Activating KO07/08/17/18 squares from Estonia!

Saaremaa Island

IOTA EU-034

 

 

Expedition is over! Had a very enjoyable time here on Saaremaa Island although not too lucky with the weather and very bad (if not to say no) 6 meter propagation. The Magic Band produced just 1 single opening into central Europe resulting in approx. 150 QSOs. There were 5 or 6 openings into the Ukraine (UT5G and UU5SIX beacons being S-meter end-stop) but just a handful of contacts. :-(

 

Two meters was real fun as you will see further down this web page reading our expedition diary. One of the sad things experienced is that there are still a lot of people who do not know MS procedures resulting in bad behaviour like calling CQ on our frequency and QRMing our QSOs. We also got the impression that there are people who are not able to do QSOs without DXcluster assistance. We usually ignored them as we were doing random-only (see our comments at this page’s end aswell).

 

We think that the four activated squares will now be much down in the “Most Wanted Squares” listing but leaving still some potential for future expeditions over here, too. We will put some more information, photographs and map material onto this web page when back home so that others interested in going here and playing VHF amateur radio will get some support.

 

 

Some statistics:

 

WWL

TOTAL QSOs

2M TROPO

2M FSK-MS

70CM TROPO

23CM TROPO

3CM TROPO

KO07XX

26

4

19

-

-

3

KO08XM

155

38

78

5

26

8

KO17AW

60

20

35

-

4

1

KO18AE

56

2

41

6

7

-

TOTAL

297

64

173

11

37

12

 

Information concerning 50 MHz and shortwave QSOs to follow when back home, pse QRX.

 

 

Read our expedition diary (reverse order, last day first):

 

 

50 MHz:

DEAD, DEAD, DEAD – no other words left, what a pity sofar. (23.06.2005)

Wow, it finally opened up after 5 days of absolute silence! ES0/DL3BQA just working strings of Europeans (24.06.2005, 09UTC). Hope for some more good openings during the next few days when activating the other 3 grid squares on the island …

The band has been wide open to the Ukraine this morning (25.06.2005) but no activity at all. After that again zilch with just 3 SSB-MS-QSOs for a few lucky guys to put KO17 into there logbooks.

BTW: Due to the bad condx we decided to call Uwe, DL3BQA, who wanted to run “pileups without ends” on six from now on “MR. NO SIX”. ;-)))

 

 

June 26/27, 2005:

Very rapid weather changes (Impressive!) – now sunshine again but still very windy from the sea. Anyway, built up the 6 und 2 m stations again in KO08XM to give out the most rare square in this region to as many people as possible. Started with 2 m tropo and were very astounded to hear “Tnx for new square!” so often from stations not more than 3-500 km away. So nice to give out a new one to those in tropo range aswell. After that back to MS business as usual. Condx were quite favourable between 16 and 17 UTC and then again from 19 to 22 UTC. In between and after that reflections were rather poor and doing QSOs did take a lot of time if completed at all. Not much better in the morning except 05 to 07 UTC. Reflections-wise it’s been the worst night of our trip. :-( So if you take a look at the NC and HRD listings you will see that there is still very much potential for a future expedition. ;-)

We took down everything around mid-day and just (19z) finished packing all equipment, antennas, etc. for our trip back home starting tomorrow morning. Will reach JO73 approx. at Wednesday late evening and then be back from JO73CF for the July V/U/SHF contest next weekend. Hope to work some of you as DFØTEC/P then. ;-)

 

ES0/DH8BQA – KO08XM – wkd:

 

26/06/2005 12:10 ES6RQ           KO28WA  599      599      2 m.   CW   TR               236

26/06/2005 12:25 ES7GN           KO28TI  539      599      2 m.   CW   TR               214

26/06/2005 12:30 OH6MW           KP2ØIM  539      599      2 m.   CW   TR               271

26/06/2005 12:31 OH3JR           KP21GA  579      599      2 m.   CW   TR               313

26/06/2005 12:33 OH6KTL          KPØ2OJ  539      559      2 m.   CW   TR               433

26/06/2005 12:35 OH6PA           KPØ2PL  529      539      2 m.   CW   TR               442

26/06/2005 12:37 OH1MDR          KPØ1UJ  559      579      2 m.   CW   TR               320

26/06/2005 12:46 OH6JKW          KPØ2BN  55       57       2 m.   SSB  TR               460

26/06/2005 12:47 OH6KTL          KPØ2OJ  57       59       2 m.   SSB  TR               433

26/06/2005 12:48 OH1OP           KP1ØCM  57       59       2 m.   SSB  TR               223

26/06/2005 12:48 OH3JR           KP21GA  57       59       2 m.   SSB  TR               313

26/06/2005 12:49 OH6QU           KPØ3SD  53       53       2 m.   SSB  TR               515

26/06/2005 12:53 ES6DO           KO27WX  559      589      2 m.   CW   TR               237

26/06/2005 13:01 OH2FT           KP1ØXP  549      549      2 m.   CW   TR               262

26/06/2005 13:04 OH6UW           KP22    519      539      2 m.   CW   TR               475+-

26/06/2005 13:07 OH1NOR          KPØØXL  599      599      2 m.   CW   TR               218

26/06/2005 13:21 SP2IQW          JO94GM  53       55       2 m.   SSB  TR               491

26/06/2005 13:28 YL3GDF          KO26XM  59       59       2 m.   SSB  TR               326

26/06/2005 13:33 LY2BUU          KO15XH  529      599      2 m.   CW   TR               377

26/06/2005 13:39 OH1XT           KPØ1UK  559      579      2 m.   CW   TR               325

26/06/2005 13:45 OH6AR           KPØ2QR  529      569      2 m.   CW   TR               469

26/06/2005 13:46 RX1AS           KO59FX  569      599      2 m.   CW   TR               509

26/06/2005 13:49 RX1AX           KO59EW  539      559      2 m.   CW   TR               503

26/06/2005 13:52 RU1AA           KP4ØXD  559      599      2 m.   CW   TR               488

26/06/2005 13:53 RU1AC           KP5ØEJ  519      579      2 m.   CW   TR               519

26/06/2005 13:57 RA1AY           KP5ØEA  529      559      2 m.   CW   TR               506

26/06/2005 14:01 ES2RJ           KO29KM  599      599      2 m.   CW   TR               200

26/06/2005 14:09 OH5KE           KP3ØNN  559      579      2 m.   CW   TR               369

26/06/2005 14:13 OH2HEJ          KP2ØME  53       55       2 m.   SSB  TR               255

26/06/2005 14:16 OH4HXK          KP21UM  53       57       2 m.   SSB  TR               393

26/06/2005 14:17 OH3HPU          KP2ØXQ  57       57       2 m.   SSB  TR               329

26/06/2005 14:33 YL3DW           KO26CW  529      599      2 m.   CW   TR               221

26/06/2005 15:02 SM7EOI          JO86FP  519      539      2 m.   CW   TR               388

26/06/2005 16:12 SM2CEW          KP15CR  R26      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               801

26/06/2005 16:27 DG6JF/P         JO33QN  R26      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1057

26/06/2005 16:32 PE1IKX          JO22EA  R27      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1321

26/06/2005 16:48 PA1GYS          JO22WW  R26      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1178

26/06/2005 16:52 G4DEZ           JOØ3AE  R26      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1482

26/06/2005 16:58 DL2ARD          JO6ØAR  R37      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1073

26/06/2005 17:06 DF6YL           JO31WS  R26      38       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1164

26/06/2005 17:14 PA3DOL          JO22MT  R26      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1231

26/06/2005 17:20 PA5KM           JO11WL  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1387

26/06/2005 18:50 RA3WDK          KO81BR  R26      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1171

26/06/2005 19:36 SP2QBQ          JO94FL  R38      27       2 m.   FSK4 TR               498

26/06/2005 19:46 S54T            JN75EW  R26      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1489

26/06/2005 19:58 DH2UAK          JO71FU  R28      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               880

26/06/2005 20:01 OE6IWG          JN77PK  R28      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1309

26/06/2005 20:19 PA3CEE          JO33JI  R26      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1102

26/06/2005 21:16 IZ4AIK          JN63HV  R27      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1747

26/06/2005 21:32 SP6IWQ          JO8ØHK  R26      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS               962

26/06/2005 21:45 G8VHI           IO92FM  26       R27      2 m.   FSK4 MS              1611

26/06/2005 22:40 DH8IAB          JO3ØNO  R27      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1294

26/06/2005 22:43 OK1UAK          JO7ØMV  R26      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               956

26/06/2005 23:34 S57EA           JN75EW  R26      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1489

27/06/2005 05:00 PA3BIY          JO22EB  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1318

27/06/2005 05:26 IW1BCV          JN44FS  R28      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1782

27/06/2005 05:33 DG5AAG          JO51CT  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1052

27/06/2005 05:35 HA5UK           JN97OM  R27      28       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1236

27/06/2005 06:12 OK1UND          JO7ØVA  R27      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1025

27/06/2005 06:35 YZ7MON          KNØ4AX  R26      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1511

27/06/2005 06:37 YU1EV           KNØ4CN  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1556

27/06/2005 06:46 YU1IO           KNØ4LP  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1544

27/06/2005 06:55 F6HVK           JN27LH  R27      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1679

27/06/2005 07:10 DJ2GM           JN58SC  27       R27      2 m.   FSK4 MS              1345

27/06/2005 07:46 F6EAS           IN98LV  R38      R26      2 m.   FSK4 MS              1838

27/06/2005 08:03 DL1DUR          JO7ØKV  R26      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               961

27/06/2005 08:20 DD7PC           JN49AX  R26      R27      2 m.   FSK4 MS              1306

27/06/2005 08:30 PA3BGM          JO33CE  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1144

27/06/2005 08:46 LZ2FO           KN13KX  R26      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1618

27/06/2005 09:12 OM7CM           JN98NR  R26      R27      2 m.   FSK4 MS              1104

27/06/2005 09:36 UX5UL           KO5Ø    26       R26      2 m.   FSK4 MS              1063+-

27/06/2005 09:47 DJ9YE           JO43HV  R38      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               969

 

NC: RA3DHK, DH9GCD, DL5MCG, DL1YMK, G8TIC, OK2AF, DF1SO, SP6HED, SP6MLK, OK2PM

 

HRD: RK3AF, RZ3AED, IK5YJY, DL8ZT, HA5CBA, DJ9FG, RX3DUR, HA8CE, PA1LA

 

 

June 25/26, 2005:

After taking down everything in KO17 we went to KO07XX again just to get into the worst weather we so far experienced here on the island. It’s been “raining cats & dogs” and stormy winds from the Baltic Sea inlands. No chance to erect any antennas except for the 10 GHz station (Heiko’s been a bit faster, hi). But took that one down as well after 40 min getting wet down to skin. :-( So decided to cancel the operation as it also gets dangerous for the caravan in the mud away from the roads. And it’s not really funny with all that portable stuff to erect, taking down, etc. during rain, living & sleeping in wet clothes and sleeping bags, a.s.o. – sorry guys! :-(

BTW: All you Europeans who can’t sleep at night due to the hot weather there let us tell you we just had to start heating in the caravans as outside temperatures are just above 10 deg. C here at the moment. Oh what a bad world … And we’re right now at the point again, where one starts thinking about why doing all this crazy amateur radio square activation stuff a.s.o. (Do you know that?) … Shall we consult the doctor’s? ;-)

 

ES0/DG1BHA – KO07XX – wkd:

 

25/06/2005 14:47 ES2RJ           KO29KM  59S      59S      10 GHz SSB  TR               240

25/06/2005 14:56 ES2RJ           KO29KM  59S      59S      10 GHz CW   TR               240

25/06/2005 15:21 SMØFZH          JO99HI  59S      59S      10 GHz SSB  TR               246

 

 

June 24/25, 2005:

Have been building up everything in KO17AW. Unfortunately the 70 cm antenna has been broken, hope to find some time to repair to be QRV again in KO07/08 at least. It’s been quite windy overhere so although sun was shining all day long it’s been feeling rather cold. WX not very good for tropo contacts, even mid-range distance QSOs were plagued by tremendous QSB so CW was once again the mode to go. ;-)

Meteor Scatter condx were excellent around 23-24 UTC but activity was very bad – what a pity, could have given a new one to many more people. Anyway, here’s what we caught:

 

ES0/DG1BHA – KO17AW – wkd:

 

24/06/2005 20:05 SM1HOW          JO97GL  519      539      10 GHz CW   TR               214

 

ES0/DH8BQA – KO17AW – wkd:

 

24/06/2005 16:37 OH2HEJ          KP2ØME  52       55       2 m.   SSB  TR               303

24/06/2005 16:39 ES7GN           KO28TI  59       59       2 m.   SSB  TR               215

24/06/2005 16:40 YL3GDF          KO26XM  57       59       2 m.   SSB  TR               283

24/06/2005 16:45 OH1OP           KP1ØCM  55       59       2 m.   SSB  TR               287

24/06/2005 16:52 ES7GM           KO28TI  579      599      2 m.   CW   TR               215

24/06/2005 16:53 RX1AS           KO59FX  56       57       2 m.   SSB  TR               533

24/06/2005 16:55 RX1AX           KO59EW  53       56       2 m.   SSB  TR               527

24/06/2005 16:56 ES2RJ           KO29KM  59       59       2 m.   SSB  TR               240

24/06/2005 16:59 ES6DL           KO38HC  51       58       2 m.   SSB  TR               270

24/06/2005 17:02 ES7WH           KO28SI  529      599      2 m.   CW   TR               210

24/06/2005 17:06 ES2RJ           KO29KM  559      579      23 cm. CW   TR               240

24/06/2005 17:39 RU1AA           KP4ØXD  519      579      2 m.   CW   TR               515

24/06/2005 17:58 YL2OK           KO37AS  599      599      2 m.   CW   TR               237

24/06/2005 18:10 YL3AG           KO26AW  599      599      2 m.   CW   TR               163

24/06/2005 18:13 YL3AG           KO26AW  559      579      23 cm. CW   TR               163

24/06/2005 18:20 OH6MW           KP2ØIM  529      559      2 m.   CW   TR               325

24/06/2005 18:22 OH3UW           KP21FA  559      579      2 m.   CW   TR               369

24/06/2005 18:48 LY2SA           KO14LL  559      579      2 m.   CW   TR               389

24/06/2005 18:52 SP4JCQ          KO13NC  51       52       2 m.   SSB  TR               542

24/06/2005 19:02 SP2MKO          JO93CB  419      559      2 m.   CW   TR               593

24/06/2005 19:20 SP2QBQ          JO94FL  519      529      2 m.   CW   TR               444

24/06/2005 19:22 SM7EOI          JO86FP  539      559      2 m.   CW   TR               365

24/06/2005 19:33 SM7LCB          JO86GH  57       55       23 cm. SSB  TR               378

24/06/2005 19:39 SM1HOW          JO97GL  569      569      23 cm. CW   TR               214

24/06/2005 21:26 PE1IKX          JO22EA  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1299

24/06/2005 21:37 SP2JYR          JO92GP  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               628

24/06/2005 21:46 YU7EW           KNØ5HP  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1370

24/06/2005 22:33 OE6IWG          JN77PK  R38      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1251

24/06/2005 22:38 SP6IWQ          JO8ØHK  R26      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS               904

24/06/2005 22:41 DF6YL           JO31WS  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1133

24/06/2005 22:52 DG6JF/P         JO33QN  R27      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1035

24/06/2005 23:14 YZ7MON          KNØ4AX  R26      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1447

24/06/2005 23:31 PA2KW           JO22SB  R36      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1233

24/06/2005 23:40 PA3BIY          JO22EB  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1296

25/06/2005 00:14 DK5WL           JN49DW  26       R27      2 m.   FSK4 MS              1261

25/06/2005 00:23 DF5NK           JN59PM  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1170

25/06/2005 00:34 DL8EBW          JO31NF  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1212

25/06/2005 00:46 DF5DE           JO4ØCX  27       R27      2 m.   FSK4 MS              1178

25/06/2005 00:54 PE1GNP          JO31IX  R27      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1177

25/06/2005 04:11 HA8CE           KNØ6EN  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1269

25/06/2005 04:22 HA3UU           JN96JJ  R27      29       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1302

25/06/2005 04:46 OK1UAK          JN79WX  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               971

25/06/2005 04:49 LZ2FO           KN13KX  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1553

25/06/2005 05:03 IW4ARD          JN64FD  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1669

25/06/2005 05:05 S54T            JN75EW  R37      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1431

25/06/2005 05:18 I6BQI           JN72BK  R27      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1810

25/06/2005 05:41 UYØUP           KO5ØFJ  R27      R27      2 m.   FSK4 MS              1000

25/06/2005 06:00 RA3WDK          KO81BR  R27      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1132

25/06/2005 06:20 HA5UK           JN97OM  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1173

25/06/2005 06:27 SP6GWB          JO8ØJG  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               918

25/06/2005 06:32 HA5CW           JN97PM  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1172

25/06/2005 06:50 S53J            JN75EV  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1436

25/06/2005 07:00 DK5EW                   R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1251+-

25/06/2005 07:06 DL4DWA          JO61QH  R27      28       2 m.   FSK4 MS               922

25/06/2005 07:54 DL1DUR          JO7ØKV  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               909

25/06/2005 08:10 IV3GTH          JN65ST  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1466

25/06/2005 08:17 DJ5BV           JO3ØKI  R27      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1293

25/06/2005 08:28 HA5CBA          JN97OM  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1173

25/06/2005 08:50 IW1BCV          JN44FS  R37      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1734

 

NC: RZ6BU, G4RRA

 

 

June 23/24, 2005:

Last day of MS activity from KO18. Obviously we worked everybody interested as almost nobody replied after long CQs. We closed everything down for 2m & up here and will only do some shortwave from this location (our base camp). Will go to KO17, 07 and 08 with the second caravan starting this afternoon, see future plans section above.

 

ES0/DH8BQA – KO18AE – wkd:

 

23/06/2005 21:03 S54T            JN75EW  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1457

23/06/2005 21:38 HA5LV           JN97ML  R26      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1207

24/06/2005 06:12 OZ5AGJ          JO56DF  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS                739

24/06/2005 06:21 DL4DWA          JO61QH  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS                944

24/06/2005 07:02 DF6YL           JO31WS  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1147

24/06/2005 07:22 OK1FFD          JO6ØCF  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1089

 

NC: IK4DRY

 

 

June 22/23, 2005:

With very bad weather our motivation is quite a bit down. It’s been raining a lot and building up and taking down all the equipment and antennas is not that funny as one might think. ;-) Please remember we’re doing all those things over here in a pure portable setup! So we decided to stay in the base camp until better weather (see future plans above). Anyway did some MS again last night:

 

ES0/DH8BQA – KO18AE – wkd:

 

22/06/2005 20:31 SP6GWB          JO8ØJG  26       R27      2 m.   FSK4 MS                943

22/06/2005 21:24 ON6NL           JO21UE  R37      36       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1301

22/06/2005 21:27 PA2M            JO21JP  R28      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1315

22/06/2005 21:30 OO7EH           JO2ØFV  R28      28       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1387

22/06/2005 21:39 OK1UAK          JN79WX  27       R26      2 m.   FSK4 MS                996

22/06/2005 22:03 DL1DAX          JO31RM  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1187

22/06/2005 22:26 YU7EW           KNØ5HP  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1397

22/06/2005 22:49 DF8IK           JO3ØJT  R26      R26      2 m.   FSK4 MS               1276

22/06/2005 23:30 YZ7MON          KNØ4AX  26       R27      2 m.   FSK4 MS               1475

22/06/2005 23:42 UYØUP           KO5ØFJ  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1022

23/06/2005 06:31 IW1BCV          JN44FS  R26      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1756

23/06/2005 06:37 IV3DXW          JN65QQ  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1508

23/06/2005 06:48 DK7BY           JO42KH  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1056

23/06/2005 07:22 DL3LST          JO61FI  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS                975

23/06/2005 07:53 HA6NQ           JN98WA  R27      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1139

23/06/2005 08:00 DJ9CZ           JO31BC  R38      28       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1286

23/06/2005 08:13 DL5BBF          JO42LT  26       R26      2 m.   FSK4 MS               1015

23/06/2005 08:33 DL2RMC          JN68GI  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1260

23/06/2005 08:38 HA5CW           JN97PM  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1200

23/06/2005 08:41 OK1COM          JN79HJ  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1090

23/06/2005 09:18 HA5UK           JN97OM  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1201

23/06/2005 09:32 DKØOG           JN68GI  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1260

23/06/2005 09:43 IZ4AIK          JN63HV  R27      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1716

 

NC: I6BQI

 

 

June 21/22, 2005:

Went to a top location to participate in the 23 cm NAC tonight. Although all tropo ducting was gone – as usual before a contest starts, hi – we had quite some fun as KO08XM is a very neat location: free takeoff over water from SW over S and W and N to NE – really excellent.

 

We also built up the 10 GHz station of Heiko resulting in some very good 3 cm contacts from overthere.

 

ES0/DG1BHA – KO08XM – wkd:

 

21/06/2005 17:22 OHØ/OH2LAK/P    KOØ9CX  59+      59+      10 GHz SSB  TR                190

21/06/2005 17:41 ES2RJ           KO29KM  559      579      10 GHz CW   TR                200

21/06/2005 17:48 SM7LCB          JO86GH  59+      59+      10 GHz SSB  TR                406

21/06/2005 17:55 SM1HOW          JO97GL  59+      59+      10 GHz SSB  TR                232

21/06/2005 18:01 SM1SBI          JO97FK  59+      59+      10 GHz SSB  TR                239

21/06/2005 18:16 OH2AXH          KP2ØOK  529      529      10 GHz CW   TR                281

21/06/2005 18:55 SMØFZH          JO99HI  59+      59+      10 GHz SSB  TR                212

21/06/2005 19:20 SMØDFP          JO89VL  57       56       10 GHz SSB  TR                261

 

After the NAC and some more tropo contacts on 2 m and 70 cm (nice to catch DL7APV in Berlin on troposcatter) we did some MS again resulting in the following QSO totals for KO08XM:

 

ES0/DH8BQA – KO08XM – wkd:

 

21/06/2005 16:28 SQ2EEQ          JO94JC  519      559      70 cm. CW   TR                528

21/06/2005 17:00 OHØJFP          KPØØAB  59       59       23 cm. SSB  TR                203

21/06/2005 17:14 OHØ/OH2LAK/P    KOØ9CX  579      579      23 cm. CW   TR                190

21/06/2005 17:25 ES2RJ           KO29KM  579      599      23 cm. CW   TR                200

21/06/2005 17:41 SM7LCB          JO86GH  59       59       23 cm. SSB  TR                406

21/06/2005 17:49 SM1MUT          JO97CJ  57       59       23 cm. SSB  TR                254

21/06/2005 17:51 SM1HOW          JO97GL  59       59       23 cm. SSB  TR                232

21/06/2005 17:56 SKØUX           JO99BM  53       55       23 cm. SSB  TR                246

21/06/2005 18:00 SM1A            JO97FK  59       59       23 cm. SSB  TR                239

21/06/2005 18:06 OH2AXH          KP2ØOK  559      569      23 cm. CW   TR                281

21/06/2005 18:32 SMØDFP          JO89VL  559      579      23 cm. CW   TR                261

21/06/2005 18:37 SM3BEI          JP81NG  549      569      23 cm. CW   TR                407

21/06/2005 18:42 YL3AG           KO26AW  579      579      23 cm. CW   TR                215

21/06/2005 18:49 OH2RH           KP2ØID  55       55       23 cm. SSB  TR                239

21/06/2005 18:51 SMØFZH          JO99HI  59       59       23 cm. SSB  TR                212

21/06/2005 18:52 OH2K            KP2ØIF  55       55       23 cm. SSB  TR                246

21/06/2005 18:56 OHØA            JP9ØXD  57       57       23 cm. SSB  TR                213

21/06/2005 19:02 SM3AKW          JP92AO  539      559      23 cm. CW   TR                502

21/06/2005 19:21 OZ6OL           JO65DJ  519      429      23 cm. CW   TR                680

21/06/2005 19:26 SK7MW           JO65MJ  529      519      23 cm. CW   TR                642

21/06/2005 19:48 RW1AW           KP5ØDA  519      559      23 cm. CW   TR                501

21/06/2005 20:00 OH5LK           KP3ØON  539      559      23 cm. CW   TR                373

21/06/2005 20:03 OH2ML           KP2ØAG  559      559      23 cm. CW   TR                227

21/06/2005 20:05 ES2WX           KO29JN  599      599      23 cm. CW   TR                199

21/06/2005 20:18 SM3LBN          JP8ØIO  559      559      23 cm. CW   TR                375

21/06/2005 20:26 SP2QBQ          JO94FL  57       59       23 cm. SSB  TR                498

21/06/2005 20:30 SP2QBQ          JO94FL  59       59       70 cm. SSB  TR                498

21/06/2005 20:47 DL7APV          JO62JR  519      419      70 cm. CW   TR                862

21/06/2005 20:52 SP2JXN          JO94GJ  559      559      70 cm. CW   TR                504

21/06/2005 21:22 SP2WHE          JO94HI  55       56       2 m.   SSB  TR                506

21/06/2005 21:24 SP2IQW          JO94GM  55       59       2 m.   SSB  TR                491

21/06/2005 21:27 SP2FAV          JO94MA  529      559      2 m.   CW   TR                532

21/06/2005 21:36 OH3BYZ          KP21UA  549      579      2 m.   CW   TR                348

21/06/2005 22:02 PA5DD           JO22IC  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1298

21/06/2005 22:14 PE9DX           JO33MD  R27      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1103

21/06/2005 22:20 OK1TEH          JO7ØFD  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1049

21/06/2005 22:33 S54O            JN75PS  R27      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1487

21/06/2005 22:48 I4YNO           JN54KP  27       R26      2 m.   FSK4 MS               1717

21/06/2005 22:51 HA6NQ           JN98WA  R27      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1175

21/06/2005 22:55 OO7EH           JO2ØFV  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1401

21/06/2005 22:58 OK1KT           JO7ØWE  R28      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1006

21/06/2005 23:35 IW4EHZ          JN54ML  R27      39       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1729

21/06/2005 23:38 HA6NY           JN98WC  R27      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1166

21/06/2005 23:45 HB9DFG          JN37SM  R27      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1550

21/06/2005 23:51 DF5NK           JN59PM  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1216

22/06/2005 00:19 S51WX           JN75OS  R26      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1488

22/06/2005 00:40 PA3COB          JO32MF  R38      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1169

22/06/2005 04:18 HA3UU           JN96JJ  R27      29       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1364

22/06/2005 04:26 S53VV           JN65UM  R27      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1549

22/06/2005 04:39 IK4PMB          JN54MM  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1725

22/06/2005 04:48 DJ8ES           JO43SX  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS                916

22/06/2005 04:52 DL4DWA          JO61QH  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS                969

22/06/2005 04:57 PE1GNP          JO31IX  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1205

22/06/2005 05:13 SP2JYR          JO92GP  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS                687

22/06/2005 05:16 DK3BU           JO33NO  R27      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1067

22/06/2005 05:41 S51AT           JN75GW  R27      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1485

22/06/2005 05:47 HA5UK           JN97OM  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1236

22/06/2005 05:52 PE1AHX          JO21OS  R37      28       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1296

22/06/2005 06:08 G4RRA           IO8ØBS  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1855

22/06/2005 06:13 YU7EW           KNØ5HP  R27      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1434

22/06/2005 06:58 G8VYK           JOØ1FO  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1560

22/06/2005 07:23 DJ9CZ           JO31BC  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1301

22/06/2005 07:28 DC9YC           JO31PJ  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1222

22/06/2005 07:36 DF8IK           JO3ØJT  R27      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1293

22/06/2005 07:40 DK3WG           JO72GI  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS                829

22/06/2005 07:55 ON6NL           JO21UE  R26      R26      2 m.   FSK4 MS               1315

22/06/2005 08:04 DL6ZAU          JO4ØJF  R27      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1251

22/06/2005 08:14 SP6GWB          JO8ØJG  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS                975

22/06/2005 08:34 ON4IMM          JO11UB  R27      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1426

22/06/2005 08:54 F6HVK           JN27LH  27       R26      2 m.   FSK4 MS               1679

22/06/2005 09:04 DK7BY           JO42KH  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1073

22/06/2005 09:10 DL6BF           JO32QI  R38      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1143

22/06/2005 09:42 DL1DAX          JO31RM  R27      R27      2 m.   FSK4 MS               1204

 

NC: ON4CHP, F5VHX

 

 

June 20/21, 2005:

After taking the equipment down in KO07 we finally went to the booked base QTH in KO18AE. After setting down the caravans we went through the island to look for a good location in KO08 for Tuesday evening to do tropo on 2/70/23 and of course some MS again to give out this extremely rare one to you.

While driving we got bombarded with SMS “Where are you?” as there was a good tropo duct over the Baltic sea – our fellows at home could hear the ES0SHF beacon located on the north side of Saaremaa on 23 cm with strong signals. So we did hurry to come back to the base camp and build up all the V/U/SHF stuff and caught some nice contacts due to the ducting although the QTH in KO18AE is rather bad for tropo. After that we started MS again resulting in the following QSO total:

 

ES0/DH8BQA – KO18AE – wkd:

 

20/06/2005 21:08 OH5LK           KP3ØON  519      559      23 cm. CW   TR                394

20/06/2005 21:11 DL3BUA          JO73DB  519      599      23 cm. CW   TR                748

20/06/2005 21:14 SM1HOW          JO97GL  59       59       23 cm. SSB  TR                222

20/06/2005 21:17 DL3BUA          JO73DB  53       53       23 cm. SSB  TR                748

20/06/2005 21:18 SM7LCB          JO86GH  59       59       23 cm. SSB  TR                391

20/06/2005 21:23 ES2RJ           KO29KM  55       57       23 cm. SSB  TR                220

20/06/2005 21:38 OZ6OL           JO65DJ  57       56       70 cm. SSB  TR                669

20/06/2005 21:56 DL3BUA          JO73DB  559      559      70 cm. CW   TR                748

20/06/2005 22:00 DL3BUA          JO73DB  52       53       70 cm. SSB  TR                748

20/06/2005 22:06 SP2MKO          JO93CB  559      559      70 cm. CW   TR                618

20/06/2005 22:15 SM7FMX          JO65KN  57       55       70 cm. SSB  TR                628

20/06/2005 22:36 SM7FMX          JO65KN  52       55       23 cm. SSB  TR                628

20/06/2005 22:45 SP2MKO          JO93CB  549      559      2 m.   CW   TR                618

20/06/2005 23:10 DF5NK           JN59PM  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1191

20/06/2005 23:55 S51AT           JN75GW  R26      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1453

21/06/2005 00:10 PA3BIY          JO22EB  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1307

21/06/2005 00:27 PDØHCV          JO31FW  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1207

21/06/2005 00:43 PA3COB          JO32MF  R26      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1155

21/06/2005 08:18 SP2JYR          JO92GP  27       R26      2 m.   FSK4 MS                654

21/06/2005 08:22 PE1GNP          JO31IX  R26      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1191

21/06/2005 08:34 DF2ZC           JO3ØRN  27       R27      2 m.   FSK4 MS               1264

21/06/2005 08:40 DK3WG           JO72GI  27       R27      2 m.   FSK4 MS                803

21/06/2005 09:18 OK1TEH          JO7ØFD  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1020

21/06/2005 09:28 PE1AHX          JO21OS  R27      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1284

21/06/2005 09:32 DJ9CZ           JO31BC  R27      37       2 m.   FSK4 MS               1286

 

NC: DB8AT, ON4CHP, DL1DAX

 

 

June 19/20, 2005:

We were much earlier than announced on the island as the "Via Baltica" route through Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia was really good to drive (no comparison to the very bad roads in Eastern Poland). So we decided to go to KO07XX immediately to check the location and do some Meteor Scatter.

There is a very nice place directly at the coastline next to a lighthouse with perfect takeoff – just water, hi – from S over W to N. Although we announced our activity start for the next day only there’s been good activity already so we could do quite some MS-QSOs + a few on tropo that night and Monday morning.

 

ES0/DH8BQA – KO07XX – wkd:

 

19/06/2005 23:22 DF5NK           JN59PM  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1170

19/06/2005 23:37 G8VHI           IO92FM  R26      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1598

20/06/2005 00:05 S57EA           JN75EW  R27      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1434

20/06/2005 00:14 HB9DFG          JN37SM  R26      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1508

20/06/2005 00:25 PA3COB          JO32MF  R26      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1140

20/06/2005 08:27 F6HVK           JN27LH  R27      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1640

20/06/2005 08:35 PE1GNP          JO31IX  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1175

20/06/2005 08:40 GW8IZR          IO73TI  R26      26       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1716

20/06/2005 08:43 PA3DZL          JO21HM  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1318

20/06/2005 08:50 PE1AHX          JO21OS  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1269

20/06/2005 08:55 OZ1LPR          JO44UW  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               823

20/06/2005 09:01 DK3WG           JO72GI  R28      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               782

20/06/2005 09:12 G4RRA           IO8ØBS  26       R27      2 m.   FSK4 MS              1839

20/06/2005 09:16 DJ9CZ           JO31BC  28       R27      2 m.   FSK4 MS              1270

20/06/2005 09:21 PA3FSA          JO23RF  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1159

20/06/2005 09:35 PDØORT          JO23RE  R27      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1161

20/06/2005 09:46 SP3VSC          JO92DF  27       R27      2 m.   FSK4 MS               680

20/06/2005 10:00 ON6NL           JO21UE  R26      37       2 m.   FSK4 MS              1285

20/06/2005 10:19 LA4XGA          JP33VC  R26      27       2 m.   FSK4 MS               958

20/06/2005 10:23 OH5LK           KP3ØON  57       58       2 m.   SSB  TR               414

20/06/2005 10:34 SM1SBI          JO97FK  59       59       2 m.   SSB  TR               216

20/06/2005 10:35 OZ9AEG          JO57GJ  52       51       2 m.   SSB  TR               681

20/06/2005 10:36 SM3LBN          JP8ØIO  55       55       2 m.   SSB  TR               417

 

NC: YU7EW

 

 

Here on Saaremaa Island we’re using the following equipment:

 

HF: TS-450S, 100W, GPA-30 groundplane and FD-4 Windom

50 MHz: IC-706, 100W, 4 ele Yagi

144 MHz: IC-910H + PA, 350W, MGF1302, 9 ele F9FT Yagi

432 MHz: IC-910H, 70 W, MGF1302, 10 ele DK7ZB Yagi

1296 MHz: IC-910H, 10W, (no preamp) 23 ele F9FT Yagi

10368 MHz: FT-790R/II + DB6NT transverter, 1W, 60 cm dish

 

 

Some general comments (we made during our expedition and published earlier on this web page already):

 

We announced to be active on Meteor Scatter on 144.383 MHz and did so for the first few days. After that we got quite some complaints as this frequency is covered by SAT-RX and TV QRM all over half of Europe. As we want you to work us and get a new grid square we finally decided to change our operating frequency to 144.386 MHz FSK441A after discussing this alternative with some of the guys who were plagued by the QRM.

Guess what happened after that? Again complaints that 386 is no good and so on! Well, we won’t change frequency again as we cannot make it right to everyone, sorry. Usually bursts are strong enough to overcome the QRM and get good decoding. So go ahead and try to QSO, thanks. We promise your satisfaction will be at least twice as high after a completed contact. ;-)

 

Another word concerning the DX cluster network: Yes, we do have access to the cluster via a GSM-GPRS link (telnet through internet via mobile phone). As this does cost our money we’re not there all time! We read quite some “sked requests” through the cluster but we will ignore them as we do only random operation! We simply don’t want to know if DGxxx or S5xx is calling us or not! When we get some bursts from them we will reply and do a QSO, otherwise not. That’s the way WE play the game – do it our way or let it be. ;-)

The only exception is when stations far away from our main antenna direction are asking us to turn antennas their way we will usually do so to give them a chance as well. This is only valid for Russia/Ukraine and Northern Scandinavia as we would normally not call CQ into their direction as the response from there is usually zero.

 

 

Please do QSL via the home calls, through the bureau or direct, just as you like to.

 

73’s from the expedition crew of XYL Gabi, Heiko (DG1BHA), Uwe (DL3BQA) and Olli (DH8BQA).

 

 

…-.-     .    .