Current Technical Status

So far everything is working fine. The tiny Tajfun amp is working flawlessly delivering some 80% of maximum output. We do not push it to the limit to have a safety margin.

Situation on site is very good except for some pulsating noise at times - and that we can work moon rise only after 7° elevation and moon set only up to 15°. There is some blockage by a rock (CR2X contest QTH on top of it) at moon rise and neighbouring buildings at moon set. Remember, setup is in a back garden.

However, our preamp situation gives us some worries. The preamp works and stops and works and stops. Every switch-over from tx to rx is a surprise. Therefore yesterday we worked part of the moon pass without preamp (results were better than expected). This morning we opened the preamp relay and cleaned it though it was not really dirty at all let alone burned. After we put everything together it worked perfectly again. Let us keep fingers crossed.To make a bad situation worse: The spare preamp which still worked when DH7FB tested it before departure does not work at all. 

Twice yesterday we had sudden high swr which made us QRT earlier than expected. After checking cables, dipoles and connectors this morning everything is fine again.

Conditions were strange at times yesterday: Well-equipped stations like UX0FF hat great problems to be copied by us while we even worked a single yagi station with just 500 watts out. K7MAC wrote he copied us -16 or so but as soon as he sent ROs we disappeared in his rx. And we sent 5 times RRRs to him when we saw he was still sending ROs - in both polarisations. That is weird. 

Polarisations changed very often and very quickly, often from one sequence to the next. Good to have xpol available here. Yesterday we had the antennas mounted horizontal and vertical, today we will run in x configuration. We'll see if that yields better results.

CU at moonrise. 73 Frank and Bernd

Log 25 March 2018

144 MHz

56 Complete QSOs:

DK5LA, I2FAK, G4SWX, IK4PMB, JH0BBE, JR3REX, ZS6JON, JE1TNL, RX1AS, DK4RC, IK1UWL, I3MEK, HB9Q, PA9RX, DM1CG, DL1DWI, PA3CMC, DF7KF, F4DJK, SM5KWU, DG8NCO, ZS4TX, IK7EZN, F6HVK, IK6CAK, SM5DIC, RW3PX, VE1KG, SP4KM, ZS5LEE, DL8YHR, DL2HWA, LZ1DX, DK5EW, G4CDN, LZ1KU, LZ1DP, PA5Y, IW4ARD, S52LM, DL8FBD, DL9DBJ, PA2CHR, PA0JMV, NT0V, SM2BYC, UR3EE, DL5OCD, DL6SH, LZ2FO, ES6RQ, SP4K, PA5MS, EA4CYQ, KF8MY, WA3QPX.

Called but not complete:

SV6KRW, SM6NOC, PA3FYC, DL6SH, LZ2FO, K7MAC, UX0FF, G4PLZ.

If you find a typo or if you believe you have a QSO and you are not in log please contact us via email xteamdxp@gmail.com We are not perfect. Please send screenshot or copy of all.txt then and we will investigate.

Next moon rise is 1530Z in 26th 

Ready to Go

Setup is completed! Functionality has been positively checked. Now we are waiting for moon rise over the hills which should be around 1430Z, maybe even earlier.

We will CQ 1st on 144.114 and we will rx +/- 800 Hz from our tx frequency.

Setup in Progress

After a good night's sleep we feel much better than yesterday evening. So after breakfast the setup work began. At this moment we are finished with indoor setup (which in fact is outdoor work as the entire Rig will be outdoor in a barbecue shelter). Antenna work still needs a little time but it is some hours before moonrise, no worries.

At moonrise we need some minimum elevation

 The designated shack

DH7FB building the antenna (Atlantic Ocean in background)

We Are on Site at CR2EME

After a long journey we have finally arrived on site. Everything is looking good here exceptfor that we will need a minimum elevation at MR and MS. We will set up the 2 m station tomorrow morning and will be QRV at our moonrise on 25th.

18 Hours to Go

Final preparations are taking place now, suitcases being packed and put on the scale to check for weight - and adjusted with carry-on baggage and pockets of our jackets ;-)

Tomorrow at this time we should already be somewhere between Portugal mainland and the Azores. Our journey starts at about 2.30 am tomorrow for both of us as planes leave around 6 am from Berlin as well as from Frankfurt. We will both meet only in Lisbon airport around 0830Z, over a beer of course.

Equipment Tests Successful

We have just tested our SSPA which delivers a fair 800 W out and wasn't even squeezed yet. We do not intend to push the amp to the full performance but better keep a safety margin instead. The Tajfun was sitting on the shelf for roughly one year now waiting for the next activity. This will be in about three weeks...

Also our preamp is doing well (it is DF2ZC's spare mast LNA, so a bit overkill). Of course we will use less adaptors when being on the Azores ;-)

For our next activity we will arrange for a lighter version: We do not need max 3 kW full duty transfer power...and the weight which comes with these big relays. Siggi at SHF Elektronik is already busy with this project.