Hello to all!
It was an exciting afternoon on the birds! First, I worked Patrick, WD9EWK on SO-50 in a new grid for me (FN56). Patrick, thanks very much for the great QSO and new grid!
Then, I had my first contact on satellites with France. Michael, F6GLJ in IN94qs and I completed a great QSO on FO-29. We had a maxim elevation of 0.5 degree at our ends. I believe it is the first contact between Cuba and France on FO-29! It is a 7508 Km contact!
Our first attempt was on July 18 but Michael was not able to get a solid copy of my signal. Fortunately, FO-29 offered us another opportunity, we made a schedule again and I decided to use the ELK antenna instead of the ARROW which I used in the first attempt.
I was operating portable from a tall building (45m over the ground), I had a great horizon visibility. I was running half - duplex with my FT-817nd, a homebrew 50W power amplifier and a homebrew preamplifier. Everything was supplied by a 12V 7A gel battery.
Michael, thanks very much for the great contact, new grid and new country!
73!
Hector, CO6CBF / KF5YXV El92sd