Today is a good day, at least for me as a remote DXing enthusiast. I woke up this morning to see that someone in the group had posted a screenshot showing a sudden Es ionospheric burst. Based on my past experience, I felt that there was a high probability of remote propagation in the VHF 6m and 2m bands today. I then turned on my SDR and scanned the frequencies, and I could immediately tell that the sounds were different from what I had heard before. Specifically, I noticed intermittent, irregular "noise" appearing on blank frequencies where there was previously a smooth, quiet hiss. This felt like a sign of a sudden remote propagation event. In addition, some individual frequencies showed stuttering and the intrusion of other faint sounds, which indicated that the remote broadcast signal was arriving, but the signal strength was not yet strong enough to be clearly heard. After scanning for about 20 minutes, I realized it was time to get up and go to work.
Although I'm going to work and doing manual labor, my mind is constantly preoccupied with the propagation situation – has it already started...? In my free time at work, I also discreetly check the WeChat group. Seeing everyone having so much fun, there's a car enthusiast who always carries a radio with him. During the downtime when unloading his car, he even takes out his radio and experiments with receiving remote signals, recording several seconds of the distant broadcast stations he receives and sharing them in the group. You can see how happy he is.
At 11:30 AM, I've finished all my work for the day, so it's time to go home. I turn on my computer and immediately start listening to the radio, monitoring the FT8 status. Then, I open the car radio and tune through a few frequencies, trying to lock onto one. I listen quietly in a standby mode. Haha... This is what a dedicated enthusiast does as soon as he gets home.
I saw that at 6.50.313 MHz, two enthusiasts from Guizhou, BD8NBG and BH8NSC, were calling CQ (calling for any station to respond). They both successfully made contact with a single station. This indicates very effective communication. I also saw JJ5RBH/P calling CQ and successfully making contact. Looking at the grid map, it turns out they were near Miyako Island in the Pacific Ocean. At this point, all the stations were familiar contacts that I had communicated with before. I even jokingly said in the group: "Enjoy your lunch!"
Just as I was about to get up and leave my computer, a new call sign suddenly appeared in purple. I looked at it, and my jaw dropped – Macau! I immediately replied.
It seems like we can't eat, haha...
After a few attempts, I finally made contact. Overjoyed, I even bragged about it in the group chat. After carefully reviewing the data from my initial contact attempt, I noticed that BG7NF had been attempting to contact XX9ET in Macau before I succeeded. He continued to try after I established contact. It seems like a combination of luck and effective communication skills allowed me to achieve this.
After the excitement, I suddenly had an idea: could the FM broadcast signal from Macau also be transmitted? I then tuned my car radio to 100.7 MHz, which is the frequency of Macau Radio's Chinese channel, with a power output of 2.5 kW, and listened attentively. After a few minutes, the static sound in the speakers gradually faded into a faint signal, and suddenly, the host's voice appeared, spoken in Cantonese – I was almost certain it was Macau Radio. I immediately recorded a video and posted it to a group for FM broadcast enthusiasts, asking Guangzhou and Zhuhai enthusiasts to listen and confirm.
That's right, it's the AM radio station in Macau. At this moment, I am even more happy and excited, words cannot express it. After two years of remote reception via AM, there were still six regions across the country (including provinces and autonomous regions) that I couldn't receive. Receiving Macau means adding another one, leaving only Shaanxi, Ningxia, Tibet, Jiangxi, Shanghai, and these five regions remaining. This year's goal is to conquer all of them and achieve a national championship.
While I was writing these, I also observed the FT8 receiving data on this computer. Suddenly, I noticed a signal from 3B8FA in Mauritania, and I became very excited because yesterday I successfully used an FT-818 with 1W power to contact his neighbor, 3B9FR on Rodriguez Island. Based on my intuition, I thought that 3B8FR wouldn't be able to make contact either. However, it took about 15 minutes, and eventually, I was successful in making contact.
So far, I feel like today has been a very rewarding day, and this is what it means to be happy – enjoying life as an adult, feeling fulfilled.
After experiencing this excitement, I wrote an article to document it. Thank you for your attention and support, and thank you to the HamZone community.
Wishing everyone a pleasant communication experience! 73!
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