EI4VWZ/P - QRV IO55XC (almost)
The expedition to IO55XC has unfortunately been abandoned.
G4XUM and G4BVY travelled to IO55XC on Saturday August 11th. The weather at the site, identified fom maps, was attrocious with gale force winds and driving horizontal rain. After searching for an alternative site, the decision was made to return to the original site and assemble the 144MHz and 50MHz stations. The antennas were erected in the middle of a rather wet peat bog. Due to the weather, the decision was made to assemble both stations in the Land Rover and change from 50MHz to 70MHz on the Sunday.
144MHz and 50MHz Antennas with Murkish Mountain in the "background"
"View" to the West
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| A wet G4BVY | A wet G4XUM |
Then the disaster - The 144MHz station was nearly ready to be QRV when an unexplained event resulted in a complete loss of power from the generator which was still running perfectly! After some stripping down, it would appear that the voltage regulator may have failed. The decision was made to return to IO54.
After a round trip of 220 miles and the erection and disassembly of the stations, taking in total 13 hours, no contacts were made from IO55.
Apologies are passed on to the many stations hoping to work a very rare square.
