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).

WPX results

Time well spent in contest weekend

As blogged before I booked some time off from duties @ home on Saturday (afternoon, evening) and Sunday (morning), allowing me to basically be on the air on all parts of the day.

On both days I worked mainly using my hexbeam at about 36-40ft. On Saturday I changed the antenna once (to my 4 element yagi for 10m) to try and work RI1ANU on 10m. By the time I changed the antenna though RI1ANU was gone.. 1 hour completely lost. Luckily I managed to log RI1ANU in the evening on 20m.

On Saturday the wind was just a bit too strong for the mast height I chose (extending all parts to a height of 40ft), resulting in a strong bend. 

Mast bending due to the wind

This was not noticeable in the results however as I managed to work almost all stations I wanted to work. On Sunday I extended all but the last part and guyed the mast in the direction of the wind (see picture below). This worked very well and kept the antenna nicely parallel to the ground.

Less wind, less height and a guy line

On Saturday I started at 14h local time. I hopped around over the bands using the DX cluster on my phone and the occasional hints from PD7YY via Whatsapp. I logged 60 contacts in about 5,5 hours actually spent behind the radio. During a flora and fauna activity that would take about half an hour but looking for specific stations only, the logging speed is "slightly" lower. I logged 9 new DXCCs and 14 "new band DXCCs".

With the change to summer time there was one hour of sleep less to get. I decided not to extend my Saturday evening hunting for some new DXCCs on 40m (there were some) but to get up in time so as to pick up the signals from VK and ZL in the morning.

On Sunday I was operational again at 9 am local summer time and stayed on the air for less than three hours. I logged only 17 contacts this time, including 1 new DXCC and 8 "new band DXCCs". 10m was mostly dead (probably still too early) and 15m not too strong. As I expected Oceania was reachable - strong on 20m - and I added ZL as a new band contact on 20m, as well as working almost all VK regions (with VK1 and VK7 being new ones for me). I started working short path - not being familiar with beams just yet. So I had some trouble working Paul VK5PAS, who I worked before and who was not particularly strong. Only after I worked him it dawned upon me that conditions were probably better long path. This was indeed the case and soon after I added the other VKs and ZL to my log.  Noteworthy was VK7ZX who was a steady 9+10dB in my humble station.

All in all I worked 10 new DXCCs (3DA, 5R8, 5Z, D3, DU, FH, FR, KL, RI1ANU and 4U1ITU) and 22 new band DXCCs. Most new ones were in Africa (6). There were only a few stations I missed due to changing conditions or lack of time (or because they simply could not be copied through the QRM). The outcome of my operation this weekend can be seen on the map below. Dots are "regular" contacts, stars are "new band DXCC" contacts and the larger place marks indicate new DXCCs worked. Yellow indicates 20m, orange 15m, red 10m and purple 17m (contacts outside of the contest).

Preparing for WPX

Ready for a couple of hours in WPX 2013

A negotiation process with the station manager has resulted in two time slots for me to go out with all my /P gear and try to get some new (band) DXCCs during the WPX contest today (afternoon and evening) and tomorrow (morning).

Preparing for this I had a little issue to solve: my microphone audio failed during my last day out. I already had had problems before with the connector for the Heil to the FT-857. It is a rather larger connector with thin wire (refer to picture below). 

Original Heil connector for the FT-857

Especially the connector for the PTT connection is large and heavy compared to the wire it is connected to. During CQWW last year this resulted in a broken wire inside the PTT line. Remembering how to set the FT-857 to Vox I was able to continue. Now however the audio line also seemed to fail.

I suspected the connector again. After taking it apart however it turned out I had a broken wire near the headphones :-(

I fixed that but now also needed a new connector to the FT-857. I ordered a replacement for the original connector - just to be safe for the contest - but also contemplated on making a cable myself that would solve another issue: the large RJ45 connector (the yellow one). The RJ45 goes inside the FT-857 behind the detachable front but is in this Heil cable so large that the front of the FT-857 cannot be reattached. This is not a major issue as it can be practical to have a loose front that you can place in a visible position but it would be convenient if I could choose to leave it on.

So I made a cable myself with a smaller RJ45 and only the audio connector (vox works perfectly). I made this cable rather short and attached it with tie wraps to the bottom of the FT-857 (see picture). In this way I expect the cable will last longer as there will be almost no strain on it.

Audio connector attached to the bottom of the FT-857

Today I will put this to the test with the original connector and the original hand microphone as backup.. 

UPDATE 23:48 local time on Saturday:
Active from about 14h local time, for 8 hours with some gaps to (1) discuss my set-up with Wilko PA1WBU who visited me shortly and (2) switch from the hexbeam to the yagi and back soon after (stupid decision as 10m was already closing). In the 5-6 hours radio time - mainly using the hexbeam, I logged 60 calls of which 55 were contest QSOs.
In the log are now 9 new DXCCs (3DA, 5Z, D3, DU, FH, FR, KL, RI1ANU and 4U1ITU) on top of that 14 new band DXCCs. Worth mentioning is my second Antarctic station RI1ANU (actually a separate DXCC). I was also thrilled with ZL3 on 20m (new band).
Tomorrow morning I will have a look if there are more interesting calls active. I have time until about lunch time. Of course this weekend is one hour shorter so it is off to bed to get some sleep before going out again.
BTW, the mic connector worked brilliantly..

More Hexbeam activity in the sun

Hunting rare DX on my Wednesday morning off

Last Wednesday conditions for a /P operation were good: not too much to do around the house and good weather. So when I got the kids in school I collected and loaded all my /P stuff in my car to drive to my favourite low profile /P location just north of Arnhem.

It has been a long time since we had weather like we had on Wednesday. It was 16 degrees Celsius and standing in the sun I did not need to wear a jacket to stay comfortably warm. Quite a change from the last time I was out and almost froze my feet from standing outside in the cold for 1,5 hours.

The hexbeam needed a bit of time to unfold as the wires got a bit entangled but once unfolded all wires were still in place and kept the spreaders in the right shape (thanks to the tape I placed on the spreaders). Due to the extra time spent on the beam it took me about 45 minutes to get the station installed.

Hextbeam at about 12m (40ft)

I started out calling CQ on 15m. There I was greeted by OMs from TA and JA. Apart from those OMs it remained rather quiet. Then Marcel PD7YY (my human DX cluster) sent me a Whatsapp message to inform me about a DXpedition @ XT. At that moment they were active on 12m CW (so they had not appeared on my phone's DX cluster app as I filter on phone only) but not much later they appeared on 17m. First they focused on JA long path but half an hour later I was in their log.

In the mean time I came across two other interesting DX stations: 3B9 on 12m and Z81 on 10m. Z81 was working by number but I did not get through on the first and rather short "0" slot. The 3B9 DXpedition was working JA exclusively every time I came back to their frequency. I kept going back and forth making a contact with JX on 15m in the mean time (new band). The next time Z81 came back to "0" I was ready and managed to get through after two or three calls. Another new one.

FT-857, Heil head set, LiFePo batteries and paper log - not on the picture is my mobile amp + car batt.

3B9 was still focussing on JA and Asia, so time to look around for other DX. Then ET3AA appeared on 15m. I must say that having an all band antenna really is brilliant - nothing else to do then just change the frequency on the radio and I am set to go (keep in mind I am used to work with EFHW antennas where I have to change the wire to change bands). After some calling I was in the log of ET3AA as well.

Time was running out and 3B9 was no where to be found any more.  I did see XT spots on 20m. So I gave that a try and was in their log on this band as well without much trouble. Then it was time to break up the /P station to be back at school in time to pick up the kids. Timing this I found it takes me just under half an hour to get everything nicely packed & in the car.

All in all a very nice /P morning. Perfect weather, three new DXCCs and two new band DXCCs.