Saturday, March 17, 2012

Last new PAFF: Huitebuersterbûtenpolder

Very very poor conditions in Friesland
The last unactivated PAFF area inside the Netherlands is located in the northern province of Friesland. The people speak a different language here, hence the extraordinary name of the area (I can't pronounce it).

Normally this area is out of reach for me, but today I had an appointment in the north not too far from Friesland. I decided to use my available time in the afternoon to try and find a spot in the nature park and complete the PAFF range.

View towards the sea - a pity that it was hazy today
The area consists of low land stretching into the sea, behind a high dike. It is quite an unusual view. I was not very fortunate with the weather as it was a bit hazy - so my view was limited.

I had ordered a replacement for my Spieth mast (refer to my story of the last activation why) but that had not arrived yet so my mast was too short for 40m. Luckily I found an operating spot where I could set up my antenna sloping towards a fence. The antenna was not very high (feeding point less than 1 meter off the ground) but SWR was perfect on 20m and 40m.

No additional damages this time but I did have a challenge in the conditions. They were absolutely lousy. My propagation widget showed poor conditions on all HF bands - and it was right. This meant that I had to call a lot and had trouble to copy stations (vice versa).

In about 90 minutes of air time I worked 89 stations from 24 DXCCs. Maximum QRB was set by an OM from RV9 to 4800km - this was on 40m. On 20m the max QRB was only 3500km into 4Z.
Luciano I5FLN and Sergey RA3PCI made the trip on both bands.

The last challenge this time was my voice that was hoarse due to a cold but it kept on working all the way.

Thanks all for calling in.
Lars, PH0NO/P

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