Topband: 7P8LB in the “Capital of lightning”

[Michael Tope]

Rune

I made a recording of what you sounded like on the night of March 15 
(UTC) in California. My receive antenna was nothing special - just some 
unknown combination of my transmit antenna (55 ft top-loaded vertical) 
and a 20ft top loaded vertical (one element of a W8JI Rx four square) 
mixed together with a MFJ-1026 noise canceller. I was in a hotel room in 
VE3 operating remotely when I made the recording, so I couldn't check 
the adjustments of the MFJ-1026.

When I first heard you, your signal was so loud I wondered if it might 
be from a pirate. When you faded at your sunrise, however, I knew I was 
dealing with the real thing (or a really clever pirate).

In the recording you'll hear me bouncing back and forth between your Tx 
frequency and the pileup. A truly amazing opening. You (and others) 
should be able to download the recording here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/f3g2wa1f7bdk9vb/HRD%202019-03-15%207P8LB-SWL%201824r5%200405%20UTC.mp3?dl=0

73, Mike W4EF/6 (& /VE3)......

On 3/19/2019 2:06 PM, Rune Øye wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> Thanks for the patient during the 7P8LB operation and particularly on the
> TB. This location is a challenge but doable if you have plenty of time. On
> the journey from Johannesburg to Lesotho, I experienced one of the heaviest
> lightning storms I ever have seen. I then understand that this will be a
> challenge and the days ahead conformed this. A lot of effort was done to
> get something going on TB but for sure it was not easy. We spent a lot of
> time to negotiate with the owners of the land surrounding the lodge, but
> when the “deal” is changing from one to the next day, it’s not easy. When
> first 160 antenna was up, I got a “standby” to continue our installation
> and I had to prepare we written agreement and we basically “lost a day”.
> When we finally had the agreement in place, we were ready to install
> element number 2 (2 el end fire broadside array) Same day antenna one broke
> due to the one of the guy wire pegs broke in a heavy storm and felt down.
> Now I had to use antenna number two as spare parts and repair antenna one
> and this was done the same day. In the afternoon same day, a horse was
> running around and hit the tophat guide wires, but this was reparable. Next
> days the 80 meter antenna felt down duo to a horse that was “running in
> circle” and hit one the guywire. The antenna did not get any damage and was
> an “easy fix”. Installed 2 x VE3DO loops that I phased but no luck since
> the loop closest to the lodge was just to noisy. Further I installed a VLB
> (very low beverage antenna) 130 meter long and I use a MFJ-1026 noise
> cancelling unit to cancel out S8 of the powerline noise from a nearby
> powerline. This setup worked somewhat, and I was able to work 100 EU
> stations and one JA stations that night. Further Svein LA3BO, managed to
> work a few NA stations as well after I went to bed. For the two last days
> we decided to prepare a 250 meter long terminated BEV that was laying on
> top of the cornfield. New BEV Antenna was now North of the powerline about
> 50 meter and reduced the Powerline noise a lot.I use the MFJ 1026 to get
> rid of the remains of the powerline noise. The following night was the
> first night with good wheatear conditions and we had good result to EU, one
> JA and a few NA. The last night before we shut down the conditions was not
> as good as the day before, one JA station a fair amount of EU and some NA
> at our SR. Its frustrating to see the wall of NA stations in the pan
> adapter but the signal is just so very marginal and deep QSB. This is what
> we were able to this time however, I guess that this location deserves a
> topband Expedition only :-) Before I left I got the email address from one
> of the owners of the land surrounding the lodge and I also pay him some
> money as a thanks you of using his land. The land north of the lodge have
> plenty of space for BEV antennas but permission is needed. Our permission
> was to install the antenna after darknes and sneak out and take it in just
> after day light 😊. Where do we go next, maybe the digit 9 or 2 in the
> prefix at the same time as we could do a TB operation in 7P. The clublog
> count says 561 QSO CW and  FT8 for 160 meter band.
>
> I am not a native English speaker or writer so apologise for spelling
> mistakes and how to build a sentence
>
> 73 for now LA7THA / 7P8LB team leader.
> _________________
> Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector