PACC 2018: we did it again

Today the results of the PACC contest came in. Amazingly my fellow team members of YNOMY and me managed to score a hat-trick: we secured the first place for the third year in a row using the call PG55G this time.

The recipe has been the same these three years: using an empty campground we set up wire antennas on Friday for 40, 80 and 160, adding a portable hexbeam on Saturday morning and then have radio fun for 24h using a well prepared plan constantly updated by live experiences of the band conditions. The two phone operators get a few hours of sleep while our poor cw operator only gets a few opportunities to nap when the phone operators are going.

We are always looking for improvements but this year the only upgrade was the coax we used (as we ran into problems with the coax we used last year). It gets harder and harder to squeeze out more while maintaining our field day concept. 

Tried and trusted hexbeam for 20m (and 2 QSO on 15m)

Preparing for a dxpedition to HB0

Last year May I went to LX with PD7YY and PG8M for a weekend to activate 7 different LXFF nature reserves. With the help of the LXFF coordinator we managed to get hold of a nice special call LX44FF.

Perfect conditions @LX in 2017

We were blessed with perfect weather and some Es conditions on 20m. We had a great time that weekend and managed to log far more contacts than we anticipated. We were thinking along the lines of the PACC contest (24h) - 1700 QSO or so - but we ended up with over 2100 QSOs. 

With this experience we of course discussed going on tour again this year. Moving up the DXCC wanted list we considered Bouvet for a moment and had a good look at Scarborough Reef but settled for Liechtenstein.

Picture of the hotel in HB0 - I hope the weather will be like that for us

We will be staying up in the mountains in a nice looking hotel - an upgrade from the caravan we occupied last year - and we will have a bit more time as we are traveling on Friday and Monday. The weather is a big unknown as are the conditions. In general the conditions on HF are poor but that was the case last year as well. We can only hope we will have some Es conditions (bringing a 2m and 6m antenna just in case). Then there is the influence of the mountains that will be a new one for us. Some of the locations we will be active from are on a mountain side. That will undoubtedly influence the signals in some directions.

HB0 is very strict in giving out callsigns so we will not have the benefit we had in LX of a nice short special call. Instead we will be using HB0/PG8M and HB0/PH0NO (switching between those when we move from park to park). Like last time we will be making special awards available for our chasers (details here: http://www.ynomy.nl/2018/03/ynomy-goes-hb0-wwff-expedition.html)

Preparations are ongoing. Several ham radio news sites / letters have been informed and we are checking and completing our gear. We will be taking three radios (one specifically for VHF) with batteries for one day and a whole bunch of different antennas including end fed wires, dipoles, a hexbeam and a VHF yagi with the necessary masts. We will have one mobile amplifier for the HF phone station with its own fat battery.

Now we will have to figure out how to fit all of that and three operators in one car...