DM7A

DL0TUD and OK2KKW in IARU UHF - SHF Contest 2005

          
(please select language version of this extraordinary contest report)

Since I don’t have any information about similar Czech–German ham radio event that would take place in the past, it is possible that both clubs have become a part of the ham radio history of both countries working under a common contest call sign in the UHF/SHF contest. But let’s start from the beginning:

Over the past few years we have been watching the spot height, located near to our permanent contest QTH (Spaleniste), German Fichtelberg. Fichtelberg, together with Czech Klinovec just on the other side of the border (about 2 km) is quite significant for its specific height over 1200m. It is very popular among German QRO stations such as DL0TUD or DF0MTL. Once in a while during contests we come to visit each other to see how the concurrence is doing and sometimes also to complain about mutual QRM or QRM from other stations.

Because both teams OK2KKW and DL0TUD are quite similar regarding their working conditions (for example both don’t have any stable masts and antennas on the hill, all must be brought from about 150 km distance, build up on place and then taken down again) it was just a small step to the idea to try it together in a big contest and attempt to beat our long time concurrence from both side of the Czech-German border. The success in the last year UHF/SHF Contest (OK2KKW with the support of OL9W made one of the best results on 70cm) encouraged this idea.

About 2 weeks before the contest we agreed that we’re going to use the call sign DM7A (a new contest call sign of DL0TUD) from Fichtelberg with the aim to make the best possible result in the European evaluation.

OK2KKW task was to supply the 70cm with complete equipment, masts, one 33el. K1FO antenna with PA and a dish antenna for 23 cm with PA; DL0TUD the microwave bands and another PA with one long yagi for 70 cm. There was a lot of e-mail communication about the right coupling of all parts to prevent blowing out the preamps, right PA driving etc. The plan was to meet at our place on Friday morning, transport all the iron to Fichtelberg, build up the masts and antennas and then to solve possible details concerning the rig connection, computer network and similar things.

So far the plans, but Murphy always tends to change them. Our first concern was the weather. I don’t know if anybody already noticed, that if the contest takes place from October 1^st to 4^th, the weather is usually bad, but from 5^th to 8^th mostly fair and stable. This year was not an exception. Last two September weeks we enjoyed the Indian summer and watched the weather development carefully. When the forecast said, that the big anticyclone would be weakening and the rain was coming we still believed that it would come over during the week and a new anticyclone would come for the weekend, which would make a good propagation to the West. On Wednesday it was clear that this would not be the case. The September anticyclone held too long and there were a couple of fronts in the West bringing the rain. The receding anticyclone slowed down their move to the West and it was the worst what could happen. The front was slowly moving almost in the South-North direction exactly over the East German – west Czech Republic area.

We left off from Prague at Thursday late afternoon/night. OK1BAF, OK1XNG and OK1JFR got to our QTH on Spaleniste first. OK1TEH and I (OK1VPZ) followed them at night with a caravan we intended to use as a shack for 70cm band on Fichtelberg. Unfortunately after about a 70 km drive the caravan axle broke, one wheel blocked itself in the fender well and just thanks to lot of material in the car that made it heavy we managed to stay on the road. Fortunately no one was coming counter. It was impossible to fix such a thing on the road. With the help of OK1UVY (thanks!) we arranged the hauling service. OK1BAF was called on help. In the meantime OK1DIX who left a bit later got there, too. We stuffed all material in the other cars and got to Spaleniste about 1AM after midnight. On Friday, we are trying to rent a caravan anywhere in the West Bohemia area, but no success. It’s weekend. Couple of phone calls with Tilo, DH1FM tells us, that the situation in Germany is even worse due to public holiday on Monday. Everything is rented or available at very distant places.

Fred (DH5FS) and Tilo are coming on Friday morning. After a short greeting we load our masts and all other things in the cars and move out to Fichtelberg. Our friends solved our concerns about the 70cm shack very simply. There is an open wooden shed there, around which they rolled tent canvases. To be honest it is way away from the “luxury” we normally enjoy in our cottage especially at 1200m a.s.l., but there is no other option.

We are erecting our 20m mast with K1FO antenna and the second one (about 10m) with a 38 element copy of M2 made by I0JXX. Short testing shows the SWR of that antenna is above 1:1.6. It means mast down and tuning. The result 1:1.3 is not quite optimal, but it’s the best we can reach at the moment. Fortunately the front is not here, yet so we can do the building at dry weather. It’s going to change soon. In the afternoon the first raindrops are falling down. It will keep up the entire contest. DH1FM is trying to set up 4x long yagi DL6WU for 23cm, but it takes time. The others are erecting masts for 6 and 3cm and put up the 2,4m wire dish for 23cm. David OK1RK is coming, but it’s getting dark already. The wind and rain get heavy. Together we drive to a pub on the Czech side for a dinner. The car temperature gauge shows almost frost. That would be the last thing we would need. The rain, frost and ham radio antennas don’t go together.

In the evening we are discussing with Steff  DH1DM how to ensure the right control of    the both PA on 70 cm band. We are also trying to figure out why they were producing noise during VHF Contest. Around midnight we decide to go to bed. Saturday morning is cloudy- “Rain drops keep falling on our heads’’. We are lucky that it isn’t freezing. At Fichtelberg all of the antennas are ready for the start (7 masts together) though the new 200W PA for 23cm is still not installed. Harald DG3UH and Hartmut DG2DWL have brought it. It was supposed to be placed in the middle of the 4x long DL6WU yagis on 23 cm. We are also building our 3 cm and the listening working place for 23 cm in a car. In the meanwhile we are fighting on 70 cm with connection of the two PAs, our PA is about 15 years old, moreover the documentation is missing. Due to wrong wiring we blow one of our power supplies. We have to rewire the sequencer and we are running late.

In the meantime the contest has begun. It is clear that we are not going to make it on time. Only 13, 6 and 3 cm bands are QRV. The rain is heavy and the overall conditions are miserable. 40 minutes after the contest start we make our 70 cm rig work. Because all the 1.st class operators are helping somewhere at the moment, I sit down to the rig. By the time we join the contest, our competitors have already made tens of contacts. I have made about 20 contacts; finally David is coming to rescue me. He, then, stays at the rig until Sunday morning.

The net connection built on completely new VUSC4WIN software breaks down, but Lada OK1DIX is able to fix it within 5 minutes (oh, Windows J). The main working place on 23 cm band is also delayed. Just for the moment we are giving out points from the second working place where just a small collinear antenna and 15W transverter are installed. The PAs on 70 cm band are not fully driven. The first is able to produce about 450 W, the second one just about 300 W. It is raining. Water is everywhere.

Finally we are able to make 23 cm band work. Matej who has been looking forward to this moment the whole summer sits down to the rig. Meanwhile the 13 and 9 cm bands are working quite good, Fabien DJ1YFK is the ‘’right man at the right place’’ there as well as Jan DL3JAN who is working on 6 and 3 cm bands. We are fascinated by the way how it works is from Fichtelberg towards East. Contacts that we make from our place (JO60JJ) are usually so-so. Here they are 59+. Unfortunately the West is quiet. We are able to make a few contacts into PA. The overall activity in Germany is quite low. ‘’Rain drops keep falling on our heads’’...

On 70 cm we make Simon G3LQR and a few YUs. A few contacts from North have arrived as well. OK1DFC is turning his dish on 23cm towards West. The QRM he causes makes it difficult for us to pick up the rests of the stations in the East. Tilo DH1FM (I find quite funny that he works as technician at the contest whereas in comparison with all of us he has a completely different occupation) has finished an interface to our 23 cm PA, finally. We are trying to make it work on 240 cm dish. Unfortunately the sequencer from DL0TUD switches off the antenna relay too soon, thus our PA oscillates when switching to RX. It is obvious that if we left the equipment like this, the PA would completely destroy the antenna relay and the preamplifier. We have to give up support of our 23cm PA. When we think about this and the fact that we started late, our results on 23 cm band are going to be quite pitiful. From now the dish is fed by only 20 W. It is still raining. It’s calm but the front has settled on us. I’m thinking about the year 2004, oh s**t. The front does not move and our competitors in Moravia are taking advantage of this. We hear contacts being made in the East and West, but the bands here are more or less dead. David OK1RK, Matej, Fabian, Jan a Fred DH5FS and go to bed. Matej relishes the cooperation with Fabian. Despite his youth Fabian is a very good operator.

Sunday morning is muddy and rain keeps falling. We are still stuck in the frontal clouds. Temperature is about +3 °C. The preamplifier blows on 23 cm. The mast with the yagis must be put down which causes another time delay. Fortunately we are able to repair the equipment and we can go on. On 70cm a couple of ON stations and M1CRO are made. Hartmut DG2DWL is trying to make a few contacts on microwaves. Encouraged by the Saturday success (contact with Pavel OK1AIY who is on the other side at Klinovec) we are trying to make contact on 24GHz with others such as OK1UEI, OK1VAF, and OK1DST. I am trying to help. Thus I am making contact on our 3 cm with OK1UEI. He is not the only one who is quite surprised to hear Czech language from the operator of DM7A. Unfortunately contact could not be made on 24 GHz with him. On the other hand when switching on our 24 GHz receiver a new strong signal OK1EM is coming, but the random contact on 1,2 cm could not be completed, either. OK1EM could hear us just for a short moment. Then the frequency of our oscillator jumped away. The reason is clear; water is droping out of the rig. I decide to go back to check 70 cm band.

Honza, OK1BAF is coming. He has brought lunch that Majka OK1DYX prepared for us on the Czech side in our cottage. Honza is complaining about the German border police officers who (in comparison to other cars) search his car thoroughly any time he crosses the border. During the Sunday afternoon the activity of stations is generally going down. Again, we are switching to CW. At the end of each contest we usually like to contact Slowenian and Italian stations, but it is not possible from the German side. There is Klinovec in that direction, covered with very wet forest. Not even a little signal can come through.

Contest is over. ‘‘Rain drops keep falling on our heads‘‘…We are putting the masts and antennas down. Weather is getting a bit better eventually, so we are not soaked again at least. We are taking  ‘‘going-away‘‘ photos of each other and heading home, finally. We are trying to get home as soon as possible. We have to go to work in the morning whereas in Germany they have a national holiday. Fred DH5FS is helping us to bring our big mast back to Czech Republic.

Finally we are home. The contest is over. It was a good contest and we feel good about ourselves. We were able to build a fully working international team active on all UHF/SHF bands. We could rely on each other. There were no problems in the team although we were communicating mostly in English and the weather conditions were really bad. At the end of this report I think it would be fair to let other members of the team make some comments:   

_________

OK1RK: Hi 2all, for a first, thanks to all for the nice experience to spent the contest weekend on such a great QTH as Fichtelberg is.  Unfortunately the weather showed us who's the boss and condx were realy bad in my opinion, usualy it's an advantage from JO60JJ but we were located so high with an excellent take off to be able earn even more. Comparing to the extremely successful last year I see a few things goes against possibility to reach the same or comparable result.
1. Output power - Don't know why but the power comes from GI14 was 400 watts, no more. Honestly, I think that the HA8UG gave less. We were not able to produce "adult" signal - many times during the contest other stations tried to steal our QRG or stayed so close like they didn't even mind us - frankly, do you think that GTH had the same problem ??
2. Antennas - The antennas were exactly equal on RX but just in between 45°to 150°. Therefore I've tried to point the lower antenna always to this direction and the higher to the W to N, which may caused the loss on SW and S.
3. KST or cluster support on 70 was zero. At the begining of the event there were no acces to the cluster, then all the time (during my operation) switched to KST so no usable spots from the cluster came. On the other hand that's true that 70 didn't gave to highers a lot of skeds. I recognise a tricky thing on VUSC talking window too late. It's scrolling up side down, so you have always to use a touch pad to see the latest messages - that's something to change Lada ! Sorry for YU1EV I didn't asked for 23cm. I know that 70 during UHF/SHF don't need too much support but some of the long distance are easy to get with such a option or the announce of QRG is effective, see the GTH did.
4. Well, as always we didn't started in time - lost 40 minutes at the beginning and we didn't warmed up to fast. That's should caused the shortage of +-40? QSOs.
5. Hot caffe service not available !!! ;-)
Well, outstanding experience with real M/M operation, thanks to all for helping to realize this successful action.
73's David OK1RK
(ex OK1AUT, 5N0ZKD, 5N0W )
_________

TOP 20           km
-------------------
YU1EV	KN04CN	850
YU1ES	KN04GT	845
YU1JB	KN04GT	845
YT1MA	KN04GT	845
G3LQR	JO02QF	829
M1CRO/P	JO01PU	829
US5WU	KO20DI	804
YU1OB	KN05CD	800
F1DBE	JN19BC	792
HA8AR	KN06UQ	767
UR7D	KN18JT	731
YU7KMN	JN95QS	705
HA8V	KN06HT	693
9A7D	JN95CI	688
OM3KDX	KN19DB	688
PE1EWR	JO11SL	670
PI4Z	JO11WM	648
PA6NL	JO21BX	639
ON4KBE	JO20BI	627
F6KIF/P	JN29HA	620

TOP 10           km
-------------------
SM7ECM	JO65NQ	584
PA0EZ	JO22OF	574
SK7MW	JO65MJ	552
HA5KDQ	JN97LN	542
HA5FMV	JN97KR	526
PF2D	JO21WX	523
HA7P	JN97KW	512
OZ5W/P	JO64GX	506
S51ZO	JN86DR	480
PA5AO	JO31GW	478

TOP 10           km
-------------------
PA0EZ	JO22OF	574
PA5AO	JO31GW	478
DK3OS	JO30EM	467
OM3W	JN99BB	402
DK0XA	JO43WJ	392
DL1SUN	JO53PN	366
DF0OL	JO40BP	343
OK2KFJ	JN88HU	318
OK2KYZ	JO80NB	300
OE5MKM	JN67UT	297

TOP 10           km
-------------------
OL2R	 JN89BO	245
DL0GTH	 JO50JP	155
DB6NT	 JO50TI	 96
DK5NJ	 JO50TI	 96
DF0MTL	 JO61JF	 89
DL6NCI	 JO50VI	 84
OK1KKD	 JO60WD	 73
OK1KIR	 JO60PM	 26
OK1AIY/P JO60LJ	  5

 
TOP 10           km
-------------------
SM7ECM	JO65NQ	584
OL7Q	JN99FN	406
OK2KYC	JN99BM	384
OK2KJT	JN99AJ	383
DL1SUN	JO53PN	366
DL1SUZ	JO53UN	358
DF0OL	JO40BP	343
OK2KFJ	JN88HU	318
OK2QI	JO80NC	299
OL9W	JN89DN	258

 
TOP 10           km
-------------------
PA5AO	JO31GW	478
OM0C	JN88VJ	417
OL7Q	JN99FN	406
OM3W	JN99BB	402
OM3CLS	JN99CG	399
OK2KYC	JN99BM	384
OK2KJT	JN99AJ	383
DK0BN	JN39VX	372
OM3LQ	JN88MK	370
DL1SUN	JO53PN	366

73! OK1VPZ and all team DM7A, OK2KKW and DL0TUD