WAEDC CW Contest 2017 – 4E1A

Just finished the Worked All Europe DX Contest (WAEDC) in CW. It was my first participation as a non-European station using my vanity callsign 4E1A in the single operator low power class. Only contacts to European stations are allowed, and you can sent telegrams (QTCs) to them to earn additional points. Poor propagation conditions made it very difficult this year.  On the 40 m band there was a lot of noise due to lightening (QRN), and I could only make 3 contacts (QSOs). Nevertheless, it was fun to participate again after more than 25 years (!) ago 1991 under my German call sign DK4TB.

My Equipment:

Icom IC-718, 100 W output. 3 el Spider beam for 20 m and 15 m and a full size G5RV for 40 m (and 80 m). Using Digikeyer II interface with Bencher paddle and RUMlogNG logging program on my MacBook.

Station setup
Early morning sunrise. You see the feeder line of the G5RV antenna running up the 12 m (40 ft) antenna mast.

4E1ADW

INFEX and DX Contest 2017

On Feb 18 the International Friendship Exchange (INFEX) and DX contest took place in the Philippines. DX1ACE participated with a group of eight girl scouts in the Dasmarinas National High School.

Station setup and test

12 m Fiberglass pole with 40 m inverted vee antenna

Girls are exited and having fun using the first time a radio

Short video clip: IMG_2563

 

DU1 – Tagaytay – Jan 2017

During this visit I had more time to setup my station in Tagytay and test the antennas. I was very impressed by the performance of the spider beam  and even the good propagation on the lower bands.

IC-718 with AT-130 manual tuner, external speaker and Yaesu rotator controller. Using my Macbook for loggin and digital modes

Spider beam for 20, 17 and 15 m and trap dipole for 40 and 80 m

View from our terasse to the south. Ideal propagation in direction of Australia VK

On 1st of Feb I went to NTC and PARA office to take the exam for class A Philippine Amateur radio license. Hopefully I will receive my DU1 callsign soon.

Visit at PARA office in the NTC building in Manila

Retirement

Finally, after 30 years of service for Rohde & Schwarz,  I had my last day in the company. A small “good bye” celebration with a surprise present.

My boss Markus Becker

Prakash (HR), Markus, Klaus and Joseph.

A darbuka (middle eastern drum) as present.

Of course, I had to play the drum.

Fiberglass Balcony Stealth Antenna for 40 m

In Singapore space is limited, and in our appartment it is difficult to setup any HF antenna. Our balcony is the only place where I have a space to mount something. Even there, officially nothing is allowed to extend out from the building.

I decided to setup a simple vertical, using a telescopic fiberglass pole, which I can pull out temporarly, when it is getting dark.  The pole has a total length of 10 m, approx. 1 m (the lowest segment) safely mounted to the balcony railing and sidewall.

vertical410 m fiberglass pole mounted to the balcony railing in the 17th floor.

holder1holder2Mounting

vertical1The actual antenna wire is fixed to the pole using Velcro strips. The horizontal wires on the picture are part of my short linear loaded dipole for 15 m and 17 m.

vertical2Antenna extended to 10 m

pipeclampsRubber protected pipe clamps to secure the segments and Velcro strips to attach the antenna wire to my telescope fiberglass pole. Allows quick extension and retracting of the antenna.

verk__00VSWR of 1.2 at resonance frequency 7.050 MHz, using only one radial around the outer wall of our appartment