(NB. According to the IOTA 2000 directory Sandstrom Reef counts as EU-173)
As you maybe know, there are thousands of little islands at the Finnish coast. The nature in the skerries is unique and very beautiful. In the summer there is daylight all night long.
Sandström reef is an island like that about 4 kilometers from mainland (loc KP01RH, OH county Luvia, OHC 147). It is located about 20 kilometers south of city of Pori on southwest coast of Finland.
The island does not have a historical significance and there has never been regular settlement. The size of the island is only about 100x50 meters. It belongs to my family and the only meaning of the island is to be a place for spending our holidays, hi. There is a cottage and a sauna.
Sandström Reef is an excellent QTH for ham radio. There are no other "inhabitants" on the island and also the nearest neighbours are over 300 meters away. At the moment there are no fixed antenna structures. All operation is for the present field day operation. Couple of times we have taken part to the Region 1 Field-day contest. This year was the first time in IOTA-contest. Besides I have served one-two times a year EU-96 just for fun. Sandström Reef got the approval for IOTA as Eu-096 from G3KMA a couple of years ago.
Last winter we decided to participate in this year´s IOTA-contest. Because the QTH was in principle available, we made the decision. We have listened to the bands last years and noticed that the popularity of IOTA has increased rapidly. IOTA-contest has future ! We had also been on the bands last years during the contest and noticed that working Europe is the most important thing, not hectic stateside pileups.
The voluntary operators were easy to find from our radio club OH1AF . With me ready for the battle were Timo ( OH1NOA ) and Pasi (OH1NSJ). Both are familiar guys for all active contesters.
We made an appointment in the contest-saturday morning at the quay at 9 o'clock. We packed the rigs, antennas & operators to the boat. After half an hour we were assmbling 3-el. tribander on the shore of Sandström Reef. We had bad luck and the 6-meters pipe mast broke off. So we had to be content with very low installed yagi antenna. For another antenna we erected a Butternut HF6V vertical on the rocks on the other side of the island.
The pile up station consisted of a Kenwood TS-450S and MLA-2500 linear amplifier. We had also an IC-735 and TS-430S for spare and for listening multipliers.
The pile up operation took place mostly in one hour shifts (1 hour pileup - 1 hour listening mpls - 1 hour rest). That was a good system for three operators. The QSO-rate was quite high the whole time. The best hour was the first hour 12-13UTC - 189 QSOs, the worst 5-6 UTC - only (!) 64 QSOs. A positive suprise was a nice opening to USA on 40 meters CW.
Our experience of the contest was very positive. Maybe the contest message is little bit too long for island stations, it would be better without the serial number. The multi-single rule for working multipliers should be same kind of as in CQWW or WAE -contests. Then there must be also a "10 minutes" rule. The present rule is difficult to control and entices to multi-multi operation.
Anyway the rules are quite successful. A very good thing is that all QSOs with non-island stations are as valuable.
© Timo Pohjola OH1MDR/OH0MDR
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