Story 19DX/FR001






Story from 19DX/FR001 activity.


Constructing a house and doing a million other things keeps one occupied, it had already been far too long to enjoy some radio fun. So, at the beginning of the week I decided to activate a IWI.

Since im still struggling with a arm injury, and the kayak needed to come along again.. it couldn’t be “to far” away and weather should be a bit calm. Last “Island Festival” I noticed a small island in my area. FR001. Certainly within peddling distance, so the idea was there. At Friday the time was there to do the activation.

All materials were packed and the “real time GPS tracker” was on close to my home QTH. Some friends did follow my position live on the greenalp.com website (please see pics&proofs page for screenshot of the tracker App, the tracker was running on both by journey to the island, some time while on the island and also on my kayak journey back to the car. That “app” just works fantastic !

During the way towards the Island I had the majority of the wind in the back, that was something I wasn’t too happy with as forecast were: heavy wind later that day (up to 100Km/hr bursts !) Once settled on the island I realised it isn’t summer anymore, for the next trip I needed to work on better materials. My tent for example collapsed due to the already existing wind…which was maybe 50 km/hr peaks ? Rubbish…

A far more bigger concern was the mast, on the kayak I can only take big fishing rods as antenna support, and although it gets the antenna 12 meters up in the air…I could not erect it that long …due to the wind…grr..On Thursday I tested my antenna and I noticed a large improvement in signals while adding height, im confident I missed now say 2 S-units per QSO.

On whatsapp I got some tips about gathering proof which I applied, after all: what is the use of a activation without verification for others someone is actually there ! It’s nice to see people willing to help and the learning process a person has on its own.

Wind was indeed picking up and storm was coming in from the east. After 3..4 hours I needed to “shut down” and get a move on back to the car.
Back in the kayak, I thought I was still on time… 15 minutes later I realised I was not. I could keep the “tracker” on as it was storming the device was put inside my jacket, the peddle…at a certain point I thought I needed more strength to “hold on” to the peddle instead of peddling it self. Slowly moving forward leaning as close to the border to avoid wind as possible. I just couldn’t take a picture …but sight was say 50 meters..and rain was just horizontal, the ducks on the water didn’t fly away anymore…that’s a fairly good indication its windy hihi. Thankfully it only lasted 15..20 minutes and it went down again.

After reaching the car the last picture I could send was one of my wet trousers after that the phone died due to the wind and rain. Back in the car the sun came through ..what a lovely sight to watch !

At home a shower was welcomed and a nice “radio day” could be added to the memories.

Learning points : Wind…don’t go to an island if it is windy…near the coast its x10 lol. Possible it is an option to setup antennas the day before ? by using the present trees instead of struggling with a long pole in such situations. Owh..and get a new tent ..after 15 years of use its done its job hihi.
Lots of fun !

It always amazes me those who “get in” the log while im using such a simple setup …well done guys !

Hear you next time !

Henry 19DX348


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