On 14.057 now with the PreAmp of my IC-706 ON and nothing heard from you…
Edit: I’ve now gone to 30m waiting for you on 10.118 KHz
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And we made it!!! 
Thank you, Tom!
It wasn’t the best of the copies we’ve ever had but good enough to be properly logged.
I forgot asking you about your QTH Locator…
[edit] but I saw in your previously posted log picture that you are in Dover, aren’t you?
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Yes. JO01pc
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Hi Guru, good to see you back home and feeling better. 
In VK3 we are in lock down till Wednesday, 
staying at home all the time and itching to get out. I know how you must feel. Stay safe and well.
73 de Geoff vk3sq
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Hi Tom, great to hear you’re operating MM. How have you found that loop you are using? Tell me more about it.
73 de Geoff vk3sq
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Hi Geoff @VK3SQ
There is a more detailed account of using the Alexloop here - You too can visit G/SP-015…
So far I’m pretty impressed with it. It’s by far the most effective compact multiband solution I’ve tried. In the past I’ve been sceptical about whether these kinds of products are worth the money, but this one is good.
Put it this way, I’m using 5 watts from an FT-817 on board the ship, and China and Brazil were in the log yesterday.
Rehearsal today postponed until 8pm this evening, passengers on for the inaugural cruise tomorrow morning. So breakfast followed by a morning of SOTA chasing for me I think.
Guru @EA2IF - it was great to hear your call in CW come through, and even better to hear you confirming my report. Hope it’s the first of many while I’m /MM.
Tom M1EYP/MM
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Thanks Tom for the link…never heard of the Alexloop. Enjoy the cruze, job and mm.
73 de Geoff vk3sq
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Sure, I’ll be looking forward to many more QSOs with you /MM along your sailing.
Magloops are fantastic antennas. I home brewed one several years ago and I still use it from time to time.
I have taken it to some SOTAs and have even produced some transatlantic S2S with VE. My best ever DX with it was the French polynesia on 17m, when I had the magloop in the balcony of my house in the village and my FT-817 hooked at 5W.
My magloop is 1.45m diameter and I can tune it on 17, 20, 30, 40 and 60m.
It would be great if we can have a magloop to magloop contact one of these days.
Enjoy your cruise, the music, the radio and all the beautiful places your going to visit.
I enjoyed a cruise accross the Mediterranean sea during our Honey Moon trip and it was a very enjoyable trip.
73,
Guru
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Good being a rather relative term in this case. It’s a pretty poor implementation of a small transmitting loop but a lot better than the WonderWand that Tom was going to buy (that is complete junk imho). As soon as I heard that my heart sank and I immediately offered him my Alexloop. The price of these loops is just ridiculous; Alex is a nice guy though. I had dinner with him and his wife a few years ago.
Tom has agreed to buy me a new one if it falls overboard so I am hoping for bad weather and high seas.
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It was a very generous and considerate gesture Richard, and I’m incredibly grateful. Being able to operate - and be consistently received by stations I’m calling - is great. Having my QRP CQs answered by DX is even better.
Of course, I am well aware that “good” is relative - but in this specific context with all the practical restrictions and limitations - my wkg condx - are actually very good indeed!
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I see while typing my reply, CWI edited in an additional sentence at the end. Poor show…
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This is no doubt mainly thanks to the Ocean effect and also your /MM at the end of the callsign.
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So he made that up? Quick thinking there.
No, it’s true that I did promise to replace the loop if anything happened to it. It was the wishing for inclement weather in the oceans bit that I was slightly unimpressed with!
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This SOTA chasing thing is quite good fun isn’t it? (When you can’t fill your time activating that is).
Another four SOTA chases from on board the MV Spirit of Adventure this morning, the highlight being a magloop to magloop contact with my good friend Guru @EA2IF.
Seeing what chaser award I can get to as M1EYP/MM - and maybe DXCC as well!
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I’ve been doing a bit recently and you can rack up points quickly. My chaser total is higher than my activating total.
But you soon learn your place in the World chasing! I was listening to CT7AUP/P activating this morning from South West Portugal. Could I get a place in the pile-up? It went on for ever but I saw the spot from Guru (EA2IF) and we managed a QSO although this took some time to complete due a combination of conditions and my lack of skill. 
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Thanks for the contact Tom today from Brittany (FL/NO-021). After your slowed down, I recognised your call and remembered this thread which helped me get the /MM; my first MM contact! You were loud and clear. The conditions were very good for today; I made a contact with K4DY a few minutes earlier.
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FB Romain. I was able to receive K4DY’s signal on the magloop on the ship when you were working him. Thanks for the contact.
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Hi Guru, can you give me details of the construction of your loop…or links.
73 de Geoff vk3sq
Hi Geoff,
I’ve got some other queries asking for details about the construction of my magloop antenna, so I’ll respond here for everybody to know.
But first of all, I want to let everybody know that I’ve got a warning email from Ingo DH5ST a few minutes ago recommending much care when using a magloop antenna because the strong magnetic field created around it has apparently been linked with several cases of cancer. This is something I had never heard before and I just want to let you know. This is Ingo’s email:
The big loop is 1.45m diameter and it’s made of 1/2" Heliax coax cable.
The variable capacitor is 240pF if I recall correctly, but other similar values may suit equally well.
These 2 items were a gift from my good old friend Jorge EA2LU.
The rest of the elements used were just things I gathered from my junk box.
The coupling loop I chose was the simplest of the possible options, as I read on the web some studies proving that the differences between all of them was pretty much negligible. These are the different ways I found at the time to make the coupling loop. The type A is the one I made:
So my coupling loop, which must be 1/6 of the main loop diameter is simply a loop made of solid copper wire with PVC cover and placed at the bottom of the main loop. There’s no electrical contact at all between the coupling loop and the main loop.
You need to always be very careful to avoid touching the variable capacitor during transmission, as small power like 5W can produce thousands of volts at the capacitor and a strong electrical shock is a real hazard.
Let me know if this is of help and don’t hesitate to ask should you need further info.
73,
Guru
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