Preparation:

Having just got a new Radioddity HF-010 antenna and after a week of book editing, I decided it was time for me to get a break, do some POTA, contact my friends in VK-Land and test out the antenna, car-mounted using my 3-magnet base.

I decided on Friday afternoon to test out the antenna, roof-mounted on my analyser, so that I could note down what the slider setting on the loading coil needed to be for each band, as I did not intend to take the antenna analyser with me. In short, initial impressions were VERY good apart from its size, on the car roof, it is a MONSTER!

Once I calibrated my settings, I decided to try the antenna out for real with a contact or two on 20m. So (as I had been calibrating with fewer extender rods on 10m), I rebuilt the antenna for 20m and did a quick check on the analyser. It was no longer resonant where it was before. I checked everything I could think of, but was unable to find what had changed. In this state, I could not rely on it for the following day’s early morning activation, so I switched to my usual Komunica HF-PRO2 antenna, which worked fine, and I made two quick contacts up into the UK before packing the car ready for the next day’s early trip. To be fair to the HF-010, it is intended to be ground-mounted on its own tripod with radials, so what I was asking it to do is not in the user manual. Perhaps for the next (non-PLOTA) activation, I’ll take the antenna along and set it up as per the handbook. It is VERY well built and looks like it could be a great antenna.

The Activation

POTA DE-0663 / DE-1058

After arriving at the car park, set-up was prompt, and I had good hopes when I saw an S1 noise level and several stations showing on the G90 bandscope. My “test” QSO, to make sure the station was operating, was with VL4R at 06:33 UTC. He was taking part in the annual “John Moyle Field Day contest” in Australia.

 After that, I could hear several John Moyle field day contest stations and other stations out of VK, including one VK6 station, but they were either chatting with mates (both VK-VK and VK-UK) or when they did call CQ, the pile-up was major! Had there not been the pile-up with a Vanuatu station, I could have made that contact, I think.

I then messaged my friends in the UK and Australia to find what frequency they were on, and we tried several times to make contact, but without success. I could hear them at S2 or S3, but they could not hear me – there was one of the team that said the Kp index was up at 7 following a storm the previous UTC evening. I decided to take a break from 20m, which had by this point bottomed out, and I was just hearing DL, RA, I and SV stations and moved to 40m.

On 40m, it was FULL with European stations (I guess a lot had moved from 20m), but I managed to find a free frequency and logged 9 POTA contacts to add to the VL4R contact to make the needed 10 contacts. SM3NRY was the last contact there, and he said there had been a major Aurora with him last night, which would account for the Kp index of 7. When I then came back to 20m, it was a little better and in the next 40minutes, I could hear all of the stations – Ernie VK3DET at about S3, Jon VK7JON and Mike M9MMM/M at about S2 but none of them could hear me, I suspect I was close to their noise levels, so having 100W rather than 20W (or indeed having the “monster” HF-010 antenna working) today may have made all the difference. 

Well, at least I got out – I would have liked to have tried the new antenna, but while it is inconsistent on the analyser, it can’t be used for an activation.

Photos:

Equipment taken:

• Xiegu G-90 HF 20W radio.
• Three magnet car roof antenna mount.
• Komunica Power HF-PRO2-PLUS-T loaded vertical whip.
• 8 Ah LifePO4 battery.
• Lightweight headphones.
• Smartphone for spotting.

Log:

POTA DE-0663/ DE-1058

Conclusions:

I think today was definitely a day of relative noise levels. The location in the car park, in the park, is not always brilliant. It is next to a caravan park, and when it is a holiday weekend, there can be so much electronic noise coming out of there that I just have to pack up and go elsewhere, but today I can’t complain. I think while the others were fighting higher noise levels, I had a true S1 noise level (compared to S5 or S6 at home). 

73 ’til the next activation!