The plan was to have a serious start in Multi-Single entry together with friends from SO4M Team.

But we had a problem with our 20 meters antenna. So finally we had to put down the tower, next to repair antennas (feeders) and finally put up back the towers. In total over two days of hard work.

It was about 0 degrees of C so not bad but the most important is that it was no windy.

On Friday we tried to repair the feeders on the tower (without putting down) but finally we did not manage to do it.

You can see a short video of my work on the tower. In that time other members of the SO4M Team were working very hard on the ground, preparing RX antennas and other station devices.

This year we spent our summer holdays in Arco, Italy. We visited the place during the last days of July – first week of August.

Arco is located in the Dolomites and it is a very special place for people who are active in many kinds of sport: rock climbing, bike riding, trekking, hiking, jogging, via ferratas, wingsuit etc. The city has very specific, sporty atmosphere.

We had great time. We have visited so many beautiful places. We did some rock climbing and we made two via ferrata treks. We had our bicycles with us and riding a bike through wine courts surrounded by mountains is really a great experience. We especially love the valley of the river of Sarca – everything is beautiful there.

We hope to visit this area again if time permitts.

For a long time I didn’t care about having all DXCC entities confirmed on each one of the HF bands. I was rather trying to work all entities in general, on all bands. However after many years of HAM activity I started to check band spots more carefully. Of course some relatively easy entities are not so easy to work on some bands so it is necessary to observe the propagation conditions.

Last days beacause of some Sun events high bands were very active. There were short skips and it was possible to work many European stations. I was lucky to work HB0HF as a new DXCC on 12 meters. Two days later it was confirmed on the LoTW. SO I have 180 confirmed entities (excluded deleted ones) on 12 meters.

I also heard a station from Estonia (also neeeded on 12 meters) but he was looking for other stations and I had no luck to work him.

Anyway nice to see nice activity on higher bands. What is important – not only on FT8/FT4. There were many stations calling CQ on CW. I was also CQing and I was called by some EU stations. It is always a great pleasure for me to work any station, no matter a new one or not.

I participated the Russian DX Contest in March from the SO4M contest station.

There are many changes at the SO4M station so this time it was 20 meters only.

Hard propagation conditions. K-Index was raising to 6 at some hours. The consequence was lack of propagation window to North America. In the evening all NA stations were coming only when the antenna was turned to 240 degrees. Around midnight the band has closed completely.

BUt as always it was great fun and pleasure to take part in the contest. Finally I logged 1040 QSOs (CW: 641, SSB: 399). Multiplier: 100 entities and 71 obalsts. The final claimed score is 1.109.619 points.

The last full weekend of October (24-25.10 in 2020) is the time of the CQWW DX SSB Contest. Most of the SO4M members are CW or RTTY pasionates so we operate phone contests very seldom. Anyway the CQWW DX SSB weekend was perfect time for meeting and doing some preparations for the coming year.

A big station, big antennas require a lot of work all the year. Antennas and towers require inspection, checking and maintenance.

This time three of us (SP4MPG, SP5OXJ, SP5UAF) met to do some necessary work at SO4M. The building of the radio shack was renovated last weeks (new roof) and it was necessary to re-organize all feeders etc. But the most important job was the installation of a new, multiplier antenna GB37 (3 bander, 2el 20m, 3el 15m, 3el 10m) as well as the antenna rotator. The weather was perfect – beautiful, gold autumn.

So the antenna is on the tower. It still requires tuning. It will be used for listening to unprivileged directions as well as for working new multipliers from such directions.

The results of the CQ WW WPX CW Contest were published. I am very glad to see my result in the Top Ten in the World and in Europe.

The propagation conditions were not too good during the second night and the propagation to North America was poor. I could hear stations from Balkans working USA while I was not able to copy the signals of US stations. It’s typical situation when something is happening in the ionosphere.

Anyway the final result is not bad (9th in the World and 7th in Europe) and it is also the third results in the Polish All Time record in Single OP Assisted 20m HP. I am also very glad that the log accuracy is close to 96% according to the UBN report.

We spent our summer holidays near Karpacz, in Karkonosze Mountains (part of Sudetes). We love this region of Poland.

Besides many other possibilities this region is well-known for its rock climbing areas. One of them is Rudawy Janowickie – it is a mountain range and also a special nature area: Rudawy Landscape Park.

On the pictures there is a route “Depozyt” (rate V). My wife, Magdalena was belaying.

The Rudawy Landscape Park is well-known for many beautiful rock formations. The one below is called “Rock Bridge” (Skalny Most). It is very impressive and there are some rock routes (not so easy ones) set on this rock formation.

Last year I operated the IARU HF on my own as SO4M. This time again I was part of the SN0HQ Team. The SN0HQ is the HQ station of the Polish Amateur Radio Union (PZK).

We were supporting the SN0HQ operation on 20 meters on CW from the QTH of SP4MPG/SO4M. The operators were: Mirek SP4MPG, Jacek SP5OXJ and Tomek SP5UAF.

It was a great time – propagation was fine. It was possible to work many stations and we also had time to talk about HAM radio and about plans for the future at the contest station SO4M.

It is great to hear that 10 meters or 12 meters bands are opened almost 24 hours a day. Great to work so many stations from almost all directions.

On June 16, near local midnight I was able to work Japanese stations. I logged JH8XVH, JE3GRQ and JH0INP (between 22:27 and 22:43 UTC). Right the next night and again near 22 UTC I could hear stations from the U.S.A. I was not able to work them – it was the end of the propagation, I sat at the radio too late. However on June 29 I was able to work K5XI on 12 meters (this time at 12:18 UTC).

Of course there are always many stations fro EU or AS. Great pleasure to hear all bands. A friend of mine, Jacek SP5OXJ, told me that one day in June, during one clock hour he made a QSO on each one band from 6m to 160m.

So if you read this post I hope to meet you on bands soon.

I was looking for 4U1UN for a long time. I even worked 4U1UN but from my club station.

I saw spots many times but I was not able to hear the signals on my vertical antennas.

Finally last Sunday (June 7, 2020) I heard 4U1UN in the local morning on 40 meters on CW. It took 15 minutes to break pile-up’s. Uff… New entity worked.

What more… Yesterday I updated my log (DX Keeper) with the LoTW confirmations and my 4U1UN QSO is now confirmed. Really great… It is my 321st confirmed DXCC entity in MIXED (308th on CW) – the numbers exclude deleted countries.