Going Transatlantic on the Magic Band!

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On the 6m band at my QTH, an urban location, since a few years I have a lot of noise, making contacts on this band difficult to impossible, depending on the strength of the signals. Disappointed I already took down my 6m HB9CV antenna a long time ago.

Last summer however I decided to do some WSPR experiments on 6m with my QRP Labs U3S standalone WSPR transmitter. I wanted to see what Sporadic E (Es) could do for me, and where I would be heard with the less than 100 mW the U3S puts out on the Magic Band. On TX only, the noise I experienced on 6m would be no problem.
So, I built a simple 6m dipole wire antenna and put it up indoors in the attic. Amazingly, I was quite successful with it and managed to have my WSPR signals spotted all the way in Morocco (read more about it in my blog posts here and here)!

While the 6m dipole was there, why not use it to see if I can make some 6m FT8 contacts with it? With the noiseblanker of my transceiver, the pulsating noise could be reduced a bit, and with favourable Sporadic E conditions with the indoor dipole I was making 6m FT8 contacts all over Europe easily!

Over the summer I had seen the reports of European hams making long haul 6m FT8 contacts with Canada and the USA on days with good multi-hop Es conditions! Amazing, I thought!

July 22nd was such a day with good transatlantic multi-hop Es conditions, and with the indoor 6m dipole on 6m FT8 I saw many Europeans working Canadian and Stateside stations. Amazing! At one point I even started receiving US and Canadian stations myself! Amazing!
Ok, why not try calling one? I called VE1PZ over in Nova Scotia, Canada, and not much later I saw a red line appear with VE1PZ coming back to my call.Wow, I nearly fell off my chair; I was using only 25 Watts and a simple indoor dipole antenna! AMAZING! The conditions must have been outstanding! It was my first transatlantic 6m contact. Later that day I also managed to make a 6m FT8 contact with 9K2BM in Kuwait.

The contact with VE1PZ resulted in the wonderful QSL-card shown above and below. It will always be one of the most special contacts I ever made. Well, after all it's the Magic Band, and I must admit, although it still is not my favorite weak signal mode, also a little bit the Magic Mode, FT8 :-)

QSL card in the Spotlight: SV2ASP/A - Mount Athos

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I can't express just how incredibly happy I am with this wonderful QSL card from the legendary Monk Apollo of Mount Athos! I've written about the autonomous monastic state of Mount Athos before. Mount Athos forms a separate DXCC entity, and about the only chance of adding it to your list of DXCCs worked is Mount Athos resident and ham radio operator Monk Apollo. You can read more about it in my blog post here.

At least since I've been an amateur radio operator, Monk Apollo hasn't been very active on the ham bands, and when he is he's usually gone before you know it! And during those rare moments that Monk Apollo is QRV, the massive pile-ups that the elusive DXCC generates, make the chance of getting that QSO even slimmer.

But this summer, during the last weekend of my summer vacation, Monk Apollo suddenly and surprisingly spent a very large part of both the Saturday and Sunday making CW QSOs on the 20m band! If you still needed Mount Athos, this was your chance! It definitely was mine, and I took it! I was ecstatic when I finally succeeded in making that long dreamt of QSO with that wonderful, magical, mysterious, and elusive place! It was not only the thrill of working a new DXCC, but even more so of having my signals being picked up in magical Mount Athos, and of making a contact with the honourable and legendary Monk Apollo himself!

QSL card in the Spotlight: FT5XT/MM near Kerguelen Islands

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QSL card from FT5XT/MM for a 40m CW QSO with PA7MDJ on 8 Oct 2017 0115 UTC.

FT5XT/MM is operated by Frenchman Gildas Ballanec F4HQZ (ex-TU5KG). Gildas is the captain of a fishing vessel which each year sails in the FT5 area for a period of about three months. He's active as FT5XT/MM from the ship when he sails within the vicinity of the Kerguelen Islands, and as FT5WQ/MM within the vicinity of the Crozet Islands. As most of you will know, /MM stands for Maritime Mobile and is added to an amateur radio callsign to indicate the station is located aboard a ship at sea.
Sporadically Gildas goes ashore on one of the islands (for instance when the ship needs refueling) and will be active from there with the callsigns FT5XT (on Kerguelen) and FT5WQ (on Crozet) without the /MM suffix added. Both Kerguelen and Crozet are part of the Terres Australes et Antarctiques Françaises or TAAF and both form a separate DXCC entity. In case of Gildas' operations, of course they will only count as such when he operates from the islands and not when he's operating /MM from the ship at sea.
In previous years Gildas sailed on the fishing trawler "Ile de la Réunion", and I assume this year is no different. The "Ile de la Réunion" is shown on the QSL card and on his TU5KG qrz.com page. The "Radio Officers" website in an October 9th, 2017 news item also reports Gildas is aboard the F/V "Ile de la Réunion".

For more info on this QSO, see also my "More 40m fun!" blog entry above.

Kerguelen Islands (source)

The "Ile de la Réunion" (source)

Map showing the location of Kerguelen and Crozet (source)

QSO confirmed in Clublog

See also:

https://dx-world.net/ft5xt-kerguelen-island/
https://dxnews.com/ft5xt_kerguelen-islands/
https://www.trafficlist.net/fv-ile-de-la-reunion-ft5xtmm/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerguelen_Islands
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Southern_and_Antarctic_Lands
http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:751477/mmsi:635225000/imo:9246970/vessel:ILE_DE_LA_REUNION

QSL card in the Spotlight: VO1/OZ1AA Thomas Andersen, Cycling the Globe

Last edited: 10.11.2017

In 2010, Dane Thomas Andersen left Copenhagen by bicycle for an epic journey, a cycle touring expedition around the world known as "Cycling the Globe". 6 years later Andersen was back in Denmark, he'd completed his adventurous journey around the world, and in 2200 days had covered a total of 58,201 km through 58 countries!

Thomas Andersen cycling in the Andes on the border of Argentina and Chile. In the background the Lanin vulcano (Photo from the Cycling the Globe Facebook page).

Thomas Andersen also happens to be an avid ham radio operator, holding callsign OZ1AA, and during the trip has been active on the ham bands from the shacks of fellow radio amateurs around the world, old friends as well as newly met along the way.

On  September 20th, 2015, Thomas had just (on September 18th, if I'm not mistaken) reached the easternmost point of North America at Cape Spear, Newfoundland, had been on the road for more than 1800 days, had covered 43,712 km, and was staying with fellow radio amateur Gus VO1MP at his home in St.John's, Newfoundland. St. John's is the easternmost city of North America and well known to radio aficionados for Signal Hill where in 1901 Guglielmo Marconi received the first transatlantic radio signal (the Morse Code transmission originating from his Poldhu Wireless Station in Cornwall, UK). And I was lucky that day to catch Thomas on the air operating from Gus VO1MP's QTH and to QSO him on 20m CW. It was one of my most memorable QSOs and it resulted in the wonderful QSL card shown in this blog post. The VO1 prefix was added ofcourse to denote the QTH in Newfoundland, Canada.

Thomas Andersen (middle) at Cape Spear. Gus VO1MP on the right (Photo from the Cycling the Globe Facebook page).

Cape Spear literally was the end of the road for Thomas on this part of the trip. Next destination would be Africa.

More information can be found on Thomas' qrz.com page, or on www.cyclingtheglobe.com, as well as Twitter and Facebook.

I learned that there's also an amateur radio station located inside Cabot Tower on Signal Hill with the callsign VO1AA, and I wonder if it could have also been this location where Thomas has been active from on 20m CW when I QSOed him (1).

Newfoundland is IOTA NA-027.

You can listen to a recording of my QSO with Thomas below.



Addendum 10.11.2017
(1) Thomas informed me by e-mail that the contact was indeed made from the QTH of Gus VO1MP, not from Cabot Tower.


See also:

http://www.cyclingtheglobe.com
https://twitter.com/CyclingTheGlobe
https://www.facebook.com/CyclingTheGlobe/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John%27s,_Newfoundland_and_Labrador
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_Hill,_St._John%27s
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabot_Tower_(St._John%27s)

RRS James Clark Ross / British Antarctic Survey

Last edited: 15.08.2017

The Royal Research Ship James Clark Ross at Vernadsky Base, Antarctica. (source)

This is the RRS James Clark Ross, a research and supply vessel operated by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). The Radio Officer of the JCR is amateur radio operator Mike Gloistein GM0HCQ. The ship mostly can be found in Antarctic waters, doing research cruises and supplying the bases of the British Antarctic Survey. But during the Austral winter (i.e. summer in the northern hemisphere), the ship turns its bow to the North, and also does research cruises in the Arctic.

Mike regularly is active from the ship as GM0HCQ/MM, mainly in CW but sometimes also in digital modes. In the autumn of 2014, then still with my novice callsign, I managed to work Mike aboard the JCR on 20m in PSK31 when it was close to the Azores and heading south for the Antarctic. It resulted in the wonderful QSL card shown below.

QSL card for PD7MDJ from the RRS James Clark Ross.

During the Arctic cruise this year, Mike also had a WSPR receiver running, 24/7 and with spots being uploaded real-time to wsprnet.org with the reporter callsign GM0HCQ/MM. But only on 30m, which made reception of my WSPR beacons sent with the QRP Labs Ultimate3S (see also my blog about the U3S kit here) impossible. With the U3S I'm only active on 20 and 40m with a HyEndFed 10/20/40 wire antenna. I am active on 30m with the HyEndFed in other modes and with other transceivers, but then I'll let the transceiver's internal antenna tuner make a match (with my transceiver's internal tuner I actually get the HyEndFed 10/20/40 tuned on all HF bands except 80 and 160m). But for the U3S I don't have any kind of tuner. And besides, I also didn't have a 30m Low Pass Filter for the U3S.

Then a couple of weeks ago at the QRP Labs booth at HAM RADIO 2017 in Friedrichshafen I bought the U3S 30m LPF kit. I also recently got my hands on a HF-P1 portable vertical antenna (which I'm planning on using during SOTA or WWFF activations). The HF-P1 can be used on all HF bands from 80 to 10m by adjusting the antenna's sliding loading coil. So I recently started experimenting with the U3S sending WSPR beacons on 30m through the HF-P1. It worked nicely, I was being heard all over Europe and crossed the Atlantic to North America a couple of times, but there were still no spots from GM0HCQ/MM. The HF-P1 being light-weight, self-supporting, and quickly assembled, and therefore very suitable for a portable setup, with its short length, loading coil, and minimalistic radials however never will be more than a very compromised antenna.
I therefore took up the plan to make a 30m Inverted-V dipole. I took apart my homebrew 15m dipole, to use its centre and end isolators, and cut new lengths of wire for the 30m band. Minus 5%, as that's what they say the length should be for an Inverted-V with a 90º apex angle. I thought the antenna would fit in my garden, but I was wrong. The restricted space forced the Inverted-V to take a funny, and not so perfect V shape (see the illustration below).

Crude sketch of the "Funny V" antenna as I like to call the newly installed Inverted-V for 30m. Would love to see its radiation pattern in for instance the EZNEC antenna software. If somebody could help me with that, please contact me.

After a few minor trimming cuts on both legs of the Inverted-V, I managed to get a perfect VSWR for it! I quickly connected the U3S and started beaconing on 30m. And lo and behold, the antenna works like a charm! Spots from all over Europe, many more and with much better SNR reports than with the HF-P1. At night I crossed the Atlantic many times to North America and also into Puerto Rico. And most importantly, this time my 200 mW beacons were finally also spotted aboard the James Clark Ross! The JCR had just finished this year's Arctic research cruise and was lying "all fast alongside Pier 22" in Tromsø in Arctic Norway before commencing its voyage back to England. I wanted to be spotted by the JCR before it would depart from the Arctic, and I'm glad I succeeded. I wish though that I had the U3S running on 30m sooner, to see if it would have reached the ship when it was still much further north at Svalbard. I could have used one of my other transceivers and a PC with WSPR software (the U3S is a stand-alone WSPR transmitter), but there's no fun in WSPRing at 5 watts, and I like the challenge of the U3S putting out only about 200 mW.

GM0HCQ/MM hearing PA7MDJ

Me and my radio history with Mike Gloistein and the RRS James Clark Ross actually goes back a long time. Before I obtained my radio amateur licence in 2012, in the 1980s and 1990s I was already a passionate shortwave listener, specializing in monitoring utility radio stations, and in those years one of my favorite frequencies to tune in to was 9.106 MHz. On this frequency around 2330 UTC I could regularly receive the SSB signals of the bases and ships of the British Antarctic Survey. The ships were the RRS John Biscoe and the RRS Bransfield, and later also the James Clark Ross which in 1991 replaced the John Biscoe. The ships every night would send SYNOP coded weather observations to one of the bases. I also managed to receive the JCR, and the reception report letter I sent to the Radio Officer of the JCR in 1995 resulted in a nice big and thick envelope arriving in my mailbox from the Falkland Islands! It contained amongst other things various brochures and information leaflets about the British Antarctic Survey and the JCR, my returned and filled-out PFC (prepared form card) QSL, and a personal letter from the JCR Radio Officer, being Mike Gloistein GM0HCQ!

PFC QSL from the RRS James Clark Ross for SWL reception of the ship with official radio traffic on 9.106 MHz in 1995.

PFC QSL from the British Antarctic Survey base Faraday for SWL reception of the base with official radio traffic on 9.106 MHz in 1992. The QSL was mailed to me directly from Faraday (see postmark). In 1996 Faraday Base was sold for a symbolic one pound to Ukraine and was renamed Vernadsky Base. This is one of my most prized SWL QSLs.

The following BAS bases and ships were active on 9.106 MHz:

• Bird Island (callsign ZBH22)
• Signy Island (callsign ZHF33)
• Faraday (callsign ZHF44)
• Rothera (callsign ZHF45)
• Halley (callsign VSD)
• RRS Johny Biscoe (callsign ZDLB)
• RRS Bransfield (callsign ZDLG)
• RRS James Clark Ross (callsign ZDLP)

For more information and photos of the JCR, check out Mike Gloistein's excellent website at www.gm0hcq.com!


Addendum 11.08.2017
Mike Gloistein informed me in an e-mail exchange that during this year's Arctic cruise whilst the RRS James Clark Ross was north of about 77º latitude, the WSPR spots weren't uploaded to the WSPR database real-time due to lack of communications satellite. All reception details of this period were stored and were uploaded manually once communication was restored.
Mike tells me that the WSPR setup aboard the JCR is using one of the commercial receivers which isn't really designed for such weak signals, but nevertheless seems to work fairly well.
The WSPR receiver will be switched off soon when the JCR is back in England and Mike leaves the ship around August 15th.
Mike also informs me that all being well the WSPR receiver will be up and running again from late October for six weeks whilst Mike is back on board the JCR for the first section of the Antarctic season.

I'm looking forward to see if I can get my WSPR signals aboard the JCR coming autumn while it's cruising the seas of the southern hemisphere. In the mean time, whilst the JCR is getting more south on the way back from its Arctic voyage, the reception of my WSPR beacons aboard the ship is getting more common (see screenshot below).

Addendum 15.08.2017
Gavin Taylor GM0GAV informed me that it was him who replied with the QSL from Faraday. Gavin was at Faraday as a comms man from 1990 to 1993. Gavin nowadays is also very active in SOTA, and upon checking my log, I found out that not too long ago I've worked him on 40m CW on the summit of SOTA GM/ES-044.


See also:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RRS_James_Clark_Ross
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Antarctic_Survey
https://www.bas.ac.uk/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernadsky_Research_Base
https://www.bas.ac.uk/about/about-bas/our-history/british-research-stations-and-refuges/faraday-f/

Amateur Radio in the Autonomous Monastic State of the Holy Mountain

Last edited: 06.06.2017

Latest news 02.06.2017 - Apparently George Vlachopoulos SV1RP during the WPX Contest was not active from Mount Athos but from his "alternative shack" in Giannitsa in northern Greece. Read more in my blog entry of June 2nd, 2017.

Last weekend during the CQ World Wide WPX CW contest, I finally managed to make my first ever contact with Mount Athos! Ok, "sort of", as you will read later on.

Mount Athos forms a separate DXCC entity, and let me tell you, it won't be easy to find one that's more mysterious, mystical, magical, obscure, and controversial! Mount Athos is a mountainous peninsula in northeastern Greece stretching out for about 50 km into the Aegean Sea, its width varying between 7 and 12 km, and its highest point reaching about 2,000 m. Although land-linked, the isolated, rugged region is practically only accessible by boat. Spread out over the peninsula are 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries. Alhough considered part of Greece, Mount Athos is a self-governed, autonomous region, known officially as the Autonomous Monastic State of the Holy Mountain. It's commonly referred to simply as the "Holy Mountain", or "Agion Oros" in Greek. Mount Athos is governed by the "Holy Community" which consists of the representatives of the 20 Holy Monasteries.

Map of Mount Athos showing the locations of the 20 monasteries. Click to enlarge. (source)

Part of Mount Athos peninsula seen from the air (source)

Travelling to Mount Athos is like travelling back in time; for over 1,000 years, practically nothing has changed in the "Garden of Virgin Mary" as the Monks call the territory. The monasteries of Mount Athos were founded many centuries ago, some of them have a history going back even more than a 1,000 years, and many of them are fortified with thick walls and towers that had to keep pirates at bay. Mount Athos still is on the Julian calender, which means their date runs thirteen days behind to that of the rest of the world. The number of daily visitors is restricted, and a special limited-period access permit has to be obtained before entering the Monastic State. Visitors have to abide by a dress code and rules including not smoking. Women and children are not allowed to enter the territory at all, and even female animals are banned from the mountain (except for female insects, female songbirds, and female cats)!

One of the 20 monasteries of Mount Athos. About 2,000 monks call Mount Athos their home. (source)

Another Mount Athos monastry. A list of all monasteries and photos of them can be found on Wikipedia. (source)

Of course a contact with such a unique DXCC entity has always been much sought after by ham radio operators around the world. Luckily, since a couple of decades, Mount Athos has had its own resident amateur radio operator, the famous Monk Apollo SV2ASP/A, operating from the Docheiariou monastery. This is quite a unique situation for such a small and special DXCC entity!
Monk Apollo first came in contact with amateur radio in the middle of the 1980s when his monastery had remained without telephone for over five months and during which a medical emergency occured. When a doctor heard the story, being a radio amateur himself, he suggested somebody at the monastery would become a radio amateur operator, in order to guarantee continued communications during an emergency.
By the end of the 1980s Monk Apollo had obtained his amateur radio licence. But the working days at the monasteries of Mount Athos are long and hard, Monk Apollo's free time is scarce, and his time spent on amateur radio is little. The chances of catching and working Monk Apollo on one of the ham bands are quite slim.
So, not surprising, for many years radio hams have been trying to set up DXpeditions to the Holy Mountain to activate the much sought after entity on the ham bands. In the past, a group of Greek radio amateurs with the help of Monk Apollo were granted permission, but all applications thereafter by other radio amateurs were denied. There have been some hams operating from Mount Athos however, but their operations were "secret" and declared illegal by Monk Apollo and the Holy Community, as there might have been permission from one of the monasteries, but not from the Holy Community! According to Greek law, to operate a ham station from Mount Athos, a written permission is needed from the Mount Athos Holy Community.

Monk Apollo, SV2ASP/A (source)

Of the various hams that were operating from Mount Athos "illegally", the most notorious probably is DXpeditioner Baldur Drobnica DJ6SI. Just Google for DJ6SI and Mount Athos and you'll find plenty more on this particular episode of the Mount Athos ham radio history. Although the operation of DJ6SI from Mount Athos in 1991 was declared illegal by Monk Apollo, it did get DXCC validated!
In May of 2015 a group of Latvian hams were on their way to Mount Athos to get on the air from the Monastic State as SV2/YL7A. They claimed to have received oral permission for their ham radio activities from one of the monasteries. The group had permits to enter the Monastic State as pilgrims, but as soon as Monk Apollo and the Holy Community found out about their real intentions, access to Mount Athos was denied, the group had to return home, and the DXpedition was cancelled.

QSL card from the controversial SY/DJ6SI DXpedition of Baldur Drobnica (source)

The latest episode in the history of "illegal" ham radio operation on Mount Athos is the one of Greek radio amateur George Vlachopoulos SV1RP which back in June 2015 operated from the Koutloumousiou monestary using the callsign SV2/SV1RP/A (1) and SV2/SV1RP/T. The /A is usually added when an amateur station is operated from an alternative location, but here is added as it traditionally has been for operations from Mount Athos. The /T stands for "Training". According to Greek law, under supervision of a licenced ham operator, and with the /T added to his callsign, people without a ham licence are allowed to use his ham radio station for training purposes. Vlachopoulos claimed to have been legally operating from Mount Athos training several of the resident monks in amateur radio practice, most noticeably Monk Iakovos who as a result in 2015 obtained his amateur radio licence and has been operating from Mount Athos since with the callsign SV2RSG (No /A added, read the story on his qrz.com page). Monk Iakovos is a permanent resident of the Koutloumousiou Monestary. Vlachopoulos claimed he was in the possession of official documents which should give the operation DXCC approval, but as far as I know, both him and Monk Iakovis so far seem to have failed in getting DXCC validation.

Monk Iakovis is presented his radio amateur licence in the presence of the Koutloumousiou Monastery abbot and George Vlachopoulous, SV1RP (first from the right) (source)

My contact this weekend was with SV2/SV1RP/A on 20m CW. So it seems George Vlachopoulos again has travelled to Mount Athos. At this time I don't have all the details on the operation, but it's reported on the DX World site that Vlachopoulos again was active from the Koutloumousiou Monestary, from which he also got permission for the operation again. I'm curious how the story will unfold this time, but I bet this is another "secret" operation without the authorization of the Holy Council. At the moment I made the contact, I was unaware of the "troubled" ham radio history of Mount Athos, which I first learned about when doing research for this blog entry. Also I was under the impression I was working a 100% legal Mount Athos activation. The contact most likely will not give me DXCC credit for Mount Athos, but my signals were there, in that magical place (just look at the photos!), I made contact with one of Mount Athos' monasteries, and I'm thrilled about it!

Olive trees at Koutloumousiou Monastery, the QTH of SV2/SV1RP/A (source)

After the "illegal" operation on Mount Athos of DJ6SI, now more than two decades ago, and other ham operators which, in the words of Monk Apollo, "tried to fool the Monks", the Holy Council and Monk Apollo still seem to hold a grudge, and all applications for amateur radio activities from Mount Athos are structurally denied. Some accuse Monk Apollo of swinging a big hammer in the Holy Community Council and at the DXCC desk, and say he has built for himself on Mount Athos an amateur radio monopoly which he tries to protect.
But Mount Athos is more than just a much coveted, exotic DXCC entity alone. It's also a sanctuary of peace, a sacred place, a different world where time stood still, a home where Monks lead a simple life, away from the hectic, modern, and complicated lifes most of us live today. And such a place is fragile, and maybe that's the only thing Monk Apollo is trying to protect.
What puzzles me though is that resident Monk Iakovos still hasn't managed to obtain the required documents for DXCC approval, but I don't know the whole story here, and thus for now I'll have to refrain on any further comments on it.

The attitude of the Holy Community and Monk Apollo towards guest ham operators, with which they've practically closed the DXCC entity to non-resident ham operations, and the resulting voices raised by some in the ham community to therefore better delete Mount Athos as a DXCC entity, lead to some controversy of which good examples can be found in the discussion threads on eHam as linked to below. There's also much info on the activations of DJ6SI and SV1RP in there.

I for sure hope Mount Athos will never be deleted from the DXCC list, and hopefully with some luck and a lot of DX Cluster watching, I'll someday get the chance to work the elusive Monk Apollo himself. And to be honest, I wouldn't like to see it any other way; some places should remain shrouded in mystery, some places on the ham bands should remain shrouded in elusiveness.

You can listen to a recording of my contact with SV2/SV1RP/A below.



Addendum 06.06.2017
(1) I'm not sure but I believe the SV2/SV1RP/A callsign in 2015 never was used on the air, only the SV2/SV1RP/T callsign. Vlachopoulos' 2015 QSL card does mention the /A though.

QSL card SV2/SV1RP/A/T (source)

See also:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Athos
http://www.ouranoupoli.com/athos/athos.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3385149/The-striking-images-Mount-Athos-Greece-women-children-banned-female-animals-forbidden.html
http://www.eham.net/ehamforum/smf/index.php/topic,103726.0.html
http://www.eham.net/ehamforum/smf/index.php/topic,84717.0.html
http://www.eham.net/ehamforum/smf/index.php/topic,104465.0.html
http://www.qsl.net/sv2tx/athos_dxpedition.html
http://herc-hastings.org.uk/the-story-behind-the-card-series-2-no-1-mount-athos/
http://hamgallery.com/qsl/country/MountAthos/dj6si.htm
https://n6pse.wordpress.com/2014/11/27/interview-with-baldur-drobnica-dj6si/
https://n6pse.wordpress.com/2014/08/08/a-conversation-with-monk-apollo-sv2aspa/
https://dx-world.net/a-reponse-from-monk-apollo-sv2asp-a/
http://qrznow.com/sv2aspa-the-position-of-the-holy-community-of-mount-athos-for-amateur-radio-emissions-from-athos/
https://dx-world.net/sv2-yl7a-mt-athos/
https://dxnews.com/sv2yl7a-mount-athos/
https://dx-world.net/sv2-sv1rp-a-mt-athos/
http://www.n0un.net/sv2-sv1rp-a-mt-athos-on-the-air/
http://www.dxcoffee.com/eng/2015/sv2sv1rpt-mount-athos/
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2016/april/new_ham_at_mount_athos.htm#.WS87yrjSk1J

New QSL cards arrived

New PA7MDJ QSL cards fresh from the printer in Bulgaria. Another great printing job by Emil LZ3HI of Gold Print Service. The "Night Owls" front design is by Jeff Murray of K1NSS design. See also this blog entry.

How the world learned about the Falklands War

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Penguins on the Falkland Islands. Land mines placed by the Argentines are still present today (source)

The Falklands War was a ten-week war between Argentina and the United Kingdom over two of the British Overseas Territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It began on April 2, 1982 when Argentina invaded and occupied the Falkland Islands in an attempt to establish the sovereignty they had claimed over the islands. The invasion had caught prime minister Thatcher by surprise, and even though the war was short, it turned out to be a deadly one.
I was still at a very young age but I remember it very well. It was probably the first time I heard about the existence of the Falkland Islands. I have been fascinated by the archipelago ever since, for its geographical location, for its remoteness, for its subantarctic character and rugged nature, and for the major role the islands play in the operations of the British Antarctic Survey.

In March of 2014, then still with my novice licence and PD7MDJ callsign, on 10m SSB, I managed to work Bob McLeod VP8LP located in Stanley, the capital of the Falkland Islands. It was my first contact with the Falkland Islands, and I was ecstatic! You can listen to a recording of the contact here at my SoundCloud page.

I didn't know then about the major role Bob McLeod had played at the beginning of the war as the only news source on the Falkland Islands, as the only link with the outside world. It was Bob McLeod who with his ham equipment first confirmed that the Falkland Islands had been taken over by Argentina, and who via ham radio provided BBC journalist and fellow ham operator Laurie Margolis G3UML in the UK with the scoop. Margolis broke the news on the BBC Radio 4 PM programme that same day. The fascinating story, as found on the BBC News site, can be read below, or you can find the original article on http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6514011.stm.

Stanley, Falkland Islands (source)

There seems to be circulating on the internet a tape recording of the radio communications during the war of VP8LP with the UK. According to this forum http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/showthread.php?t=96066, the recording here is a recording of the actual QSOs with Bob McLeod on April 2nd, 1982, the day of the invasion. Intelligibility is poor at times, unfortunately.

My radio friend Alan from the UK told me he remembers during the conflict that the UK Government contacted all UK hams and gave them a phone number to call if they heard Bob or any other Falklands hams on the air. He also told me that during the war the UK Government had set up a broadcast station on Ascension Island to broadcast to the area, because the BBC World Service wouldn't allow itself to be used for any propaganda purposes in case this affected its reputation for impartiality. The Media Network programme with Jonathan Marks did a feature about Radio Atlantico del Sur, as the station was called, which can be found here in the Media Network Vintage Vault.

The Falkland Islands is IOTA SA-002 and forms a separate DXCC entity. Bob McLeod's wife Janet McLeod also is a ham operator and holds callsign VP8AIB. I managed to work her in late 2014 with the special callsign VP8AIB/100, commemorating the WWI Battle of the Falklands.

---
How BBC man scooped invasion news
By Laurie Margolis
BBC News (April 2, 2007)

Walk down London's Portland Place, heading south from Regent's Park towards Regent Street,and you come to a kink in the wide road.

Immediately ahead of you is the plush Langham Hotel, very expensive and also one of the most haunted buildings in London.

To your left, BBC Radio's headquarters at Broadcasting House. This busy location, on the northern edge of London's West End, was the focus of the way the story of the Falklands invasion unfolded exactly 25 years ago.

Back in 1982 I was a BBC journalist and also an amateur radio operator - I still am. That means I have a call-sign - G3UML - and some expertise in long-distance short-wave communications.

At the very end of March, 1982, I was working on the Golan Heights, hearing on the BBC World Service a bizarre story about Argentine scrap metal merchants taking over the British dependency of South Georgia.

Invasion claim

I returned to London on the morning on 2 April, and went into Broadcasting House to work on a documentary. I was met by scenes of near panic in the radio newsroom.

The Argentines were claiming to have invaded and taken over the Falkland Islands, the 2,000-strong British colony off the south-eastern tip of South America.

Argentine soldiers took control after a few hours' resistance

The newsroom had Argentine claims, but nothing else apart from a laconic message from the Cable and Wireless station on the Falklands - "we have a lot of new friends".

At that time the Langham Hotel was a dreary BBC office block and, in a dusty, junk-filled attic room - number 701 - the BBC's own amateur radio club had a shortwave transceiver. With a big aerial on the roof, it worked pretty well.

My senior editors wondered if there was any way I could contact the Falklands through amateur radio. Nothing else was working. It seemed a possibility. The remote nature of the islands meant that radio was important, and for the small population there were a lot of radio amateurs down there.

'A true scoop'

So I took up a vigil in room 701, listening carefully across the 14, 21 and 28 megahertz bands for anything from VP8 - the international call-sign prefix for the islands.

And about six hours later, I struck gold. On 21.205 megahertz at 1600 London time, that rather distinctive accent, a bit West Country - a Falkland Islander.

And what a story he had to tell - a true scoop, an exclusive of the greatest magnitude.

The voice was that of Bob McLeod, and he lived in the settlement of Goose Green on East Falkland. His call-sign, I realised, was VP8LP but he was anxious that it shouldn't be used. I have much of what he said that day recorded on an old-fashioned audio cassette.

"We have now been taken over. The British government still denies it but they have no contact I believe with the Falklands, and this is probably why they are still denying it.

"But we have been taken over. There is an aircraft carrier and I believe four other boats - I don't have the details on them - but they do have heavy armoured vehicles in Stanley, details I don't know, and quite a number of personnel.

"They landed approx 0930 GMT this morning in landing craft and stormed the capital Port Stanley and have taken over the government office, they landed with heavy armoured vehicles.

"We're now under their control. They are broadcasting that all local people will be treated as normal. Fairly peaceful in Stanley at present time."

Foreign Office call

The Argentines had still to reach Goose Green and so Bob was able to transmit his bombshell.

He was getting information from local radio, which broadcast a commentary as the invasion developed early that morning, and then carried on, under Argentine control, transmitting messages of reassurance. The islands' VHF radio network was also buzzing with the story as it developed.

By then my dusty attic was busy with BBC TV crews and newspaper people who'd been told it might be a good place to be.

I went onto the Radio 4 PM programme at 1700 London time with an account of what I'd been told. A few minutes later I was rung by the Foreign Office, who understood I'd been in touch with the Falklands and wondered what they were saying. I gave them a bit more of Bob.

"Damage we don't know, shooting around a very rough guess approx two hours. Three deaths of Argentineans [sic] in the Falklands, one believed to be very senior.

"The English marines and local defence forces - we have no information. Took over Government House, and then taken over all of Port Stanley. And I believe they shot up the Cable and Wireless transmitting station.

"Helicopters flying around Stanley. 500 personnel in Stanley, and aircraft carrier believed to be carrying 1,500. Flying Hercules aircraft, one has come in."

It clearly made an impression. Within an hour the Foreign Secretary, Lord Carrington, was on his feet in the House of Lords confirming a massive British humiliation.
---

QSL cards from Bob and Janet McLeod

See also:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falklands_War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkland_Islands
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurie_Margolis
http://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/how-the-bbcs-laurie-margolis-g3uml-broke-news-of-falklands-invasion-in-1982.373595/
https://perryponders.com/2015/02/04/the-real-winners-of-the-falklands-war-were-the-penguins/

Franz Josef Land - A DXer's dream

Last edited: 24.04.2017

A DXer's dream! Franz Josef Land, "Strange islands lost in the Barents Sea", as the archipelago is called by the Ultima Thule blog, shown here in an iconic National Geographic photo with a polar bear on Rudolf Island (source)

All ham operators have a clear recollection of their most special and memorable contacts and moments in amateur radio. Ask any random ham for it and the stories will be coming at you non-stop. Often these special moments are related to a goal or a wish made a long time ago. Probably most hams when they start out in amateur radio, and all future hams still studying for their amateur radio licence, secretly have some goals in mind that they're going to try working towards. And once reached, the achievement, the radio contact, or the resulting QSL card or award feels like a medal for all the hard work delivered to get there, a trophy that fills the radio amateur with pride, recognizing his skills and perseverance. To me, one of these moments was working Franz Josef Land.

The much coveted QSL card from RI1FJ and the book about FJL published by the Norwegian Polar Institute.

One of my goals, or maybe it was more of a wish, or even a dream, from the beginning was making a contact with Franz Josef Land. Being a polar enthusiast, I've always been fascinated by this frozen, barren Russian archipelago at 80º northern latitude in the High Arctic. The archipelago is the closest land to the North Pole in the eastern hemisphere. Just 900 km of sea and ice separate Franz Josef Land from the top of the world. I don't know where the fascination for the archipelago exactly comes from, maybe it's the mysterious sounding name, maybe it's the photos I've seen of the beautiful, desolate Arctic landscape providing the backdrop for the shabby huts of a remote Russian weather station and roaming polar bears, or maybe it's just something undefinable.
Whatever the case, my fascination was already there in the 1990s when I bought the book shown above edited by Susan Barr and published by the Norwegian Polar Institute. I believe it's quite a rare book, as it's probably one of only a few books about Franz Josef Land published outside of Russia.

After I got my amateur licence in late 2012, the years went by with Franz Josef Land being shrouded in nothing but radio silence (1). The last time I heard a signal from Franz Josef Land was in the 1990s when I was active as a shortwave listener and had managed to receive Sergei Tsybizov R1FJZ.

QSL card from R1FJZ received for an SWL report back in 1995.

Then in 2015 the news appeared that soon Eugeny Chepur UA4RX would be active from Heiss Island, one of the islands of the Franz Josef Land archipelago, signing as RI1FJ. I was excited! In the summer of 2015 Eugeny was delivered to the island by the icebreaker MSV Mikhail Somov, but the months following, Franz Jozef Land just remained hidden in its usual radio silence. Until suddenly in the summer of 2016, not long before Eugeny would depart from the island again, spots for RI1FJ started appearing on the DX Cluster. Apparently, Eugeny had been dealing with some technical problems, which had prevented him from getting on the air until resolved late June 2016.

But propagation conditions were terrible, and when I tuned in to the spotted frequencies, mostly I could not hear the signals of RI1FJ at all, or they were too weak to be workable. On the rare occasions that the signals were good enough, I just didn't manage getting through the pile-up. Until August 1st that is, the day that luck was on my side, and in the very nick of time! RI1FJ was on 20m CW working simplex and with relatively good signals. The pile-up was big but not extremely, and there were some promising gaps in it. I started keying my callsign trying to squeeze it into the gaps, and then suddenly there it was; Eugeny had picked up my signals on that barren, frozen, mysterious land in the High Arctic, and back he came with my callsign and a signal report! After my reply, the 2-way contact was completed with a 73 from Eugeny. One of the most special 73s I ever got! What a thrill to know my signals had reached Franz Josef Land, the northernmost location I've ever made contact with. A look in the August 19 news update below from RI1FJ's QSL manager shows that indeed it was a contact made in the nick of time; Eugeny went QRT just a day later on August 2nd! How much more luck can a ham operator with just a simple wire antenna and 100 Watts ask for!?

Krenkel weather station on Heiss Island, Franz Josef Land (source)

Eugeny was active from the Krenkel Meteorological Station in grid locator LR90ao on Heiss Island. The station is built around a shallow fresh water crater lake. Krenkel Station was established in 1957/58 during the International Geophysical Year and abandoned in 2001. It was reopened in 2004 with a smaller modern station set up between the old buildings. The new station is manned year-round by about 5 persons. The old complex of buildings housed about 200 station personell and seasonal researchers.

Iceberg at Heiss Island (source)

Franz Josef Land is IOTA EU-019 , forms a separate DXCC entity, and was an ATNO for me. The archipelago consists of 191 islands. In 2012 president Putin signed a decree on a major clean-up in the Arctic, including at Franz Josef Land. Before the clean-up there was about 90.000 tons of scrap metal left at the old Soviet and Russian Polar stations on Franz Josef Land alone.

Soon after the contact, when Eugeny had arrived back on the Russian mainland, the QSO was confirmed in Clublog and in LotW. The much coveted QSL card took a longer wait though. It was already mailed to me in August 2016 but had gotten lost in the mail. QSL manager Victor Loginov UA2FM recently sent me another one at no additional charge, and it was finally received a couple of days ago. Spasibo, Victor and Eugeny!

On qrz.com the QSL manager of RI1FJ regularly posted updates on the activities of Eugeny:

-----------------------------------------------------
From qrz.com
http://www.qrz.com/db/RI1FJ
 

19 August 2016
Eugeny RI1FJ safely arrived at Archangelsk Port. His 2016 operation lasted  from 27 June 18.31 UTC to 02 Aug 2016, 16.18 UTC. No ham operation is expected from the island until probably next expedition in August 2017 - August 2018.

RI1FJ log uploaded to Clublog.org. Otherwise use OQRS form on this page.

73 de UA2FM

14 August 2016 update
Gentlemen, Eugeny RI1FJ left the island on 5-6th August. He is onboard RSV Somov, sailing home. Watch Somov route at http://194.190.129.43/ships/somov.php As soon he is on the Internet, I upload his log onto clublog.org, and everyone will be able to use OQRS form on this page as well. Please be patient, all requests will be replied! :)

73 de UA2FM

3rd July update
This afternoon I got information (thanks R6AF) that Eugeny stays on the island until end of July. After that he sails home onboard icebreaker RSV Somov. Watch Somov route at http://194.190.129.43/ships/somov.php

RI1FJ goes QRT soon after Somov arrives on the island.

73, de Victor UA2FM

2nd July 2016 update
Eugeny RI1FJ suddenly showed up on the air late June. I have no e-mail communication with the Island, as there are no post/telephone/transportation services there, but company satellite forbidden for private use. I was neither notified by Eugeny of his QRV, nor about problems he had during this season. The only thing I know, - it's him who signs RI1FJ, as many hams worked him reported this.

I do not know whether Eugeny is able to send his ADIF logs through his @winlink.org address as we did in his previous operations. I was told all steel and metal materials and equipment was removed from the island before summer 2015. Perhaps this was the reason of RI1FJ silence.

Gents, please keep working RI1FJ on the bands, but be patient with QSL requests until I establish log exchange procedure. I'll be back with more information as soon I have it.

Thanks, Victor UA2FM

December 2015 update
Dear fellows-amateurs,
Many of you asked me to update RI1FJ info. His license reissued from 01 August 2015 until 31 August 2017. To be honest, I expected that Eugeny would start his activity early August, since he came on the Heiss Island.
He works as lead of Sevmeteo weather group for 2015-2016.
After his arrival on the island, I tried to get in contact with him using non-amateur communication, to make clear why he is not on the air.
There is no direct communication with the Island. The only possibility is to send telegraph message through official Company address, that was what I did. No reply.
After that, I tried to understand the situation in other ways. The last reply I got from Sevmeteo management, is that Eugeny is alive and well, he carries out his duties, but he has no technical possibilities to be QRV.
There is no regular transport with the island until safe Arctiс Ocean navigation in summer 2016. I do not know how I can help Eugeny.
So guys, let’s hope Eugeny will solve his technical problems until the end of his 2016 employment.

July 2015 update
2015-2016 weather team is on the way from Severodvinsk to Heiss Island onboard MV Somov. Look for RI1FJ starting early August.

July 2014 update
2014-2015 season weather team delivered on the island. There are no ham operators among the crew. No permanent ham radio operation is expected from Franz Jozef Land during 2014-2015.

All 2010 - 2013 logs are uploaded to LoTW.

-----------------------------------------------------

Present day Krenkel Station (source)

Abandoned buildings at Krenkel Station (source)

FJL shown on a map of the circumpolar north.

Addendum 24.04.17
(1) I understand Eugeny was also active from Franz Josef Land during 2013 though. It may have been only sporadically, as this ARRL news item suggests, at least during the latter part of his stay on FJL, due to poor conditions. I also wasn't active in CW yet, and I didn't watch the DX Cluster as closely as I do nowadays.


See also:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Josef_Land
http://www.franz-josef-land.info/
http://ultima0thule.blogspot.nl/2012_06_17_archive.html
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/08/franz-josef-land/richards-photography
https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/arctic/2017/03/putin-visit-arctic-clean-site
http://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/2015/06/10-abandoned-weather-stations-meteorological-bases-world/
http://www.geobotany.uaf.edu/library/reports/WalkerDA2011_yamal_dr20110103.pdf