VK4MA

Aerial view of my station taken by drone, end of  dry season 2019

QSLING PROCEDURE

Please read the qsl info in italics below and you will receive a qsl card directly from me pronto - I usually turn around direct qsls within 24 hours.

EX CALLSIGNS AND ACTIVITY HISTORY

My ex vk calls are vk3ajj (still have logs and card) and vk3vdp, novice callsign (still have logs but no cards)

I do have logs and qsls for vk3ajj/p oc-196, vk3ajj/5 and vk3pgr/5 oc-139. I am also ex vk3ajj/vp2e and 3w2ajj but no longer have logs and qsls for these operations. I also hold the call vk4ajj but this callsign is rarely used

I have been a licensed ham since 1979 (original call vk3vdp) and was licensed at age 13.

From 1980 through 2007 I was licensed as vk3ajj and also operated from various DXCC and IOTA locations including 3w2ajj, vk3ajj/vp2e, jy, cp, OC-139 and OC-196.

I moved north to VK4 in 2007 and now live on a 5 acre property just outside of Hervey Bay on the central coast of eastern Australia (just nearby Fraser Island).

My main interests are dxing (DXCC and IOTA) with a particular emphasis on the lowbands and 10 / 6 metres.

MY CURRENT STATION

Icom 7610, SPE Amplifier, 4 el steppir yagi at 15 metres (4els 6 thru 20M, 2els 30-40 metres), K8UR style 80M 4 square dipole array, 160M Inverted L 25Mvert, 15M Horiz 60 radials, 8EL 6M LFA yagi at 17 metres

K8UR style 80M dipole array with kangaroos in foreground

Steppir Yagi

MY DIGITAL QSL COLLECTION

I am in the process of scanning and putting all of my qsl cards up online.I have about 6,000 done so far and will eventually have 10,000 approx. There are larger qsl galleries online but I expect mine is somewhat unique in that all qsls are my own and I have also selected what I consider are the best (rarer) entities for display. I have done this as I noticed some of my old cards were in poor shape and that I rarely ever looked at them when they were shut away in boxes.

Note: links below will open a new browser window

PHOTOS OF MY VK4 QTH

DXCC AND IOTA AWARD STATUS

Current DXCC Challenge Totals as at 20 July 2019

Confirmed

Worked

Current LOTW Totals as at 20 July 2019

I am the first East Coast VK (zone 30) station and the 2nd in VK to achieve WAZ on 160 metres

***********************************************************************************************

OPINIONS

Below are some dxing related pieces I have written for DxWorld which say a lot about my beliefs and personality (thanks to Col MM0NDX for putting up with my contrarian view of life)

My response to the increasing level of negativity surrounding major DXpeditions and dxing in general.....(refer K6VVA "the Locust" in particular)

“The world is passing through troublous times. The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint.”

sermon preached by Peter the Hermit in A.D. 1274

I have been active in dxing since 1979 and I do not think pile-up behaviour has got any better or worse. It is a shame that cluster history does not go back to say the 3y5x dxpedition around 1980. This operation had splits that spanned almost the entire 20 metre band and frustrations ran far higher than any recent dxpedition.

What has changed is the following:

Dxers are no longer satisfied with just one or two qsos with the dx – we have moved to a 9 or 10 band multi mode dx world. This means that dxpeditions are much larger – instead of having just one or two unruly pile-ups we can have as many as 7 or 8 across the bands at one time. I think this has increased the perception that behaviour is getting worse. But do we want to go back to just making two qsos per dxpedition – I certainly don’t.

The Dxcluster creates more concentrated pile-ups – in 1980 you had to find the dx your self and it took callers various lengths of time to locate the dx as they tuned across the bands. Now – we have a DX station on just about every band – and they are spotted every two minutes which means even the most dim of dxers can locate the dx. On the flip side, a lot of us are time poor and the DXcluster is a wonderful tool for making our dxing time more efficient and helping out with work life balance.

The trend of using the DXcluster as a comments board has increased in recent years. Guys use the cluster to vent their frustrations and this again gives an increased perception that behaviour is getting worse. The internet (and forums like this) make it much easier for people to vent about dxpedition behaviour during the dxpedition. This creates an amplified sense of disgruntlement that is now typical of all forms of social media. In 1980 you had to wait two months for the dxpedition report to come out in your local DX mag and by that time all memory of the chaos associated with the the dxpedition had faded.

I would like to take a more positive slant on this issue.

When you consider that there is no police or other type of law enforcement on the ham bands I actually consider the level of behaviour to be of a pretty good standard.

I would like to see the result in other walks of life if we had 25,000 people lined up – with no law enforcement or security whatsoever – and offered up a prize to the first person who could get through a gate. There would be chaos. A pile-up on the ham bands is exactly this scenario in radio hyperspace and we fare significantly better than the general human populace when it comes to crowd control.

I am frankly starting to tire of the negativity that surrounds dxing and pile-ups in particular. We should be celebrating the significant things that we actually get right as a dx community.

Every major dxpedition brings out this whingeing and moaning, yet every major dxpedition logs more qsos than ever before.

Part of the fun of being a dxpeditioner is being the centre of attention – being chased by the mob – if we were to line up every caller via a massive list operation then how boring would dxing be for both the DX and the Dxer.

List / net operations for very rare dx were actually quite commonplace place in the 1980s and were basically criticised out of existence on the basis that it was a form of assisted qso. But – the lists / nets were generally much more orderly than the pile-ups of the day. The Dx community has thus spoken and says that it prefers the pile-up – a pile-up by nature is an unruly beast and it is natural therefore for tempers to fray from time to time.

Of course, there are some people in the world who like everything to be perfectly orderly – they are probably the same people who play golf and also frown when someone uses the wrong piece of cutlery. I personally, find these types of people to be downright boring and often the biggest hypocrites going around. We certainly have our fair share of these types in ham radio – ie preaching about poor pile-up behaviour but often being the first to call out of turn when they believe the super rare one is slipping away. Even worse, this type of person is often the self appointed vigilante, policing pile-ups, berating others and causing far more QRM than any jammer or poor operator. This same person is always supportive of more policing, naming and shaming and blacklists and probably lives locked away in a gated community somewhere.

In short, I enjoy dxing as much today as I did 40 years ago. For all those who no longer enjoy their dxing may be it is time to consider whether the world has changed or is it a case that you have simply become a grumpy old man? If it is the latter, then may be it is time for you to move onto a new hobby such as lawn bowls or Bridge.

Cheers
Paul – vk4ma

For those who complain about the cost of a direct qsl today.....

When exactly was this time of milk and honey when qsl cards were free?

I have been a ham since 1979 and when I first started a direct qsl card required you to send one or even two US$.

Checking the inflation calculator at the following web ref:
http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/

A 1979 US$1 is now the equivalent of US$3.26. Two 1979 US$s equals US$6.50

So the amounts being demanded by dxpeditions now for a direct qsl card are roughly equal (if not less) than what was being charged back in 1979.

But what about that free bureau qsl I hear you say

The QSL bureau was a farce back in 1979 - I always remember receiving a QSL from a guy in Chile back then which had a picture of him lying in a coffin - the caption underneath read something like "I will most likely be dead by the time you receive this QSL". This was an accurate depiction of how slow the bureau was in the early 80s (and probably still is today)

The reason why the JA bureau system works is because they have huge volume. In virtually every other country in the world this volume does not and will never exist. 

The problem with this hobby is that it is populated by too many old men who bathe ham radio in an errant nostalgia.

Pile-ups were just as unruly in 1980, qsl cards in 1980 cost about the same as in 2015, radio gear was about five times more expensive in 1980.

I have no problem with paper qsls or bureau qsls as long as the guys that want them are willing to pay the extra cost and not expect to be subsidised by those who contribute financially to dxpeditions (and by those members of their local radio society who have no interest in dx or qsls whatsoever). Your bureau cards are only free because other hams are paying for them via donations and more particularly via the time invested by volunteers.

Cheers
Paul - vk4ma

My response to w4fs who stated in respect to DXpeditioning......

“Too many folks complaining. If you want something done differently…do it yourself.”

I too have woken up this morning to this philosophical gem from w4fs and it has already changed my life.

First task was to write a letter off to all politicians in Australia apologising for my recent criticisms of their performance – I would have liked them to perform better but I now realise they are relieved of this responsibility because I am unwilling to run for office my self

Second task was to pick up the newspaper and I was shocked to find a whole page of film reviews ranging from 1 to 5 stars. I immediately fired off a testy email to our leading Aussie film reviewer demanding that all films be given a top 5 star rating. If he thinks a film deserves less than 5 stars well he can get behind that camera himself and do better.

Thirdly, I telephoned the restaurant I visited last week where the food was delivered with a topping of salmonella by a rude waiter who tried to come onto my wife. I apologised for my criticisms and offered to volunteer out in the kitchen on my next visit – afterall – if I want something done differently then it is clearly my obligation to do it myself.

Fourthly – my wife was a little critical of my performance in bed this morning (those late nights chasing the VP8s can diminish your...ahhh... stamina!). But then I remembered the sage that is w4fs and his life changing words of wisdom……………..

Finally, I am pleased to advise that the 2016 DXWorld Dxpedition of the year has been won by….drum roll…..why of course, all dxpeditions in 2016 will receive this award. To single out just one dxpedition for praise would be like critcising the others who may be have done a little less well.

I am looking forward to receiving my award for my one man dxpedition to Las Vegas – funded by DXer donations – I stayed at a 5 star hotel with the best of hookers and regretably forgot to make any qsos. Of course there will be no critcism of my dxpedition from good old w4fs – you know his motto by now – if you want something done differently…….

Cheers and 73s

Paul - vk4ma