June 26 we had a very nice weather here in jo44vw, 27 degrees. According to Hepburn tropo index it could look like good tropo to uk from the westcoast, so I decided to go portable with my tripod and 48cm dish and 5w .
When driving to the westcoast wearing shorts, the temperature was dropping fast, from 27 to only 18 degrees when I arrived just after 20 local time.
After the system was operational, I checked the beacons, strange DB0GHZ in JO34WE, was only 559, last time it was 599, but PI7ALK in JO22IP was 579, so conditions were good.
First I worked an OZ and a PA station, with good signals, then I tried to beam to the west and found G4ODA with 59, yes it was the right decition to go /p, later I found out that the other stations inland also did work into UK later on, so maybe I could have done that from home also… I guess so. But still I had fun out in the cold wind, and a temperature dropping to 12 degress at the end of the contest !
Next time I will try to bring some more clothes, here a map of what I did work and some pictures with a cold operator.
Station worked from JO45ID (Ballum Sluse)
Beaming to UK
Take-off direction UK
A cold operator, and take-off direction N->NE
