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Monday, July 4, 2016

EU VHF Contest 2016 - SV5DKL/p - South Rhodes - QRA Locator: KM35UW

There goes another adventurous and fruitful ham radio weekend !!

This year I'd decided I needed to get a bit off HF contests, while at the same time HF propagation was decreasing rapidly. Well, that was an excellent chance
to test my new VHF setup.

EU VHF contest was really very accomodating, as it would suit my working site, too!

After careful planning, I decided to participate in 2m Single SSB/CW with my Kenwood TM-255E @ 50w , 2x 7 element DK7ZB 28Ohm yagis stacked vertically in horizontal polarization and a 180Ah car battery. A marvellous, VHF favoring location was spotted at South Rhodes, on top of a hill 225m a.s.l. that houses a wind turbines park. QRA Locator: KM35UW , being a rare one for most of you !!

 
On Saturday, July 2nd, at noon, everything was ready and set up, and while I was waiting until 1400z for the contest to start, I thought I'd shoot some photos for my friends:
 






And here is the ONLY visitor that came by during the whole event:
 
This creature was more or less 20 cm in diameter !!!
 
Below, my finished setup at noon and then at sunrise:
 


 
The height of the wind turbine next to my "temporary radio shack" is approximately 65-70 meters with a wing span of 30m ... and believe me ... it makes a hella of a noise !!
 

 
A big thank you to all participants that made a contact with my portable station.
 
See you soon from this location on another event!
73
Stathis, SV5DKL