Portable set-up with two beams

Yesterday morning I had some time to go out again to do some /P-DX-hunting and some lasts preparations for CQWW.

With 10m open as it is at the moment (yeah!) I decided to bring both my DX antennas: my 4 element yagi for 10m and my 6 band hexbeam. My idea was to try both to decide what I would bring next weekend to my CQWW chase. 

I tried to set up both antennas on my aluminium mast to do some A-B testing. It turns out my home-brew mast is sturdy enough to carry both antennas.  The hexbeam was on top (due to its construction it must be - it inserts into the upper tube of the mast) and the yagi some 2-3 meters below it. I used one guy wire just to be sure the mast would not bend too much, but in fact it was not really a necessary addition - even though it was a bit windy.

Stack: yagi and hexbeam - leafs are an indication of the windy conditions

This gave me a set-up that looks very impressive (to me as the ham-without-a-beam-at-home at least) and turned out to be effective as well. Being limited in time and of course using this opportunity also to catch some DX, I did not do a lot of A-B TX tests - it is quite bold to ask that DXpedition to give two real reports. One JA OM told me there were some 2-3 S-points difference (in favour of the yagi). Closer by a UY OM saw less difference. So there is still some testing to do. On RX however I could test the difference all the time. Here I saw that the yagi even when positioned lower is one S-point stronger. This is especially noticeable on the weaker signals. There you could really hear (as well as see) the difference.

Portable set-up: hex at approx 12m, yagi at approx 9m high

During the short period I was actually on the radio I managed to log DX from TN2 (new band), HS0, B9, JA3, R0 and D4 (new band).

What I learned for the contest this weekend is that it is useful to bring the yagi to catch the weaker DX (assuming 10m is open for a considerable amount of time). I also learned that I can have both beams on my mast at the same time. This gives me another nice opportunity: if I point the yagi and hex in opposite directions I can quickly check short path versus long path propagations on 10m. That is a feature that helps me as I am not used to working with a beam and therefore have too little experience to choose the right path given the direction and time of day.

Looking forward to more fun this weekend.

A few hours fishing DX - catching new ones

After two months in which I had no time at all for any radio-activity (imagine that...), I managed to free up a couple of hours on Wednesday afternoon. With about 4 hours I had just enough time to go out with the hexbeam and look for some DX.

Conditions had been OK in the preceding days, with openings on the higher bands (10-12m), so it looked like a good investment of my time. Taking the hexbeam out does limit the time left for actually being on the air as I have to bring more stuff and need more time to get it all set up (and broken down again). All in all I think I need about 1,5 hours to get all stuff in the car, drive to my favourite location, set up the station, pack everything in again and drive home. This left me with 2,5 hours to be on the air.

Looking through the glass roof of my car at the Hexbeam

DX with a couple of new ones
When I had my station ready I saw Dervin PD9DX was working from YB0 on 15m. I know Dervin from the PAFF program and he put in a very good signal. Enough reason to give him a shout and have a short chat. After that first contact I was scanning the bands and the cluster for DX activities, logging a total of only 12 contacts but interesting ones.

It turned out to be a nice DX afternoon, even though conditions weren't especially good. I worked a couple of new ones: C8, H7, FR and TN (Dutch DXpedition), two OD stations on two new bands (15 and 20), and a new prefix from Canada: CK1.
Noteworthy but not new were TO2 on 10m (already worked that one during WPX earlier this year), VK4 and YI1 on 15m.

One very peculiar thing: I worked TN on 12m long path... I still do not understand it. The signal was S0 sometimes peaking S1 on short path. When I turned the antenna around while looking at the S-meter I saw it peaked S3-4 when the antenna pointed north. I tried turning the antenna around a few more times, with the same result. Go figure.. TN is 6000km due south from here.

There were two stations I tried but did not reach:
- VP2, he was not very strong and there was quite a considerable pile-up. He did hear me once, asking for "the NO/P" station to come back but he consecutively answered a French station that called over me. I do not understand operators that do not manage their pile-up. It promotes selfish behaviour of chasers.
- V6, was very weak (S0-1) and had a large pile-up. No chance there.

There was also a VK5 station working from an IOTA location. He however had a zoo from "5 to 10 up".. so I skipped that one.

This was a nice exercise in preparation of CQWW - my next radio opportunity. I already booked time off family duties well ahead and have so far still managed to keep the claim on Saturday afternoon and evening and a part of the Sunday morning. So I will have some serious time to go out with the hex and I will probably bring my 4 element yagi for 10m as well.

Looking forward to more DX!

Out with the Hex again logging a lot of "new ones"

Last weekend I booked some time off from family duties. My first idea was to enter the EU HF contest. I missed the IARU HF contest due to other commitments. The EU HF contest was the first possible alternative. Aimed at EU only I considered it an opportunity to increase my DXCC level on the low bands.

The contest ran for from 14:00 local time till 2:00 local time. So I booked the afternoon and evening off and headed over to my favourite /P spot on a (during weekends) desolate industrial zone in Arnhem. I set up my Hexbeam 12m/40ft high and installed my mobile amplifier to boost my power to about 300w PEP.

Fishing DX first
I started around 16h local time, focussing on DX first (no point in using the low bands at that hour). Because of the contest the WARC bands were quite busy and these were the bands where DX was to be found (hiding from the contest activity on 10/15/20). 

Quickly I discovered a positive side effect of the EU contest: EU was busy chasing EU, so chasing DX became easier: pile-ups were noticeably smaller. Also conditions turned out to be rather interesting. The bands were not completely stable - some QSB around - but even 12m opened up a couple of times.

I started working far east stations on 17m, then went down to 15m to collect some contest points and stumbled upon 9M8 and ST2M - both new ones on this band. As no one had spotted ST2M yet we had the opportunity to have a real QSO in stead of only the usual 59 TU.

A lot of "new (band) ones"
I quickly became bored with the contest and went back to 17m where I contacted a lot of JA and North-American stations including West Coast US and XE (new on this band). Then I went up to 12m where I added A61, 4X and PZ to my list for this band. I visited 10m (contest) and 6m (Es opening towards DL/OK/SP/UR). Then I hopped around using the cluster to add V47, A92, CP, FJ (new ones), CE, JW and ZF (new band) to my log.

With the low activity from EU towards DX there was time to have a long chat with a ZL as well as two VKs.

Around midnight I had a chat with my friend PD7YY who was working from a hotel on TF. His mediocre set-up (end fed wire sloping from 4m high only to the ground) still gave him an S9 in the peaks on 20m. So the band was in a good shape.

No low bands
As 17m and 20m remained open there was no time to pick up on my original plan to join the contest on the low bands. There was just too much going on on the higher bands. It was difficult to find a good reason to stop and go home (you need to at one time or another). After logging ZF I turned off the radio at 2 am and began breaking up the station.

End result
In total I logged:

• 121 calls - 22 in the contest
• 4 new DXCCs (all band)
• 4 new ones on 20m
• 12 new ones on 17m
• 3 new ones on 15m
• 7 new ones on 12m
• 1 new one on 6m 

This has also brought my total on 15m above 100 DXCCs which was sort of my goal for this year (3 bands). Next up is 17m with 75 DXCC entities worked.

Two nature parks on one day

Lousy propagation but nice results

This Saturday featured the GreenParty (organised by YOFF). I knew beforehand I would not be able to go out that day, so when the Friday became available (no work or family obligations) I decided to use the time to go /P.

Scanning the list of most wanted parks I selected two in the northern part of the Netherlands: PAFF-029 De Velden (Drenthe) and PAFF-001 Alde Feanen (Friesland). Both are about 1,5 hours drive from my home and about 1 hour drive distance from each other. A lot of driving, but with a full day available that was quite acceptable.

My plan would depend on the propagation conditions. If they were lousy, I planned to quit after one activity. If they were mediocre to good I would do two activities.

Checking the solar widget in the morning really brought disappointment: all band conditions were predicted to be "poor". With a high A and K and low SSN, I was in for a challenge.
Although I did not know if I would be able to use it, I brought my hexbeam plus alu mast just to be sure I would be able to work at least some stations.

De Velden (PAFF-029)
I started at De Velden (PAFF-029) on 20m with my end fed set up vertically. I did not bother to check the higher bands - my cluster app told me that the prediction was quite accurate: no activity above 20m.

Very sunny operating position @ PAFF-029

The first 90 minutes brought mainly EU contacts between 55-59 with a lot of stations around 57. I would guess most stations were about 2 s-units down from their usual strength. Only three stations outside of Europe came by in that period: UA9, UN and 7X.
Then Rick VO1SA came by, showing at least some opening towards NA (he was in the end the only NA station I copied - and quite close by with only 4100km between us). Surprisingly also FY came by a couple of minutes later. He set the record at PAFF-029.

After 2 hours of operating things started to slow down and I decided to set up my hexbeam - in hindsight probably only to give me the feeling I did not bring the antenna and the mast in vain. I still had some fixing to do after dropping the beam (for a second time...) last Wednesday. After about an hour of working in the hot sun I listened around to find that all bands were really dead. I did work one EA on 6m and I logged an E7FF operation by three OK operators on 20m - bringing the total amount of contacts to 144.

Then I took everything down again leaving just enough time to drive to Alde Feanen (PAFF-001). Results were good enough to try another park.

Alde Feanen (PAFF-001)
Here I found a place in the shadow - convenient as it was one of the first warm days. Being in the shadow does limit the usability of the hexbeam (not fond of trees), so I took my 20m end fed out again.

Operating in the shadow @ PAFF-001

Conditions seemed the same as in the morning, maybe just slightly better. I again logged mostly EU stations the first 90 minutes with the exception of one UA9, UK8 and Malkiel 4X4JU who boomed in with his new beam.

When 20m slowed down I decided to try 15m as the cluster showed at least some activity. In 20 minutes I only logged 7 contacts, bringing the total in this park to 128. There were however three DX stations amongst them: A4 (new band) and 2xYC (max. QRB for the day: 11.300km). I also spoke to a G0 station and found out later that he was the first G station I contacted on 15m. Evidently not a regular skip distance for this band.

Even though conditions were lousy I did log 272 calls and scored three "new band slots", for A4, G and ZB. That does not happen often - not even when conditions are great. So driving the long end home I was pleased with a day well spent.

PAFF-048 multi op activity by PA3FYG and PH0NO

Windy and chilly conditions, activating on 4 bands with 2 stations

Yesterday Hans PA3FYG and myself went out for our first joint /P activity. We have been working together to develop and promote the PAFF program and met a couple of times on the radio during activities but never in person.

After a short introduction we went into the park to find an operating position. We decided to set up two stations some 150m apart, each on one end of a small lake (Bisonbaai) in the Ooijpolder.

PH0NO/P windy operating position at PAFF-048

Hans brought his multi band end fed for 10-20-40m. As 10m was not open he had 20m and 40m at his disposal. I brought end fed wires for all bands from 6m down to 40m. 15m seemed to be open, so I decided to start there and try 17m after that - spreading our activity over 4 bands.

20m and 40m are the most popular bands for flora and fauna activity. This was noticeable in the amount of calls logged. When we decided to go for a cup of coffee at the nearby Oortjeshekken B&B 2 hours after we started I had only 47 calls in the log. Net operating time was less than 2 hours because the fibreglass pole collapsed three times due to the wind and I had to change the antenna once (from 15m to 17m). Still it made for the most quiet activity I have had so far. Hans had a busier time, logging approx 100 calls on 20m and 40m.

12m pole with end fed antenna and comfy chair

The advantage of the higher bands is that you are more likely to encounter chasers @ DX. This was indeed the case with 25% of all calls logged originating from outside of Europe (4Z, R9, UN, VO, W0/3/4, PT, PJ, JE). Peter PJ4NX that I spoke to before at PAFF-069 on 10m, came by on 15m and 17m for two new PJ band slots and I met two people I had only so far met through e-mail (Andrej RN1CW, from WCA HQ and Carlos PT7ZT, PYFF co-ordinator).

We planned to stay longer but the wind and occasional drop of rain made it rather unpleasant and after two hours a warm cup of coffee was really welcome. By the time we finished our coffee and first proper eye ball QSO, it was almost 18h CET. This left too little time to go back and set up the stations again. So we left a bit earlier than planned. When we went back to our cars the sun came out....

Ooijpolder is a beautiful park so I will return here some day when the weather is more /P friendly.

Busy 3 band activity at PAFF-053

Activated Loenermark WWFF PAFF-053 on three bands for four hours

Although conditions were far from brilliant the activity was a success with a lot of familiar and also a lot (approx 50%) of new callsigns in the log.

Last fall I activated this nature park for the first time, so I knew where to set up my station. Although in between the trees, there was enough room to extend my vertical pole to 12m without getting stuck. I even managed to set up my full size inverted V for 40m.

Vertical end fed in between the trees

I started out on 20m, where conditions seemed okay, although there was only limited DX activity visible on the cluster. I stayed on this band for an hour and logged 83 contacts with most of the familiar calls at least an s-point down from their usual strength.
DX came in from VE, UA9 and 4X.

As HRD Logbook (for which I have a nifty widget on my phone) showed activity on 15m I went up there to find that propagation was open to the USA and Japan. In 40 minutes I logged only 20 calls but half of them DX from JA, W0/2 and 4X.

Then I went down to 40m where I quickly found a free frequency (not always so simple). Conditions were great for the shorter distance between roughly 200-700km. A high number of DL and G operators ended up in the log. 
I received a lot of +10/+20 reports and handed out a lot as well. I was cheating a bit though with my already proven inverted V (full size for 40m, apex at 11m) in combination with a small amp that pushes out somewhere between 200-300w PEP.
In total I logged 169 contacts in under 2 hours on this band.

Discounting time for changing the antennas I was active for just under 3.5 hours, logging 272 calls from 40 different DXCCs. 

In between some showers there was plenty of sunshine allowing me to open my sun roof and pretend summer has arrived.
Amongst the many OMs I spoke and I have got familiar with after meeting them at several activities were 10 fellow WWFF country representatives. A busy lot.
...and I met an OM I so far only knew through Twitter. A new experience altogether.

Thanks all for stopping by.

Short /P activity with a lot of far east contacts

Unexpected DX visits

Wednesday morning is my morning off with the kids at school and usually no pressing work issues (if I plan well). This week Wednesday I did not plan to go out as it was supposed to be windy and as I already had a fair share of DX last weekend.

When I came home from doing the groceries however I saw interesting spots including E5 and FO5 on 20m. So I decided to pack all my stuff and see if I could catch one of those. Of course because of the lousy planning I forgot one item - a support pole that keeps the mast in place. Using some ropes I was able to steady the mast holding my hexbeam just enough (although it rocked heavily).

About an hour after deciding to go out I was listening to the FO5 station. The frequency turned out to be a complete zoo. I tried a few times to get through but it was just to frustrating with people not listening - even calling over the DX station...
So I gave up on this DXCC for today.

Then I tried to find the E5 station. I found it quite strong on 15m just finishing a QSO with a G* station only using 40 watts. So that meant I had a very reasonable chance to work the DX.
Unfortunately the DX station informed all listening that this was his last QSO and he was going QRT. A couple of stations kept on calling but to no avail...

Well. Not a very good outcome for all the hassle.

To cheer myself up I called a VK2 and had a short QSO with him. Then I started calling CQ on 20m with the antenna pointing to VK/ZL long path. Maurizio IZ0ARL came by while he was activating a WWFF location. Very kind of him to give me a call (usual procedure would be the other way around). I did not get any other replies so I went up to 15m and pointed the antenna towards JA - as I saw a couple of spots indicating the band was open to JA.

I stayed on my frequency for 45 minutes greeting 14 OMs from JA and 3 from UA9. To my surprise I was also visited by DS (new band) and.. FK8.
When I heard the FK8 call I knew it was a new DXCC and an island somewhere, but had no clue where. Even when the OM told me he was in New Caledonia I had only a vague notion of where he was. Google Maps helped to increase my topographical knowledge.

Quite cool. There are only a handful of Pacific Islands I have reached so far (HK0, KH0, KH2, KH6, ZL and now FK8).