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E44CC – DXpedition to Bethlehem, Palestine, by F6KOP Radio Club DL3GA's story
July 1^st 2019, I receive the invitation for F6KOP's next trip. After several expeditions to West Africa, the destination will be Palestine, E4. The available operator slots are filled with record speed and the target time is February 2020. Politically, the country is somewhat delicate, but we have local support. We apply for the callsign E47C, but get E44C instead. Later it is changed to E44CC. During the CQWW contest at DD1A, I hear from Roman DL3TU that a Russian team has announced an activity as E44RU in January. The four operators will lose some time due to customs formalities on arrival, but make 18000 QSOs in the end. However, by far most of these QSOs were with stations in Europe, so we plan to offer enough opportunities for other parts of the world. Problems begin early. The french government announces reformatory measures, triggering protests and strikes. These affect also the railway SNCF – will I be able to use the tickets I already purchased ? I planned my railroad trip to Paris for the day before departure, but booked a hotel for the wrong night. It's not easy, but I can fix that. Fun fact: In January, the DX cluster lists E44CC spots in FT8. We post a note on our website: This is not us, it's a hoax.
___ Tuesday, February 04, 2020 The weather forecast is a severe storm over France and Germany. It causes some trouble in the railroad systems, but not on my route. My local trains to Strasbourg are perfectly on time and I use the stay there for lunch. Fortunately, the strikes have ebbed away just in time. The TGV takes me to Paris Charles de Gaulle as scheduled and I can enjoy a relaxed evening.
___ Wednesday, February 05, 2020 After breakfast in the hotel, I walk to the meeting point. I'm among the first team members there, but only a few minutes later, Kenneth OZ1IKY completes it. He was rather lucky because the storm affects many flights from Kopenhagen later this day. As usual, check-in formalities for a group of 15 people take their time, but we arrive at departure gate well in time. During the uneventful flight in an Airbus 320, we have a nice view on the Swiss Alps. After that, the ground is mostly overcast, but it's clear in Tel Aviv when we arrive close to sunset. We clear all airport stations without problems and find the booked vehicle for the remaining part of the trip. Unlike on our african adventures, it's a 50-seat coach, more than big enough for us and all our luggage. Less than one hour later, we cross the checkpoint to Palestine without problem. The driver masters the narrow roads in Bethlehem, especially the steep last distance to the hotel. We unload the coach, the team leaders check us in and we move into our rooms. We all take dinner in the hotel restaurant, then we are released for the rest of the day. It's pitch dark outside, pointless to work on antennas now. The hotel provides good WiFi, so we post and mail the news about our good arrival.
___ Thursday, February 06, 2020 Sunshine wakes me up before the alarm goes off. The entire team meets in the restaurant to have breakfast. The buffet is rich and colorful, but we'll have to get used to some details. Our team leader Frank assigns everyone to the assembly and erection of certain antennas. Kenneth and I will take care of the 160m inverted L. We take the lift to the sixth floor, aka the roof. The weather is very nice. The sun is shining at 20°C and little wind. The roof consists of two parts of roughly equal size with the lift house in the center. We'll put the antenna into the center of the western part. All the other antennas are smaller and get positions at the roof's outer rim, so they are completed first. Right after lunch in the restaurant, it's time to erect the 160m antenna with joint forces. Then we attach the radials and measure resonance. The radiator must be extended by 2m, then it is resonant at 1835 with SWR 1,1. Our antenna farm consists of the 160m inverted L, a 80m dipole, ground planes for 40 and 30m, two hex beams, one spider beam and a R5 for the bands 20...10m. Moreover, there is a loop antenna to listen on the low bands. Unfortunately, our license doesn't allow operation on 60m. I walk to the shack room in the 4^th floor and help setting up the network between the logging computers. As I'm finished, the shack gets rather crowded. Most antennas are done and ready for activity, so the ops come to inspect the shack. We have five stations: Two for CW, one for SSB, RTTY and FT8, respectively. Each station is manned by three operators with a 24h shift plan as usual. We start operation, but it's not my turn yet. Kenneth runs station CW1, I get some rest in our hotel room. I have dinner at the restaurant and at 21:00 I take over from Kenneth on 160m. The reception antenna delivers a fair signal, but from time to time the noise gets very strong for about 30 seconds. The only alternative is listening on the inverted L which is very noisy all the time... Nevertheless, I am happy to log some friends of the DD1A contest team. After three hours, Patrick F2DX takes over. I'm ready for bed...	160m inverted L (front) and spider beam (rear) on the roof
___ Friday, February 07, 2020 Jean-Luc F1ULQ comes to wake me up – my shift began a while ago. Before I went to sleep, I set the alarm correctly. But my cellphone adapted to local time over night – now the alarm is one hour too late. After taking over from Kenneth, I continue on 80m but the band closes a few minutes later. I get 15m with a hex beam antenna. The first station answering my CQs is from Israel (so distant ? Jubilation !), the next one is from Siberia. Then there are more and more stations from Japan and China, some pileup builds. As it starts getting dark in these areas, the signals are getting weaker rapidly. But soon after that, nice signals from Europe show up. Again, I can work some friends of the DD1A team in the strong pileup. However, almost nothing of it is left when Patrick arrives to take over. He has a bad cold and doesn't look good. I guess he'll appreciate working on a rather quiet band ;-) The weather is as forecast: Overcast with occasional drizzle in the morning, later sunny and mild. I missed breakfast, so I appreciate lunch even more. Breakfast and dinner are buffet style, but lunch is served only for those of our team who show up – on demand, so to speak. In the first days, we are almost alone in the restaurant, later more and more groups of pilgrims arrive. Apparently, many of them are from Russia – we notice some signs and labels with cyrillic letters in the restaurant. My next shift starts at 18:00 and I am sent to 160m immediately. But the band is very disappointing, the big noise appears very frequently now. I can only work someone while it disappears. My suspicion is that the noise comes from the lift engine, the loop antenna is placed very close to it. Kenneth comes to take over while I have dinner, and I take the opportunity to inform the others about my suspicion. We decide to try and find a better place for this antenna as soon as possible. Patrick takes over and QSYs to 80m, I take a shower and conclude the day.
___ Saturday, February 08, 2020 I don't sleep well because of a strong gusty wind outside. The alarm makes me jump out of bed, it's a few minutes before 04:00. Kenneth is happy to see me. He spent four troublesome hours on 80m, annoyed by strong aurora and rain QRN. But he has been able to work North America between the Europeans who ignore his “only NA”. I decide to get my own picture of the situation and work anyone I hear, that's mostly Russia. Gazing outside between the QSOs, it seems that the noise level actually gets low enough when the rain is less strong. When the noise level is S=3, I can hear North America or work Europe at a higher rate. Strong rain means noise of S=9 and I can't hear any caller. After three long hours, Patrick comes and takes over. He asks me for 15m, but I advise him to wait at least half an hour and then try on hex beam 1 with is directed to Japan. I take breakfast, then I catch up with some sleep. The weather remains windy with occasional showers. At lunch, Frank informs us that we need to stop operations and repair some antennas at 14:00 – the begin of my next shift. I replace Kenneth while he has lunch, working mostly Europe on 17m. It's weekend, the demand is high and the rate, too – pure fun. At 14:00, it's stormy but dry; acceptable conditions for antenna work. The radiator wire of the 160m antenna is lashing around in the gusty wind and partly entangled with TV antennas. We use some cord to keep it away from there. At the same time, other team members repair a broken fiber tube of the spider beam. The listening loop has collapsed and lies on the floor. After about an hour, we are done and I resume operation on 17m. The pileup is up to 1,5 kHz wide and adds many QSOs to the log. Patrick shows up and wants to test the Beverage on ground (BOG) that he just installed. After this, signals from Europe are rather weak and I can work many North American stations for a while. But then the band closes. The other bands are in use, so I QSY to 80m. It's not the right time for this band, but now I can take a closer look at the BOG. A preamp is available, but I prefer to work without it although the volume must be turned up a lot. Patrick takes over on time, I have a beer with Kenneth before we have dinner with the others.	Antennas: hex beam, spider beam, 40m sloper, 30m GP
___ Sunday, February 09, 2020 Kenneth wakes me up, he had enough of the unstable conditions on the 160m band and quit early. I get up with an effort for a shift somewhat more than four hours. The BOG improves reception because there's much less man-made noise on it. But first I have to find a new frequency because contest activity captured parts of the band. I have to “assemble” callsigns most of the time but I can fill the log and after a while I hear the first signals from North America. I hear that our pilot station asks me to work North America exclusively now, but I'm happy about any signal that sticks out of the noise. At the end of my shift, 750 QSOs are in the log and I hand over to Patrick. I'm alone at the breakfast buffet this morning, the other ops of my shift arrive just when I'm finished. The wind has calmed down a lot today, but it's still rainy. According to the internet, there's a storm over Germany instead. For my day shift, I take over a 20m pileup from Kenneth. He jokes that he had worked ALL stations in Russia and Ukraine now, but I put many more of them into the log. The PACC contest is active, so I try to keep my split range not wider than 1 kHz. This range is really densely packed with callers, but I manage a good rate. Suddenly, the Telecom Minister of Palestine enters the shack, accompanied by his staff, a TV camera man and our team leaders. The bustle probably costs us some QSOs, but after a few minutes the delegation leaves, apparently impressed. The Minister has a present for every team member: A booklet with Palestinian collector stamps. Since I'm busy in the shack at that time, I receive mine next day. Later, Patrick records video and audio of my operation with his action cam before he takes over. I hear that the clip of the Minister's visit this morning was aired on Palestine TV at 15:00. Unfortunately we can't receive that channel this afternoon. At dinner, there's only me and Herman – where is the rest of the team ? I take over for Kenneth while he goes for dinner. He's been working on a wild European-style pileup on 80m. Later my regular shift begins and again I work on 80m. After a while I hear signals from Japan and try to work this area exclusively. But the few readable signals are logged soon, I continue with Europe. About one hour before sunrise in Japan, I try again and this time I can log many. From time to time, I must remind callers from Europe that it's not their turn now. A single big signal from Europe makes many small signals from Japan unreadable, so I can't tolerate that. Patrick arrives and wants to continue on 160m. I ask him whether we could have a BOG to Japan, but there's barely enough space for a short BOG towards Europe and North America...
___ Monday, February 10, 2020 After getting up, I walk to the shack because it's time to take over from Kenneth. But he wants me to have breakfast first and take over afterwards. I agree and he QSYs to 30m in the meantime. Only a few callers show up in the beginning, but suddenly the pileup explodes – as if someone had switched conditions on. But it doesn't last long, after a while I have problems to pick the small signals out of the noise. I try 20m although our RTTY station is also active on this band. Moreover, the harmonic of our second CW station on 40m causes QRM. I manage some QSOs anyway, but then CW2 QSYs exactly to the half of my frequency – game over. I try 15 and 12m but no conditions there at all. 17m is occupied by the FT8 station, creating some additional phase noise on the upper bands. Then the CW2 station QSYs to 30m and surprisingly runs a nice QSO rate there. So I return to 20m and run some pileup with a fair rate. Finally Patrick arrives to take over, but he doesn't have a good idea what to do either. My next shift starts at 18:00 and this time I don't continue Kenneth's pileup but get the 40m band instead. It's not easy to find a frequency with suitable split range. But once I have a good frequency, a nice pileup starts. It gets bigger and bigger while its signals get smaller and smaller. When it's time for dinner, nobody is available to replace me. But I'm very hungry, so I take a break. Back at the station, I find our standard frequency 7015 kHz empty, so I start another big pileup there, now even with callers from Japan to New Zealand. Patrick arrives to begin his shift and continues this pileup. I need to sleep...	Front: Kenneth operating station CW1 Rear: Raymond operating the FT8 station
__ Tuesday, February 11, 2020 I have the “infernal shift” starting at 04:00. An additional 40m antenna (sloping dipole) was installed yesterday, so Kenneth shared the 40m band with the SSB station. But even the listening antenna is too noisy while the SSB station transmits. I notice that Julien F8AVK is barely making QSOs because of the QRM from me, so I suggest time-sharing. He agrees and wants me to run the first half while he tries to get some sleep. I can work lots of North America with sporadic Europe and Siberia. After two hours, I can only hear a few small signals and Julien continues in SSB. I go to bed but I can't sleep, so I return to the shack. Julien says he has a QSO every ten minutes and wants me to try again in CW. This is working better indeed, more North Americans make it into our log and more and more Europeans join the pileup. A station from Cuba is one of the last before Patrick takes over. I go to the restaurant to have breakfast, then I return to the shack. Patrick has QSYed to 17m in the meantime, I carry on until he is back from breakfast. I'm late for my day shift because I memorized the wrong time. I take over a decent pileup from Kenneth but near the end of my shift I have to call CQ a lot. Nevertheless, many stations from North America make it into my log. The SSB station on 20m is even working North America only. According to Clublog, our North America ratio is now 5.2% and we work hard to raise it. Just before the end of my shift, 17m closes and I QSY to 30m. The FT8 station has been running on this band, but with almost no callers. It's noisy, but I can fill the log. During this shift, we have two power outages for a few minutes. The hotel has a generator, but it supplies only vital functions like the lift and some lights. At the end of the second outage, Patrick's shift begins. After my dinner, I return to the shack to take over while Patrick has dinner. He went to 160m and it's troublesome in the beginning. The BOG has been extended, but it doesn't work much better now. Suddenly the noise level drops significantly and I can work at a much higher rate. Patrick comes back, I go to my room and try to get some sleep.
___ Wednesday, February 12, 2020 I have the “dreadful shift” starting at local midnight. I get the 80m band and work a number of stations from Korea and Japan, although it's way past dawn there. Later I work stations in North America, although it's a while until dark there. Apparently, the graylines are more like wide gray bands today. I use the extended BOG, this helps although it's significantly noisier than before. After two hours, I exchange bands with the digital station and continue on 160m. Instead of noise, the BOG delivers a crackling on this band. I can't identify the source of this, I can only say that it's not one of our own signals. The listening loop on the roof has been reactivated and it is somewhat calmer than the BOG, but I can add only 25 QSOs in the first hour. After 15 minutes without QSO, I give up and go to bed. After breakfast, I take a walk outside for some photos. It's still chilly, but the sun is shining. My next shift is around noon. The SSB station is active on 15m and causes enough phase noise to bury all the tiny signals on my 17m band. Only stations from Scandinavia have decent signals. I check 12m but this band is dead. So I take a break and have lunch with Kenneth. Back at the station, I see that the SSB station is now idle because 15m has closed. I can get back on 17m and run a nice pileup. Later I hear the first signals from North America and exchange antennas with the reactivated SSB station. Now using a hex beam, I can work lots of stations from North America as well as strong Europeans. I cover a part of Patrick's shift, he's part of a group visiting the Palestine Ministry of Telecommunications in Ramallah. Kenneth covers the other part of Patrick's shift, working more North America until 17m closes. The FT8 station is not manned, so I run it for a while. It heaps up almost 100 QSOs per hour on 30m with callers from Japan, Europe and North America simultaneously. The Ramallah group returns at sunset, they have many stories to tell. Later I take over from Kenneth so he can go and have dinner. On 160m, only stations from Greece can be copied without trouble, all others are in the noise and it takes time to assemble a callsign. After Kenneth's return I visit the roof and find a group of other hotel guests, singing ! It's pitch dark and I try to let them know that they should stay clear of our antennas, especially the radials all over the floor. At 21:00 I have the late shift, continuing on 160m. I have the honor to work QSO #1000, this is our minimum goal. Most of the time, it's impossible to hear anyone, but there's a noise burst from time to time. At the end of a burst, the noise drops enough to allow some QSOs. Fortunately, the overall noise level goes down with time and I can even work a few stations from Japan. This night, my nose starts running and I have to cough – not surprising because almost every team member has flu symptoms. I had a bad cold in January, so hopefully it won't have that magnitude again.
___ Thursday, February 13, 2020 I couldn't sleep through, but feel much better in the morning. I walk straight to the shack and take over from Kenneth on 80m, but soon the band is dead. I grab a hex beam and QSY to 20m. It's not working very well, but I notice some signals from Japan. I exchange beams with the SSB station, and now the signals from Japan are strong. With a decent rate, I work even Japan/Korea exclusively. Some have already worked us on other band slots, but many are new. At the end of my shift, the band seems to close to the Far East. I rush to the hotel lobby and join the group that is just leaving for a sightseeing trip. The first half of our team has just returned, now it's our turn to visit the Nativity Church, the world's oldest church. It takes only a few minutes by foot to get there. Local guides take us inside and we can visit the cave where Jesus Christ was born. This place is visited by large numbers of tourists / pilgrims from all over the world. Every team member gets his personal pilgrim document from the guides. We take a drink on the terrace of a small restaurant and watch the pilgrim groups on Manger Place. Then we return to our hotel to have lunch. I have lots of time before my next shift and get some rest, but I can't sleep. Kenneth has already QSYed to 80m when I take over, and the conditions seem to be rather good. Soon I have a pileup more than 1 kHz wide. However, a significant lack of discipline by the callers slows everything down. Suddenly, the BOG is deaf and I have to stop. It takes a while before we locate the error in the short coax cable between a switch and the radio. I plug the BOG coax directly into the radio and go on working the pileup. It would be time for dinner now, but nobody comes to continue for me. I'm terribly hungry, so I rush to the restaurant, swallow up a plate and return to the shack. Later, Patrick comes to take over a pileup that is still sizzling.	Nativity Church
___ Friday, February 14, 2020 I force myself out of bed to begin the infernal shift at 04:00. Kenneth is still on 80m and reports that he worked many stations in North America. I keep switching a lot between BOG and dipole, the latter results in more QSOs. I work many more North Americans, most of them during our dawn – viva grayline. In the second half of my shift, I am running by far most of our total QSOs. Both SSB and CW2 keep calling CQ on 40m with little success. All ops are frustrated accordingly and fatigue strikes. After breakfast, I try to catch up with sleep, but it doesn't work. At lunch time I'm very hungry again, so I visit the restaurant early. Right after that, I take over from Kenneth so he can have lunch. Back from the restaurant, Kenneth has breaking news. We will have to spend the next night in another hotel, we may only keep the shack room. I'm not really busy on 20m, so we both go to our room and pack. I leave my suitcase in the lobby, Kenneth will make sure that it gets to the other hotel. It's time for my shift, so I return to the shack and work on a growing pileup. After first QSOs with North America, I try to call this area exclusively, but with little success. I try again after a while and this time it works very well. It's weekend and I'm sure that many Europeans are biting down their fingernails. Again, I have to remind some of them that it's not their turn now. After a busy time, I hear stations from the West Coast and switch to “W6/W7 only”. Much quicker than the Europeans, the hams in other parts of the USA refrain from calling to give their western colleagues a chance. It's easy to verify these signals, they show significant polar-path buzz. The SSB station is also on 20m and works US West Coast now – amazing. Finally, the band closes slowly and I accept calls from anywhere, but apparently it's too late for Europe. Five minutes later, Patrick comes to take over. Frank makes sure that all ops of our shift get a transfer to the other hotel. Some check-in procedure is required, then we take a few beers and later dinner. Kenneth gets a transfer to the shack afterwards, I get some sleep.	Manger Place.
___ Saturday, February 15, 2020 The alarm wakes me up, closely followed by a phone call, just to be sure. We are picked up and taken to the Pilgrim Hotel to begin the dreadful shift. Kenneth left a few Japanese stations for me on 160m. But the beginning day there quiets the signals of those I couldn't catch. Then I work Europe after the “flying fish principle”: Who ever sticks the head out of the noise long enough gets a QSO. Nevertheless, I can raise the QSO count just over 1200 – although it's frustrating that I can't work the many stations still calling me. Just before midnight UTC some strong signals stop by, probably participants of the coming contest. And indeed, right after midnight my split range fills with contest stations and I go QRT. After some failed attempts to run FT8 on 160m, I switch to 40m. I can hear only a few North Americans, but I want to give it a try. Far above the usual CW range, I find an empty spot and start calling CQ TEST. Skimmers find my signal and some major contest stations, probably in-band multiplier hunters, work me. After a handful QSOs in 30 minutes, the operators of the next shift arrive and take over. We get a transfer to the other hotel and I go to sleep. At breakfast, I meet the ops of my shift again. We arrange for the final transfer back to the Pilgrim Hotel. I return to my room, pack my suitcase and meet the others at the lobby. Back in our hotel, I hear that one of our team lost his mobile phone during the last transfer. This evolves to an adventure of its own. But with the help of the hotel manager and the police he got it back eventually. My next shift begins before my new hotel room is available. I continue working on 17m and the demand is not very high, but it turns out to be a rate of 80 QSOs per hour, nevertheless. Just after the end of the shift, it's time for the team photos on the roof and another bunch of photos on the terrace, just outside the lobby. The weather is really nice, so I walk to the Nativity Church, along with crowds of pilgrims. There's a post office at Manger Place and I dump a few picture postcards into its mail box. After my dinner, I take over for Kenneth while he has dinner. I work on 160m and that's also where I stay during my next regular shift. I keep trying till after sunrise in Japan, but work nobody else from there. I can push the QSO count over 1300, but still countless people are calling – somewhere under that noise floor that is reinforced by strong static today. Finally my split range starts filling with contesters again, so I give up ten minutes before the end of shift and go to bed.
___ Sunday, February 16, 2020 After breakfast, I take over from Kenneth and continue working on 20m. The antenna points to Asia and I work many callers from Asian Russia and Japan, but also Australia and New Zealand. Suddenly I notice that I am working only dupes. A quick check of a DX cluster on the web shows that a 9N has started exactly on my transmit frequency... I find another frequency and continue there. After three hours, the stream of takers slowly dries out. I go to the roof and turn my hex beam to Europe. This results in a decent number of QSOs with remarkably many new callsigns in our log. Patrick arrives and takes over, I join Kenneth on the way to roof. The 160m antenna has already been dismantled, now we remove the 40m GP. After that, it's lunch time. Just after 14:00 local time, all stations go QRT and we start dismounting the remaining antennas. A thunderstorm starts building nearby, so we hurry up. It starts raining just when we remove the last utensils from the open part of the roof. The thunderstorm starts moving, but passes with plenty of distance. Kenneth and I return to our room and leave packing of the equipment to those who know how to do it right ;-) Before dinner, many of us meet in the lobby for some beer and Pastis. The hotel manager appears and expresses his apologies for the inconvenience about our forced move to the other hotel for one night, backed by a bottle of Vodka. The evening evolves into a boozy party, but Kenneth and I escape before it gets too wild.	The E44CC operator team.
___ Monday, February 17, 2020 The alarm goes off at 02:30 (in the morning, of course) and the team meets for the coach ride to Ben Gurion airport. A minibus appears, too small for us and all our luggage. The driver makes an attempt but then gives up and leaves. Are we now stranded in Bethlehem in the middle of the night ? Again it's our hotel manager who hires a big coach that arrives after an amazingly short time. We load the luggage, board the coach and off we go. One hour later, we clear all checkpoints outside the airport without problems. Check-in takes its time, all bags with equipment gets a special X-ray treatment, but we arrive at the gate 30 minutes before boarding. The flight to Paris Charles de Gaulle is calm but at baggage claim we note that two personal suitcases are missing. At least we can return all radio equipment to the F6KOP team that welcomes us. Later I hear that the missing suitcases were late because of an additional inspection in Tel Aviv. Annoying: The inspectors caused damage to a radio... A part of the team spends the long time until our TGV ride in a cafe – time to summarize. My train rides are smooth but the day is almost over until I finally get home. By the way, some spreading virus is rapidly taking over the news after our return. Only a few days later, Israel introduces two weeks quarantine for arriving travelers. Now we all know that this was just the beginning...
Sincere thanks to the F6KOP team for making it possible. Thanks also to the local supporters and the Pilgrim Residence hotel for their invaluable contributions ! E44CC operators: Jean-Luc F1ULQ (co-leader), Patrick F2DX, Frank F4AJQ (team leader), Damien F4AZF, Thierry F4TTR, Jean-Michel F4DLM, Wil F4ESV, Raymond F5MFV, Maurice F5NQL (now sk), Stephane F5UOW, Julien F8AVK, Herman ON4QX, Eric ON7RN, Kenneth OZ1IKY and Andy DL3GA.
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E44CC – DXpedition to Bethlehem, Palestine, by F6KOP Radio Club
DL3GA's story

July 1^st 2019, I receive the invitation for F6KOP's next trip. After several expeditions to West Africa, the destination will be Palestine, E4. The available operator slots are filled with record speed and the target time is February 2020. Politically, the country is somewhat delicate, but we have local support. We apply for the callsign E47C, but get E44C instead. Later it is changed to E44CC.
During the CQWW contest at DD1A, I hear from Roman DL3TU that a Russian team has announced an activity as E44RU in January. The four operators will lose some time due to customs formalities on arrival, but make 18000 QSOs in the end. However, by far most of these QSOs were with stations in Europe, so we plan to offer enough opportunities for other parts of the world.
Problems begin early. The french government announces reformatory measures, triggering protests and strikes. These affect also the railway SNCF – will I be able to use the tickets I already purchased ? I planned my railroad trip to Paris for the day before departure, but booked a hotel for the wrong night. It's not easy, but I can fix that. Fun fact: In January, the DX cluster lists E44CC spots in FT8. We post a note on our website: This is not us, it's a hoax.

___ Tuesday, February 04, 2020

The weather forecast is a severe storm over France and Germany. It causes some trouble in the railroad systems, but not on my route. My local trains to Strasbourg are perfectly on time and I use the stay there for lunch. Fortunately, the strikes have ebbed away just in time. The TGV takes me to Paris Charles de Gaulle as scheduled and I can enjoy a relaxed evening.

___ Wednesday, February 05, 2020

After breakfast in the hotel, I walk to the meeting point. I'm among the first team members there, but only a few minutes later, Kenneth OZ1IKY completes it. He was rather lucky because the storm affects many flights from Kopenhagen later this day. As usual, check-in formalities for a group of 15 people take their time, but we arrive at departure gate well in time. During the uneventful flight in an Airbus 320, we have a nice view on the Swiss Alps. After that, the ground is mostly overcast, but it's clear in Tel Aviv when we arrive close to sunset. We clear all airport stations without problems and find the booked vehicle for the remaining part of the trip. Unlike on our african adventures, it's a 50-seat coach, more than big enough for us and all our luggage. Less than one hour later, we cross the checkpoint to Palestine without problem. The driver masters the narrow roads in Bethlehem, especially the steep last distance to the hotel. We unload the coach, the team leaders check us in and we move into our rooms. We all take dinner in the hotel restaurant, then we are released for the rest of the day. It's pitch dark outside, pointless to work on antennas now. The hotel provides good WiFi, so we post and mail the news about our good arrival.

___ Thursday, February 06, 2020

Sunshine wakes me up before the alarm goes off. The entire team meets in the restaurant to have breakfast. The buffet is rich and colorful, but we'll have to get used to some details. Our team leader Frank assigns everyone to the assembly and erection of certain antennas. Kenneth and I will take care of the 160m inverted L. We take the lift to the sixth floor, aka the roof. The weather is very nice. The sun is shining at 20°C and little wind. The roof consists of two parts of roughly equal size with the lift house in the center. We'll put the antenna into the center of the western part. All the other antennas are smaller and get positions at the roof's outer rim, so they are completed first. Right after lunch in the restaurant, it's time to erect the 160m antenna with joint forces. Then we attach the radials and measure resonance. The radiator must be extended by 2m, then it is resonant at 1835 with SWR 1,1. Our antenna farm consists of the 160m inverted L, a 80m dipole, ground planes for 40 and 30m, two hex beams, one spider beam and a R5 for the bands 20...10m. Moreover, there is a loop antenna to listen on the low bands. Unfortunately, our license doesn't allow operation on 60m. I walk to the shack room in the 4^th floor and help setting up the network between the logging computers. As I'm finished, the shack gets rather crowded. Most antennas are done and ready for activity, so the ops come to inspect the shack. We have five stations: Two for CW, one for SSB, RTTY and FT8, respectively. Each station is manned by three operators with a 24h shift plan as usual. We start operation, but it's not my turn yet. Kenneth runs station CW1, I get some rest in our hotel room. I have dinner at the restaurant and at 21:00 I take over from Kenneth on 160m. The reception antenna delivers a fair signal, but from time to time the noise gets very strong for about 30 seconds. The only alternative is listening on the inverted L which is very noisy all the time... Nevertheless, I am happy to log some friends of the DD1A contest team. After three hours, Patrick F2DX takes over. I'm ready for bed...

160m inverted L (front) and spider beam (rear) on the roof

___ Friday, February 07, 2020

Jean-Luc F1ULQ comes to wake me up – my shift began a while ago. Before I went to sleep, I set the alarm correctly. But my cellphone adapted to local time over night – now the alarm is one hour too late. After taking over from Kenneth, I continue on 80m but the band closes a few minutes later. I get 15m with a hex beam antenna. The first station answering my CQs is from Israel (so distant ? Jubilation !), the next one is from Siberia. Then there are more and more stations from Japan and China, some pileup builds. As it starts getting dark in these areas, the signals are getting weaker rapidly. But soon after that, nice signals from Europe show up. Again, I can work some friends of the DD1A team in the strong pileup. However, almost nothing of it is left when Patrick arrives to take over. He has a bad cold and doesn't look good. I guess he'll appreciate working on a rather quiet band ;-) The weather is as forecast: Overcast with occasional drizzle in the morning, later sunny and mild. I missed breakfast, so I appreciate lunch even more. Breakfast and dinner are buffet style, but lunch is served only for those of our team who show up – on demand, so to speak. In the first days, we are almost alone in the restaurant, later more and more groups of pilgrims arrive. Apparently, many of them are from Russia – we notice some signs and labels with cyrillic letters in the restaurant. My next shift starts at 18:00 and I am sent to 160m immediately. But the band is very disappointing, the big noise appears very frequently now. I can only work someone while it disappears. My suspicion is that the noise comes from the lift engine, the loop antenna is placed very close to it. Kenneth comes to take over while I have dinner, and I take the opportunity to inform the others about my suspicion. We decide to try and find a better place for this antenna as soon as possible. Patrick takes over and QSYs to 80m, I take a shower and conclude the day.

___ Saturday, February 08, 2020

I don't sleep well because of a strong gusty wind outside. The alarm makes me jump out of bed, it's a few minutes before 04:00. Kenneth is happy to see me. He spent four troublesome hours on 80m, annoyed by strong aurora and rain QRN. But he has been able to work North America between the Europeans who ignore his “only NA”. I decide to get my own picture of the situation and work anyone I hear, that's mostly Russia. Gazing outside between the QSOs, it seems that the noise level actually gets low enough when the rain is less strong. When the noise level is S=3, I can hear North America or work Europe at a higher rate. Strong rain means noise of S=9 and I can't hear any caller. After three long hours, Patrick comes and takes over. He asks me for 15m, but I advise him to wait at least half an hour and then try on hex beam 1 with is directed to Japan. I take breakfast, then I catch up with some sleep. The weather remains windy with occasional showers. At lunch, Frank informs us that we need to stop operations and repair some antennas at 14:00 – the begin of my next shift. I replace Kenneth while he has lunch, working mostly Europe on 17m. It's weekend, the demand is high and the rate, too – pure fun. At 14:00, it's stormy but dry; acceptable conditions for antenna work. The radiator wire of the 160m antenna is lashing around in the gusty wind and partly entangled with TV antennas. We use some cord to keep it away from there. At the same time, other team members repair a broken fiber tube of the spider beam. The listening loop has collapsed and lies on the floor. After about an hour, we are done and I resume operation on 17m. The pileup is up to 1,5 kHz wide and adds many QSOs to the log. Patrick shows up and wants to test the Beverage on ground (BOG) that he just installed. After this, signals from Europe are rather weak and I can work many North American stations for a while. But then the band closes. The other bands are in use, so I QSY to 80m. It's not the right time for this band, but now I can take a closer look at the BOG. A preamp is available, but I prefer to work without it although the volume must be turned up a lot. Patrick takes over on time, I have a beer with Kenneth before we have dinner with the others.

Antennas: hex beam, spider beam, 40m sloper, 30m GP

___ Sunday, February 09, 2020

Kenneth wakes me up, he had enough of the unstable conditions on the 160m band and quit early. I get up with an effort for a shift somewhat more than four hours. The BOG improves reception because there's much less man-made noise on it. But first I have to find a new frequency because contest activity captured parts of the band. I have to “assemble” callsigns most of the time but I can fill the log and after a while I hear the first signals from North America. I hear that our pilot station asks me to work North America exclusively now, but I'm happy about any signal that sticks out of the noise. At the end of my shift, 750 QSOs are in the log and I hand over to Patrick. I'm alone at the breakfast buffet this morning, the other ops of my shift arrive just when I'm finished. The wind has calmed down a lot today, but it's still rainy. According to the internet, there's a storm over Germany instead. For my day shift, I take over a 20m pileup from Kenneth. He jokes that he had worked ALL stations in Russia and Ukraine now, but I put many more of them into the log. The PACC contest is active, so I try to keep my split range not wider than 1 kHz. This range is really densely packed with callers, but I manage a good rate. Suddenly, the Telecom Minister of Palestine enters the shack, accompanied by his staff, a TV camera man and our team leaders. The bustle probably costs us some QSOs, but after a few minutes the delegation leaves, apparently impressed. The Minister has a present for every team member: A booklet with Palestinian collector stamps. Since I'm busy in the shack at that time, I receive mine next day. Later, Patrick records video and audio of my operation with his action cam before he takes over. I hear that the clip of the Minister's visit this morning was aired on Palestine TV at 15:00. Unfortunately we can't receive that channel this afternoon. At dinner, there's only me and Herman – where is the rest of the team ? I take over for Kenneth while he goes for dinner. He's been working on a wild European-style pileup on 80m. Later my regular shift begins and again I work on 80m. After a while I hear signals from Japan and try to work this area exclusively. But the few readable signals are logged soon, I continue with Europe. About one hour before sunrise in Japan, I try again and this time I can log many. From time to time, I must remind callers from Europe that it's not their turn now. A single big signal from Europe makes many small signals from Japan unreadable, so I can't tolerate that. Patrick arrives and wants to continue on 160m. I ask him whether we could have a BOG to Japan, but there's barely enough space for a short BOG towards Europe and North America...

___ Monday, February 10, 2020

After getting up, I walk to the shack because it's time to take over from Kenneth. But he wants me to have breakfast first and take over afterwards. I agree and he QSYs to 30m in the meantime. Only a few callers show up in the beginning, but suddenly the pileup explodes – as if someone had switched conditions on. But it doesn't last long, after a while I have problems to pick the small signals out of the noise. I try 20m although our RTTY station is also active on this band. Moreover, the harmonic of our second CW station on 40m causes QRM. I manage some QSOs anyway, but then CW2 QSYs exactly to the half of my frequency – game over. I try 15 and 12m but no conditions there at all. 17m is occupied by the FT8 station, creating some additional phase noise on the upper bands. Then the CW2 station QSYs to 30m and surprisingly runs a nice QSO rate there. So I return to 20m and run some pileup with a fair rate. Finally Patrick arrives to take over, but he doesn't have a good idea what to do either. My next shift starts at 18:00 and this time I don't continue Kenneth's pileup but get the 40m band instead. It's not easy to find a frequency with suitable split range. But once I have a good frequency, a nice pileup starts. It gets bigger and bigger while its signals get smaller and smaller. When it's time for dinner, nobody is available to replace me. But I'm very hungry, so I take a break. Back at the station, I find our standard frequency 7015 kHz empty, so I start another big pileup there, now even with callers from Japan to New Zealand. Patrick arrives to begin his shift and continues this pileup. I need to sleep...

Front: Kenneth operating station CW1
Rear: Raymond operating the FT8 station

__ Tuesday, February 11, 2020

I have the “infernal shift” starting at 04:00. An additional 40m antenna (sloping dipole) was installed yesterday, so Kenneth shared the 40m band with the SSB station. But even the listening antenna is too noisy while the SSB station transmits. I notice that Julien F8AVK is barely making QSOs because of the QRM from me, so I suggest time-sharing. He agrees and wants me to run the first half while he tries to get some sleep. I can work lots of North America with sporadic Europe and Siberia. After two hours, I can only hear a few small signals and Julien continues in SSB. I go to bed but I can't sleep, so I return to the shack. Julien says he has a QSO every ten minutes and wants me to try again in CW. This is working better indeed, more North Americans make it into our log and more and more Europeans join the pileup. A station from Cuba is one of the last before Patrick takes over. I go to the restaurant to have breakfast, then I return to the shack. Patrick has QSYed to 17m in the meantime, I carry on until he is back from breakfast. I'm late for my day shift because I memorized the wrong time. I take over a decent pileup from Kenneth but near the end of my shift I have to call CQ a lot. Nevertheless, many stations from North America make it into my log. The SSB station on 20m is even working North America only. According to Clublog, our North America ratio is now 5.2% and we work hard to raise it. Just before the end of my shift, 17m closes and I QSY to 30m. The FT8 station has been running on this band, but with almost no callers. It's noisy, but I can fill the log. During this shift, we have two power outages for a few minutes. The hotel has a generator, but it supplies only vital functions like the lift and some lights. At the end of the second outage, Patrick's shift begins. After my dinner, I return to the shack to take over while Patrick has dinner. He went to 160m and it's troublesome in the beginning. The BOG has been extended, but it doesn't work much better now. Suddenly the noise level drops significantly and I can work at a much higher rate. Patrick comes back, I go to my room and try to get some sleep.

___ Wednesday, February 12, 2020

I have the “dreadful shift” starting at local midnight. I get the 80m band and work a number of stations from Korea and Japan, although it's way past dawn there. Later I work stations in North America, although it's a while until dark there. Apparently, the graylines are more like wide gray bands today. I use the extended BOG, this helps although it's significantly noisier than before. After two hours, I exchange bands with the digital station and continue on 160m. Instead of noise, the BOG delivers a crackling on this band. I can't identify the source of this, I can only say that it's not one of our own signals. The listening loop on the roof has been reactivated and it is somewhat calmer than the BOG, but I can add only 25 QSOs in the first hour. After 15 minutes without QSO, I give up and go to bed. After breakfast, I take a walk outside for some photos. It's still chilly, but the sun is shining. My next shift is around noon. The SSB station is active on 15m and causes enough phase noise to bury all the tiny signals on my 17m band. Only stations from Scandinavia have decent signals. I check 12m but this band is dead. So I take a break and have lunch with Kenneth. Back at the station, I see that the SSB station is now idle because 15m has closed. I can get back on 17m and run a nice pileup. Later I hear the first signals from North America and exchange antennas with the reactivated SSB station. Now using a hex beam, I can work lots of stations from North America as well as strong Europeans. I cover a part of Patrick's shift, he's part of a group visiting the Palestine Ministry of Telecommunications in Ramallah. Kenneth covers the other part of Patrick's shift, working more North America until 17m closes. The FT8 station is not manned, so I run it for a while. It heaps up almost 100 QSOs per hour on 30m with callers from Japan, Europe and North America simultaneously. The Ramallah group returns at sunset, they have many stories to tell. Later I take over from Kenneth so he can go and have dinner. On 160m, only stations from Greece can be copied without trouble, all others are in the noise and it takes time to assemble a callsign. After Kenneth's return I visit the roof and find a group of other hotel guests, singing ! It's pitch dark and I try to let them know that they should stay clear of our antennas, especially the radials all over the floor. At 21:00 I have the late shift, continuing on 160m. I have the honor to work QSO #1000, this is our minimum goal. Most of the time, it's impossible to hear anyone, but there's a noise burst from time to time. At the end of a burst, the noise drops enough to allow some QSOs. Fortunately, the overall noise level goes down with time and I can even work a few stations from Japan. This night, my nose starts running and I have to cough – not surprising because almost every team member has flu symptoms. I had a bad cold in January, so hopefully it won't have that magnitude again.

___ Thursday, February 13, 2020

I couldn't sleep through, but feel much better in the morning. I walk straight to the shack and take over from Kenneth on 80m, but soon the band is dead. I grab a hex beam and QSY to 20m. It's not working very well, but I notice some signals from Japan. I exchange beams with the SSB station, and now the signals from Japan are strong. With a decent rate, I work even Japan/Korea exclusively. Some have already worked us on other band slots, but many are new. At the end of my shift, the band seems to close to the Far East. I rush to the hotel lobby and join the group that is just leaving for a sightseeing trip. The first half of our team has just returned, now it's our turn to visit the Nativity Church, the world's oldest church. It takes only a few minutes by foot to get there. Local guides take us inside and we can visit the cave where Jesus Christ was born. This place is visited by large numbers of tourists / pilgrims from all over the world. Every team member gets his personal pilgrim document from the guides. We take a drink on the terrace of a small restaurant and watch the pilgrim groups on Manger Place. Then we return to our hotel to have lunch. I have lots of time before my next shift and get some rest, but I can't sleep. Kenneth has already QSYed to 80m when I take over, and the conditions seem to be rather good. Soon I have a pileup more than 1 kHz wide. However, a significant lack of discipline by the callers slows everything down. Suddenly, the BOG is deaf and I have to stop. It takes a while before we locate the error in the short coax cable between a switch and the radio. I plug the BOG coax directly into the radio and go on working the pileup. It would be time for dinner now, but nobody comes to continue for me. I'm terribly hungry, so I rush to the restaurant, swallow up a plate and return to the shack. Later, Patrick comes to take over a pileup that is still sizzling.

Nativity Church

___ Friday, February 14, 2020

I force myself out of bed to begin the infernal shift at 04:00. Kenneth is still on 80m and reports that he worked many stations in North America. I keep switching a lot between BOG and dipole, the latter results in more QSOs. I work many more North Americans, most of them during our dawn – viva grayline. In the second half of my shift, I am running by far most of our total QSOs. Both SSB and CW2 keep calling CQ on 40m with little success. All ops are frustrated accordingly and fatigue strikes. After breakfast, I try to catch up with sleep, but it doesn't work. At lunch time I'm very hungry again, so I visit the restaurant early. Right after that, I take over from Kenneth so he can have lunch. Back from the restaurant, Kenneth has breaking news. We will have to spend the next night in another hotel, we may only keep the shack room. I'm not really busy on 20m, so we both go to our room and pack. I leave my suitcase in the lobby, Kenneth will make sure that it gets to the other hotel. It's time for my shift, so I return to the shack and work on a growing pileup. After first QSOs with North America, I try to call this area exclusively, but with little success. I try again after a while and this time it works very well. It's weekend and I'm sure that many Europeans are biting down their fingernails. Again, I have to remind some of them that it's not their turn now. After a busy time, I hear stations from the West Coast and switch to “W6/W7 only”. Much quicker than the Europeans, the hams in other parts of the USA refrain from calling to give their western colleagues a chance. It's easy to verify these signals, they show significant polar-path buzz. The SSB station is also on 20m and works US West Coast now – amazing. Finally, the band closes slowly and I accept calls from anywhere, but apparently it's too late for Europe. Five minutes later, Patrick comes to take over. Frank makes sure that all ops of our shift get a transfer to the other hotel. Some check-in procedure is required, then we take a few beers and later dinner. Kenneth gets a transfer to the shack afterwards, I get some sleep.

Manger Place.

___ Saturday, February 15, 2020

The alarm wakes me up, closely followed by a phone call, just to be sure. We are picked up and taken to the Pilgrim Hotel to begin the dreadful shift. Kenneth left a few Japanese stations for me on 160m. But the beginning day there quiets the signals of those I couldn't catch. Then I work Europe after the “flying fish principle”: Who ever sticks the head out of the noise long enough gets a QSO. Nevertheless, I can raise the QSO count just over 1200 – although it's frustrating that I can't work the many stations still calling me. Just before midnight UTC some strong signals stop by, probably participants of the coming contest. And indeed, right after midnight my split range fills with contest stations and I go QRT. After some failed attempts to run FT8 on 160m, I switch to 40m. I can hear only a few North Americans, but I want to give it a try. Far above the usual CW range, I find an empty spot and start calling CQ TEST. Skimmers find my signal and some major contest stations, probably in-band multiplier hunters, work me. After a handful QSOs in 30 minutes, the operators of the next shift arrive and take over. We get a transfer to the other hotel and I go to sleep. At breakfast, I meet the ops of my shift again. We arrange for the final transfer back to the Pilgrim Hotel. I return to my room, pack my suitcase and meet the others at the lobby. Back in our hotel, I hear that one of our team lost his mobile phone during the last transfer. This evolves to an adventure of its own. But with the help of the hotel manager and the police he got it back eventually. My next shift begins before my new hotel room is available. I continue working on 17m and the demand is not very high, but it turns out to be a rate of 80 QSOs per hour, nevertheless. Just after the end of the shift, it's time for the team photos on the roof and another bunch of photos on the terrace, just outside the lobby. The weather is really nice, so I walk to the Nativity Church, along with crowds of pilgrims. There's a post office at Manger Place and I dump a few picture postcards into its mail box. After my dinner, I take over for Kenneth while he has dinner. I work on 160m and that's also where I stay during my next regular shift. I keep trying till after sunrise in Japan, but work nobody else from there. I can push the QSO count over 1300, but still countless people are calling – somewhere under that noise floor that is reinforced by strong static today. Finally my split range starts filling with contesters again, so I give up ten minutes before the end of shift and go to bed.

___ Sunday, February 16, 2020

After breakfast, I take over from Kenneth and continue working on 20m. The antenna points to Asia and I work many callers from Asian Russia and Japan, but also Australia and New Zealand. Suddenly I notice that I am working only dupes. A quick check of a DX cluster on the web shows that a 9N has started exactly on my transmit frequency... I find another frequency and continue there. After three hours, the stream of takers slowly dries out. I go to the roof and turn my hex beam to Europe. This results in a decent number of QSOs with remarkably many new callsigns in our log. Patrick arrives and takes over, I join Kenneth on the way to roof. The 160m antenna has already been dismantled, now we remove the 40m GP. After that, it's lunch time. Just after 14:00 local time, all stations go QRT and we start dismounting the remaining antennas. A thunderstorm starts building nearby, so we hurry up. It starts raining just when we remove the last utensils from the open part of the roof. The thunderstorm starts moving, but passes with plenty of distance. Kenneth and I return to our room and leave packing of the equipment to those who know how to do it right ;-) Before dinner, many of us meet in the lobby for some beer and Pastis. The hotel manager appears and expresses his apologies for the inconvenience about our forced move to the other hotel for one night, backed by a bottle of Vodka. The evening evolves into a boozy party, but Kenneth and I escape before it gets too wild.

The E44CC operator team.

___ Monday, February 17, 2020

The alarm goes off at 02:30 (in the morning, of course) and the team meets for the coach ride to Ben Gurion airport. A minibus appears, too small for us and all our luggage. The driver makes an attempt but then gives up and leaves. Are we now stranded in Bethlehem in the middle of the night ? Again it's our hotel manager who hires a big coach that arrives after an amazingly short time. We load the luggage, board the coach and off we go. One hour later, we clear all checkpoints outside the airport without problems. Check-in takes its time, all bags with equipment gets a special X-ray treatment, but we arrive at the gate 30 minutes before boarding. The flight to Paris Charles de Gaulle is calm but at baggage claim we note that two personal suitcases are missing. At least we can return all radio equipment to the F6KOP team that welcomes us. Later I hear that the missing suitcases were late because of an additional inspection in Tel Aviv. Annoying: The inspectors caused damage to a radio... A part of the team spends the long time until our TGV ride in a cafe – time to summarize. My train rides are smooth but the day is almost over until I finally get home. By the way, some spreading virus is rapidly taking over the news after our return. Only a few days later, Israel introduces two weeks quarantine for arriving travelers. Now we all know that this was just the beginning...

Sincere thanks to the F6KOP team for making it possible. Thanks also to the local supporters and the Pilgrim Residence hotel for their invaluable contributions !

E44CC operators: Jean-Luc F1ULQ (co-leader), Patrick F2DX, Frank F4AJQ (team leader), Damien F4AZF, Thierry F4TTR, Jean-Michel F4DLM, Wil F4ESV, Raymond F5MFV, Maurice F5NQL (now sk), Stephane F5UOW, Julien F8AVK, Herman ON4QX, Eric ON7RN, Kenneth OZ1IKY and Andy DL3GA.

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