70th Anniversary of the clandestine crossings from Bretagne to England (TM70TC)

This is a QSO with French special event station TM70TC using my FT-857D with a 4m whip and an FC-40 antenna tuner.

The callsign commemorates the 70th anniversary of the clandestine crossings from the French Bretagne into England.
After the call of 18 June, 1940, many men from the island of Sein departed, from June 26, on boats to the English coast of Cornwall to continue the fight against totalitarianism. One of those boats took the same route 70 years later.
Ham radio from Finistère (ED REF-29) wanted to join in this tribute and remember the work in the dark and danger of all radio operators in the Resistance to ensure contact between London and the internal forces. Many of them were arrested and lost their lives.
For this reason, on land, the special callsign TM70TC was active from 26 June to 10 July. At sea, MM station on board the Coronasia will be active during the journey into Cornwall with callsign TM70SN.

FT-897D Solar - Faro de Cacilhas (CR5FC)

This is a video of a QSO with Portuguese special event station CR5FC from Faro de Cacilhas, operated by the Portuguese Navy's radio amateur group.

In this video we were operating an FT-897D with a 13W solar generator that helped extend the duration of the internal batteries. The power was 20W and the antenna was a 2.4m whip.

Operation as AN1CW

Yesterday I started operating as AN1CW. The use of special prefixes AM, AN and AO has been allowed to Spanish radio amateurs from 12 to 31 July in celebration of the Spanish victory at the FIFA World Cup that took place in South Africa.
My first QSO was on the 20m band with German station DL6SDI/P, who was operating from his father's (DL5PR, SK) QTH in Altenkirchen, near Cologne. Dieter was using an IC706Mk2 with a 3-element tri-band beam.
Today I also made a QSO with Portuguese station CT1EHI (operator: Marcos) from Faro. I don't have this country confirmed on eQSL yet, but I think I'll have to wait because Marcos doesn't use the system very much. It is funny that after 70 countries confirmed I still haven't got Portugal.

Italy with an indoor wire

This is video of a QSO with an Italian station using my battery-operated FT-897D (20W) and an indoor wire antenna.

This special event station celebrates the 30th anniversary of the ARI Club of Treviglio.
Treviglio is a town and comune in the province of Bergamo, in Lombardy, northern Italy. It lies 20 km south of the capital city, in the lower territory called "Bassa" marked by the Adda and the Serio rivers.
With approximately 29,000 inhabitants, the comune is now the second most populous town in the province. It is also called "the tractor town" for the presence of the Same Deutz-Fahr headquarters.
Benito Mussolini married Rachele Guidi in Treviglio, in a civil union, on December 17, 1915, after the future duce had recovered in the local hospital. They already had a daughter, Edda.

Sweden: No.18 confirmed with the 320 (SE800M)

I have just received the eQSL for a QSO on the 20m band with Swedish special event station SE800M (operator: Tom). This makes the country number 18 validly confirmed through eQSL for my eDX award (25 countries), which is the target I have set myself for the PRC320.
King River Dx group celebrate the community of Marstrand, founded by king Håkon (IV) Håkonsson, about 800 years ago.
Marstrand is a small community and Island on the beautiful West Coast of Sweden, 40 km from Gothenburg and 25 km from Kungalv. The charming old houses, the Carlsten Fortress, the walking paths, and the absence of cars make this Island a very pleasant resort.
Operators working SE800M are SM6VVT Tom, SM6CKS Sture, SE6Y Rolf, SM6NM Lars and sometimes other. Usually they work SE800M from their homes near Marstrand, but every now and then they visit the Island of Marstrand, or other Islands near Marstrand like Koön or Insön, put up some antennas and work SE800M/IOTA EU-043.

Good propagation and the PRC-320

Yesterday I was looking at my website and saw that the little box on the left column indicated there was good propagation on the 20m band, so I decided to take the PRC-320 to Monte de San Pedro, a hill just outside the city, by the sea. The afternoon couldn't be more productive. I made QSOs with Greece, Bosnia, Scotland, USA and Dominica.
In Greece, I made a QSO with J47XCF, special event station for the Xanthi Carnival Festival operated by Tilemachos. Xanthi is a modern city, rich in history, traditions and customs, and with many attractions for the visitors (including the surrounding areas). It is worth visiting the city during the Carnival (Καρναβάλι) (either February or March as dates change) and during the Old Town Festival (beginning of September). Also, one should not miss the Xanthi Bazaar (Παζάρι) every Saturday. Xanthi is known as "The city of the thousand colours".
In the US, I made a QSO with WX3B (Tim) from Maryland. In Scotland, 2M0YCG (Callum) from near Glasgow. In Bosnia, E73E (Igor) from Pale. Finally, in Dominica, I made a QSO with J79XBI (Seth), although we lost contact in the end due to QSO and some splatter QRM from powerful nearby stations.
Dominica has been nicknamed the "Nature Isle of the Caribbean" for its seemingly unspoiled natural beauty. It is the youngest island in the Lesser Antilles, still being formed by geothermal-volcanic activity, as evidenced by the world's second-largest boiling lake. The island features lush mountainous rainforests, home of many rare plant, animal and bird species. There are xeric areas in some of the western coastal regions, but heavy rainfall can be expected inland. The Sisserou Parrot (also known as the Imperial Amazon), the island's national bird, is featured on the national flag. Dominica's economy is heavily dependent on both tourism and agriculture. Christopher Columbus named the island after the day of the week on which he spotted it, a Sunday (dominica in Latin), November 3, 1493.

From Denmark into Space (OZ2SPACE)

Saturday was a good day with the PRC-320. I made three QSOs. One with the Danish special event station OZ2SPACE. This callsign is a contribution to our friends in the local Danish rocket and space project called Copenhagen Suborbitals. If you want to see more about what they do you can visit http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com/.
In short, it is a group of experts and hobby persons working for free! to make a space limit rocket and space ship to launch a person into space. This group have now tested rocket motors in all sizes and are now ready for full size ground test and flight this summer.
Then I made a very interesting QSO with Riccardo (IZ1GDB) from Torino, who was operating with 100W into a vertical antenna. He told me he had also operated portable as EH5FL, activating a Spanish lighthouse with some fellow hams. He also put me on the cluster, which allowed me to make a quick qso with the German station DL6SRD.

What Riccardo didn't tell me but I found out later is that he was also active as YO8/IZ1GDB from Borlesti, in the the Moldova region of Romania. You can see him on teh above video. That's funny because I was also active as YO8/EC1CW a couple of years ago.

Burlamacco and the Carnevale di Viareggio

Today I made a QSO with a couple of stations near Milan, on the 20m band with the PRC-320. The first one was with I2YKT (Tino) from Voghera, 70km South of Milan. The temperature over there was 4 degrees C. He gave me a serial number or 050 for the International Carnival of Viareggio.
On the right you can see a picture of Burlamacco, the clown-like figure which presides over the carnival in the Tuscan town of Viareggio, and is the town's mascot. Burlamacco was first depicted in 1931 by Uberto Bonetti; A competition had been held for the design of the mascot and his was the winning entry. He had chosen the red and white of the outfit from the traditional colours of the umbrellas on the beach at Viareggio and the name came 8 years later; it is derived from the Burlamacca river. To this day Burlamacco remains a feature of the carnival and there is a statue of him all the year round on the Lungomare in Viareggio.
The other QSO was with David (IZ2LRT) who speaks perfect Spanish and complemented me on the modulation of the PRC-320, and asked be about the antenna I was using.

Ruhr: European Capital of Culture 2010 (DR2010O)

This morning I made a QSO with the special event station DR2010O (operator Nico) from near Cologne, celebrating the Ruhr 2010 European Capital of Culture.
I was using the PRC-320 on 20m SSB with the Clansman headset ans a 4m whip antenna.

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.