Great deal: rare DXCC country, 4K (Azerbaijan), on 2M and 70cm band EME!
UT6UA (Dmitro) and UT5UAS (Aleksandr) now in Azerbaijan and running 2M band EME. Easy QSO with 4K/UT6UA on theirs moon set on 16th and 17th of June. Not much pile-up, so they answered me for my second call. It gave my DXCC nr. 136 and grid square # 8
23 on 2M. But this time, me and all other EME-chasers got a problem with decoding, when 4K/UT6UA answered to calling station with report “OOO”: prefix 4K was not decoded!
This problem you can see on the screen shot of my QSO. And this is a bug of WSJT software: the prefix 4K not in prefix.txt file from WSJT. Thus, QSO was complete twice, but… no satisfaction…The question, how to make a good QSO in this case, was asked to Joe, K1JT. And here is his answer (information taken from MMMonVHF newsletter 19.06.14):
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
As always, we know that compound callsigns like 4K/UT6UA cause problems for unwary operators using the JT65 protocol.
You could structure your QSO as follows:
1. CQ 4K/UT6UA
2. UT6UA PA3CMC JO21
3. PA3CMC UT6UA LN30 OOO
4. 4K/UT6UA RO
5. RRR
6. 73
Alternatively, you might send a shorthand “RO” for message #4 and then send “4K/UT6UA 73” for message #6.
Anyone planning to use a compound callsign with JT65 is well advised to explore the consequences in advance,
and let others know their preferred usage.
— 73, Joe, K1JT
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Later team started to use the callsign 4K4K, which belongs to Boris, who living in Baku and partici
pated in expedition team. The last expedition’s day, 19th of June, they was active only on 432 MHz EME. And again I was lucky: after nearly 2 hours of calling they answered to me. So, new DXCC and # on 70 cm band.
But much harder was to get the QSL-cards for these QSO. They requested cards via OQRS. I payd 6 Euro for 2 QSO on both bands and started to wait. Half of year passed, but NIL! Than I started correspondence with Dmitro, UA6UA. He told, he sent QSL cards on the next day after receiving of payment. So, probably envelope was lost… Some explanation, at least! I’ve been waited 2 month more… still, nothing. Than I asked to Dmitro to send me new cards, but by registered mail. And paid 3 Euro more. And, at this time, I received QSLs. Only 3 days for letter from Kiev to Tallinn. Envelope was damaged, but nothing serious was happened with QSL card… So, 4K land was the most expensive QSL cards in my history: 9 Euro for 1 card (both bands on the same card)! Incredible!!!
