V31TM Pictures and Info
Monday
21. November 2005
Today I am in Dallas.
During the 10 hour flight I had enough time to think about the low band
conditions.
Beside many other things two "targets" are interested.
The low band window to Bernd VK9AA is very small: only
from 11.45 UTC until 12.00 UTC.
This is only 10 to 15 Minutes. I hope Bernd knows this when he wants to operate
Zone 7.
There are only 2 chances.
And
there is another interesting line: V31TM to 8Q7DV.
The window is rather bigger: from 23.20 UTC until 00.40 UTC but also only 2 chances.
I hope we will meet on the low bands.
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| Updating this website from Dallas, TX |
Thuesday
22. November 2005
This was the last travel day: from Dallas to Belize.
The
security check in Dallas was extremely deep.
All baggage boxes were opened and everything was checked in detail in a separate
area.
I was not allowed to touch anything. I have never experienced such check.
This procedure is good for the security in aircrafts but not really suitable for
the transport
of electronic equipment.
Although everything was packed in a good and safety way I found the equipment
crowded
inside the baggage and I lost 35 m of coaxial cable in Dallas.
The
real bad aspect is that 2 of my amp tubes are broken after Dallas.
Bullsh.. ,sorry but I do not now better to write.
This means I lost my spare tubes. One of the amp tubes may also have a
problem.
The amp does not provide the full output power. I have only approx. 80% (700 -
900 watts).
But this would be acceptable if the amp will work the next days under this
condition.
I arrived earlier than expected in Belize at 15.00 local time.
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This is not the small aircraft for the last hop ... |
...I took this one for the last step. |
I
used the daylight to start setting up the station.
Today evening at 19.00 local time all bands from 80m up to 12m are working.
There is a problem on 10m with the quad and the 160m vertical is still not
working.
I will check this tomorrow.
Also
I will set up the K9AY loop tomorrow.
I hope I will find coax here since I lost my coax ring in Dallas.
The
PSK converter box was damaged during the transport from Dallas to Belize.
I tried to fix it today evening but I am not sure that it is working properly.
Actually the last problem seems to be something with the TX/RX switching
And I am not able to receive any PSK signal. But now it is 03.00 UTC ... hi hi
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This is a view to the station today evening at 19.00 local time |
Wednesday
23. November 2005
PSK is working since today morning. The first QSO was with K7OAH.
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The
K9AY loop is up. The center support is a spiderbeam mast. |
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The relay box of the K9AY is connected to the shack by 40m of simple 8 wire telephone cable. It works! |
There
is still a problem with the PA. Some stations reported to me about a
strange
sound of the CW signal. It can be something wrong inside the PA due to a
transport
damage or with the 230 VAC power line. Actually I have the feeling it is the
power line
(although the voltage is stable).
Maybe I must make an LP entry.
Some
CW and PSK operation today. The EUs are very weak here.
80 and 160 are very noisy (sometimes S8 - S9). I believe it comes from the power
lines outside.
The situation is similar to 9Y but this year the bands are more down.
Some EUs do not really came over the noise but the K9AY helps a little bit.
10 and 12 is still not working. I did not found the problem today. This is a job for tomorrow.
Thursday
24. November 2005
I found out the problem with the PA. A capacitor was broken during
transport.
But I am lucky. I found a suitable replaceable here and now it seems the PA
works normally.
Today I did not received comments about the CW tone.
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The station today. |
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The
local Belize style "Belkin" tubes. |
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Beside
CW I also made some PSK QSOs on 20 and 15 today afternoon. Not so many signals
from EU.
Those who called in were weak and most of them are covered by the strong US
Stations.
It was nice to view the pileup on the screen and I can imagine how much work it
is for the EUs
to come through that wall.
The
EUs are weak here but workable although I did not worked so many.
Specially 160 to north EU seems to be a hard job. Since two days I try a sked
with OH3TM without success until now.
Maybe tonight we will make it.
Today afternoon a new guest arrived. A crocodile (a small one, about 1.2m long) visited me in the lagoon. I quickly went back to the house to take the photo but when I came back it was moved away.
Friday
25. November 2005
The
contest start today evening at a comfortable 18.00 local time ...
The problem concerning the rough CW was only solved at 06.00 UTC.
It was due to low power supply voltage and I changed the TRX to the IC735.
Saturday
26. November 2005
WWDX
Contest
...
Sunday
27. November 2005
WWDX
Contest
... ends at a comfortable 18.00 local time.
Today morning a short power line break down occurred. But after 3 hours I was back in business.
Monday
28.
November 2005
I
relaxed. Only some activity on the WARC bands and some PSK QSOs.
It seems the bands are down. All signals are at low level.
Also the US stations are not strong. Nothing herad from Asia.
The EUs are weak here on all bands. No reaction on the S meter.
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Such huge shells can be found here ... |
The crocodile came back today morning. Again no photo. Now I always have the photo with me.
Thuesday
29.
November 2005
The
bands are poor. One QSO with VK, again nothing heard from Asia.
EU is very weak here on all bands. Also the stations which we normally know as
the big guns
with strong signals came in at lowest level. The S-meter is constantly on the left side. It is
strange.
Nearly every QSO is real work.
No QSO on 12m until today. The band is dead. This is the only band with no QSO.
But
PSK
went good today. EU was easy to work on 20m.
I use the IC735 with DigiPan 2.0 for PSK with about 30 watts into the quad
today.
Wednesday
30. November 2005
This
is the departure day. No QSOs today.
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The way back home. |
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View back down to the QTH |
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The logs are uploaded.
The V31TM log is here.
I did not operated in SSB.
www.dl1hcm.de / 15.02.2006 / Contact
