DXpedition to JO39PB by LA0BY and DL3YEL
(Aug. 11-14, 2003)
Again on tour! Ulli identified the one and only good location in JO39 last
year, so we had to try it. The site was on the shores of the Rosskreppfjord
near one of the dams. When we arrived there, we decided to establish the
2 m station not on the dam but on top of a little hill, almost at 1000 m asl,
and perhaps 50 m higher than the road. This gave us a much better horizon
profile than expected, and we had reasonable take-off in all directions. From
there the elevation was 0º towards QTF 130-170º and rising to a maximum of 3º
in other directions. However, Tropo was blocked to the East due to higher
mountains further away.
We carried only the most necessary stuff to the hilltop , as the distance to
the cars was about 200 m through the bushes. We had no GSM coverage and could
not connect to the Internet. Back to the old times were one had to use the
VHF-net on 20 m. Not much activity there though. So the only way to make us
heard was actually by operating. This is what we did...
LA0BY/p in JO39PB wkd on 144 MHz MS:
2003-08-11
1900 1928 OH6MAZ KP21IG 28 26 15b 2s C CW
1928 1942 OH5IY KP30HV 28 48 11b 5s C CW
2212 2215 HA5CW JN97PM 28 26 1b NC SSB r *2
2215 2232 YU7KB JN94XX 37 27 10b 10s C CW
2240 2305 YU7MS KN05FJ 27 27 8b 2s C CW
2305 2335 HA5CW JN97PM 38 36 mni b+p 12s C CW r
2340 0005 S57TW JN75EX 27 26 mni b+p 25s C CW r
2003-08-12
0005 0050 YZ7MON KN04AX 26 3b 5s NC CW
0200 0220 S51MQ JN75NT 37 37 5b 6s C CW
0300 0315 OE6IWG JN77PK 27 27 9b 18p 3s C CW
0425 0455 SO5AS KO02JD 26 26 6b mni 4s C CW
0600 0627 F5VHX JN04FT 27 27 11b 4p 12s C CW
0724 0747 IW2HAJ JN45NO 27 27 1b C SSB
0800 0820 F1DUZ IN97NJ 27 27 mni b+p C CW
1622 1632 ES2RJ KO29JM 27 27 12b 10p 8s C CW r
1636 1644 ES2WX KO29JN 37 27 8b 17p 2s C CW r
1847 SP8UFT KO11JI 28 1b NC SSB r *3
2140 2144 US5WU KO20DI 27 27 3b C SSB r *3
2157 YU7EW KN05HP 38 27 1b C SSB r
2203 2217 YU1IO KN04IQ 39 27 5b C SSB r 1837km
2217 2219 HA5OV JN97NJ 39 39 2b C SSB r
2225 2240 DL3HRT JO61AB 39 37 1b NC SSB r
2230 S55AW JN75DS 39 37 1b C SSB r
2241 OK2BZQ JN99CO 38 27 1b C SSB r
2241 2245 9A3JH JN75AD 37 37 3b C SSB r
2245 IV3DXW JN65QQ 38 37 1b C SSB r
2245 2300 IZ4AIK JN63HV 39 37 mni b+p NC SSB r
2247 YU1EV KN04CN 38 37 1b C SSB r 1833km
2248 YU7ACO KN05QC 38 37 1b C SSB r 1818km
2258 S55AW JN75DS 49 37 1b C SSB r
2300 2305 YT7YT KN05PC 38 37 1b NC SSB r
2302 2310 IZ4AIK JN63HV 38 37 3b C SSB r
2310 S57EA JN76HE 38 37 1b C SSB r
2318 2328 OK2JT 39 37 1b NC SSB r *1
2320 HA5CW JN97PM 37 37 1b C SSB r
2320 DL3RBH JN68HJ 39 37 1b C SSB r
2324 I3LGP JN55WJ 38 27 1b C SSB r
2334 HA5UK JN97OM 39 39 1b C SSB r
2334 S55M JN65XM 37 37 1b NC SSB r *1
2347 HA0HO KN07SU 39 39 1b C SSB r
2353 SP2MKO JO93CB 37 55 1b C SSB r
2003-08-13
0001 YU1LA KN04FR 37 27 1b C SSB r
0001 S51MQ JN75NT 38 37 1b C SSB r
0006 0024 SP8UFT KO11JI 38 27 4b C SSB r
0017 YT7YT KN05PC 39 37 1b C SSB r 1815km
0029 DL5ME JO52SD 39 37 2b C SSB r
0030 HA1FV JN87JJ 37 39 1b NC SSB r
0030 0050 DF6NA JN49XS 39 27 4b C SSB r
0036 0048 OM5KM JN98AH 37 37 6b C SSB r
0049 0056 F6APE IN97QI 39 27 2b C SSB r
0049 DF1IAZ JN49LD 27 27 1b NC SSB r
0100 0110 DL1GI JN49IG 39 37 1b NC SSB r
0111 0121 F6HVK JN27LH 27 39 1b NC SSB r *1
0123 HA5KG JN97MM 39 26 1b C SSB r
0145 0146 F4CKV JN16NM 38 26 2b C SSB r
0146 G7RAU IO90IR 29 29 1b C SSB r
0152 0202 F6DKW JN18CS 39 37 4b C SSB r
0153 HB9FAP JN46EW 39 37 1b NC SSB r
0203 DL3IAE/p JN49BD 49 39 1b C SSB r
0203 DK1CM JO40LG 49 39 1b C SSB r
0203 F6CBH JN19BH 39 39 1b C SSB r
0203 0216 HB9FAP JN46EW 39 37 6b C SSB r
0240 YZ1RA JN94WG 27 27 1b C SSB r 1853km
0242 0247 F5JNX JN37PV 37 27 7b C SSB r
0310 DF1CF JN57FP 39 39 1b NC SSB r *1
0329 0347 DL9MCC JN58UA 27 36 5b C SSB r
0431 0435 S50C JN76JG 27 27 3b C SSB r *3
0433 DL9USA JO71EN 37 37 1b NC SSB r *3
0449 F1EYB JN26KK 39 59 1b NC SSB r *1,3
0600 0605 S51ZO JN86DR 28 28 4b C SSB r *3
0616 DH0GHU JN38VN 38 37 1b C SSB r
0641 0649 F1FIH JN23GS 27 27 mni b+p C SSB r
0647 IZ4BEH JN54WL 38 38 1b C SSB r
0700 0714 F6DRO JN03TJ 27 27 2b C SSB r
0714 F5HRY JN18EQ 39 27 1b C SSB r
0731 0746 F6HVK JN27LH 27 39 mni b+p C SSB r *4
0746 0800 F8OP JN26MM 38 39 1b NC SSB r *1
0809 0825 DG9MAQ JN58LJ 37 37 1b NC SSB r
0828 DL5ROB JN68HG 38 38 1b C SSB r
0828 DJ1OJ JN58SE 37 38 1b C SSB r
1018 1029 DL4DWA JO61QH 27 26 C FSK r
1030 1048 EA3AXV JN01TJ 38 27 C FSK r 2004km
1051 1100 GW8IZR IO73TI 28 37 C FSK r
1103 1107 G0GMS IO82XT 27 39 C FSK r
1113 1132 OM5CM JN98DF 27 26 C FSK r
1134 1154 IC8FAX JN70CN 29 27 2b NC FSK r
1154 1159 DL5MCG JN58KH 26 26 90s C FSK r
1202 1217 SP4MPB KO03HT 48 37 C FSK r
1218 1231 IZ1BPN JN35VG 28 27 C FSK r
1235 1238 OK1UAK JO70MB 27 38 C FSK r
1242 1254 HA5CBA JN97OM 38 26 C FSK r
1259 1305 DF8IK JO30JT 26 27 C FSK r
1901 1909 ES6RQ KO28WA 27 27 C FSK r
1958 2005 HA3UU JN96JJ 27 28 C FSK r
2013 2018 HA75MS JN87UO 38 27 C FSK r
2100 2200 IK0BZY JN61GW 26 1b 1p NC CW *5 1939km
2003-08-14
0300 0330 IZ2FOB JN45MQ 47 27 C CW
0550 0607 F1JRD JN13WO 27 27 C CW r
0831 0854 HA6ZB JN97MH 27 27 1b 2p 1s NC FSK r
*1 Contact not complete because we did not receive our call.
*2 We suddenly heard strong SSB signals and thought YU7KB may have
changed mode because of a problem with CW. But it was HA5CW who
tried to catch our attention.
*3 Contact made around 144,200 MHz
*4 Andre is still not following any MS procedure, even transmitting
in wrong period.
*5 Reflections were very poor. Enrico thought we were not QRV and
stopped transmitting at 2130 UTC.
NIL: UT5ER, RV3IG, RA3IS, RW3TU, EA6VQ, IW0GPN
The first sked was on Tropo with DF7KF, and to our surprise the contact was
made easily, despite having 100 m higher mountains at a few km distance in
his direction. Other Tropo contacts over respectable distances followed and
conditions were improving during the night. We apparently managed to benefit
from Tropo ducting over the North Sea which lasted until the morning of 13th
August. The DL0PR beacon was 529 on flat band, but during the first two
nights up to 59+10 dB. SK7VHF, OZ4UHF, PI7CIS and PI7FHY were also coming
through, in addition to the more local beacons LA3VHF and LA8VHF. We worked a
total of 80 contacts on Tropo over two days, and also two contacts on Aurora.
The MS skeds to UA3 in the early evening of the 12th were unsuccessful, and no
reply on our CQ calls. So we spent the evening waiting for the shower to
start. What a pity we had not taken a 70 cm antenna along, we could have
worked some contacts during the NAC. But then the fireworks started. The rise
in reflections was very steep and we noticed the first good bursts on 144,200
MHz at about 2130 UTC. We easily completed with US5WU on 144,200 MHz and went
then to 144,188 MHz. Really good reflections enabled us to work many stations
over the next few hours.
Unfortunately a number of stations did transmit our call only upon request
from us. Having received both calls is required for a complete QSO according
to the IARU MS procedure. So much time was wasted by having to ask for our
call. We hope that everybody understands that we do not like making such an
effort for activating a rare square just for working incomplete QSOs.
Otherwise we could as well stayed at home and pretended being somewhere else.
That we insisted on receiving our call seemed unusual even for some
experienced MS operators. Some contacts were not completed for that reason.
In the evening of the 13th and morning of 14th our CQ's on WSJT did not
receive much attention (only 3 QSOs then), but the response in the afternoon
of the 13th was OK. This time our ODX was worked in WSJT (EA3AXV 2005km).
We felt the peak of the shower occured almost according to the predictions by
OH5IY’s MS-Soft (2330 UTC). We worked 49 complete contacts in SSB, 15 in CW
and 14 in FSK. This year the Perseids seemed not as good as in previous
years. On the other hand we were running rather low power and had less than
perfect horison towards SW and E.
On 2 m we used the usual antenna setup with 2 x 9-element yagis. At times we
were transmitting with 350W RF power from Ullis 8874 PA, but the tube PA
stopped working just before the peak of the shower. Some insects had probably
got into the HV circuit and caused arcing. So we had to use the back-up solid
state PA with 200W RF for the rest of the activity.
The 6 m station (100 W and 4-ele yagi) was put up on the dam, and operated
during the peak of the shower. Perhaps some 30 contacts were made, with the
longest distances to 9A1Z and F6FHP. We checked also for Es at other times
but NIL.
In the beginning we were very lucky with the weather. It was sunny and rather
warm for the altitude. The first night we sat outside at the table, and
barbecued on the other day. The second night we worked from the tent, with
the OP at horisontal position. In the afternoon of the 13th it became really
unpleasant with gales and some rain. The tent was almost blowing away during
the last night.
For the Perseids next year we see no other "hot" squares in Southern Norway
that we could activate. So perhaps we will stay at home and work you guys on
your DXpeditions?
©
Stefan Heck, last updated 16 August 2003.