📝 μSDX OWNERS DX WEEKENDS 🇲🇾

Assalamualaikum and hello guys! Today, I’d like to share something related to amateur radio. A few days ago, I participated in an event called the Malaysian uSDX Owner Weekend 2023, which took place from the 28th to the 30th of July, 2023.

This is an indie event organized by ham radio enthusiasts around Malaysia. The theme was set as the “Outing DXing Weekend,” during which HAM operators are encouraged to go portable by camping or engaging in other outdoor activities while operating QRP radios.

HAM operators are encouraged to use their own uSDX or any QRP radio with a low-power setup to communicate locally and with DX stations overseas, including those in Europe, Japan, Indonesia, and more.

I will be supporting and joining 9M4CPJ (JOSRAC Batu Pahat) for this kind of event.

Since I’m just a poor salaryman and don’t have much annual leave to take, I’m unable to join on the 28th during the daylight hours due to work. Therefore, I’ve decided to join the 9M4CPJ crew at night.

So, I packed my belongings and got everything ready a day in advance. After finishing work, I immediately headed to the location on my Yamaha Y16ZR with a full tank of petrol and the throttle wide open. The journey took me 3 hours from Kota Singa to Senggarang, Batu Pahat, Johor that day.

When I arrived, I was greeted with chicken curry prepared by Ah-Guang (9M2ECG), and some other delicious items such as dragon fruit, tempeh, cheesecake, and more were provided by Pali (9W2BPF) and Harizun (9W2HKE).

That night, my friend Izzat (9W6ZAT/2) had already begun DXing. He was also joined by Anuar (9W2VVT) from Kota Tinggi, Johor. They were using the USDX v2+ customized by 9M4CPJ along with his homebrew HWEF (half wave end feed) antenna matched with the Katak Hijau antenna.

I sat beside him to observe how to conduct a QSO and operate the USDX. We noticed that we were receiving RX with an RST of 59 “Five-Nine,” but our TX signal was not strong. The propagation was only partially open at that time, and we were unsure of the reason. However, the next day, 9W6ZAT identified the issue (which was related to pointing in the wrong direction).

That night, while waiting for a full opening propagation, we had an unexpected visit from a “udang darat” aka “lipan bara” (centipede), that seemed keen on biting us. Fortunately, no one was injured, except for the centipede (innalillahirojiun..).

We spent our time discussing our plans for JOTA/JOTI and our upcoming JOSRAC annual general meeting. The time was well-spent, and we ended up running late for QSO. We finally turned in to sleep around 3:40 AM until Subuh calling us.

By the way, a big thanks to SWL-Wan (younger brother of 9W6ZAT) and Madey (9W2YEY) for setting up the bonfire that night.

On July 29th, all of us collaborated to assist one another in setting up a dipole antenna for the 15M band. Akmal (9W2AKP) played a special role in this endeavor, utilizing his kain pelikat (sarong).

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that the weather (WX) at that time was quite windy. We were in a rush to set up the antenna before the rain arrived at our camping spot.

After a few tries and errors, we achieved excellent results. Feel free to check out the image below to see for yourself.

Akmal (9W2AKP) and I (9W2NSP) also attempted to operate the radio, but we were still quite hesitant to engage in QSOs. Perhaps we need to practice listening to audio with background noise more frequently and participate in QSOs more often to improve.

It was truly a fun experience learning about the technical aspects and theory of QRP radio equipment shared by them, as they passed on their knowledge to us. However, I couldn’t stay at the campsite for an extended period of time.

Actually, on that day, my wife texted me and asked me to return to the base station because our family needed to visit our relatives in Kluang. They had just been discharged from the hospital after being warded for almost a month. Family comes first, so I left the campsite around 2 PM.

Good luck and 72 to everyone who participated in the μSDX OWNERS DX WEEKENDS around Malaysia.

Looking forward to seeing you again at the next event! Thanks, guys!