course. Vincent suggested I should take the advanced course, I will think about that. 

Future goals now are:

- Making more CW QSOs. For now that will be "standard" QSOs probabely with a cheat sheet.

- Take a look at the https://morsedx.com/ site to see if this is something for me to improve my speed.

- Continue with my daily LCWO training.

Related link in Dutch:

https://pe2v.nl/cwops-cw-academy-intermediate-klas-week-8-jan-feb2026/

https://pa8e.nl/finished-cw-academy-intermediate/