Story 212DX/EU002 - Kumlinge Island Story from 212DX/EU002 activity held during June 2008. Hello DXers It is Monday and this morning the Shadow DX'ers team were back in Stockholm after a fantastic weekend at Kumlinge Island in the Åland Archipelago, 212 division. The WWRO Island Festival was a priority event for us and we brought the "big gun" to the Island meaning we had several antennas, amplifier and two complete sets of equipment to be able to put two stations on the air. The team consisting of Hans 21AT113, Loic 21DX014, Chris 21DX116 and team leader Patrik 21DX139 left Stockholm on Friday night with a cruise ship bound for Åland Islands where we arrived in the middle of the night. After a one hour drive we took the second ferry to Vårdö Island where we boarded a third ferry destined for Kumlinge Island arriving at 04:00 UTC Saturday morning. 212DX/EU002 was on the air at 05:00 UTC and the first station logged was Søren 47DX002. Propagation was good Saturday morning and the best hour was 07:00 when we logged a total of 88 stations. At midday local time propagation slowed down and QSO rate was down below 10 stations per hour between 09:00-11:00 UTC. In the afternoon and evening we had heavy rain but E-skip was back with strong signals from Europe between 13:00 to 18:00 and in the evening we even logged five 3-div stations. Saturday evening we also had a very nice BBQ in the cabin and after logging the first 500 stations a bottle of whiskey emerged and a little party kept us warm in the poring rain. Around 22:00 UTC we logged the last station for the day, Tom 47DX052. Around this time we also heard some aurora noise and on triple-five we found a 20-div-station calling CQ with aurora flutter but he did not hear us. After getting almost no sleep since we left Stockholm the team decided to call it the day with 520 stations logged. We went to sleep certain that we would log another 200-250 stations on Sunday. We woke up early enough on Sunday to catch the first band opening, but the aurora absorbed our plans and the band was completely dead. It continued to be quiet all day long and at 15:00 hours we had only logged 9 stations, most of them close to us in 47, 56 and 161 divisions. In the early evening we had a small opening letting a few more 14-division stations in to the log, but when we closed the station at 17:00 UTC we had only managed to work 27 stations since the morning. In addition to the SSB stations logged, we also logged five stations in CW. For the first time in Shadow DX history we had a CW pileup! 14AT143 and 14DX461 was calling on top of each other. Other stations logged in CW where 47DX101, 13LD001 and 332OD010. Our CW beacon was running overnight and when propagation was low. At 17:00 UTC it was time to take down the equipment, which was done in about 30 minutes. The local café only had three stamps, so three direct postcards confirmations where posted before we departed Kumlinge Island at 18:05 UTC to make the overnight return trip to Stockholm. The transceiver used at Kumlinge Island was a Yaesu FT-897 and the main antenna was the Skypper by Alex 1SD019. To add puch to the signal a Amertitron AL-811H delivering 800+ watts where added to the setup. The secondary (portable) station consisted of a Yaesu FT-857 powered by a Kiper IG1000 generator and a Bambi full size loop, but this station was never deployed due to bad weather on Saturday and lack of propagation on Sunday. All in all we consider the 212DX/EU002 expedition a great success logging a total of 547 stations, and we are very satisfied with the results. In addition to the DXRC ISLANDS WEEKEND QSL, we will also print a 212DX/EU002 QSL confirming Kumlinge Island. All QSL requests should be sent to the Delta Xray QSL Bureau (P.O. Box 202, DK-2640 Hedehus, Denmark). The Shadow DX'ers team would like to thank John 47DX101 for excellent support during the activation and Tom 47DX052 managing QSL requests. We also like to thank you who worked and we are looking forward to see you all in the next pileup. Vy 73's Loic 21DX014 Chris 21DX116 Patrik 21DX139 Ulf 21AT113 return