2019
Melilla (EA9)
My last DXpedition with Rene DL2JRM was 2014 to Liechtenstein (HB0). So we wanted to go on the road again and decided to acivate Melilla (EA9) in North Africa for the WAEDC CW. Pleased with a lot of sun, wind, pile-ups and a full refrigerator, we were totally satisfied. The conditions for us were worse on Saturday when we heard whole Europe through a big attenuator (yes, the ATT on the rig was off...). In the end we ended on #4 calimed scores. Maybe it has to do with the small setup:
- 80m - sloping dipole, direction Europe
- 40m - dipole right above the hotel roof top
- 20m - quarterwave vertical, tied to the first chimney
- 15m - quarterwave vertical, tied to the second chimney
- 10m - quarterwave vertical, tied to the third chimney
- WARC - we ran out of chimneys...
Station: ICOM Transceiver IC756-PRO and Tokyo Hy-Power Amplifier HL-550FX
Link to the picture gallery: Click here
QSO statistics for EA9/DL1MGB (WAEDC CW) - M/S
| QSO | QTC | CTY | MULT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 80m | 394 | 337 | 41 | 164 |
| 40m | 648 | 713 | 43 | 129 |
| 20m | 585 | 641 | 47 | 94 |
| 15m | 304 | 313 | 37 | 74 |
| 10m | 248 | 158 | 31 | 62 |
| Totals | 2,179 | 2,162 | 199 | 523 |
Score: 2,265,636
United States of America (K)
How did it start? You should begin reading in the section US Virgin Islands. Together ith us were Paul DL5CW and Tom DL5LYM. We had some great days in New York, despite the rain. A wonderful evening in Lancaster, PA, meeting old friends and colleagues. And of course: the Dayton Hamvention. Originally planned as "just be there" event, I soon added a talk in the Antenna Forum about "Vertical Dipole Arrays". And some weeks before, I got informed by the DARA, that they awarded me with the Special Achievement Award! So, many reasons not to miss Dayton this year.
United Nations HQ New York (4U1UN)
We already visited the UN Headquarters in New York some years ago (United Nations HQ New York 2012). But this time we got a very special VIP tour behind the scenes. Thank you so much, Ciup!
US Virgin Islands (KP2)
It all started with a Quarter. After travelling through 49 of 50 states in the US, we started collecting coins. Including the Beautiful Quarters representing the 50 states and oversea territories. The last one that was missing was US Virgin Islands. So Anja and I asked Fred K9VV during the WRTC 2018, if he happens to have this quarter at home for change. He said yes and sent it us by mail some weeks later. He also mentioned that we should come over to St. Croix. There are still a lot of other coins to go through as we were missing Nickels, Dimes and Pennies, too. So we developed a plan to combine the Dayton visit and some holiday and contest afterwards.
Most of Fred's antennas were left unusable after the last hurricanes turning them into modern art. We did some installations and changes. But the Carribean heat kept us on the ground most of the time. So we had a rather simple setup:
- 160m - nothing
- 80m - dipole @ 20m
- 40m - dipole @ 17m
- 20m - 4ele @ 15m fixed to EU
- A3S for 20/15/10 @ 10m rotatable 360°
Anyway we had fun working some pile-ups. And when looking at the antenna setup, quite a nice result!
We German guys have to thank Fred and Lisa so much for their generous hospitality. We really enjoyed being their guests for the last week.
And many thanks to Seymour, Peanut, Gipsy, Zen, Gunnar, Garfield, Midnight, Tiger, Kodiak and Ginger for a lot of entertainment.
Link to the picture gallery: Click here
QSO statistics for WP2Z (CQ WPX Contest CW) - M/2
Operators: K9VV, DL1MGB, DL5CW, DL5LYM
| QSO | Prefixes | |
|---|---|---|
| 160m | 0 | - |
| 80m | 406 | - |
| 40m | 1,203 | - |
| 20m | 1,380 | - |
| 15m | 663 | - |
| 10m | 2 | - |
| Totals | 3,654 | 1,112 |
Score: 14,363,704
Finland (OH)
The fifth participation in a row of the OHDXF / CCF meetin, again on the ferry between Helsinki and Stockholm. I think a nice finish after four years of WRTC preparations and presentations.
Kosovo (Z6)
Taking into account, that planning started only one month before departure, we didn't miss anything on the equipment list. Dietmar DL3DXX and Paul DL5CW already have been to Kosovo before and knew the right people and places. We wanted to test a new QTH, but with an elevation of about 1,200 m ASL, it still had a lot of snow end of January. Also the power grid was not very stable to use a power amplifier. So we decided to go back to the well-known Hotel Ura e Gurit, north of Pristina. It offers all comfort you need, including a stable power grid. Put you pay it with much higher noise on the bands. But thankfully, we were able to put up some beverages, which made the noise tolerable.
After a day of construction work, we had our setup ready:
- 1x V160E
- 1x 18m Spiderbeam mast, working as vertical for 80m (and 40m, and 30m, and 20m)
- 1x Beverage, 140m long, direction North America
- 1x Beverage, 160m long, direction Japan
- 2 stations with Elecraft Transceiver K3 and power amplifiers
Before the contest, we were active in CW and RTTY from 160m to 20m and made some 2,100 QSOs.
In the contest, we had different struggles. Right in the first night, the beverage to North America didn't work any more. Also the 80m vertical showed high SWR. In the morning we found some one meter long cuts of fine coax cable in the snow. There were a lot of hungry dogs around that night... Further comments on the contest by Dietmar: "Hmm, it is just contest, it starts at 22h, it ends at 22h,..."
Our sincere thanks go to Z61DX and Z62FB for their local support. It was definitely invaluable!
QSO statistics for Z66X (CQ 160m Contest CW) - M/S
Operators: DL1MGB, DL3DXX, DL5CW
| QSO | CTY | S/P | AVG | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 160m | 1.687 | 83 | 24 | 5,58 |
Score: 1,006,763