LA0BY DXpedition to JP42VP
This year I went again on a little DX-Pedition into the Norwegian countryside,
together with Uli DK2BJ. We went on our trip a little earlier in season as
usual, hoping to catch more Sporadice-E. The location was a little north of the
village of Oppdal, somewhat south of Trondheim, about 6 hours drive from Oslo.
Upon arrival, it appeared the take-off was perhaps slightly worse than hoped
for, but basically within expectations. There are better sites available in
this square, but in this one we gained access to a nice cottage. It came with
a large veranda facing South-East, on which we could easily set up antennas.
We chose a 9-ele-yagi for 2 m and a 5-ele-yagi for 4 m. Another 6/4 m LPDA was
set up behind the cottage, serving the shack in the caravan.
Cottage with antennas
Due to the long trip we did complete the antenna set-up and commence operation
the day after arrival. We started first with 2 m FSK, while work on the RIG for
other bands was still in progress. We felt there was a huge interest in JP42
despite the fact it had been activated several times before (some years ago
there had even been a resident HAM occasionally working on 2 m Aurora). But then
as usual, the pile-up is always largest at the beginning, with signals falling
over each other, and you ask yourself why in hell cannot they wait.
LA0BY/p in JP42VP wkd via MS on 144 MHz:
2016/06/14 12:44 12:48 PA5Y JO21VO 37 37 1251 km
2016/06/14 13:09 13:17 DF1JC JO31OG 27 38 1274 km
2016/06/14 13:36 13:41 G4SWX JO02RF 28 36 1259 km
2016/06/14 13:46 13:52 G4SFY JO02RV 27 26 1189 km
2016/06/14 13:52 14:00 GM4JJJ IO86GB 27 26 1045 km
2016/06/14 14:00 14:07 GM3NKG IO85AR 27 26 1093 km
2016/06/14 14:20 14:25 G4TRA IO81WN 27 26 1422 km
2016/06/14 14:25 14:33 GM6VXB/p IO98GC 27 26 797 km
2016/06/14 14:33 14:44 DK3XT JN49FE 28 26 1499 km
2016/06/14 14:44 15:01 SP1MVG JO74AA 26 26 990 km
2016/06/14 15:20 15:33 DF5NK JN59PM 27 26 1462 km
2016/06/14 15:33 15:37 DL1KDA JO30EP 27 38 1350 km
2016/06/14 15:52 15:58 DL4KUG JO64PB 27 26 976 km
2016/06/14 16:18 16:30 DL8HCO JO53FU 26 26 978 km
2016/06/14 16:30 16:40 GW8JLY IO81JM 27 26 1459 km
2016/06/14 16:42 16:47 G4HGI IO83PL 28 26 1252 km
2016/06/14 17:12 17:16 DL6YBF JO31OX 27 27 1196 km
2016/06/14 17:20 17:30 SQ1FYB JO73MI 27 26 1078 km
2016/06/15 04:20 04:40 SO3Z JO82LJ 27 26 1216 km
2016/06/15 06:02 06:19 F1DRR JN18BS 26 26 1613 km
2016/06/15 06:19 06:26 ON4KHG JO10XO 28 27 1384 km
2016/06/15 06:28 06:33 G8VYK JO01FO 27 26 1348 km
2016/06/15 06:33 06:37 DL6BF JO32QI 27 37 1153 km
2016/06/15 06:37 06:40 G4FUF JO01GN 27 26 1350 km
2016/06/15 06:40 06:43 DJ9MG JO52TC 27 26 1177 km
2016/06/15 06:49 06:56 G3WZT IO90UX 26 26 1431 km
2016/06/15 07:03 07:19 F6APE IN97QI 26 26 1820 km
2016/06/15 07:21 07:30 PA4EME JO20WX 27 26 1318 km
2016/06/15 07:30 07:42 EI3KD IO51VW 26 26 1598 km
2016/06/15 07:42 08:04 F4EGA JO10QK 26 26 1412 km
2016/06/15 13:48 14:00 UA1OEJ KP94VN 27 26 1484 km
2016/06/15 14:40 15:00 DL4DWA JO61QH 27 27 1278 km
2016/06/15 15:00 15:06 DG1VL JO61WC 27 26 1306 km
2016/06/15 15:10 15:35 F6KBF JN18BW 26 26 1595 km
2016/06/15 15:44 15:56 OH4LA KP20LG 28 28 846 km
2016/06/15 16:23 16:34 DK5OX JN59MO 26 26 1452 km
2016/06/15 16:34 16:39 LY2WR KO24FO 27 26 1228 km
2016/06/15 16:37 16:46 OZ6GH JO65BM 26 26 803 km
2016/06/15 16:46 17:00 DF8IK JO30JT 26 26 1328 km
2016/06/15 17:08 17:33 LY2FN KO14XV 26 27 1182 km
2016/06/15 17:33 17:42 SP7VC JO91SS 26 26 1341 km
2016/06/15 17:42 18:01 M0BKL IO80FK 27 26 1578 km
2016/06/15 18:09 18:36 OK2PM JN99AO 26 26 1535 km
2016/06/16 04:56 05:04 DJ6AG JO51EQ 26 26 1219 km
2016/06/16 05:04 05:20 OK2BRD JN99ET 27 26 1519 km
2016/06/16 05:20 05:53 OE3NFC JN88EA 26 26 1677 km
2016/06/16 05:53 06:07 DH9OK JO51AQ 27 26 1219 km
2016/06/16 06:07 06:23 OK1MDK JN79TO 26 26 1493 km
2016/06/16 07:07 07:19 PD0HCV JO31FW 26 26 1207 km
2016/06/16 07:56 08:15 DO3MXK JO62HJ 26 26 1152 km
2016/06/16 08:21 08:49 DG1VB JO61RC 26 26 1302 km
2016/06/16 09:24 09:40 SP3UCA JO92CG 26 26 1256 km
2016/06/16 09:40 09:48 SP1JNY JO73GL 27 26 1056 km
2016/06/16 09:48 10:14 OK2PMS JN89WW 26 37 1496 km
2016/06/16 10:25 10:35 GW4BVE IO82KQ 26 26 1342 km
2016/06/17 04:18 04:24 LY5G KO05OQ 26 26 1008 km
2016/06/17 04:35 04:44 DH6DAO JO41CN 27 26 1236 km
2016/06/17 05:08 05:31 EU3AI KO22CE 26 26 1441 km
2016/06/17 05:50 06:00 DL1DBR JO41BN 26 26 1236 km
2016/06/17 06:40 07:27 OK1DQT JO70IB 26 26 1431 km
2016/06/17 07:29 07:44 DM1CG JO30GU 38 26 1326 km
2016/06/18 04:52 05:02 RX1AS KO59XW 26 29 1215 km
2016/06/18 05:01 05:16 DK0IA JO41CN 27 26 1236 km
2016/06/18 07:25 07:39 PA1BVM JO21RO 27 37 1255 km
2016/06/18 07:39 07:47 PA5MS JO21RQ 27 37 1246 km
2016/06/18 09:36 09:59 DG5CST JO60DS 27 26 1329 km
2016/06/18 09:59 10:11 PA0JMV JO21PM 27 27 1266 km
2016/06/18 10:20 10:38 G4KUX IO94BP 27 26 1113 km
RIG : IC-821H + PA, 300 W, 9-ele-yagi at ca 660 m asl
Equipment for 2m FSK
All contacts were made in FSK. Only one station was worked by tropo (SK5AA
over 490 km), which is a good indication of the less than perfect horizon.
Working up to 1500 km was quite easy, but then reflections dazzled off. Our
ODX on 2m was with F6APE just over 1800 km.
Take-off to South
Cottage towards North-West
We did not encounter as much Sporadic-E as we had hoped for. During the NAC
on 70 MHz we only worked some FSK contacts. Luckily we had skip for many
hours on the weekend for the IARU Region 1 50 MHz Contest, and worked more
than 170 stations on 6 m. The ODX was with Z3A in KN11HF over 2528 km. For
an hour or so the MUF even reached up to 70 MHz so we made contacts to SP
and S5 even on 4m Es.
We went to JP42 not only for radio; both Uli and myself travelled with family.
When my little daughter Amina woke up early in the mornings it was a welcome
opportunity for me to operate MS while playing with her on the floor ;-)
We also went on some nice mountain walks all together.
LA0BY with daughter Amina
Uli went to JP44 by himself after our week in Oppdal. He was overwhelmed by
the interest in this square but focussed on 6 m and 4 m. We may go there
together another time, but it would be nice to get some other OP to join, so
we can still manage activity even with family.