Yesterday I had some spare time (abt 2 hours) while passing the PAFF-018 area ("Utrechtse Heuvelrug"). I could not find a perfect spot quickly, so settled for a quiet spot in between some trees (refer to picture). I was able to keep the antenna free from the leaves.
Using my FT-897d at 70w output I started on 20m just after 15h CET. Thankfully I was put on the cluster soon after I started (thanks Rocco, IK6GQC!). This saves a lot of breath repeating callsign and location information.
Conditions were okay with distances limited to the usual 4000km. After less than an hour signals started to drop.
As I was using a multiband end fed wire, I decided to go down to 40m. It turned out to be a zoo from 7050-7200. I found a relatively quiet spot but still had to deal with massive QRM.
Bill, M0DXT, was so kind to put my new frequency on the cluster (tnx Bill!). This lead to a handful of contacts but the QRM made me decide to call it a day after a total operation of 90 minutes. In this time I was greeted by 92 operators of 21 DXCC entities. The maximum distance was 3800km into Asiatic Russia.
Tnx all for passsing by.
Lars, PH0NO/P
