Story 21DX/021GG




Story from 21DX/021GG activity.



Carsten and me met on the radio in Summer 2013 on groundwave. I was surprised when I heard him calling. When I replied back, he told me that he was only 15 km from my qth. Normally there are no local activity here so local qsos are rare. Carsten was going back to 47 div the day after so I couldn´t invite him for a cup of coffee.

In beginning of 2014 Carsten sent me an email and told me that he and his wife are coming back to my area. We decided to meet and I asked him if he would like to do an Iota activation. My summerhouse is in EU176 area and my boat was ready and only 100 km to drive by car from his hotel. The time was limited but we decided to be active one day from Norrutharet Island in EU176 archipelago. All the equipment were ok, except for the generator, but finally I was given an old one by a radiofriend just two days before our activation. I was very happy but a bit afraid that the generator wouldn't work.

We started 05:00 gmt and I picked Carsten up at his hotel in Gävle city. We had 90 km of drive to the boat in Söderhamn. From the harbour to the Island we had a 20 minutes boattrip. I had checked the sea forcast and it was looking good with calm winds. When sea is strong there is no possibility of enter by boat because there are no bridge at the island. We needed around an hour to put up all radiogear and the antenna. We used a bi square vertical made by me and it was not 100% plug and play mechanical, because it is a large model. It took some time to put it in air but worked very well. We had a great time on the island and the propagation was with us. We easily logged EU stations with very good signals. We had a great time on the island and I hope we can meet in a few years to put another island in air.


Regards from Loic and Carsten.



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