FT-897 manpack by night

This is a video Robi recorded with his mobile phone when we were doing some tests on 40m SSB with a V dipole and a manual tuner attached to the FT-897.

The video was shot just after we applied a coat of white primer to the tuner's aluminum case.

O Teso (EA1/LU-029)

These are some videos of my activation of the summit O Teso, SOTA reference EA1/LU-029. My first QSO was on 17m SSb with the United States immediately after I switched on the station before I had time to start the vide recording. My second QSO was with an avid SOTA chaser, Quique, EA1DFP, on 17m also.

It was getting dark so I tried the 40m band. The result was a QSO with Patrick (OM1XQ) from Bratislava, on 40m SSB.

My next QSO was with Fred, CS7/PD0HNL, from Algarve on 20m.

Here is the nice eQSL I got, which means my 72nd country confirme for my eDX award.

Before leaving I made some repeater QSOs on 2m FM with Julio (EA1UP) and Juan (EA1AQ).

By then it was completely dark.

Slovenia on 40m (S51MA)

Last week was very active as far as SOTA is concerned. On Tuesday I attempted the activation of Cedeira (EA1/CR-010) but I was not happy with the results because I arrived there too late, the propagation was not good, and it became dark and cold before I could make my needed four QSOs.

On my second attempt I focused on the 40m band because propagation was still terrible on higher bands. This QSO with Slovenian station S51MA shows that the short whip is also usable on that lower band with the FC-40 antenna tuner.

DL9KU on 40m from EA1/CR-010

This is another QSO from the summit called Cedeira (EA1/CR-010), also known as Alto do Castelo, on 40m SSB.

As you can see it was already getting dark, but this was my fourth QSO, which is the minimum necessary for a valid activation.
According to his QRz.com entry, DL9Ku is a great expeditioner, with operations from numerous places all around the word including South Africa, New Zealand and Antartica.

EA5CC from Cedeira (EA1/CR-010)

This is another QSO from the summit of Cedeira (SOTA ref. EA1/CR-010) on 40m SSB.

I was standing by while EA1AQ and EA1LQ made the QSO from Alto do Anxelio, and then I made the QSO myself.

Nice eQSL from M0WGI

I have just received this nice eQSL from M0WGI, for a QSO on 40m SSB in January 2009.
I think I remember this QSO because I don't have so many on that band, and Steve had a distictive Asiatic accent. If I remenber right, I was in the car park by the Torre de Hercules on a very stormy day, and I was using a mobile D-Original DX-UHV antenna. EA1AQ was in his car with another mobile antenna similar to the Outbacker.

Two way PRC-320 on 40m USB

This is the final test I made with ON4FB on 40m USB on a Friday morning.

It was a difficult test because there was much noise on his side, so he had a hard time to copy me.

Testing the PRC-320 on 40m USB

Here you have some videos of the tests I made with a colleague from Belgium on 40m USB last Friday. As you can see on the following video, we also tried 20m but without success.

Then we decided to go back to 40m USB and test his PRC-320. First we used the 100W power amplifier and then we tried the standard 30W output.

We also tried different antennas for the PRC-320. All in all it was a difficult test because there was strong QRM from other stations.

Testing a PRC2000 on 40m USB

Last Friday a colleague from Belgium and I tested some manpack radios, among which was the PRC-2000. The PRC-2000 (also known as Callpack RT-2000) was built in Great Britain by M.E.L./Philips. It is a fully transistorized radio for portable and vehicle use from the late 80s.
The PRC-2000 is a versatile microprocessor controlled HF transceiver for use in tactical field operations. Within the 1.6 Mhz to 30 Mhz HF frequency band , the transceiver can operate on any of 284.000 cannels spaced at 100Hz intervals, to provide single side band LSB/USB voice or data communication, or continuous wave CW Morse communication. In addition to manual channel selection, frequency and mode data for up to 10 channels can be preset in non-volatile memory for immediate recall as necessary.
Here you can hear it in action on the 40m amateur band:

The PRC-2000 operating modes are USB / LSB / CW / DATA. Antenna tuning is fully automatic. The output is 20 watts on high power and 4 watts on low power. As options, there are solar and hand generators, as well as an amplifier.

Navegando de Holanda a Sudáfrica

Hoy hice un contacto en la banda de 20m con la estación PD1CQ/MM (operador Menna) del buque Tertnes, que se encontaba en las coordenadas 32N 14W, a unas 300 millas de la costa de Marruecos, cerca de Canarias. Buscando en internet averigüé que el buque se dirige a Sudáfrica.
Y con este país realicé otro contacto en la misma banda, con ZS6BAF - Andreas, de Johannesburgo, que me contó que por la mañana hizo buen día pero por la tarde se cubrió y estaban a unos 25-26 grados. La verdad es que se le oía maravillosamente con sus 300W y su antena de 3 elementos.
Otros contactos del día fueron dos griegos, que espero me confirmen el qso para mi diploma eDX100, y un rumano.
Yo esta vez utilicé un cable de 5 metros conectado al coche y elevado por medio de una polea enganchada a un loureiro de la aldea. También probé con un cable de 10 metros para la banda de 40, pero tan sólo hice un contacto con Murcia en esa banda tan concurrida por estaciones de cada vez más potencia.