September 14, 2018 Marek SP5ISZ announced that he had started up QRP from the island of Milos. He had an ICOM 703 (10W only) with a 7.5 Ah battery, an LW 41m antenna about 6m above the ground, about 50m from the sea on the beach. With a 9: 1 transformer, the antenna has tuned up from 3.5 MHz upwards. Calling CQ did not give anything, the call of the station which he heard on 59+ was more effective. He made 6 contacts with G, DK, PB, SM with reports from 51 to 57. Conditions were difficult. 3.5 MHz totally empty. 7 MHz several stations, 14 MHz as normal to noon, then the level of interference exceeded S9. The next day on Sunday around 9 am (local time) I managed to make contact with Marek with quite good audibility in both directions.
On Monday morning, Marek as SV8/SP5ISC/p tried to call on 14 MHz. After receiving the SMS, I appeared on the band, but I didn’t catch Marek. After an hour of CQ and 1 contact with the German from Frankfurt, Marek decided that swimming in the sea makes more sense. Strong wind was blowing. The tent did not fly because it was heavily loaded. I attach a picture showing the work conditions of Marek.
Miro SP5GNI
Number of Comments: 2
Worse than propagation conditions were local insects. I worked from a rural area, where sheep and goats are more numerous than people. With livestock came flies. The usual 15% DEET insect repellent was unable to get rid of them. I received multiple bites, after which I moved the QTH to our rented house, with much worse antenna conditions and no swimming. Overall I am quite happy with the SV8/ operation. All my equipment worked OK and I even had a few DX QSOs. With SSB operation having 100W is much more fun than 10W, but carrying a car battery to the beach is no fun at all. It’s time to go CW or digital.
Marek SP5ISZ
Yes, in the face of the exploding popularity of the FT8 mode, it makes sense, especially for QRP.
During the rehearsals, there is a new mode called FT8Call, probably the name JS8 will be accepted, see http://js8call.com/. The software has been restructured and redesigned for keyboard-to-keyboard message passing. For now there are trial versions, I am waiting until December 2018 for the first official version.
Mirek SP5GNI