Radio operations

Most of the time we were running two HF stations at the same time. Due to the limited available area for the camp, the antennas were rather close to each other and consequently causing the necessary interference. Some planning and power reduction were sometimes necessary.

To enable us working simultaneous stations, Marc ON4AMX constructed a simple 17 m dipole. It could only be hung a few meters above the ground but it turned out to be working great and soon it was called the ON4AMX special! Now a third HF station could be active whenever propagation allowed so and interference with the other two stations was acceptable (depending on band and mode). Due to the exceptional geographical location with constant daylight, we were unable to make contacts on 160, 80 and 10 meters, as also can been seen from the charts below.
Chris DL5NAM operated RTTY and PSK31 and managed to work a total of 427 contacts. Chris also facilitated us to send e-mail from our very remote location.

Operating from JW was a nice experience for all of us, as it is quite different from working at home. Working State side, Europe and Japan all at the same time was great. On the other hand we were sometimes surprised when calling CQ and getting only so now and then a reply from JA’s or W’s although they had very strong signals. Although mountains were stretching along the West side (direction North and South America) of our camp, we made a reasonable number of contacts into North and South America.

The six meter station could operate whenever we had propagation. Angelo I2ADN our 6 meter guru was very eager to use every minute of each opening and he managed to log 178 contacts.

Satellite

Our satellite operation was very limited and reached its highlight just at the end of our stay. To prepare for departure of the first group, we dismantled the operating tent that was housing HS-station 1, 6 meters and satellite. Because of the extremely nice weather conditions, Dario IK4MED placed his gear on a table outside the tent for a last attempt. Andrea IK2XDE was asked to act as a rotator and keep the antennas pointed to the satellite, on instruction of Dario. It was a real excitement to hear stations coming in very strong. Dario managed to make 10 contacts although this could had been more if more station would have called. Bill N9JWO was very load and made a second QSO because no one else answered our call.
At the left, Dario at the radio, Andrea pointing the antennas to the satellite and Giampaolo IK2XDF making a movie of the event.

Operating conditions

It should be noted that the conditions under which the operators were working, were rather difficult. The temperature was the biggest enemy and operations were sometimes cancelled because it was simply too cold to stay in the tent. This was certainly the case during night hours for the Italian operators who were operating SSB from the same tent which was not heated. On Wednesday and Thursday (June 6 and 7) there was no wind and the whole day sunshine, which made life very pleasant and it was warm inside the tents.

Results

QSO’s by band and mode

	CW	SSB	RTTY	PSK31	Total
7 Mhz	264	5	- -	- -	269
10 Mhz	688	- -	- -	- -	688
14 Mhz	2.549	2.417	323	20	5.309
18 Mhz	1.187	1.503	1	- -	2.691
21 Mhz	1.554	1.942	83	- -	3.579
24 Mhz	5	2	- -	- -	7
28 Mhz	- -	1	- -	- -	1
50 Mhz	28	150	- -	- -	178
Satellite	- -	10	- -	- -	10
Total	6.275	6.030	407	20	12.732

QSO’s by region and mode

	CW	SSB	RTTY	PSK31	Total
AF	11	17	- -	- -	28
AS	500	1.110	55	- -	1.665
EU	4.586	4.312	299	19	9.216
NA	1.105	535	51	- -	1.691
SA	64	34	2	- -	100
OC	9	22	- -	1	32
Total	6.275	6.030	407	20	12.732

QSL manager

Jacek Kubiak SP5DRH
P.O.Box 4
00-957 Warszawa
Poland