Jim Martin,
Edinburgh, SCOTLAND
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Summer
Isles Expedition
MM0BQI/P
EU092
SC10
June
2000 I
have no superlatives left to describe this piece of paradise on our doorstep.
I am writing this early on the 19th of June and my first waking thought
was when can I go back. I met Bill at the pier and quickly moved the four
flight cases and all the antenna gear on to the good ship Patricia.
Goodbye EU005 and HELLO EU092 ! The
operating position, a large wooden hut (20ft x 12ft), overlooked the bay and
the snow capped mountains in the distance. The five-band vertical, a
ten-year-old Hustler 5BTV, was mounted 14 feet above the ground with two
radials per band. SWR on the analyser was less than 1.8 on all bands
(preparations in the back garden had paid off)
I had enough coax to get the vertical near the waters edge which made a
huge difference. The
80/40m dipole was 20 feet high next to the hut. For six meters I set up a 3 element beam, had a beacon
running constantly and only managed two contacts ! Such is the magic of six !
Thanks Dave MM1ATY and Andy
MM1CXE. Inside
the hut was a huge solid table with a padded stool, very comfortable even
after 40 hours. The FT1000MP and an old battered amplifier gave me a good
200watts out and all was well. For logging I used the new version of
SuperDuper by Paul, EI5DI, which is written for Dxpeditions.
A wonderful tool which even allowed me to import
names from my home log so that I could greet those I had worked before
personally. The use of the Master database of callsigns is also a great aid in
confirming very weak or difficult calls; this shows up in real time. The
first hour on 20m put 126 stations in the log, and so it continued for the
next 52 hours. Band conditions were not great and on 80/40 it was hard to work
into the UK even with the dipole at 20 feet.
Sometimes static noise running at S5 stopped me hearing the weaker
stations. QSOs always seem to take so long on 80/40 and I felt sorry for the
people patiently waiting to call. I
think a little lesson I have learned is that if the DX station is working fast
and keeping things short it is for a reason,
maybe we should listen and match our QSO style to his. The others
waiting would be thankful. By
17.00 on Sunday I had managed 2502 contacts, 8 hours sleep, and 3 hours just
staring at the natural beauty. As
you would expect there are so many people I have to thank.
Thanks to Bill, the owner of Tanera Mor.
This was not a one man expedition, more like a hundred and one ! Thank
you for helping me operate from paradise in the north west corner of Scotland. Jim Martin, MM0BQI 3
Lismore Avenue Edinburgh,
EH8 7DW 0131
661 4686 FACTS
AND FIGURES Country
Contacts
Germany
350
Italy
301
Russia
205
England
178
Poland
108 USA
92 Belgium
68 Sweden
54 Scotland
51 Japan
48 (
UK ) Wales
23 N.I
3 Eire
13 Guernsey
1 IOM
1 Total
number of different countries contacted
85 Band
Contacts
Countries 80m
99
18 40m
278
22 20m
2099
80 17m
3
3 15m
26
14 6m
2
1 QSO
rate:
max 127 per hour, average
1 per minute over 40 hours Best
opening, early Sunday morning
into North and South America and Japan Equipment
6m:
IC746 100w to 3 element yagi at 6m AGL HF:
FT1000MP, FL2100 linear, Heil Headset, MFJ Voice keyer Log:
SuperDuper Dxpedition by EI5DI see www.ei5di.com Failures:
Amplifier on 15 (blue
smoke , what do you expect from a 23 year old !)
Propagation on six meters ( beyond my control ) Successes:
The weekend THANK
YOU EVERYONE Jim Visit
www.summer-isles.com for
details of holiday lets on the island
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