VE3FYN best DX Yet

Until now, my best DX ever was a QSO with Bill Hosie ZS6CCY in South Africa on 80 metres. Now, this may still be my best DX, because 80 metres is generrally considered a local band for communications of 1000 kilometres or less. Vaalwater, South Africa is 14,140 kilometres from Atikokan. I pulled this off on my Hustler 5BTV antenna, which is a five band vertical. Its low takeoff angle made this contact possible.

On Friday evening, 22 October 2010 at 2326 UTC, I managed my best DX yet by breaking through the pileup to contact Otani, 8J1RL on the Syowa Antarctic station which is located on Ongul island - just up from the Prince Harald coastline of Antarctica. It's coordinates are 69'° South, 39'°35' East. If you plug that into Google Earth and zoom out a little, you can get a sense of their living conditions. The island is locked in ice. This station is a mere 16,539 kilometres from Atikokan. At 4,000 kilometres per hop, my 100 watt signal had to bounce four times to reach his station. I can't wait for his QSL card.