Sunday, December 27, 2009

Crossing the pond again with the PRC-320 (N2RRA)

Yesterday I crossed the Atlantinc again with the PRC-320 in the 20m band. As you can see in the picture, it was already twilight and I was also using the 4m-long whip. I got a signal report of 41 that later improved to 51. This was probably because I rushed to answer N2RRA's CQ call and did not have much time to fine tune his signal.
N2RAA (operator Eric) from Queens, New York, was broadcasting the QSO live on the internet. You can see his webcam at http://www.qrz.com/callsign/N2RRA and also visit his website at http://www.n2rrany.com/.

The country no. 63: United Arab Emirates (A61BK)

I have just received the eQSL for a QSO on the 15m band that I made when operating maritime mobile. It was with A61BK in Dubai. I was amazed how well the FC-40 antenna tuner worked that I decided to install one in mt car as well.
Dubái o el Emirato de Dubái (en árabe: إمارة دبيّ; el nombre "Dubái" no tiene ningún significado en árabe, pero en hindi significa "Dos Hermanos"[cita requerida]) es uno de los siete emiratos que integran desde 1971 los Emiratos Árabes Unidos. Posee 4.114 km² y su población asciende a 2.262.000 habitantes (2008).[2]
La ciudad de Dubái es famosa por sus cientos de atracciones turísticas y su gran zona de rascacielos, entre ellos el Burj Dubai, y bloques de edificios en Sheikh Zayed Road, situada en el distrito financiero de Dubái.

Friday, December 25, 2009

Crossing the pond with the PRC-320

Today I crossed the Atlantic for the first time with my PRC-320. It was a QSO on the 20m band with W1/GI0MPT (Eamonn) from Massachusetts. He gave me a 55 report.
I was using the transceiver at full power with the 1.1mAh battery and a 4m-long military whip antenna. I do not have the exact reference of the antenna, but on the bag it says it is property of the NVA (National People's Army of the German Democratic Republic).
This is my default antenna at the moment. It works well with the Yaesu FT-857D and the FC-40 autotuner.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Tests with a new mic element

Today I have been doing some tests with a new mic element, with the help of Julio (EA1UP) and Ernesto (EA1LQ). I was in a car park with the righ on my car and the 2.4m manpack antenna. I threw a wire on the grouund as a counterpoise.
Julio reported a big improvement in the readability of my signal in 20m SSB with the new mic. It was sligtly larger than the original (I had to file the plastic case on the sides for it to fit) and had a greater impedance (600 ohm as compared to the original 300 ohm). I think Ernesto has found a smaller 300ohm piece so we will have to give it a try.
I also tested the setup (2.4m whip, wire counterpoise, high power setting) in a QSO with IW9HIK, who gave me a signal report of 59. The picture is courtesy of Anca (YO8SOY).

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

The right paint for Clansman radio equipment

I have just received some pictures from a friend in Belgium who is getting ready for painting his newly arrived PRC-320. He got the exact clansman paint colour (deep bronze green) from a UK dealer. For those interested, the exact details are:
AESP 0200-A-221-013 Painting of Service Equipment Chap 3, Serial No. 22, Clansman equipments
Primer: H1/8010-99-224-2079 Paint, priming epoxide, air drying. Paint finishing: H1/8010-99-224-8663 Paint, finishing, matt deep bronze green, polyurethane, air drying.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Guglielmo Marconi Nobel Prize Special Event (IY7NGM/P)

On Saturday I tested the PRC-320 on 20m with the 2.4m whip and the mic element outside of the handset's case. It is a noise cancelling mic that is used in the boom microphones of the Clansman headset, and I do not think it fits inside the handset, because the latter is not open on the back to allow the noise cancelling feature to work properly. I will have to find out more about this.
I made a short QSO with IY7NGM/P, a special event callsign to celebrate Marconi's Nobel Prize in Phisics one hundred years ago.

This is a video of IY7NGM/P last summer featuring a QSO with YO9APK.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Germany: The first country with the PRC320

This is my first eQSL with the PRC320, and also my first validly confirmed DXCC entity for my eDX award. If you remember, Rainer made a recording of the PRC320 to let me know a tittle bit more about its modulation.
I have done some further research on this issue, and I will keep you updated.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

PRC-320 Video


I do not have much information about this video. It could be a Romanian station received in the UK on the 20m band.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

From Ireland to Copenhagen

Today I made a QSO with EI9JU (operator Gerry) from Ireland, and he sent me his eQSL right away. This means the country number 62 from the 100 I need for my eDX100 award.
Today I also made a QSO with 5P15COP, a special event station for the big United Nations "Copenhagen Climate Change Conference". The operation takes place from EU-029 Zealand Island (Denmark), where the big Climate Change Conference takes place. Everyone is welcome to read more about the project at http://www.5p15cop.dk/ where you can also read about their QSL and awards.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Sunny morning with the Clansman PRC320

Today I made two and a half QSOs with the PRC320, all of them in SSB on the 20m band. I say "two and a half" because I am not sure that EN500I (a special event station from Ukraine) got my callsign right.
The other two QSOs were with I0IFO (operator Luciano from Tivoli) and YO2UU (operator Dori from Arad). In the latter case I felt a bit sorry for the short QSO due to the harsh modulation of the PRC320 and the need to save battery power, so I called him again afterwards with the Yaesu FT-857D.
The antenna I used in those cases was the 5.5m whip that I have in my car, but I am not very satisfied with it because it falls outside the normal range of the internal antenna tuning unit of the RT320 transceiver. I will have to find a different antenna setup because 20m is one of my favourite bands.

Grand Cayman (ZF2AH)

Last night I decided to try the antenna tuner on the lower bands and I made a lot of QSOs. One of them was in CW on 30m with ZF2AH from Grad Cayman.
Grand Cayman is the largest of the three Cayman Islands at about 196 km2 and contains the capital George Town. Towns on the island are referred to as "districts".
The island is a high-lying reef of "ironshore" (limestone fringes with numerous marine fossils), with a highest elevation of roughly 24 metres above sea level. There is no natural fresh water on the island, so any fresh water needs must be met by catchments or desalination of seawater. The lack of rivers does however account for the exceptional clarity of the sea.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Martinique (TO1BT)

Today I visited my friend Ernesto (EA1LQ) and he showed me his radio station. We heard CO8YL on the 20m band so we tried to make the QSO, without much luck, and I thought I could be luckier with the vertical antenna on my car.
I tried a couple of times without success so I decided to look for other stations on the band. The first QSO was with Slovenia and the second one was a real surprise: TO1BT from Martinique.
Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It is an overseas department of France. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados. As part of France, Martinique is part of the European Union, and its currency is the euro. Its official language is French, although many of its inhabitants also speak Antillean Creole (Créole Martiniquais) and Modern English. Martinique is pictured on all euro banknotes, on the reverse at the bottom of each note, right of the Greek ΕΥΡΩ (EURO) next to the denomination.
Fernando (EA1BT) will be active from Martinique as TO1BT from 8 to 15 December. His former DX-peditions include Sahara (S09A), Mauritania (5T6BT), Nicaragua (YN2BT) and Western Sahara (S07EA).

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Greece: The country number 61

I have just received the eQSL from SV7LWV (Giorgos), which represents country number 61 validly confirmed for my eDX award.
The case of Greece is a funny one. I had it already confirmed but I noticed that the only valid eQSL that I had from that country really corresponded to the DXCC entity Crete not Greece, so I contacted the eQSL staff to check it out. Some days after they told me that they had contacted the callsign owner and they verified that it did correspond to Crete, so they corrected the information. Because I already had Crete on the list, as a result of the correction I had one country less.
That is why I can celebrate it again as the country number 61. Thanks to Giorgos for the QSO and the nice picture.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

PRC-320 transmitted audio recorded in Germany

I finally got an audio recording of my PRC-320, thanks to Rainer (DG7LAL). In this case I was using the two extra sections that make up a 5.5m long whip antenna. Again with full power and the 1.1Ah battery.

It seems that everything is OK. You cannot ask more from a rig like this. I am really satisfied with the result, which encourages me to undertake further field tests. I will keep you updated.

First SSB QSO with the PRC-320

Today I had my first QSO in SSB with the PRC-320. It was on the 20m band with the 2.4m whip and using my car as a counterpoise. I was running 30W from the 1.1Ah battery.
The QSO was with IW0UII in Sardinia and I got a signal report of 55.
Here you can see a picture of the PRC-320 whip antenna on my car. On the right side you can see two extra antenna sections that I did not use this time. The day was very rainy, as you can see.

Friday, December 4, 2009

First QSO with my PRC-320

Today I made my first DX QSO with my PRC-320. It was on the 20-meter band in CW with DK3FT/M (operator Hardy, from near Frankfurt). He gave me a 549, although there was some qsb later. I heard him great with the 250Hz CW filter on the PRC-320.
I used the high power setting (nominal 30W) and the standard 2.4-meter-long whip antenna, and the handset pressel as a CW keyer. I also used a single 10-meter-long isolated cable lying on the ground as a counterpoise.
I just checked the web and there are some videos of portable and QRP stations making QSOs with Hardy. He must be a really good operator.
I wish this is the first of many more QSOs with my PRC-320. Thanks a lot for the QSO and all the effort, Hardy, and best DX!

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Santa Claus Land (OH9SCL)

Today I made a QSO on the 17-meter band with OH9SCL (operator Juha) from Santa Claus Land in Finland, in the Arctic Circle.
Santa's own amateur radio station OH9SCL has been busy since December 1986, operating in Finnish Lappland in the arctic circle. The North of the country is well-known as Santa Claus Land. Most of the activity takes place in December, operated by local radio amateurs helped by visitor operators. The picture above with the map shows the original QSL card from 1986.
Here you have a video of Santa's village near Rovaniemi. Claimed to be the residence of Santa Claus, Santa Claus Village and Santapark are located 8 km north of the centre.
Rovaniemi is also home to the world's most northern branch of McDonald's. This reminds me of Hesburger, which is the restaurant chain that ruled the burger market in Finland when I was an exchange student in Turku long ago.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

PRC-320 on a spectrum analyzer

Today I went with Ernesto (EA1LQ) to do some testing in order to get the PRC-320 ready for the international Naval Contest.
I got some pictures of the RF output on a spectrum analyzer.
The first picture is CW on 10.0000Mhz with a 10Mhz span. It shows two spurious signals 3.5 Mhz above and below the main signal. These two peaks bacame slightly smaller as the transmission progressed and did not seem particularly worrying, as they appear to be consistent with the service manual specs. They are 40dB below the main signal, so if we assume that the PRC-320 transmits the main signal at its nominal power of 30W, then the spurious signal would be in the range of 3mW. If we are thinking in terms of signal strength, 40 dB represent between 6 and 7 s-meter units.
But we were mainly concerned about the modulation in USB so we analyzed the output in that mode, and the result is presented in the second picture. We used the FM noise from a TV set as an AF generator. We were mainly concerned about the peak that was there, very pronounced, even when we covered the mic. What do you think about it?
One of therese days I will take the PRC-320 to a mountain top near the city and ask some fellow hams to make recordings of the received signal.

Alexandroupolis, Greece (SV7LWV)

Today I had a QSO on the 20-meter band with SV7LWV (George), who was operating from his uncle's station (SV7CFP) in Alexandroupolis. I still have some RFI in my car when I operate at full power (100W) on the 20m band.
Alexandroupoli is about 14.5 km (9 miles) west of the delta of the river Evros, 40 km from the border with Turkey, 300 km (186 mi) from Thessaloniki on the newly constructed Egnatia highway, and 750 km (466 mi) from Athens. Around the city one finds small fishing villages like Makri and Dikela to the west, and suburban Antheia, Aristino, Nipsa, Loutra to the east, while north of the city are the ever closing Palagia, Abantas, Aissymi and Kirkas. At the 2001 census, the main city had a population of 48,885 and the municipality had a population of 52,720.
The city's history only goes back to the 19th century. Long used as a landing ground for fishermen from the coast of Samothrace opposite, the location was known as Dedeagatch, meaning "tree of the grandfather" (the word dede means "grandfather" and the word ağaç means "tree" in Turkish). The name was based on a local tradition of a wise dervish having spent much of his time in the shade of a local tree and being eventually buried beside it.
A small settlement developed in the area during the construction of a railway line connecting Istanbul to the major cities of Macedonia from Kuleliburgaz. The work was part of an effort to modernise the Ottoman Empire, and was assigned to engineers from Austria-Hungary. The settlement soon grew into a fishing village, which also used the name Dedeagatch.

International Naval Contest 2009

December 12th and 13th are the dates for the International Naval Contest 2009 - sponsored by the Portuguese Navy Hamradio Club - NRA. This Great Naval Contest takes place every year on the second weekend of December. This year, NRA (Portuguese Navy Hamradio Club) will be organising the International Naval Contest. When: Saturday 12 Dec. 2009 16:00 UTC until Sunday 13 Dec. 2009 15:59 UTC.
Bands: 3.5 - 7 - 14 - 21 - 28 MHz.
Mode: CW-SSB-Mixed.
Exchange:
1. Naval Club Member: RST + CLUB + MEMBERSHIP NUMBER (eg. "599 PN007").
2. Non Naval Club Member: RST + NUMBER (eg. "599 001").
Points:
1. Naval Club Members: 10 Points.
2. Non Naval Club Members: 1 Point.
Multipliers:
1. Every contacted and logged member of a participating Naval Club.
2. Every Naval station only counted once as multiplier during the contest regardless of the number of bands you work them on.
Note: Participation in contest only as member of one club, do not use different club membership numbers.
Score: Total QSO points x Multipliers.
Classes: A = All band mixed mode (single op); B = All band CW (single op); C = All band SSB (single op); D = All band SWL; E = Naval-Club-Station (multi op); F = Non Naval.
Trophys and awards: First winner of each class plus one more special trophy to the winner of most participated category. The goal of this trophy is to increase participation. A Special Award will be presented tothe first five classified stations of each class.
Logs: All electronic Logs are to use formats: Cabrillo, Word or Excel. Each Log is to be titled with the Contest Station Call Sign.
Having into consideration that there could be a large number of Old Men who don't use computers, we will accept handwritten paper Logs.
The summary sheet is to have "FAIR PLAY STATEMENT" stating that contest rules and general amateur rules have been applied during operation. All handwritten paper Logs are to be forwarded to:NRA - Núcleo Radioamadores da ArmadaInternational Naval ContestATTN: Contest ManagerETNA - Base Naval de Lisboa - ALFEITE 2810-001 Almada PORTUGAL Electronic Logs are to be addressed to:E-Mail: inc.contest09@nra.pt February 1st, 2010 is the deadline to receive either electronic or handwritten Contest Logs.
Participant Clubs:
ANARS Australian Naval Amateur Radio Society AX
BMARS Belgian Maritime Amateur Radio Society BM
MFCA Marine Funker Club Austria CA
FNARS Finish Naval Amateur Radio Society FN
INORC Italian Navy Old Rhythmers Club IN
MARAC Marine Amateur Radio Club Netherlands MA
MF Marinefunker-Runde e.V. MF
ARMI Associazione Radioamatori Marinai Italiani MI
RNARS Royal Naval Amateur Radio Society RN
YO-MARC Romanian Marine Radio Amateur Club YO
NRA Núcleo de Radio Amadores da Armada Portugal PN

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Tinny sound on a PRC-320?

In the tests I have done with the PRC-320 so far, I have got repports of weird modulation as if the audio sounded tinny.
I have consulted this issue with the fellows at the hfpack yahoo group and I got very interesting replies. I will quote a brief extract of the reply by Mark Francis (KIoPF), who is an authority in military radio equipment:

The human male voice develops audio energy from nearly zero cps in the bass to way up there in the multi-thousand cps region in the sibilants ("S"-sounds).
But audio engineers long ago determined that the most important range for effective communication was around 300 - 3000 cps. The initial research was done for telephone lines, but it was quickly found that the same specs were good for AM voice transmission, then SSB.
Furthermore, it has been demonstrated over and over that in really noisy, bad propo conditions on the HF bands (like what we have now, although it's getting better), pretty much any audio energy developed below 500-600 cps is wasted - it gets lost in the noise.
On a packset you have two big strikes against you to start with -- low power and often marginal antenna systems. You need every advantage you can get! Modern military packset designers have realized this and have usually designed their audio to really light up in the 600-3000cps region, then on top of that have included heavy-duty speech processing to enhance the mids and highs even more.
You PRC-2000 owners will know what I'm talking about. That set has the best audio for cutting through noise I've ever heard. But it'll drive the so-called "hi-fi SSBers" absolutely bonkers.
On my PRC-1099s I know to be working to spec, I've had people tell me my filters are bad, the audio is kaput, or I'm off-frequency. This last is because they erroneously interpret the "tinny" sound, as you call it, to the radio being off-frequency, instead of actually listening for the real indications of an off-freek SSB signal.

Mark Francis (KI0PF) is the author of Mil Spec Radio Gear Volume 2 available direct from the author (signed, on request) and from Universal Radio, Fair Radio and Electric Radio. $29 cash/check/M.O. or $30.17 via Paypal, when ordereddirect from KI0PF & shipped to the U.S. (foreign buyers please contact him). See: www.mmfrancis.com/MSRG2/MSRG2.pdf. Volume 1 is still available from CQ, Universal Radio, and Amazon.

Asiatic Russia (RX9FM)

I have just received the eQSL from RX9FM (Vlad from Perm, Russia) for the QSO I made last week with a 4-meter-long verical antenna in my car.
Today I have discussing with a colleague (EA3YK) about the convenience of the eQSL system. The fear we have is based on the personalim of the project, and what would happen if the author was no longer able or willing to continue with it. I told him that eQSL has such a magnitude nowadays that there would be some serious firm willing to buy the existing databases to continue the business, but my colleague was not so optimistic.

Monday, November 30, 2009

PRC-320 refurbishment (first coat)

These is a picture of the PRC-320 after the first coat of paint. In the next coat I will try to adjust the tone and use an addtitive to get a matt finish.
Today I have continued the tests with the help of my colleague Antonio (EB1AAL). We measured output power which was slightly more than 20Watts with a rather discharged battery. Ernesto (EA1LQ) was also ready to help and gave us some reports on the modulation. He said that it sounded rather tinny, which is an ususual feature of military transceivers, I have heard.

Missouri from a car park (AB0RJ)

Yesterday I had a quick QSO with Miles (AB0RJ) from Missouri, USA, on the 17m band with my long whip antenna while I was waiting on a car park. Although the signal was strong, the noise level was equally strong so I had to keep the QSO as short as possible. Last night I received his eQSL card, which has a really cool design. Miles, thanks for the qso and hope to see you soon with better conditions.
I have also been in contact with Bob (WB2ICQ), who sold me the stainless spring and quick disconnects that I use with my antenna, because we would like to set a sked for a CW QSO on 40m. That would be a great opportunity to test his rain gutter antenna and my recently acquired antenna parts (including my Yaesu FC-40 auto tuner).

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Kazakhstan (UN7MMM)

I have just received this nice eQSL from Valery in Kazakhstan for the 17m QSO we had a couple of days ago.
I have had several QSOs with him in the past, one of which with the YO/EC1CW callsign, when I was working portable from Suceava, Romania.

Friday, November 27, 2009

PRC-320 refurbishment

This is a picture of the RT320 transceiver after sanding. Today I gave it a first coat of paint, and I will try to show some pictures tomorrow. I got the color from a local paint manufacturer and distributor called Juno. They can reproduce virtually any color with a computer aided procedure called Junomatic. The color I chose is a sort of olive drab.

ON7LB: QRP in CW

The other day I went to the Buro to collect my qsl cards and amongst them I found this interesting one from the QRP station ON7LB, which operates in CW only, in this case with 4Watts and a G5RV antenna.
Although the QSO in question was not portable, the card shows a very interesting setup for portable operation. Certainly it is lighter than the PRC-320.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Asia in 17 meters with a mobile whip

Today I made a couple of QSOs with my mobile whip. One of them with the collegue Valery (UN7MMM) from Kazakhstan, with whom I have made several contacts in the past, in different bands.
The other QSO was with RX9FM (operator Vlad) from the city of Perm. From the prefix one would say that Perm is in the Asiatic part of Russia, although this is not completely clear.
Perm is a city and the administrative center of Perm Krai. It is situated on the banks of the Kama River, in the European part of Russia near the Ural Mountains. Perm's 2007 estimated population was 990,200 [3], down from 1,090,944 recorded in the 1989 Census. Perm is served by Bolshoye Savino Airport and hosts Bakharevka air base.
The word "Perm" is probably Komi or Veps in origin. "Parma" is translated from Komi-Permyak language as a hilly place, covered with woods. Alternately, the name may originate from the Veps term "Pera maa" or "Perama" (distant land in English).
The city of Perm is located on the bank of the Kama River upon hilly terrain. The Kama is the main tributary of the Volga River and the one of the deepest and most picturesque rivers of Russia. This river is the waterway which grants the Urals access to the White Sea, Baltic Sea, Sea of Azov, Black Sea, and Caspian Sea. Kama divides the city into two parts, the central part and the right bank part, and it stretches for 70 km along the Kama and 40 km across it. The city street grid parallels the Kama River, travelling generally east-west, while other main streets run perpendicularly to those following the river. The grid pattern accommodates the hills of the city where it crosses them.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Oceania: The sixth continent

I got the eQSL of the colleague Syarif YC1FWO from Indonesia, who has just joined eQSL and received his Authenticity Guaranteed (AG) status. This represents a new country and CQ zone, as well as a new continent for my list.
I made this QSO last Sunday with an FT-990 and a Butternut ground plane antenna from my summer QTH.

Monday, November 23, 2009

PRC-320 counterpoise system

Somewhere I read that the PRC-320 has a very good antenna tuner that will tune almost anything, but especially if you are using the 2.4m whip it is very important to have a good counterpoise, unless you want to talk to yourself.
Today I received my brand new counterpoise system that I plan on using the next time. You can see it on the picture.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

No luck with the PRC-320

I still haven't managed to make any DX with my PRC-320. The propagation was good because I could hear an Australian station from Perth on 18Mhz. Next time I will try with a better counterpoise as so far I have only used a 10-meter wire. If necessary I will also try a longer whip or a long wire antenna.
From my car I made a couple of QSOs with SV9 (Crete) stations. In the picture is John Papadakis (SV9CJO) with his Yaesu FT-2000.
Crete is the largest of the Greek islands and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece; while it retains its own local cultural traits (such as its own music and dialect), Cretans identify themselves as Greeks. Heraklion is the largest city and capital of Crete.
Crete was the centre of the Minoan civilization (circa 2600–1454 BC), the oldest Greek civilization. The island is the location of significant ancient history, which provides popular modern day tourist destinations. They include the Minoan sites of Knossos and Phaistos, the classical site of Gortys, the Venetian old city and port of Chania, the Venetian castle at Rethymno and the Samaria Gorge. The Nikos Kazantzakis International Airport is located just outside Heraklion.
For centuries, Crete was known by its Italian name Candia, from the medieval name of Heraklion, Chandax (Greek: Χάνδαξ or Χάνδακας, "moat", Turkish: Kandiye). In Classical Latin it was called Creta and in Turkish Girit.

Fishing rod antenna

This is a video I recorded some months ago, with a quarter-wave fishing rod antenna and my car as a counterpoise. Today I managed to upload it.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Solar powered PRC-320

On Tuesday I made the first tests with my recently arrived PRC-320. As the battery was empty, I had a hard time with the hand crank generator, and was hardly able to transmit.
But today was sunny so I decided to try my briefcase solar generator, which was initially designed for charging 12V batteries, but I adapted for 24V by connecting the two panels in series. The result couldn't have been better.
A few hours charging in the morning gave me enough energy to operate in the afternoon and test the rig properly. I made local CW and SSB QSOs on 7, 14, 21 and 28Mhz with EA1AQ/MM.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

A Yankee Sunday

This Sunday was a Yankee day for me as far as ham radio is concerned, and not because I have made many QSOs with the United States. The main reason is that the three QSOs of the day were with stations whose callsigns started with Y, namely YO8THG, YL3FT, and YC1FWO.
I was driving to a house my father has in the countryside just in order to collect a solar power generator that I intend to use with my Clansman PRC-320. A fellow ham (Ernesto, EA1LQ) convinced me to switch on my station in the house and try my favourite band (15m) on both SSB and CW. He looked at the cluster and told me that some Indonesian stations had been spotted on that band.
YO8THG (Geo) from Bacau was the first contact. As he was only working with 100W in SSB, this QSO gave me an idea that the propagation was not bad at all. Then I decided to move to CW and made a QSO with the fellow Yuris (YL3FT).
But the achievement of the day was a QSO with the station YC1FWO from Indonesia (operator Syarif ). I had to wait for quite a bit on the pile-up but it finally paid out. 13,000km is a good record.
Syarif graduated from Padjadjaran University Bandung in 1990. In 1997 he got a Master's degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC). Now he is working as a govt employee and sometimes teaching Economics in a university.
He became a member of Indonesian amateur Radio in 1983 (when he was in a high school) and since then he has been active on the air.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Senegal

Last Saturday I made three brief qso's from my car, all of them in 15m with a 4m-long whip antenna. Two of them with South America (Uruguay and Brazil) and another one with Senegal (6V7S).
Senegal is a country south of the Sénégal River in western Africa. Senegal is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Mauritania to the north, Mali to the east, and Guinea and Guinea-Bissau to the south, and it also encircles The Gambia on its three sides, except that of the Atlantic Ocean.[4]
Its size is almost 197,000 km² with an estimated population of about 12.5 million. Dakar is the capital city of Senegal, located on the Cape Verde Peninsula on the country's Atlantic coast.
Archaeological findings throughout the area indicate that Senegal was inhabited in prehistoric times.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

The Gambia: the country number 60

I have also received an eQSL from a QSO with the colleague André (C56YK) on 15m. The Gambia represents country number 60 for my eDX100 award.
The Gambia (officially the Republic of The Gambia), commonly known as Gambia, is a country in Western Africa. The Gambia is the smallest country on mainland Africa, bordered to the north, east, and south by Senegal, and has a small coast on the Atlantic Ocean in the west.
Its borders roughly correspond to the path of the Gambia River, the nation's namesake, which flows through the country's center and empties into the Atlantic Ocean. Its size is almost 10,500 km² with an estimated population of 1,700,000.
On 18 February 1965, Gambia was granted independence from the United Kingdom and joined The Commonwealth. Banjul is Gambia's capital, but the largest conurbation is Serrekunda.

Yesilkoy Lighthouse: YC1YLH

I have just received this nice eQSL from a short SSB QSO with Yesilkoy Lighthouse in Istambul, Turkey. This represents my country no. 59 validly confirmed via eQSL.
Yeşilköy (prior to 1926 known as San Stefano or Santo Stefano from the Greek: Άγιος Στέφανος pronounced Ayos Stefanos, rendered in Turkish as Ayastefanos, Bulgarian: Сан Стефано) is a part of the Bakırköy district of Istanbul, Turkey. It is located along the Marmara Sea about 11 kilometres west of Istanbul's historic city centre. Before the rapid increase of Istanbul's population in the 1970s, Yeşilköy was merely a village and a sea resort.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Clansman PRC-320

I have just ordered a Clansman PRC-320 from England. I am looking forward to receiving it.
I also ordered a hand crank generator. I plan on using the set on the amateur bands so I will keep you informed.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Yaesu FC-40 móvil

Acabo de hacerme con un acoplador automático Yaesu FC-40 y lo estoy probando en el coche con una antena de militar de 2,5 metros.
Hoy hice un contacto con Polonia y otro con Estonia, los dos en la banda de 18 Mhz.
Por cierto, me ha confirmado también Georgia, con lo que ya van 58 países.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Grecia: ¿el país número 50?

Hoy me llegó la eQSL del amigo SV9DJO, de Creta. En eQSL me aparece como Grecia en lugar de Creta, pero puede tratarse de un error, y Creta ya lo tenóia, así que todavía no me hago muchas ilusiones.
Georgios estudió ingeniería de radiocomunicaciones en la Universidad Técnica de Sofía, Bulgaria y luego un másteer en la Universidad de Portsmouth.
Creta (en griego Κρήτη / Kriti) es una isla situada en el mar Egeo, la isla más grande de Grecia y la quinta en tamaño del mar Mediterráneo, también conocida hasta inicios del siglo XX con el nombre de Candia topónimo deriva del latín candidus (blanco) que le fue dado durante el medioevo inicialmente por los marinos y comerciantes italianos por la blancura de su tierra era llamada "cándida".
Otros contactos del jueves fueron Georgia, Gabón, las Malvinas y Turquía.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Túnez y la Guerra de las Galaxias

Hoy hice un contacto con la estación 3V8SM (operador Thierry) de la Isla Djerba de Túnez. Poco más tarde hizo también el contacto Anca (YO8SOY), en este caso ya estaba al freente de la estación otro operador (Tahar).
Djerba, también conocida como Jerba o Yerba (جربة en árabe), es una isla del norte de África perteneciente a Túnez, de 514 km² de superficie. Está situada en el golfo de Gabés, frente a las costas de ese país norteafricano. Se trata de la mayor isla del norte de África. Su ciudad más importante es Houmt Souk —Souk significa zoco o mercado—, destino turístico que cuenta con ruinas de la dinastía aglabí. Una cantidad no despreciable de turistas llega a Djerba por ser el escenario del rodaje de Star Wars, concretamente del desértico planeta Tatooine, nido de piratas y contrabandistas.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Namibia por partida doble

El jueves fue un buen dia en términos de contactos, con la nueva antena vertical de 5 metros para el coche. Los QSOs más destacados fueron con dos colegas de Namibia, V51PP (Pierre) y V51LZ (Andre), en la banda de 20 metros, con una señal estupenda.
Walvis Bay (Afrikaans: Walvisbaai, significa "Bahía Ballena") es una ciudad de Namibia con una población de unos 65.000 habitantes. La ciudad está enclavada en la bahía del mismo nombre, al oeste del país. La bahía ha sido un refugio para buques de mar debido a su puerto de profundidades naturales, protegido por una lengua de arena de Punta Pelícano. Siendo rico en plancton y vida marítima, estas aguas acercaron grandes números de ballenas que atrajeron barcos balleneros y buques de pesca. Una sucesión de colonos explotó la posición y recursos de este establecimiento portuario estratégico. El valor del puerto con relación a la ruta de mar alrededor del Cabo de Buena Esperanza había llamado la atención de las potencias mundiales desde que fue descubierto. Este explica el complicado estatus político de la Bahía Walvis a lo largo de los años. La ciudad está al final del Ferrocarril Trans-Namib a Windhoek, y en el camino B2. Las atracciones de la Bahía de Walvis incluyen la artificial Isla Bird, el centro de una industria de recolección de guano, la Duna 7 duna de arena, y un museo. En Walvis Bay también podemos encontrar unas impresionantes minas de sal marina así como varias empresas relacionadas con la pesca.
Anca (YO8SOY) también hizo un contacto con la estación rumana YO2MIL (operador Eugen).

Monday, March 16, 2009

Sudáfrica, de YL a YL

El domingo fuimos a la aldea y allí sustituimos la caña de pescar por una polea colgada de un laurel. La verdad es que se nos dio bien la cosa y hasta Anca (YO8SOY) se apuntó un buen cotacto con otra colega YL de Sudáfrica, de nombre Colette (ZR2CR), que operaba tan sólo con 85W desde Port Elizabeth, y se escuchaba de maravilla.
La ciudad fue fundada en 1820 por Sir Rufane Donkin, el gobernador de la Colonia del Cabo, y fue habitada inicialmente con 4.000 británicos. Debe su nombre a la esposa de su fundador, y no a Elizabeth I como muchos creen.
Los británicos construyeron un campo de concentración aquí durante la Segunda Guerra Anglo-Bóer para alojar a mujeres y niños bóers.
Anca le dijo a Colette que apenas estaba empezando, que este era su quinto contacto y, claro, la dejó maravillada, porque no ocurre todos los dias que tu quinto contácto sea con el estremo de África, a 9.200 km de distancia.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Nova Gorica

Hoy hice un contaacto con la estación S51ZZ (operador Vojko) de Nova Gorica. Era mi tercer contacto con el amigo Vojko, al que siempre oigo con una señal extraordinaria.
Nova Gorica (población: 13.852 (pueblo); 22.000 (incl. alrededores); 31.000 (municipalidad)) es un pueblo y una municipalidad en el oeste de Eslovenia, junto a la frontera norte italiana. Nova Gorica es un pueblo reciente, fundado en 1948, cuando el tratado de paz con Italia en 1947 acordó una nueva frontera entre Yugoslavia e Italia, dejando a la ciudad de Gorizia fuera de los límites de Yugoslavia y por lo tanto separando la zona del valle inferior del Vipava de su centro regional. Nova Gorica es el principal centro urbano de la región de Goriška en el litoral esloveno.
Hoy también hice un cotacto con Marco (PY1SX) de Rio de Janeiro. Anca, por su parte, hizo un contacto en la banda de 15m con la estación VP8LP (operador Bob) de las Islas Malvinas.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

De Indonesia a las Malvinas

Hoy fue un buen día en cuestión de DX puesto que me apunté dos buenos contactos, ambos en la banda de 15 metros. El primero fue con la estación YC1LA (operador Hen) de Bandung, Indonesia. Este supone mi primer contacto con Oceanía con el nuevo indicativo, aunque no me me reportará por ahora el punto del nuevo país ya que todavía no tiene garantía de autenticidad en eQSL. La distancia: 12.631 km.
Bandung es la capital de la provincia indonesia de Java occidental y la cuarta ciudad más grande de Indonesia con 2.510.982 habitantes. Está situada a 768 metros (2520 pies) sobre el nivel del mar.
Los colonos holandeses crearon plantaciones de alrededor de las montañas en el siglo XVIII, enseguida empezaron la construcción de una carretera que conectaba las zonas de plantación con capital (180 kilómetros al noroeste). Los habitantes de origen europeo de la ciudad, exigiieron la creación de un municipio, que se concedió en 1906 y Bandung fue desarrolladose gradualmente. Se construyeron lujosos hoteles, restaurantes, cafés y abrieron tiendas para la poblacion europea.
El segundo fue con la estación VP8LP (operador Bob) de las Islas Malvinas. Este país no es nuevo, pero sí espero que me suponga un nuevo tanto para el eDX100. La distancia: 11.592 km.
Otros contactos del día fueron la República de Georgia, la República de Moldavia y Argelia, todos en la banda de 20m. En esa misma banda también hizo Anca (EA1/YO8SOY) un contacto con Croacia.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Haciendo honor a mi indicativo

Hoy subí al Monte de San Pedro antes de comer para hacer unos contactillos. Me encontré la banda de 20m totalmente abarrotada a causa de un consurso, así que decidí dar una vuelta por la franja de telegrafía.
Ahí hice unos pocos contactos con estaciones europeas y el que más me llamó la atención fue con una estación checa, OK1MRA/QRP, operada por Jirka desde Brod con tan sólo 1W. Eso sí que tiene mérito.
Havlickuv Brod es un pueblo de unos 25.000 habitantes en la región histórica de Bohemia.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Tailandia (HS0ZIN)

Hoy hice un contacto con la estación HS0ZIN (opreador Paul) de Pattaya, Tailandia.
Pattaya está situada en la costa este del golfo de Tailandia. Era un pequeño pueblo pesquero hasta los años 1960, en que fue descubierta por residentes de Bangkok. Desde entonces se convirtió en un destino turístico para militares de todo el sudeste asiático.
Hoy también hice sendos contactos en telegrafía con Gambia (C56ETF) y Creta (SV9BAI).
Otro contacto importante del día fue la estación 9H1VC (operador Jim) de Malta. Jim habla un español perfecto y está dado de alta en eQSL, así que también espero poder apuntarme un nuevo tanto con este contacto.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Pruebas en móvil con la ATAS-120A

Hoy por fin me animé a hacer algunas pruebas con la ATAS-120A en movimiento por carretera. Los resultados no pudieron ser mejores. Venía conmigo Juan Amado, que se encargaba de apuntar los QSO en el diario. En poco más de media hora hice contactos con Madeira (CT3/DJ6QT), Holanda, Bulgaria (LZ131GO) y Dinamarca, todos en la banda de 20m.
Por la tarde, ya en parado y con la caña de pescar, hice Costa de Marfil (TU5JD). Este país ofrece una gama variada de paisajes, desde la sabana desértica al norte hasta la selva virgen. El límite sur lo marcan extensas playas. Esta zona, más lluviosa, se caracteriza por las grandes plantaciones de productos de exportación: café, cacao y banana. En el norte el paisaje se ve conformado por una meseta granítica recubierta de sabanas. En esta área pequeños propietarios cultivan sorgo, maíz y maní.
A última hora hice también un par de contactos con estaciones de Ohio.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

De Cuba a Venezuela

Hoy fue un buen día en cuestión de contactos con la caña de pescar. Entre ellos cabe destacar la estación CO4LS (operador Jorge Luis) de la Isla de la Juventud.
La Isla de la Juventud es una isla caribeña, la segunda en extensión del archipiélago de Cuba con una extensión territorial de 3.056 km². Junto a más de 600 cayos e islotes, conforma el Archipiélago de los Canarreos, en la parte sur-occidental de Cuba, junto al Golfo de Batabanó, aproximadamente a 50 km de la isla de Cuba (162 km de La Habana).
Esta isla fue descubierta y bautizada como La Evangelista por Cristóbal Colón el 13 de junio de 1494 durante su segundo viaje al nuevo mundo. A través de los años se la ha conocido con distintos nombres como Isla de las cotorras, Colonia Reina Amalia, Isla de los Piratas, e incluso Isla del Tesoro; sus primeros habitantes la conocieron también como Siguanea, Camarcó y Guanaja. En el siglo XIX la metrópoli española decide su colonización, y se funda su capital, Nueva Gerona, el 17 de diciembre de 1830. En esta época se la conoció también como Isla de los Deportados y luego Isla de Pinos. Con este último nombre se la conoció hasta 1978, cuando fue nombrada Isla de la Juventud, debido a los miles de jóvenes de distintas partes del mundo y de varias provincias de Cuba que estudiaban en escuelas en el campo y trabajaban en las plantaciones de cítricos.
El otro gran logro de la noche fueron sendos contactos con las estaciones venezolanas YV5DSV (José Luis) y YV5BMN (Paco) a través de una rueda en la que también participaron otras estaciones venezolanas, canarias, portuguesas y coruñesas. De hecho, a la caza de los venezolanos los lanzamos en grupo EA1LQ (Ernesto), EA1UP (Julio) y un servidor, coordinados desde nuestra frecuencia local en 2 metros.
Otros contactos del día fueron Estonia, Rusia, Suiza, Noruega, Ucrania y Croacia. Este último contacto puede que represente un país más para el eDX100.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Rumanía (YO9APK)

Hoy tuve una agradable conversación con la estación YO9APK (operador Marcel) de Ploiesti, Rumanía. Primero lo escuché hablando con un francés que sabía rumano porque resulta que había vivido en Rumanía, así que cuando tuve la oportunidad lo llamé, y se llevó una gran sorpresa al ver que yo también le hablaba en la lengua de Eminescu.
Ploieşti es una ciudad en el distrito de Prahova, en Valaquia. Tiene una población de 232.452 habitantes y 60,06 km² de superficie. Ploieşti se encuentra 56 km al norte de Bucarest.
La ciudad fue fundada en 1596, durante el reino de Mihai Viteazul (Miguel el Valiente), y conoció en los siglos XVII y XVIII un desarrollo considerable como centro industrial y comercial. Gracias a sus recursos naturañes, en particular el petróleo, la zona recivió numerosas infraestructuras, como la carretera a Brasov o el ferrocarril.
La propagación no estaba mal del todo, lo que me permitió charlar un rato con él. Me contó que estaba trabajando con 300W y una antena vertical autoconstruida. Por la tarde, Anca (YO8SOY) me ayudó a introducir los contactos en eQSL.
El contacto más lejano del día fue con Siberia, y el que se resistió fue Malta, que en un momento dado dijo que se iba a desayunar, y ya no volvió a aparecer.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Southern Cross DX Net

Hoy fui a la aldea e hice un par de contactos antes de comer. Uno de ellos fue con un finlandés, a través de la Southern Cross DX Net, en la que ya había participado en un par de ocasiones con anterioridad. La red se reune todos los días de 1230 a 1400 UTC en 14.238.50 y está normalmente gestionada por Jack, W1FDY, siempre dispuesto a ayudar a conseguir los contactos. Las estaciones participantes por ahora no son especialmente exóticas, pero sí es cierto que gracias a ellos he conseguido un QSO con Colombia.
También estuve con EA1LQ y EA1AQ probando las antenas de móvil y analizando la antena de base, una Butternut que necesita un repaso. Desde el coche tuvimos la oportunidad de hacer un contacto con EA1UP (Julio) en 14 MHz, al que nos encontramos por casualidad cuando estaba probando una delta loop con una estación canaria.
Otros contactos del día fueron con Estados Unidos e Italia. Volví a escuchar a Indonesia, pero sin éxito por ahora.

Monday, February 23, 2009

De Madeira a Martinica

Por la mañana hice un contacto con la estación CT9L de Madeira y también un par de contactos con Suecia (uno de ellos en CW), país que aún no tengo confirmado por eQSL. También intenté hacer el contacto con la estación YB3OX de Indonesia, que se oía muy bien. Este qso me hubiese significado el WAC con mi nuevo indicativo, pero el pile-up que se formó lo hizo imposible.
Por la tarde tuve más suerte, aprovechando las últimas horas de propagación en la banda de 20m, pudiendo conseguir un contacto con la estación FM/KL7WA de Martinica. También hice sendos contactos con Brasil (PY6HD) y Argelia (7X5RS).
Otros contactos del día fueron Rusia, Estados Unidos, Italia, Croacia y Alemania (este último en CW).

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Turquía, Gabón y Argelia

Si bien ayer se me resistió el contacto con el norte de Chipre, hoy conseguí uno con Turquía, gracias a la amabilidad de TA1CX de Estambul, al que distraje un poco de su búsqueda de contactos franceses para el concurso de la REF.
También hice un contacto con la estación TR8CA de Gabón (operador Alain). Gabón es un país del oeste de África central. Limita con Guinea Ecuatorial, Camerún, la República del Congo y el Golfo de Guinea. El territorio de Gabón estuvo habitado por lo menos desde hace 9.000 años, tal cual lo evidencia la arqueología. Al parecer, la primera etnia presente en la zona fueron los pigmeos, que cierto tiempo después fueron seguidos por oleadas de diversas etnias, entre ellos los bantúes. Varios grupos bantúes vivieron en el área que ahora es Gabón cuando Francia la ocupó en 1885. En 1910, Gabón llegó a ser uno de los cuatro territorios del África Ecuatorial Francesa, una federación que sobrevivió hasta 1959. Estos territorios se hicieron independientes el 17 de agosto de 1960.
Con la estación 7X5JF (operador Moktar) de Biskra, en Argelia, estuve charlando un rato. Moktar habla un español perfecto que aprendión con tan sólo seis meses de estudio en Argel en 1986. Transmitía sólo con 80W y una antena vertical casera.
Otros contactos del día fueron olanda, Alemania, Italia y Estados Unidos.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Georgia (4L4WW)

Hoy fui hasta la aldea y monté la caña de pescar en el coche. Como de costumbre en los fines de semana, la banda de 20m estaba bastante frecuentada. Sin embargo, a pesar de los intentos, tuve que quedarme con un único contacto con la estación 4L4WW (operador Gia) de Georgia.
Georgia (en georgiano საქართველო, transliterado Sakartvelo) es un país transcontinental, a caballo entre Europa y Asia, localizado en la costa del Mar Negro, al sur del Cáucaso. Antigua república de la desaparecida Unión Soviética, comparte fronteras con Rusia al norte, y con Turquía, Armenia y Azerbaiyán al sur. Su ciudad capital es Tiflis (también conocida como Tbilisi).
El contacto que se me resistió fue AB1AB del norte de Chipre.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

De Siberia a Brasil

Hoy fue un día cargado de contactos. Por la mañana empecé fuerte, con un qso con la estación RZ9OW (operador Vlad) de Novosibirsk, la capital de Siberia.
Novosibírsk (ruso: Новосибирск) es la capital del óblast de Novosibirsk, y la tercera ciudad más grande de Rusia, después de Moscú y San Petersburgo. Con una población de 1.425.508 habitantes (según el censo de 2002), se encuentra al sudoeste del Distrito Federal Siberiano a 55°01′N 82°56′E / 55.017, 82.933, a orillas del río Ob. Tiene la más grande estación de trenes a lo largo de la ruta del ferrocarril transiberiano, la mayor biblioteca de Siberia y el más grande teatro de ópera y ballet de toda Rusia (superando incluso al famoso Teatro Bolshói de Moscú). También se encuentra en Novosibírsk la Catedral de San Alejandro Nevski, considerada uno de los más finos ejemplos de la arquitectura de la iglesia ortodoxa rusa.
Poco después llegó un contacto con el otro extremo del mundo, PY2SEI (0perador Paulo) de cerca de Sao Paulo.
El día también estuvo repleto de islas, como Lampedusa (IG9/IW9ELR), Shetland (GM4SSA) y Orkney (MM3LQK). Lampedusa es la más grande de las islas del archipiélago de las Pelagias en el Mar mediterráneo. Se encuentra a 205 km de Sicilia y a 113 km de Túnez siendo el territorio italiano ubicado más al sur. Política y administrativamente pertenece a Italia, pero geográficamente pertenece a África ya que el lecho marino entre ambos no excede los 120 metros de profundidad. Los 20 km² de Lampedusa son áridos y sin fuentes de agua que no sean las irregulares lluvias. La isla tiene una población de 5500 personas que subsisten de la pesca, la agricultura y el turismo. Durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial la isla fue rápidamente invadida por fuerzas británicas durante la Operación Corkscrew.
Otros contactos del día fueron Kazajstán, Rusia (en CW), Canadá y Bulgaria. También repetí qso con Russell (CN2XW), que está de expedición en Marruecos.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

De Ammán a las Islas Feroe

Hoy hice contactos con la estación JY4CI (operador Rafiq) de Ammán, Jordania. A 45 minutos por carretera de la ciudad de Ammán se encuentra el lugar donde, según la tradición, Jesús fue bautizado en las aguas del río Jordán.
Poco después hice sendos contactos con la India (VU2SMN - Suhas) y las islas Feroe (OY9R - Otto). Las Islas Feroe (Føroyar en feroés, Færøerne en danés, lo que significa "Islas de corderos") son un grupo de islas en el Atlántico Norte, entre Escocia e Islandia. Estas islas son una región autónoma del Reino de Dinamarca autogobernada en todos los asuntos salvo defensa, relaciones exteriores y sistema legal.
También volví a contactar con Omán, en este caso con la estación A41MO de la capital Muscat, operada por Samir. Él transmitía con 1000W y una antena directiva, y se quedó maravillado por lo bien que funcionaba mi caña de pescar. Mascate (árabe: مسقط) es la mayor ciudad y capital del sultanato de Omán, situada a orillas del golfo de Omán. Tiene una población estimada de 909.635 habitantes en su área metropolitana para 2006 . Fue una posesión portuguesa entre 1507 a 1580 y 1640 a 1650, de España entre 1580 y 1640 y es una de las más antiguas ciudades del Medio Oriente.
También hice contactos con Italia, Croacia, Louisiana.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

De Marruecos a Groenlandia

Esta mañana hice un contacto con Marruecos (CN2XW). Fue un contacto rápido pero más tarde averigüé navegando en internet que Russell estará en Marruecos de 13 al 23 de febrero, 4 días en Mequínez y otros 6 en las montañas del Medio Atlas. Se trata de unas vacaciones tipo excursión y el equipo es de 100W con antenas de hilo (verticales o dipolos).
Mequínez (en árabe: مكناس M'knas, en francés: Meknès, en hebreo: מקנ, מקנאס) es una ciudad del norte de Marruecos ubicada al pie de las montañas del Medio-Atlas. Mequínez se encuentra en medio de un valle verde, a unos 130 km de Rabat, la capital de Marruecos y 65 km al oeste de Fez. Está conectada por la autopista A2 a esas dos ciudades. Mequínez es la capital de la región de Meknès-Tafilalet, siendo una de las cuatro ciudades imperiales de Marruecos. La ciudad está situada a 552 msnm.
A primera hora de la tarde hice un contacto con OZ1DWJ (John), desde la isla Laesoe. Læsø es la isla más grande de la bahía de Kattegat, en el mar del Norte, y está localozada a 19 km de la costa nordeste de la Península de Jutlandia. Junto con Anholt, Læsø pertenece al "cinturón desértico" danés, que hace referencia a las escasísimas precipitaciones en los meses de verano.
Durante la Edad Media la isla fue famosa por su industria de sal (véase Historia de la sal).
A última hora de la tarde ya estaba cansado de lo mismo en fonía y decidí probar suerte en telegrafía, en la misma banda. Tuve la suerte de hacer un contacto con IZ8ITT (operador Antonello, que se estrenaba en telegrafía) y otro con Groenlandia (OX/OZ7BQ).
Otros contactos del día fueron un par de daneses, un ruso, un checo y un americano.