LAØBY DXpedition to JP51NA (Aug. 11-14, 1998)
My second "full size" Perseids DXpedition in Southern Norway brought
us to Brumundkampen, about 2 hours drive North from Oslo. The
location was almost on top of a hill sloping gently from E to SW.
We were truly out in the field this time, without any mains power. So
we run just 180 W output power into a 2 x 9-ele vertically stacked
system. The old FT225RD still did a good job. The CW keying speed was
only 1000 lpm, but we use DTR on receive. The equipment was powered
from a small generator, type Honda EX500 (which worked very reliably,
fuel consumption 5 liters/day), and backed up by battery.
Here is what LA0BY/p worked on 144 MHz MS:
ddmmyy time(UTC) callsign locator TX RX bur pin max C? note
110898 1630-1652 DJ7OF JO51HQ 27 26 7b 6p 1s C r
1652-1705 DL5DTA JO61SD 26 27 2b 2p 2s NC r
2000-2102 OH8UV KP34VJ 26 27 7b 5p 2s C
2102-2122 RX1AS KO59FX 27 28 9b 6p 5s C
2122-2147 RW1AW KP50EB 27 48 11b 8p 2s C
2147-2202 RU1AA KP40XD 28 38 11b 2p 3s C r
2202-2225 YU7MS KN05FJ 27 27 6b 4p 3s C
2225-2245 YU7KB JN94XX 27 26 3b 2s C
2245-2303 DL5DTA JO61SD 37 26 6b 5p 7s C r
2303-2323 YU7EW KN05HP 27 27 2b 2p 3s C
2325-2358 S57TW JN75EX 27 28 3b 2p 3s C
2358-0012 DK0OG JN68GI 37 27 4b 3p 8s C r
120898 0007 HA5CW JN96JO 599 599 1b C r *1 *6
0023-0055 9A1CCY JN85OO 27 27 13b 16p 2s C r
0500-0552 DL5ME JO52SD 46 26 mni b+p 30s C
0600-0625 I4XCC JN63GV 27 27 12b 7p 20s C
0625-0648 IV3HWT JN65ST 38 27 10b 6p 16s C
0648-0658 DK8EL JO31PK 27 27 5b 3p 4s C r
0700-0712 F6BSJ JN26HP 37 27 10b 10s C
0712-0728 F8OP JN26MM 37 27 12b 4p 8s C
0728-0735 PA3FBN JO33 47 48 1b NC r
0742-0801 DL1EJA JO31DS 37 27 7b C r SSB
0753 PA3FBN JO33 48 48 1b C r SSB
0825 F1SAH IN88LS 28 38 1b C r SSB
0827-0855 DJ3MY JN58QD 37 38 5b C r SSB
0855-0903 F8CS JN27UR 37 27 4b 6s C r
0915-0930 DL2FDX JO40LG 27 37 7b 20s C r
0930-0948 DF8IK JO30IT 27 27 10b 20s C r
0948-1005 DL3YEL JO41EV 36 37 4b 25s NC r
1005-1015 EA6VQ JM19MP NIL 2442 km
1020-1030 ON4KHG JO10WK 38 38 1b 10s NC r
1033-1047 DL3YEL JO41EV 36 37 5b 10s C r
1053-1105 G4YTL IO92MB 37 27 3b 3p 5s C r
1105-1123 DL3IAE JN49DE 27 28 3b 2p 3s C r
1123-1138 DL2IAN JN49BE 27 26 4b 10s C r
1140-1206 DJ2QV JO31OM 36 26 5b 6p 12s C r
1206-1218 ON4KHG JO10WK 38 27 5b 30s C r
1225-1227 F5JNX JN37QT 27 26 3b C r SSB
1228 DH0GHU JN38VN 27 26 1b C r SSB
1229-1244 ON7UC 28 28 3b C r SSB
1232 DH3YAK JO31RS 37 27 1b C r SSB
1232 DJ3MY JN58QD 38 38 1b NC r SSB
1246-1249 G7RAU IO90UU 39 39 2b C r SSB
1300-1308 G0FIG IO90UU 37 37 5b 10s C r SSB
1309 G4LOH IO94QA 37 37 1b C r SSB
1309 DL9AN JO62SN 37 37 1b C r SSB
1313 DJ3MY JN58QD 39 38 1b C r SSB
1313-1323 DD0VF JO61VB 37 27 3b C r SSB
1325-1335 DJ3HW JO42LH 37 37 3b NC r SSB
1345-1355 DF1IAZ JN49LD 27 37 2b C r SSB
1355 DK5YA JN49NX 39 39 1b C r SSB
1356-1400 SP4MPB KO03GS 38 27 2b C r SSB
1400-1404 DG1VL JO61VB 37 27 3b C r SSB
1414 DJ3HW JO42LH 39 27 1b C r SSB
1414-1416 HB9BQU JO37VD 38 39 2b C r SSB
1426-1437 DL5YET JO41EV 38 27 6b C r SSB
1428 S54AA JN76EG 37 26 1b NC r SSB
1438-1439 ON1AEN 38 39 3b C r SSB
1441 ON1ALJ JO10VV 37 39 2b C r SSB
1446 G4ZTR JO01KW 37 37 3b C r SSB
1442 HB9FAP JN46EW 39 27 3b C r SSB
1447 DL4MEA JN58JD 37 27 1b C r SSB *2
1447 HB9DFG JN37 38 37 1b C r SSB *2
1447 DL5MCG JN58KH 38 27 1b C r SSB *2
1447 DL2ARD JO60AR 39 27 1b C r SSB *2
1447 DL3HRT 37 38 1b C r SSB *2
1451 PA3BZL JO22SB 39 37 1b C r SSB
1451 G0KAS IO91UI 39 37 1b C r SSB
1456 DF9PX JN49HU 37 27 2b C r SSB
1458-1508 PA3BGM 37 37 2b C r SSB
1500 EI4DQ IO51WU 37 27 1b C r SSB
1510-1520 G1WPF IO91RP 38 38 4b C r SSB
1530 DL5DTA JO61SD 39 39 1b NC r SSB
1535 DG3NDN 27 27 1b NC r SSB
1547-1555 S54AA JN76EG 27 27 2b C r SSB
1555 DL5DTA JO61SD 39 39 1b C r SSB
1555 S50C JN76JG 37 37 2b C r SSB
1606 DL5GAC JN47SS 39 27 2b C r SSB
1610 G3YVR 37 26 1b NC r SSB
1815 S51AT JN75GA 37 27 1b C r SSB
1856 9A2AE JN86 39 37 1b C r SSB
1856 S55AW JN75DS 27 37 1b C r SSB
1856-1901 DB5KN JO31NA 38 27 2b C r SSB
1904 LY2MW KO24PQ 39 27 1b C r SSB
2035-2052 SP9EWU J090 37 27 7b 4p 30s C r
2117-2130 RW3PF KO93CD 38 27 7b 4p 20s C r
2227 HA1DLZ 38 27 1b NC r SSB
2246 SP6GZZ JO81 38 38 1b C r SSB
2249 HA8CE KN06EN 49 37 1b C r SSB
2253-2332 I2FAK JN45OB 37 27 mni b+p C r SSB
2256 DL9USA JN71EN 39 37 1b C r SSB
2256 DH8BQA JO73CF 37 37 1b C r SSB
2339-2242 F/G8MBI JN04FT 27 27 3b C r SSB *3
130898 0000-0030 IK0BZY JN61GW NIL 2123 km
0037-0057 LY2WR KO24OQ 27 39 18b 8p 10s C r
0100-0200 IZ5EME JN52NS 27 26 9b 3p 8s C 2028 km
0200-0208 SP2OFW JO93AC 27 37 5b 3p 4s C r
0600-0635 IW2BNA JN45ON 37 26 34b 20s C
0645 IW2BNA JN45ON 39 39 1b C r SSB
0648-0700 IZ1BPN JN35 26 2b NC
0700-0733 IW1AZJ JN35UB 27 27 8b 10p 3s C
0800-0825 F6DRO JN03SM 26 26 6b 2p 3s C 2046 km
0825-0837 F5HRY JN18EQ 38 37 13b 10s C
0838-0850 S54AA JN76EG 27 37 mni b+p 15s C r
0850-0905 DH2OAA JO42TU 38 37 NC r
0905-0922 F6HVK JN27LH 38 27 10b 12s C
0922-0933 ON4AVJ NIL *4
0933-0948 DL8EBW JO31NF 37 27 6b 2p 6s C r *4
0955-1018 DJ1OJ JN58 27 38 6b 2p 8s C r
1018-1045 ON4AVJ 37 38 5b 3p 7s NC r
1700-1745 ES2RJ/8 KO28 27 28 8b 8p 6s C
1805-1900 RZ1AWR KO59DX 36 27 8b 4p 30s NC
1900-1940 UA1OLJ LP03DC 26 26 11b 40s C
2000-2038 UT5ER KN78ER 49 27 9b 5p 25s C 2003 km
2038-2105 UR5LX KO70WK 27 28 2b 1p 2s NC
2105-2115 HA7UL JN97KK NIL
2115-2140 PA2TAB JO32GF NIL
2145-2158 LY2BIL KO24OQ 38 37 8b 4p 10s C r
2200-2222 9A4FW JN95JG 27 28 6b 2p 4s C
2222-2300 9A4EW JN95JG 26 28 2b 11p 10s C
2300-2320 9A1EZA JN86HG 28 27 9b 7p 5s C
140898 0000-0030 YU1EXY KN04FT 36 27 12b 10p 15s C
0030-0102 DJ5RE JN59WK 38 39 8b 6p 8s C r
0102-0125 F6CRP IN96KE 27 27 12b 7p 5s C
0130-0152 PE1OGF JO21QJ 38 27 mni b+p 6s C r
0500-0527 DJ4UF JO30 26 36 mni b+p 3s C *5
0600-0618 HA1BC JN87PU 48 27 7b 11p 40s C
0627-0657 DL1ELY JO31 39 38 9b 10s C
0700-0750 DK9TU JN48MF 27 26 4b 4p 3s C
0805-0845 DK5MV JN58 27 38 7b 6p 10s C r *6
0900-0915 UA1ZCG KP59JK 37 27 mni b+p 10s C
1000-1020 ON6NL JO21UE 27 27 11b 12p 1s C
1026 DK3BU JO33NO 529 539 2b C r *7
1026 DL1DUR JO70KV 529 559 1b C *7
1040-1112 G0CUZ IO82WM 37 37 5b 12p 6s C r
*1 HA5CW made me jump in my seat when he suddenly called me in slow
speed CW with a booming signal. Eventually he got tired of calling me
in MS procedure (he called me earlier for a long time).
*2 New personal high score: 5 complete QSO in one burst!!! (I may
have mixed up some reports, because I could not take notes as fast as
I made QSO).
*3 I was beaming due South when Graham called me. I was so tired that
I began making mistakes with the procedure, but the reflection was
long enough to correct them.
*4 After hearing nothing from tailender ON4AVJ for 3 periods I
accepted the call of DL8EBW, assuming that ON4AVJ was not on
frequency.
*5 By mistake Eckart transmitted the first 4 periods into a vertical
- I heard him anyway, hi!
*6 DK5MV was very persistent and had called me on several days,
without me being in a position to reply. I am glad we finally made
it.
*7 When I replied on DK3BU's call in slow speed CW, suddenly DL1DUR
answered as well, and even passed his locator. Whereas I believe the
QSO with DL1DUR was on MS I wonder if DK3BU was on Tropo?
*8 For that hour I had scheduled a sked with YU7AU but with reverted
period (me transmitting second period). There were so many stations
on frequency that I felt I shouldn't change periods and confuse them.
I hoped that Ljube would notice - obviously he didn't. I apologize
for not keeping the sked. I will never again arrange skeds in
opposite period.
I was accompanied by Rune, LC1PAT, and (partly) Ivar, LC3SAT, who
were concentrating on 50 MHz. We had not much wind but at times heavy
rain on August 12 and 13. Everything worked fine but we had a hard
time fighting cattle that came nibbling on our cables. First came the
sheep, then came the cows, and finally the horses - good grief what a
zoo!
Being the only 144 MHz operator it was as tough as always to stay
awake so many hours, but very rewarding though. Reflections were good
almost round the clock. The maximum occured almost as predicted by
OH5IY's MS-Soft 5.0, around 1430 UTC on August 12.
This year I spent quite some time calling CQ to Eastern Europe. The
response was not really overwhelming but at least we worked a few
more stations from the East than in 1997. Perhaps people did not know
of our expedition, despite announcements in DUBUS and on the
Internet? I feel it is always difficult to spread information to
Eastern Europe - any good suggestions? I am prepared to do it better
next year.
Giving skeds on beforehand only to very distant stations, and to
stations outside our normal beam heading, worked out well. It
resulted in more contacts above 1500 km than last year, despite the
much lower ERP. I hope this practice did not annoy the many DL, G, PA
and ON stations who asked for skeds. Most of them I worked on random.
I believe it is important for the overall activity to give also HAM's
from less densely populated areas a chance to work a rare square.
A little comparison to our last year's DXpedition to JP41UA, a
location in the same area and with equally good take-off:
Year 1997 1998
Locator JP41UA JP51NA
RF power 1 kW 180 W
Antenna 17-ele 2 x 9-ele (stacked vertically)
ERP 20 kW 4 kW
Operating hours 69 45
QSO total 130 114
QSO CW 40/25 33/29
QSO SSB 4/61 0/52
QSO <1000 km 3/10 3/4
QSO 1000-1500 km 19/72 9/56
QSO 1500-1800 km 14/7 11/17
QSO 1800-2000 km 2/2 8/3
QSO 2000 km 1/0 3/0
The number of QSOs listed is for sked/random operation.
The comparison shows: (a) RF power is not the most important factor
for success; (b) vertically stacked antennas with large azimuth beam
width give more DX than a single narrow beam; (c) a good Tropo
take-off is good also for MS.
Our results confirm that one should always go for the QTH with the
best possible take-off and not for the comfortable cottage with the
mains socket round the corner, even if this leads to lower RF power.
So it was nice having again operated in a good Perseid shower. We
look forward to activate another rare square in Southern Norway next
year. A good location has already been identified in JP31 - no
promise but intention, hi.
©
Stefan Heck, last updated August 1999.