20 June 2008

4m contest: been there, done what?

Last Sunday I managed to take part for a couple of hours in the "70 MHz and Cross-Band Contest 2008" promoted by ARI Roma. I was in a nice place, open towards most of the Italian territory with no band noise and managed just one (local) contact.

Setup was as follows:
  • RX IC706MKiiG
  • TX homebrew CW 100milliW
  • Antenna 4m Moxon
  • Antenna 6m car whip
from the parking lot of Santuario di Belmonte, JN35TI at about 700 masl.

Activity was null, even if the band was open with sporadic-E to Greece. I could easily work Adriano I1NAI in 4m cross-mode. At 9UTC I was disappointed nobody was around, the parking lot was going to be filled with a FIAT 500 event (QRM!!), so I headed back home.

Adriano stayed a bit longer on the air, but he did not manage other QSO's either! Were all Italian operators busy with the HF Contest delle Sezioni? Are Italian ops not interested in a new band?

I could produce three short movies with the Samsung SGH-i780 :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HF4A7X7ZtW0 (location summary)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K13WVOsIc14 (receiving SV5FOUR/B)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owjugPODRhg (receiving IZ1DYE/B)


Even if I had had more power I would have not had more contacts, but a small 1-2W PA will follow on the workbench.

Has anybody the QSL info for SV5FOUR/B?