PAFF-014: my first WFF activation

Activating PAFF-014: Lauwersmeer

Yesterday I had some spare time while in the vicinity of one of the nature parks of The Netherlands. Luckily I brought some equipment with me (FT-817) and I always have a Spieth mast (fishing rod type of mast) and a couple of end fed wires with me.
It was a bit windy but the sun was shining and temperatures were around 30C. 

I found a quiet spot next to the lake and near to the sea, hoping that would help me getting my signal across the globe. 

This was my first WFF activation and as far as I am aware it was also the first activation of PAFF-014. I was really amazed about the pile-up I caused. I was never aware WFF locations were this "hot". 

In the first 20 minutes activity was steady with one station after the other coming back to my call. It was in this period that a JA7 call came back giving me a 55 report. Imagine that: 9000km with only 5 watts...

Somewhere in time someone posted a spot and then the frequency got more and more crowded. I worked a total of 154 stations in 3 hours, 90% of those in the first two hours (propagation went down in the end).


My voice was hoarse in the end but I found a very nice experience. Thanks to all the OM's that took the time to answer my call, maintaining their patience to make it possible for others to work me.


73, 44
Lars.

Setup at PAFF-014 (rod w. wire)

Activity from Malmedy

This week I visited Malmedy in Belgium. I took my FT-817nd with me and was very briefly active as ON/PD0RLH/P/QRP (how is that for a short call sign ;-)

Ventenna dipole versus HyEndFed vertical

After acquiring my first half wave end fed by PA3EKE (HyEndFed) I was curious how it would perform compared to my Ventenna dipole. 

The Ventenna is a portable dipole - developed in and sold from the US - that consists of various elements that you can screw together to make a resonant dipole for different bands. When I started on HF in 2010 I used this antenna in the attic to make my first contacts.

The HyEndFed is an end fed wire antenna. PA3EKE sells it in single and multiband configuration. The first one I bought was the 20m 300w PEP version.

For the test I set up the Ventenna portable dipole on a aluminum push up mast @ 9m and the HyEndFed end fed half wave wire vertically on a Spieth “fishing rod” at 12m (feeding point at 2m).

Ventenna dipole on push up mast

The dipole was turned into the direction of the station being worked.

There was a considerable amount of QSB on 20m making the comparison difficult. Outcome after 2 hours of testing:

o   Local contacts (40km range) reported 2 to 3 s-units of difference in favour of the vertical wire

o   European contacts (2000km range) reported no significant differences in the two set-ups

o   DX contacts (US and Canada, 6000km range) reported 1 s-unit of difference in favour of the vertical wire

After this test I concluded that there was no real benefit in bringing the Ventenna and the bulky mast with me when operating portable. The wire performs at least as well, is set up in no time and is omnidirectional.