EA6/SP7VC New Years trip to Balearic Islands. UPDATED Jan.01.2016

Updated Jan.01.2016 Happy New Year everyone !

#JM19MV 4m FSK441 LOG:

Dec 31.2015 S51DI, ON7EQ, G4BWP, G0CHE,

Jan 01.2016 S52OR,



As You probably aware, Mek SP7VC and Kasia SQ7OYL are now on EA6 sunbathing and drinking fresh drinks at +20C, which is totally opposite to WX here, winter cold with -11C in the morning.
Scary to go pee outside ;-D

EA6/SP7VC activity is limited to HF and 4m in Pollenca # JM19MV, you can see QRA with antennas around.

Aonther part of Mek's plan was to activate 4locators crossing on Minorca Isl., but this is cancelled now, due to problems with Ferry and limited time to activity.


Nevertheless If You wish to try MS on 4m, Mek will be QRV tommorow around 11UTC on 70.191MHz FSK 441 looking for any QSO.
The RIG is old good FT847 and 4el YU7EF Yagi EF0404pVC - portable, very light version made by RNZ LAB for this EA6 trip.
You can see this antenna on the pics below.
Overall complete antenna weight with mounting brackets, choke, e.t.c is just 2,15kg's.
Thanks to Pop YU7EF for his repetitive and professional antenna design.

And here is Mek himself assembling the Yagi at JM19MV.

Good luck with the QSO's


73!

Merry Christmas everyone!

ICOM IC-746 anti "sudden death" modification

If You are IC-746, PRO or just ICOM 7xx family owner You've heard probably that some of them, extensively used i.e for digimodes or EME can die suddenly on TX chain.
Symptoms of no TX power at all, not even a small peep, and nothing on the meter.

This issue is already known, and well documented on the web, while ICOM never agreed that it's the failure judging that ESD is responsible for this failure.
In fact, there is a chance it could be truth, but what if radio was unused on digi, worked as IF for transverter and not hit by any lightning?

Personally I am not believing in ESD case.
This 746 radio You can see below has been traveling across Europe, North America, Caribbean working under unusually stress conditions.
Field operation, humidity, thunderstorms, various mains voltage, another highpower transmitters nearby on DX-pedition - ESD protection is the last one to think of in such enviroment. And there was no such protection for sure.

Another experience with my own 756PRO3 shows, that despite changing electrical design in late models of IC 75xx to preserve such failures (as discussed on OZ2M page) Icom's still dying from time to time.
Mine died suddenly few Years back, just before big 6m opening when Jimmy W6JKV worked as V26JKV.

After replacing uPC1678 and adding a simple thermal mod, quite similar to all these published, I can say no stress anymore. My PRO3 is extensively used on EME, HF, digi and other 100% keydown modes. Nothing but adding radiator.
How many times I'd changed antenna plug on the back? How many thunderstorm it survived with HF or 6m antenna connected? Thousands, I can say.

For more info and discussion about see Bo's OZ2M page or another nice pages as OH7FES and KB6NU

My way of this mod is just another way to get the things sorted.
While in IC756PRO family RFUNIT is placed on the side of the TRX and mod can be done very simply, doing various thermal mod in 746 can be tricky because of small place around IC151.

To be continued - QRL calling :-)

I0QM Balun for 70MHz antenna

Another design of real balanced-unbalanced unit, this time for 4m - 70MHz band.

Previous post gave us some general idea about I0QM balun, this time some pics and "making of"
4m version.

Starting with accurate cable measuring, we need to have 1/4L and 3/4L coax lenght.
This time I have spare parts of Italian RG213 C.T.E International cable.

Slightly smaller at diameter than ordinary RG213 MIL-C type, but more flexible.
Of course another cable will have different velocity factor.
Using this cable lenght of 690mm were cut for 1/4L at 70.200MHz, giving X=0,5 Ohms at given frequency.
The other part is 3* 690mm. For those unfamiliar with coax baluns, "lenght" is a distance measured at shield of a cable,
not his inner conductor.

Before assembling the cable I did some test, here's analyzer output of SWR and RL.
Balun was terminated with non inductive 50Ohm.

Additionally small ABS box, N-F connector and ~80g of expoxy resin will be suitable for our project.

The box has needed holes drilled, one for N connector, another end two parallel holes for coax cables.
This will be output end of balun.

After accurate cutting 1/4L and 3/4L of coax cables shield were soldered each end
and slipped into box. Hot silicon glue was added to seal cable before applying resin.

Next, small piece of soldered metal pad was added to give shield connections with N connector.
Next step was adding epoxy resin to seal all the connections and make them waterproof. And the other end with soldered M4 joints sealed with self amalging tape :

Here's assembled balun, ready to use.

73 & GL!

Another 4m DX pedition by Mek SP7VC and Kasia SQ7OYL

As You probably aware, there will be another HF/4m activity organised by Mek SP7VC.

This time EA6/SP7VC, as Balearic Islands are the target to welcome New Year 2016.

Activity will be mainly from JM19LV, city of Pollenca, but also ferry trip to Minorca Island is planned, a place where
4 sqaures JN10,JN20,JM19/JM29 are crossing. This will be field operation as always, so stay tuned for more info later.

Image credit - Ham atlas, SP6NVK, www.hamatlas.eu

Rig used - FT847 +PA GU-200 ,phased Verticals 160-80-40m + vertical 40-10m ,4el-Yagi 4m

GL all !

V6M QSL arrived

It's been some time without new post here, well, it was quite busy month as well.

Today postman bring nice suprise: Lance's V6M DX pedition QSL.

Thank's for new one and interesting EME experience Lance !
Where You will go next ? :-)


73!

V6M - EME DX pedition by W7GJ - in log now ;-0

It has been really lucky day yesturday. No doubts that it can happen once in a Year as for 6m.
Actually it has happen once with 5V7MI this Year, so probably pulled my bonus DX track for 2015.

After 2 days of trying to get anything from Lance on my Moonrise with decreasing Degradation, yesturday finally we reach the lowest one this perigee.
Good thing was Lance sent short message via Iridium phone informed that he heard lot's of station from EU including me.

V6M for August 28 GMT - Part 2 (3rd EU moonrise) Had severe equipment problems, only able to run QRP. Only worked S59A, GW4WND and a station who wished not to be named. EU stns copied but not worked were EA6VQ, G4BWP, G4IGO,HA7TM, HA8FC, JR1LZK, LZ2DF, LZ2WO, OH3MIK, OZ1DJJ, OZ4VV, SP3RNZ, VK5PO, YT0EME, ZS4TX, ZS6NK.

That encourages me well to fight next day. 

Started on Saturday again just before moonrise at -1,6deg of elevation counting on GG at my Eastern horizon. It was proven that sometimes it works.
Lance's signal appeared quite fast, slowly drifting down from start of the period, as well as having much fluctuation on it... Appearing suddenly after short while in period or dissapearing before end.
( Note - now, we know what was the reason - Lance increased power during TX periods, his message below )
I've seen his trace almost every period, but sfter unsuccessfull struggling with AFC and Freeze I set his DF 54Hz and called each period. Signal was very hard to decode, drift, very fast Faraday rotation and quite fast fadings give sometimes 15 sec of good signal then nothing.
Suddenly his signal was getting better from period to period and 17:49 miracle happen !  

After I got his RRR and posted the infor on KST page, Ants ES6RQ and Drago S59A confirmed that I had copied my "OOO" and Lance's RRR, and QSO with V6M is completed.
Pure luck, new dxcc and First SP-V6 QSO on 6m ever.

Next after me Marek SP4MPB worked him as well, and HA8FK. His signal was better and better then gone after main lobe of my antennas just around 8degress...

Suddenly at 18:40 LZ2DF posted the info NA guys got from Lance that his Amplifier blew up and he's gone QRT 18:30UTC :-( What a pity. Read the full story in latest message below..

V6M for August 28 GMT - Part 2 (3rd EU moonrise) From: Lance Collister, W7GJ Date: Tue, Sep 1, 2015 at 3:29 AM Subject: [Magic Band EME] V6M Update - September 2, 2015 To: Magic Band EME Group Hello Moonbouncers! I didn't have much chance to file an update after the amp blew up at 1830Z on 8/29/15. Now I am currently on a merchant ship traveling to Colonia, Yap, and when this message gets sent it will be via real WiFi, so it can be longer and more detailed. Anyway, on August 29 during the NA moonset, I worked W1JJ, W7JW, W3UUM, W7UT, and KR7O. I also copied K4PI, K7CW, K7RWT, N3CXV, N3XX, N5DG, N8JX, VE1JF, W3XO, W6XU, and W8TN. MNI TNX to all of you NA stations for making the effort to get up in the middle of the night to try with me. I know it was especially inconvenient a window for you, and based on the fact that I worked BV2DQ off the back of the beam during one of my moonrises while I was beaming southeast, there apparently was some TEP zone ionization taking place for me during those times :-( Seems like these latitudes always have some propagation on 6m! During the EU moonrise, before the amp blew up, I worked ZS4TX, SP3RNZ, SP4MPB, and HA8FK. I also copied IT9YTR, LZ2DF, LZ2WO, OZ1DJJ, S51DI, S51V and ZS6NK. I am so sorry that there were not more of you in the log, and I hope to find another (more accessible!) spot in V6 to provide this DXCC to the rest of you. By the strengths of the signals I received, it sure seems I should be able to work everyone I copied. I understand that some of you were having trouble decoding the JT65A from the KX3 when my signal was weak, and I will go back to the K3 next time (even though it will require yet another piece of excess baggage to be checked). The KX3 is a GREAT little rig, and I sure was receiving well, and I had great success using it on 6m FSK441 when I was activating rare grids from mountain tops this summer, but I can see that it just will not do the job on JT65A for EME on 6m :-( I may have to try to sell it to finance repair or purchase of a new 6m DXpedition amp... My tried and true 6M-1000 amp was really subjected to some horrible voltage spikes on 28 August when the 117 VAC line voltage sagged to 103 VAC and the Meanwell power supply just couldn't provide the DC current at that voltage (and questionable waveform). The amp kicked out when the DC voltage dropped down around 43 volts at full power output, and that must have caused a huge voltage spike when the current was interrupted. But it happened repeatedly, since the AC power would come back up as soon as the load was removed, and then it would get shut down immediately again. I don't know how many times this took place because I was out turning the antenna during a transmit period. There was a disturbing smell coming from somewhere, but with all the cooling fans blowing air around everywhere, I couldn't tell whether it was the amp or the power supply (I have learned the necessity to have good fans set up around the equipment in the tropics). After those events, I tried to start out each TX period on low power and slowly increase it up to around 800w so the amp would not kick out. The 117 VAC line had been performing like this one time earlier, and but later it seemed very solid, so I had held off trying to find a source of 220 VAC. After the 8/28 incidents, though, I went in serious search of 220 VAC and found some at the main house power panel. I disconnected the water heater from one of the 220 circuit breakers and wired in my extra 3' extension cord that I had previously cut up trying to connect to the non-existent 220 in the kitchen. The little Meanwell RSP-2000-48 really loved the 220 and I thought I was out of the woods, since the amp was working great on a very steady 51 VDC during moonrise on August 29. However, the damage had already been done the day before, and when I saw flames shooting out the bottom of the amp, I knew I was in trouble. The disaster apparently also destroyed my power supply. So those are the details of the very sad end to the V6M operation right in the middle of the DXpedition. Only the 37 stations listed in these updates made it into the log, and I know that number could have been doubled. Since there was no more reason to stay there, and I was anxious to get some real food and some running water again, I took down the antenna and packed up everything, hoping to get a seat on the biweekly PMA flight Monday. However, they decided Monday morning to cancel that flight, so it looked like I was stuck there until Friday. However, Dominic (the only other ham on Falalop, although without any working gear) told me Sunday night that he was planning to take a ship to Yap on Tuesday. Apparently, the "Four Winds" ship out of Pohnpei was just starting to provide service to Yap, and was stopping off the coast of Falalop on Tuesday morning. So when I saw the ship on Tuesday morning, I rushed into the village and managed to get all my gear transported to the beach in time to catch the last small boat shuttle out to the ship. We then stopped off two other of the inhabited islands in the Ulithi Atoll, before heading out toward Yap. The second. Federai Island, is the longest island in the atoll, and I recognized the name. The only two HF hams in Ulithi Atoll - V63YAH, Albert and V63YWR, William - both are on Federai. So, since passengers (referred to as "PAX") were allowed to go ashore as others were picked up, I went ashore for about 30 minutes and met both of them! Actually, William does have a 100w HF rig with 6m on it, and I encouraged him to try loading it up into his multiband HF Hex Beam and look for some DX. I told him that I had recently worked BV2DQ off the back of my beam, so I know there is some prop about even this time of year. But I really encouraged him to keep an eye on 6m during the fall and spring, since he should be able to work lots on TEP. Currently, there is no internet on any of the islands in Ulithi Atoll, so mail (or HF) is the only way to get in touch with these guys. So, I am feeling much better now that I have had a couple protein bars and another bottle of cold water. I still have a protein bar left for dinner and one for breakfast in the morning. As soon as I get my gear to safety in Colonia, and check with United Airlines about moving up my flight to their biweekly Wednesday night flight, I am looking forward to walking over to have breakfast somewhere, stinking and disheveled as I am ;-) Then finally a shower ;-) 73 for now from the Four Winds ship at 0715Z September 1 GMT time, or 4:15 pm Tuesday September 2, local time. Lance W7GJ/V6M

73!

3W3RR/JAIL QSO with Roman Vega. An American Jail Journey.

Today I got special QSL, for the QSO that probably is impossible to made.
Of course no CW or verbal contact has been made, but just "human" touch with ham radio greetings.
The Jail QSO.

As You probably aware I am not VHF born, so those of You interested in HF DX-ing must know the story or just heard about the person this post is about.
This is the guy, known as Roman Vega ( last call 3W3RR or formerly UB5JRR ) I have in my log with plenty of variuos callsigns.

If You are serious HF'er, and/or DX'er You know that he served more new ones for DX community than probably nobody else these days, to mention rare Spratly 1S0XV activation, or North Korea DXP signed as P5RS7 few Years later.

Romeo is in U.S jail now for more than 12 Years. He was arrested in 5B4 back in 2003 and transferred to US then.
Most interesting thing is, that in US, after 12 Years he is still not sentenced by the American court.
No proofs for him? Apparently...

Judge yourself. I am amazed after reading whole story, how it's possible in US. Is this really Country of Freedom?
Worth read and think.

You can find full info on Romeo's jail journey blog made and updated by his friends HERE

73!

Let's stack... Something :-) 2 * EF0606W1 YU7EF design "V6M" project - ACCOMPLISHED

Garden mess partially cleaned. XYL seems to be happy :-) Well, actually not fully satisfied ;-)

As You probably aware, EME DX-peditioner Lance W7GJ is on the Falalop, V6 ( F.S.M )
This was the reason to build something different than single Yagi to try EME bouncing with him.
Of course also good reason to fight with bad WX (sudden rain and winds)as well as fast running time, to get on spot with minimum of Degradation coming weekend.
Second or third reason was to build & test my first stack - light version of YU7EF EF0606W1 Yagis in Vertical polarisation.

All parts are recycled ( greeeeen antenna :-) ! ) from previously used antennas, EF0609/0407 etc.
No animals were hurt during production :-D, just one scared neighbour and my two fingers cutted by accident. Nah !

This is light version of EF0606W1 designed for me by Pop YU7EF (thank You!), tapered elements, 12/10mm and 300mm square tube boom to minimize weight, and better wind resistance.
Simulation show 11,6dBi freespace gain of single antenna, pair of two should be ~2-2,5dB better.

Planned elevation mount, pity, but not this time...

Horizontal pattern

Few pics during project work :

Center mounting plate : square boom 40x40x2mm with 100cm inner tube dia 35mm on joints

Horizontal support vs boom joint plate

DE with I0QM resonant balun attached.

Left antenna, closer look. Boom little saggy at it's 6m lenght , will correct it before lift up.

Both antennas at low level. Awesome :-)

Last pics at Earth level, Wednesday. Booms corrected. Moon behind - a good omen?

and last corrections Thursday Aug.27

Time is running fast, best time to go higher : - )

And finally 2*6el YU7EF operational at 12m.

First measurements : SWR at 50.150MHz 1:1.13, at 50.200 1:1,22 ( measured with AA-170 )

Now it's time to work V6 :-)


Assume 2*6el YU7EF stack project done. This all was possible with great help and encouragement of Pop, YU7EF. Hvala.



73!

Summer "no DX" humour ;-)

A bit of humour, when all continously dries with +35C in full sun, sometimes we can find some spare antennas in the grass.

Well.
Wife said - honey, I know, there's SIX season in June, but we have almost September... so would You like to clean the Alu mess? :-)

Nah! Womans..

SV9/DJ5MN #KM25QI Bernie on Crete Isl. - UPADTED Aug.27

On behalf of Bernhard DJ5MN :

Hi Greg,

Telegramm-info (if you like you can distribute to DXers)

SV9/DJ5MN #KM25QI Antenna set up done, QRV 40-10m 6m 4m. CW ok, SSB limited due to microphone problem.
6m QSOs done, 4m not open yet. HF/6m: ~200 QSO done for test CW 99 %

Now:

SV9/DJ5MN/m #KM15 Today Saturday, August.22 HF + 6m + 4m QRV several hours during daylight , CW (SSB see above)
pse monitor 50.099 +/-3 kHz and 70.200 - will announce in DX cluster or KST

SV9/DJ5MN/p #KM24 HF + 6m + 4m will announce details to SP3RNZ as soon as possible and will try KST / DX cluster

73 Bernhard SV9/DJ5MN

UPDATE August 25.2015

So far 1007 QSOs from KM25....255 on 6m and exactly zero QSOs on 4m.
Condx are mediocre to damned bad.

In addition there is a lovely little source of QRM that needs "special treatment" from time to time....please see picture...Tobias preparing for /mm. ;-)

KM24 or KM35 end of week....info to come.
Feel free to publish....

73 from Crete!
Bernhard SV9/DJ5MN

UPDATE August 27.2015

Hi Greg, On Friday, August 28., we plan to be in KM35. I will try to be QRV as SV9/DJ5MN/p for some hours during daylight on 6m and 4m. If no condx on VHF I will try some HF. All operation is CW only as my microphone is broken. There is some little chance to be in KM35 on Saturday as well. I will I info you... QRG around 50099 +/- 3 kHz. ......and 70200...
Please find attached a photo of my SV9 shack in KM25qi.
Feel free to publish. 73 Bernhard

Perseids shower - a visible part.

Some nice stacked pics received from my brother Andy SP3UCA, captured August 12 and August 13 at night time. Single B/W sky survelliance camera mounted on chimney.

August 12/13.2015 stack

August 13/14.2015 stack

Nice, isn't it?


73!

Balkan Suprise -Mek's last STOP on tour - SV8/SP7VC #KM29PW - log

QRT QRT QRT - END of BALKAN TRIP II August 15.2015 Summary tommorow. Thanks to all who tried, and worked.


Everything good must came to an end - this way or another Balkan Tour II does.

But as You probably read my first post about "the trip" - nothing is sure with Mek ;-)

They prepared - a cherry on a cake - 4 days activation from KM29PW, which is Limnos Island, Greece.

So, Mek as SV8/SP7VC #KM29PW is on air now, QRT August 16.

Usual shifts : 4UTC mornings, and whole day with breaks for "vacation time".

Worked stations:

4m MS : SP8CUR, SP3RNZ, SP6MLK, SP6GWB, DJ5MN, OK2BRD, 9A1Z, S51ZO, DK6SP, OK7GU, SP2JYR, SP9DNO, S51DI, SP8WJW, SP2FH, DK2PH, S52OR, SP9HWY, PA2IP (2088km), OK1KT, DK5EW, S57A, OM5KM, OK1TEH, SV2DCD, DH8BQA, OK2POI, PF7M (2057km), DN5JD, SP7BUZ, DK5MV, PA3DOL (2101km), OK1MAC, LZ2HV

4m SSB: SV7GBR

6m MS: IV3IYH, SP8CUR, SM7FJE, OK2BRD, SP3RNZ, HA0DU, YO5LD, SP9CVY, UR5LAK, YL2CP, IZ5EME, S51DI, SP2CHY, DK2PH, IK0FTA, SP7BUZ, LZ2PL, UX4UA, I6WJB, S59A, SP3CMX,

6m SSB: SP3RNZ, IK5IVY, IK5YJY,


TO/NC: OZ3ZW, LZ1FG, DG1VL


73!

OH0MZA Aland Isl. #KP09CX by Zaba OH1ZAA and friends

One say patience always pays off. Offending anybody never did.

Good "karma" always back, bad "karma" kicks your BUTT.

Always.
Sooner or later.

Kiitos Zaba, for fast and reliable QSO.
Well done, and to say "disaster" about your effort, means that some "ham's" got really short panties..

And they probably still wet, even they grow old.

OH0MZA antennas:

Photo courtesy of OH0MZA/OH0G

and shortly

155730 16.5 420 2 26 6 0 652 CQ OH0MZA SS32N 3OH0MZ$ P, N 0 I

155931 29.4 580 6 26 -28 /8 HKMZA 37 37 SP3RNZ OH0MZA 37 27 SP3

160329 23.0 500 2 26 -23 ZEXE VYW R/OH0MZA BRRR RRRR C8XMY! 2P H

160530 7.1 620 11 27 -61 ,H9VYW 73 QH0M# 73 OH0MZA 73 OH0MZA

GL and see You from OJ0 next year.

73!

Balkan Trip SV7/SP7VC #KN21KE

Next QTH in Balkan tour : Xanthi, Greece #KN21KE
Operation started : August 10, 18:00UTC, QRT August 12, 06:25UTC.

Mek reports wave noises appearing on 6 and 4m probably from nearby 110kV power line.
Nothing he can do about it, so please be patient and try to catch low noise moment.

Worked stations:

4m MS: SP3RNZ, SP9HWY, SP6GWB, S57A, SP6MLK, DK2PH, S51DI, 9A1Z, DJ5MN, SP2JYR, SP9DNO, S51ZO, OM5KM, SP8WJW,
4m SSB: SV7GBR

6m MS: EA1YV, S57TW, 9A2DI, DK2PH, OK2BRD, YU7EF, I6WJB, S59A, IZ5EME, HA8CE, SV2DCD

TO/NC: YO5LD, SP2FH,


73!

Balkan Trip LZ/SP7VC #KN32WT log

Next QTH in Balkan tour : Obzor, Black Sea coast, grid KN32WT.
QRV 3 days 6 and 4m. If Meteorscatter cndx improves, or Es - short trip to KN43 grid is planned.

Location :

Quite nice sigs from Mek, although still hard to get there anyway.

Worked stations:

70MHz:
MS: SP6GWB, SP9HWY, SP2JYR, SP3RNZ, SP6MLK, SP9DNO, OK2BRD, DJ5MN, S51DI, PF7M, SP2FH, DD3SP, SP2MKO.

Es: DH8BQA, LA9DFA, OH2FNR, SP2JYR, LA0BY, ES1II/8, LA4LN, LA9DL, SP2MKO, SP3RNZ, SP6MLK, SP6GWB, OK2BRD, PA2IP, DG1ROD, LY2BAW, OZ2LD, PA4VHF, DL7DF, OZ3ZW, DF1AN, SP5ENA, SP9HWY, SP3OCC, OZ5KM, OZ2OE, OZ1BNN, SP8CUW, SP8CUR, SP8WJW, OK1MP, DL3HXS, SP2DDV, OK2BGW, PF7M, OM5KM, SP3MIP, OK1VBN, OZ1LO, SP2FH, DH8BQA, DK2PH, DJ7YP, SP9GMI, SP2CNW, DH8NAS, DM5CT, DL4OL, DL5AKF, OZ7QC, SP9DNO, DM2AYO, OZ2PBS, OZ1JXY, DJ9YE, DL3BUA, DJ6OL, SP6TRX, DG1BHA, SQ7KHZ, SP3CSD, ON7GB, SQ3DHO, SP2HMR, OZ1LO, SP2HHX, SP2CHY, OH0MZA.


50MHz:
YU7EF, SP4R, OZ2OE, SP3CMX, DJ6YX, UR5LAK, HA8CE, SP2MKO, YO5LD.


QRT Monday, August 09.2015 07UTC.

73!