Eric,
Have fun operating from Miquelon, I was on the birds from there in 2005. FP is an awesome place to operate from because of the windows to both EU and W/VE. You'll be amazed how close to the ocean's horizon you can work either the analog or FM birds, I could hear them even before the would reach one degree of elevation. The European passes on FM or SSB can be hectic and some stations will keep calling no matter who you come back too...there was an IV3 that never made it in my log because all he did was QRM the entire pass. I would start out by calling CQ on CW and then work that pile up down to nothing in a couple minutes then switch to SSB. If you stay at the Maxhotel you may find my Texas potato masher II antennas are still stored in a storage room with a bunch of other antenna hardware. They were made of PVC and brass rod and I taped them all together in a bundle. Feel free to you them, they worked really well and I only had to reposition them twice a pass. I would point them where the bird would rise then once it reached its zenith I would run outside and point them to where the bird would set. They were only four feet off the ground and I didn't bother to elevate them at all, I didn't need too. Each antenna was on a seperate mast and spaced about 20 ft apart to keep from desense problems. There is the big hill to the west that sometimes gets in the way of the path to the western US and the hills to the north don't really get in the way of much at all since there's never anyone on from Siberia...lol. Operating from GN16 was way more difficult than GN17 because my setup was surrounded by buildings and the mountain to the west of town. We lucked out on the WX when we were there, it only blew and rained one day but when it did, it didn't mess around. I have some cool pics of my HF2V antenna bending in a 70 MPH wind!
73, Ian - K8MM
John Papay wrote:
(Relayed from KV1J who is having trouble posting)
I will be operating from the island of Miquelon (Grid GN17) from October 26 through November 2 as FP/KV1J. The dates may shift a bit depending on the weather and available transportation. This is a French territory (Collective) off the coast of Newfoundland.
I will be mostly on the low bands but plan to take breaks and work as many of the FM satellite passes that I can. I have AO-51, AO-27, SO-50, SO-67, and HO-68 programmed with Doppler shifts in an FT-817. I will be doing this outside with an Arrow 146/437-10 antenna.
The weather can get rough where I am and the winds are high so I will do my best under the conditions. I have a digital audio recorder tied to both the TX and RX audio so I will do the final logging when I return inside.
I was on during from this spot in November 2009 using the AO-51 bird with good results. This trip, I hope to try other satellites when they are available.
Once I am on the island it gets busy with setup and the low bands so it is not practical to do scheds but I will favor the daylight passes since they are easier to operate outdoors.
I have a web page at - http://www.kv1j.com/fp/october10.htmlhttp://www.kv1j.com/fp/october10.html for more information and I will try to put some status information there when I can. I do have internet access but it is not always available.
I will be traveling via the island of Saint Pierre. If I get on from there, I will be grid GN16. Still operating as FP/KV1J.
73, Eric KV1J FP/KV1J
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