Mt. San Martín EA2/NV-151 by EA2IF/P on 02/11/2019

This activation was for the Transatlantic S2S event.
>Ésta activación fue para el evento SaS transatlántico.
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WX was uncertain but I finally decided to give it a try. When I left home it was raining in Pamplona but my summit was 23 Km South of Pamplona with the Sierra del Perdón (SOTA Mt. Erreniega EA2/NV-092) in between and this range often acts as a rain barrier. I’ve witnessed several occasions when it was raining at the Northern side of this Sierra and the Sun was shining at the Southern side.
>El WX era incierto, pero finalmente decidí intentarlo. Cuando salí de casa estaba lloviendo en Pamplona, pero mi cima estaba 23 Km al Sur de Pamplona con la Sierra del Perdón (SOTA Mt. Erreniega EA2/NV-092) en medio y ésta sierra a menudo actúa como una barrera para la lluvia. He presenciado en múltiples ocasiones cómo estaba lloviendo en el lado Norte de ésta sierra y el Sol brillaba en el lado Sur.

My antenna system would be the same I had successfully tested a few days earlier: a 2 elements inverted L endfed half wave. This was the setup:
>Mi antena sería la misma que había probado con éxito pocos días antes: 2 elementos de cable de media onda alimentado en el extremo y en L invertida. Éste fue el montaje:


The rig was an FT-817ND @ 5W + a MFJ-941B antenna tuner.
>El equipo fue un FT-817ND a 5W + un acoplador de antena MFJ-941B.

My intention was to mainly focus on 20m CW and so I did. I also spent most of my time offering me by CQing on a clear frequency, instead of searching for others and spending too much time trying to break through big pile-ups some other activators had. My frequency got occupied from time to time and then I moved to another frequency. I also sent selfspots from time to time as I noticed that a single spot got quickly down in the list with so much activity around, so after some CQing without response, a new spot usually brought new chasers to me.
>Mi intención fue centrarme en 20m CW y eso hice. Pasé la mayor parte de mi tiempo ofreciéndome por medio de llamadas CQ en una frecuencia libre, en vez de buscar y gastar demasiado tiempo intentando romper grandes pile-ups que tenían algunos de los otros activadores. Mi frecuencia fue ocupada de vez en cuando y entonces me movía a otra frecuencia. También me auto-anuncié de vez en cuando pues noté que un solo spot iba rápidamente abajo en la lista con tanta actividad, así que tras algunos CQ sin respuesta, un nuevo spot me traía nuevos cazadores.

The 1st QSO was logged at 13h42z and the last one at 16h55z, so nearly 3 hours and a quarter QRV with a brief pause of a bit less than half hour to eat lunch and take some pictures like this when I even enjoyed a bit of sunshine passing through the thin clouds:
>El primer QSO fue anotado a las 13h42 y el último a las 16h55, así que casi 3 horas y cuarto QRV con una breve pausa de poco menos de media hora para comer y tomar algunas fotos como ésta cuando incluso disfruté de un poco de Sol que pasaba a través de las delgadas nubes:


During the activation, I only got very few drops of rain, I opened an umbrella I had with me and I kept working on the band. After a while, I closed the umbrella without even having any water on it. I was very lucky with the weather.
>Durante la activación, solo tuve unas muy pocas gotas de lluvia, abrí un paraguas que tenía conmigo y seguí trabajando en la banda. Después de un ratito, cerré el paraguas sin siquiera tener algo de agua en él. Fui muy afortunado con el tiempo.

The american chasers were putting really good signals, being some of them as strong as an S8 and S9 on my S-meter. The europeans were also putting good signals, as usual.
All of my QSOs were made on CW and just the very last one was a S2S on SSB.
All in all, I logged 60 QSOs, 28 of them with :us: and :canada:, 12 S2S, 6 of which with NA (4 :us: and 2 :canada:)
>Los cazadores americanos ponían verdaderamente buenas señales, siendo algunas tan fuertes como S8 y S9 en mi medidor S. Los europeos también ponían buenas señales, como de costumbre. Todos mis QSOs fueron hechos en CW y solo el mismísimo último fue un SaS en SSB.
En total, anoté 60 QSOs, 28 de ellos con :us: y :canada:, 12 SaS, 6 de los cuales con Norteamérica (4 :us: y 2 :canada:)

This is the full log:
>Éste es el log completo:



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And this is the S2S log:
>Y éste es el log SaS:

You can see it on the map:
>Pueden verlo en el mapa:

This picture shows the take-off slope towards the North-West:
>Ésta foto muestra la pendiente de despegue hacia el Noroeste:
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I had a lot of fun and remained QRV until the sun had set down the horizon and it was starting to get dark.
Thanks to the organisers of this nice event, to the chasers and the activators.
I’ll be looking forward to copying you all soon again from a summit.
>Lo pasé muy bien y estuve QRV hasta que el Sol se había puesto bajo el horizonte y estaba empezando a oscurecer.
Gracias a los organizadores de este bonito evento, a los cazadores y a los activadores.
Estaré esperando volver a copiarles pronto a todos ustedes desde una cima

73,

Guru

16 Likes

Well Done Guru!!

1 Like

Muy interesante Guru, como siempre !!
73 de Dani EA5FV

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I had never seen that way of placing two EFHWs as a radiator and reflector. It certainly works. In addition to your great operational technique: a success!!!
Great idea Guru.

Best 73!!

Javier EA2GM

2 Likes

Guru,

Whow, what a big distance between the S2S to WA7JTM.
I’m curious how you connected your two EFHW’s to your TRX ?

73 Tonnie de PA9CW

Hello dear Tonnie,

Yes, to be precise, 8972 Km

I’m afraid I haven’t been able to properly explain the antenna design. There is only one EFHW connected to the rig. The reflector is just a length of wire about 5% longer than the radiator (the EFHW). The fact of having the reflector wire 1/4 wave distance behind the radiator (EFHW) wire makes it act as a reflector. If it were too close or too far from the radiator EFHW, it wouldn’t act as a reflector anymore.
It’s the same principle as in a 2 elements yagi. From the rig, the coax to the antenna is connected only to the dipole, which is the radiating element, and the reflector is just a length of metal placed at about 1/4 wave distance behind the dipole. There’s no connection between the reflector element and the rig. The same if you have n director elements before the dipole, they are just lengths of metal placed at specific distances before the dipole, but just the dipole is physical and electrically connected to the rig.
I hope I made it clear now.
73,

Guru

1 Like

Hi Javier,
As I explained to Tonnie, there was just one EFHW, the reflector was a length of wire.
73,

Guru

Amazing report, thanks Guru!.

I enjoyed reading this kind of antenna that you used.

I saw a lot of QSO with NA, congrats.

1 Like

Guru,

thanks for the info. It was a great succes.

GL and CU. 73 de PA9CW

1 Like

A really excellent achievement Guru and what a brilliant idea for an antenna for such an event as this where you are looking mainly for contacts in one direction. I copied you several times as I tuned across and you were always busy, so I was pleased to receive a call from you at 15:49z. :grinning:

73, Gerald G8CXK / G4OIG

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Very good strong signal here in NC. I have to try that new antenna system next summit.

de John Paul // AB4PP

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Thanks John Paul for chasing me last Saturday. If you try this antenna system, I’d love to chase you and I’d like you to do for me the same test I did with Rich N4EX when I first tested this antenna (see activation report here: Mt. San Martín EA2/NV-151 by EA2IF/P on 29/10/2019)
BTW, let me tell you all that this antenna design has been registered :registered: as the 2elGURUinvL antenna and it can only be used after payment of a good amount of beers in a nice pub of my choice. :wink: (just kidding or not…)
73,

Guru

2 Likes