IOTA (часть 2)

**RW3RN** · 09.06.2024, 23:54

HQ9EB (NA-057) 21027

**RW3RN** · 10.06.2024, 02:35

5K0LR (SA-017) 14227 up 5, 21071.9 FT8 23-35 UTC

**UA3GX** · 10.06.2024, 02:41

Сообщение от RW3RN

5K0LR (SA-017) 14227 up 5, 21071.9 FT8 23-35 UTC

привет. на 21 тебе какой рапорт дал горгонец?

**R7LV** · 10.06.2024, 08:05

5K0LR - 21277 на удивление хорошо слышно симплекс

**RW3RN** · 10.06.2024, 09:00

-05

Сообщение от UA3GX

привет. на 21 тебе какой рапорт дал горгонец?

**UA3GX** · 10.06.2024, 19:51

Сообщение от RW3RN

-05

ясно,я почему спросил,мне +05 дал,но я же 70вт работаю,у тебя же мощность и было интересно разницу узнать

**RW3RN** · 10.06.2024, 20:41

Интересный отчет от AA5JF за его последние активности. Жду два новых острова, начиная с этой пятницы:

Hi IOTA friends,

I'm now in the Washington DC area, ready for a w

eek of work, but with a great weekend of ham radio behind me. I had a blast on two of Maryland's islands, making a total of 835 contacts. While it is fresh in my mind, I want to provide a narrative of this part of my small adventure. I'll note now I've put the logs on ClubLog -- use the dates below to figure out where I was. Reminder that I will set up IOTA matching with ClubLog (and hopefully LoTW), subject to verification/approval.

This was a good weekend for sure, and good practice for both me and you all, as we prepare for next weekend. In Maryland I was in my car, could drive to the locations, and had all kinds of backup plans and gear. Next weekend, I go as a pedestrian on commercial ferries to NA-136 and NA-148. I must carry everything I need in my backpack or my hands, including a shelter in-case it rains. And I will be limited in time, especially on NA-148. No computer, so no FT8. I'll send out a reminder later this week, and will include more details about what I think I'm going to do. For now though -- if you need NA-136 or NA-148 from Europe or Japan, and you don't have a 17M antenna, use this week to get one.

Thanks to those who sent donations via PayPal, to offset some of the gas costs. My PayPal address is angoss@augusta.edu (listed under Pax Bobrow). Donations are not necessary or required. Everyone in the log will get log matching as soon as it becomes available -- or I'll get you a QSL card.

My first contact from NA-139 (Assateague Island) was on 2024-06-07, at 18:12Z on 20M CW. The 492nd contact (and last one) was 2024-06-08, 13:14Z. This was a POTA site which has not had a lot of CW operators, so a good chunk of the NA stations were hunting for the park, not the island. Good conditions generally, but didn't work many Japanese stations.

Assateague Island is a barrier island on the Atlantic Coast. I was camped in a big state park campground about 100M from the beach--lucked out with the location, which was RF quiet (inverters in RVs can cause debilitating RF noise). And it's not just CY0 with wild horses -- the Assateague 'wild' horses roam freely through the campground, and walked right through my antenna's support twice. Knocked the push-up pole over the first time. No fear of humans.

I operated from inside my 2004 Lexus GX470, running off the car battery (actually off the alternator as I keep the car running while on air). Antennas were dipoles, configured as inverted Vs. I have sets for 40/20, 30/17, and 15/10. Takes about 15/20 minutes to change the dipole, but I can go from 40 to 20 (or 30 to 17) in about 2 minutes. 100W from my FT-991A. Logged mostly on the computer, but as 10pm to 7am were quiet hours, I couldn't run the car (and thus couldn't plug in computer to the car's inverter), so logged and sent by hand (using a LiFePO4 battery for radio power). First time in a long time that it came in handy that I taught myself to send CW with my left hand so I can write with my right hand. During breakfast I transferred those contacts to the N1MM+ log.

If you missed me, this is a popular POTA spot, and hams visit all the time. Most don't know about IOTA though. Perhaps we can help change that. But I didn't need to explain to the rangers what I was doing, as they have had many hams visit. The founders of POTA are from that part of Maryland.

I operated (or setup/took down) all but about four hours I was there, when I caught a little sleep. Got up well before dawn, and there was the opening to Asia and Oceania at that time, which produced some QSOs on 20M

I couldn't find a room to sleep in near my next island (found out later there was an Ironman race), but some luck with Airbnb put me about an hour from it, and an affordable price. I was able to check in early and caught a quick nap before driving down to Middle Hooper Island (NA-140). My first QSO was on 17M CW (with DK8MM who had been waiting patiently) on 2024-06-08 at 20:20Z, and the last QSO (#343) was 2024-06-09 at 19:17Z.

A concern I had was about where to set up my antennas as it wasn't clear what public land there was. A trick I learned from my VHF mentor is to first try the public boat ramp, as those are required to be open and accessible by the public all the time (i.e. also at night), and the public is permitted to park. Luckily there was a picnic/parking/fishing spot immediately across the road from the boat ramp (which had power lines running over it), so I had an ideal location. In any case, no authority ever came by. The public boat ramp is not marked exactly correctly on Google maps, but it is very obvious once you get there. There are rentals on Middle Hooper, but they were all sold out, and are designed for fishing and hunting parties, so would have been too expensive. The Eastern Shore of Maryland is growing as a weekend getaway for DC and Baltimore, but the affluence hasn't reached Middle Hooper yet (it has reached Assateague, BTW). An old fishing community, with little in the way of new construction. One restaurant (on upper Hooper island), open just five days a week. Was nearly empty on Sunday afternoon when I left.

I was worried that with this not being a POTA site, I might struggle to make QSOs. That fear was misplaced. It seemed like I would never run out of 17M CW contacts to make that first afternoon-- NA operators had to wait a long time as I didn't want to switch to the other antenna. I had low noise, and the signals were strong from all over. Unlike the previous day, there was an opening to Asia on 17M during my afternoon. And 30 was good, as was 20. I ended up spending very little time on 40M. I left at about 9pm local time, as I had more than an hour to get to my bed. I slept deeply, and struggle to get up. I found a really good coffee spot on the way there, and was up an operating just after 7am local time. VK5MAV was waiting patiently with a big signal on 20M. And there was an opening to Japan -- all of the signals were weak and distorted, but generally clear enough to copy. Thanks to the patience of the Japanese operators, both with me, as I struggled to get their calls, and with each other (everyone took turns, there was no calling on top of others). Very cool. Possibly I made a mistake here or there. My apologies -- email me directly if that happened, either then or at another time.

And 17M was good too! Lots of stations in the log, mostly on CW, but did some FT8, and a little SSB on Saturday afternoon.

I had been keeping one eye on 6M, as it is the annual VHF contest this weekend. And I had texted/emailed with W1NG in CT about the possibility of a VHF IOTA contact, which seemed like along shot, given the distance (too far for ground wave, to short for E skip). But I did notice Sunday there was an E skip opening to the west and then south, and I made a few contacts here and there as I was switching bands or modes on HF. I couldn't hear any stations in New England though, and the distance is pretty awkward for 6M. But all of a sudden, I decoded a few NE station, and there W1NG was, and we made a QSO. 6M can be so fun! (also frustrating). By the time I was done with VHF, I had 50 6M contacts, and 10 2M contacts.

I finsihed up with another productive hour on 17M CW, and then packed up, to drive in the Sunday afternoon traffic to DC.

These were short activations, I know, and are no replacement for a proper expedition, as my modest little setup can't ensure a contact with everyone who needs it. I heard stations below the noise level who I just couldn't work. Very sorry! And of course, these were short windows when I was there, and not everyone was or could be by the radio. These two islands are pretty accessible though -- and there is now a huge number of North American hams who are pretty good at portable operating (SOTA and especially POTA).

Thanks for all of you who helped make this weekend so fun. See you next weekend!

Andy AA

**RW3RN** · 13.06.2024, 22:34

Может кто подсказать адрес PayPal для оплаты 5K0LR?

**EU7A** · 14.06.2024, 08:30

Сообщение от RW3RN

Может кто подсказать адрес PayPal для оплаты 5K0LR?

Приветствую, Александр!

На их сайте (https://sites.google.com/view/dxpedicion-gorgona-2024) написано, что если нужна бумажная карточка, то связываться с менеджером - N4THW (HK3B).

**RW3RN** · 15.06.2024, 08:17

О сегодняшней и завтрашней активности AA5JF. Для меня будут два новых острова.

Hi fellow IOTA enthusiasts,
I'm in a hotel in Connecticut, a few miles from the Thimbles. It's rainy and stormy, with a band of thunderstorms just now passing. Perfect! It's supposed to be great weather tomorrow.
I'm scheduled on the 9am EDT (1300Z) ferry to Outer Thimble, on NA-136. This really isn't a ferry, but a mid-sized launch, so really a water taxi. I should be on Outer Thimble by 1330Z, with operating commencing a little after that. My understanding is that I can return at 5pm (2100Z), however, I'm obviously at the mercy of the boat captain (he may decide I need to be picked up at 4pm.) The ticket is $17, so don't have much leverage.
I may not have real cell coverage, meaning I can't self-spot. Look for me at 14041 (avoiding WSPR at 14040) and 18085, plus/minus. On SSB I'll try around 14260 and 18130. Plus/minus five. Use RBN or the pota.app spotting page. I have SOTAmat which allows me to spot on SSB on the pota.app page (using a clever feature of FT8 and PSKreporter), so look for me there if nothing else is showing (like if RBN is down). The POTA reference is US-0228.
I haven't fully packed my bags. Reminder that I have to carry everything I'll need on a passenger ferry, including the batteries. I'm logging and sending by hand. I will bring the loaded vertical, and maybe the push-up pole plus dipoles. Depends on weight and space availability. I had thought to bring the 705 as backup, but probably won't--still I worry about being on an island and having equipment failure. I'll bring some redundancy, but can't bring two of everything.
Remember, mostly CW, some SSB, no FT8.
I'm not sure how well the loaded vertical will perform. But I'll start with it, as it is relatively easy to set-up and quick to change bands. If I bring the push-up pole/dipoles, I'll get that going later in the morning. My basic plan is to start on the lower bands early (to work some NA), and then go to 20/17/15 by late morning. I did a CW POTA activation from Vermont today in early afternoon, and 15M had the best RBN results in Europe (although that may have been related to Eskip). So, I will also try on 15 CW. After 1730Z, I will spend most of my time on 17 and 20 and 15 (some on 30 late), looking for Europe and JA and VK/ZL. Of course, anyone who can hear me should call me. The pile-ups in MD were never large (at no point did more than 5 stations call me at once) and I'm not worried about operating simplex. Not a big contest weekend, although I'm aware of the Asian DX CW contest.
One piece of news. The Boston ferry company late yesterday sent an email that we can't go to Georges Island on Sunday but don't worry, we are going to Spectacle Island. Also NA-148, so no issue there. Plus a shorter ferry ride, meaning fifteen extra minutes on the island. And I think I'll have an easier time finding a good operating spot on Spectacle. But: if they change one thing, perhaps more things will change? Hopefully not. Short activation: 10:30am EDT arrival with the ferry leaving at 3pm EDT (1430Z to 1900Z). Need to set-up and tear down also of course. Can't miss the return ferry, right?
I'll probably only bring the load vertical Sunday. Likely I'll start on 20M, and go to 17M and 15M. I don't anticipate spending much time on 30 or 40 from Spectacle. But: should will have good cell coverage.
Because I have to still drive from CT to MA Saturday evening, I won't likely have time to enter the paper logged QSOs into Clublog from tomorrow until later.
This.just.might.work. Fingers crossed.