First contact..
It was in Norway, on a rainy 14 th of july in 2014.Conditions in the atmosphere were not good at all and everybody you hear on whatever radio or frequency you listen, complained about these very poor conditions, at least all the stations we heard on the radio band we wanted to use (20 mtrs.)
The radiorig was installed, the antenna was set up and everything should work. Should it work for the first time and for someone with no experience too?
Then I tried to give a call. What could happen.. just try it.
14.225 Mhz, that should be the channel and I gave my stationcall two times (14th of july, 2014 - local time: 16.40). Then a Spanish (EA7) station repeated my callsign twice, but I coudn't clearly hear his stationcall. Later on, it became clear that this station was EA7WG and by the time I tried to call him again, no one answered... conditions were getting poorer. Still I was the lucky one, because I knew that everything worked fine at mine/our place!
So, that's all about my very first contact as an official Amateur Radio station working from Norway.
Second contact, my first confirmed contact..
Later that evening I decided to listen to the radio again (14.179 Mhz) and I heard a contest station of wich the operator had a typical Dutch accent in his English message.I waited until he stopped his conversation with another station and started again with his stationcall, waiting for an answer. I decided to answer him (14th of july, 2014 - local time: 20.17).
It was nice to hear someone answering in Dutch language now and I shouldn't be busy with translating in English and thinking about the things I must say and want to say.
The station was PC200ZVL and it had a special stationcall because of the 200 years existence of the province he worked from (Zeeuws Vlaanderen). The operator was PA7DX (Casper) and the club(house) was PI4DX
After I told him that this was my second connection as an official Radio Amateur ever, he decided to send me 2 QSL cards (really nice: one for me and one for SWL Bengt in Norway). Then I decided to create this internetsite.
Third contact.., my second confirmed contact..
I heard another station (16th of july 2014 - local time: 21.55). It was Brian, working from Paris (G4DBQ/p). He came in 3:5 here and I came in 5:7 there. We had a short conversation and conditions were getting poorer. Still, it was a nice contact.Fourth contact.., would it still work?
We have had email contact with a Dutch Amateur Radio station PD1ABO (Henk, Ruurlo - NL) and we decided that we could try to setup a radiocontact (17th of july, 2014 - local time between 21.00 and ??).14.170 Mhz should be about the frequency that we call and listen. Strong signals come in from Russia/Ukraine and the East, but how will it be from the south?
We'll see...
Later on that evening, it became clear that Henk (as being a firefighter) suddenly left his shack because of an accident in Ruurlo.
Is it over...??
No, it is over for now (2014).On the 18th of july I will leave Sorken and in this QTH it will be quiet for quite a while. The radiostuff is boxed and stored, waiting for the next visit.
All the best, 73!
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2014-07-14 3031KM |
2014-07-14 1274KM |
2014-07-16 1577KM |
Measurements of distance can be found on:
distancefromto.net
How did we get these first results?
Earthing'A good earth one must have". Those may be the first words my friend has spoken as a baby. So, when I arrived I found a copperpipe driven into the ground with 6/2 wire connected. No, it isn't overkill, it is nice work, really!
Antenna
"Now, we do need a good antenna". Bengt made a nice dipole, a few days ago. He found an old balun (Svensk kvalitet!) and this should make it a good, at least reasonable antenna for us to use in Norway.
I took with me from Holland a G5RV antenna, in case of emergency... but we didn't need it at all!. Probably it will be in Norway for his whole life now...!
Construction
How could we hang up that home made dipole and the good old 'Svensk kvalitet' balun? Even about that he had thought and a special construction was already prepared.
The cabin mountng for the mast needed some wood and screws and the mast itself existed of 2 parts. One aluminium base for a solid construction, attached to the cabin and the upper part is a mast made of wood, with a hook on top.
With use of a 4mm rope (Clas Ohlson) we could hang up this end of the dipole. The other end should be hanging in a tree and has a spring in between balun and isolators (trees bend a lot, especially the long ones!). With use of a length of kevlar strengthened rope we should pull up the dipole and then we had to choose the right tree, keeping in mind that the dipole should face south/north.
Feeding wire
"What feeding wire shall we use, and what length?".
I took with me (again: from Holland) a spool of 100 Mtrs RG58 coax and some SO239 connectors. Buying this in Norway is a problem when you stay in an area where no radioshops are to find within a few hundred kilometers...
The length should be about 20 mtrs, we agreed. So I cut 21 mtrs. and added the connectors. Meanwhile Bengt went away, getting some canoes back from the lake and I was enjoying a cup of noodlesoup.
So after he came back, the whole set was almost ready to use.
1) The good earth was connected
2) The Clas Ohlson rope was on top on the mast
3) The balun was ready and connected to the two wires (5 Mtrs)
4) The kevlar strengthened wire now was up in a tree
5) The connectioncable was made and..
6) it was connected to the balun
So.. let's hoist up the whole construction!
After pulling the ropes, first that one on the mast and then the one in the tree, the balun was 'up and ready'.
On these pictures the mast is not on the construction. We had to do this with at least 2 persons. These pictures were made earlier..
Now our LA-PD2EW station should be ready for use.
"Thinking and discussing about constructions and materials takes more time actually, than to build it..."
'A good earth one must have"
"Now we need a good antenna"
"What feeding wire shall we use, and what length?"