Hello friends,
After many weeks of preparation — and thanks to the incredible support of Claude Passet, 3A2LF, President of the Association des Radioamateurs de Monaco — we’ve managed to find a location and obtain permission to activate from Monaco.
The Principality of Monaco is one of the most densely populated places in Europe, where there is literally no free space. Public areas with any available room are heavily regulated.
Claude 3A2LF and Henri 3A2OD was able to secure permission from the authorities to park at an excellent spot — the public promenade near the Monaco Heliport. There are some limitations: a low parapet on the embankment slightly obstructs elevation to the east, but that’s not a major issue since the activation coincides with days when the Moon’s declination is near its maximum. To the west, however, things are more difficult — starting from an azimuth of 280°, the minimum elevation is blocked by mountains and limited to around 20°.
That said, it's not a critical problem, as even the most distant targets like California will have a moon elevation of 30–40° during this period.
Another possible limitation is that access to the site is only allowed from 7:00 AM local time. This makes the window for JA and VK contacts very short. Local moonrise is around 2:00 AM, so I’ll try to arrive at the site during the night at least once, to give a chance to stations in the Far East and Oceania.
As usual, I’ll be on 1296.100 using Q65-30B, first period. Later, for smaller stations, I’ll switch to Q65-60C. I also hope to try 13 cm — if all goes well, I’ll be on 2320.100.
I’m unsure about battery charging capacity on site, so I’ll run reduced power to preserve energy across two moon passes. If you can’t hear me, feel free to ask in chat — I can boost power by 3–4 dB for “smaller” stations.
I have a permit to operate from June 20–24, but unless something unexpected happens (like strong sea winds or technical issues), I plan to complete all contacts in three days — two days on 23 cm, one day on 13 cm — and leave on Monday, June 23.
Still ahead: 2500 km of driving.
++++++++++++++++++++
Everything turned out as usual — there was a plan to improve my dish, replace the old material, and apply new aluminum foil, but life had other ideas.
It wasn’t possible to cut a new Husky layer in field conditions, so I had to urgently tear off the old foil. Unfortunately, after 15 expeditions, the foil had bonded so strongly to the surface that it took two full days to remove it, centimeter by centimeter.
In the end, I glued the new foil onto the old material, but the result wasn’t any better.
In fact, it seems to have gotten worse, judging by the RX/TX reports. The cold sky/earth difference is 2 dB, which looked promising at first — but the sun/sky difference was only 4 dB.
The big guns came through easily, of course, but those with 3-meter dishes had a much harder time. Maybe I messed something up in the rush.
The QTH isn’t bad — especially toward the east — but the west is blocked by buildings and houses.
Tomorrow, moonrise is at 2:30 local time. I’ll try to start right from the beginning.
So far, there are 24 QSOs in the log.
2025-06-20,10:00:00,2025-06-20,10:02:00,UA3PTW,KO93,1296.101000,Q65,-19,-20,,,,,,,
2025-06-20,10:03:00,2025-06-20,10:05:00,OK1KIR,JN79,1296.101000,Q65,-13,-14,,,,,,,
2025-06-20,10:05:00,2025-06-20,10:07:00,G4CCH,IO93,1296.101000,Q65,-17,-18,,,,,,,
2025-06-20,10:08:00,2025-06-20,10:10:00,OE9ERC,JN47,1296.101000,Q65,-12,-15,,,,,,,
2025-06-20,10:11:00,2025-06-20,10:13:00,OK1VUM,JN79,1296.101000,Q65,-19,-19,,,,,,,
2025-06-20,10:13:00,2025-06-20,10:15:00,SP5GDM,KO02,1296.101000,Q65,-21,-22,,,,,,,
2025-06-20,10:15:00,2025-06-20,10:17:01,DF3RU,JN59,1296.101000,Q65,-20,-15,,,,,,,
2025-06-20,10:18:00,2025-06-20,10:20:00,IK5VLS,JN53,1296.101000,Q65,-22,-09,,,,,,,
2025-06-20,10:34:00,2025-06-20,10:36:00,N5TM,EL29,1296.101000,Q65,-19,-27,,,,,,,
2025-06-20,10:36:00,2025-06-20,10:38:00,DL4DTU,,1296.101000,Q65,-20,-22,,,,,,,
2025-06-20,10:39:00,2025-06-20,10:41:02,IK3COJ,JN65,1296.101000,Q65,-25,-20,,,,,,,
2025-06-20,10:42:00,2025-06-20,10:44:00,IQ2DB,JN45,1296.101000,Q65,-25,-26,,,,,,,
2025-06-20,10:49:30,2025-06-20,10:50:19,IK2DDR,,1296.101000,Q65,-22,-20,,,,,,,
2025-06-20,10:58:00,2025-06-20,11:02:00,DL7UDA,JO62,1296.101000,Q65,-23,-23,,,,,,,
2025-06-20,11:02:00,2025-06-20,11:06:00,KB2SA,DM13,1296.101000,Q65,-22,-23,,,,,,,
2025-06-20,11:02:00,2025-06-20,11:06:54,PA3FXB,JO33,1296.101000,Q65,-22,-23,,,,,,,
2025-06-20,11:06:00,2025-06-20,11:10:00,PY2BS,GG66,1296.101000,Q65,-19,-19,,,,,,,
2025-06-20,11:10:00,2025-06-20,11:14:00,DK4RC,,1296.101000,Q65,-13,-15,,,,,,,
2025-06-20,11:17:00,2025-06-20,11:18:07,DG0FE,,1296.101000,Q65,-23,-21,,,,,,,
2025-06-20,11:18:00,2025-06-20,11:22:00,DG5CST,JO60,1296.101000,Q65,-14,-17,,,,,,,
2025-06-20,11:22:00,2025-06-20,11:26:00,VE6TA,DO33,1296.101000,Q65,-21,-22,,,,,,,
2025-06-20,11:26:00,2025-06-20,11:30:00,OK2DL,JN79,1296.101000,Q65,-18,-21,,,,,,,
2025-06-20,11:34:00,2025-06-20,11:38:00,DL1HUH,JO61,1296.101000,Q65,-23,-15,,,,,,,
2025-06-20,11:40:00,2025-06-20,11:44:00,DM2CFH,JO61,1296.101000,Q65,-22,-21,,,,,,,
In the evening, I went out to find a place to charge the batteries so I could operate in the morning. After two exhausting hours of searching, it turned out — in Monaco, that’s almost a mission impossible.
It was Friday night, and the entire principality was bursting at the seams.
There are only a few street chargers, and either they don’t work, they’re reserved for taxis, or they’re just dead. Total disaster.
I couldn’t even try the underground parking — the van is 2.25 meters high, and nearly every garage stops at 2.00 meters.
I came back to the apartment completely frustrated. I’ve only got around 70% left “on board,” which gives me about 7 kWh. Not enough, but nothing I can do now.
And on top of that — just a couple of hours left to sleep.
++++++++++++++
The morning was rough — three hours of sleep, a 2 AM wake-up, dragging myself to the site, and setting up the antenna... none of it exactly filled me with joy or optimism.
But then I saw Claude, 3A2LF, who walked there on foot just to offer moral support — and I immediately felt ashamed of my own whining! ;-))
What a guy! Despite his venerable age, he’s full of spirit. Honestly, if it weren’t for him, I can say with 100% certainty that this expedition wouldn’t have happened.
If anyone from the EME community feels like sending him a quick thank-you by email, I think that would be both fair and well-deserved — he truly earned it.
I aligned the antenna visually with the moon — the sky looked clear, but every 11 seconds some weird clicking interference kicked in, and in half the cases it completely wrecked decoding.
I still have no idea what it is, but it looks like some kind of remote sensing system — maybe part of a security alarm setup.
And just to spice things up, another problem popped up: the feed holder rod is in “American” (imperial) sizes, while the feed mount hole is metric — slightly larger in diameter.
I wrapped it with electrical tape, but the septum still sags a bit, and there’s a small offset, as confirmed by the sun test (done three hours later at dawn).
The offset was a full 6 degrees — which is quite a lot.
So yes, the start was far from smooth, and I apologize to those who couldn’t decode me right away.
But then, a couple of hours later, 3A2OM showed up — with the freshest croissants in hand — and suddenly, everything felt better.
Then, after sunrise, I quickly adjusted the elevation offset, and things started to run more smoothly.
It seems I managed to work with everyone except 9H1BN — whom I only managed to decode once — and KN2K, who proudly calls himself “the president of the club of those who never worked with Alex.” :-))
Unfortunately, by that time, the batteries were almost completely drained.
But tomorrow, after lunch, we’ll give it another try.
2025-06-21,02:10:00,2025-06-21,02:14:00,JJ3JHP,,1296.101000,Q65,-19,-23,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,02:20:00,2025-06-21,02:24:00,VK2JDS,QF46,1296.101000,Q65,-22,-20,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,02:24:00,2025-06-21,02:28:00,JQ3JWF,,1296.101000,Q65,-19,-22,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,02:28:00,2025-06-21,02:32:00,JA6AHB,PM53,1296.101000,Q65,-22,-21,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,02:32:00,2025-06-21,02:36:00,YO2LAM,KN05,1296.101000,Q65,-18,-21,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,02:34:00,2025-06-21,02:38:00,G0LBK,,1296.101000,Q65,-20,-25,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,02:38:00,2025-06-21,02:42:00,OK1UGA,JO80,1296.101000,Q65,-16,-22,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,02:56:00,2025-06-21,03:00:00,JA4LJB,PM74,1296.100794,Q65,-19,-22,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,03:00:00,2025-06-21,03:04:00,OK1IL,JN69,1296.100794,Q65,-21,-23,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,03:04:00,2025-06-21,03:08:00,JH3AZC,,1296.100794,Q65,-22,-25,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,03:08:00,2025-06-21,03:12:00,SP7EXY,,1296.100794,Q65,-19,-23,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,03:16:00,2025-06-21,03:20:00,DL8FBD,JO40,1296.100794,Q65,-21,-25,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,03:20:00,2025-06-21,03:24:00,OK1USW,,1296.100794,Q65,-22,-24,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,03:33:00,2025-06-21,03:34:01,DK3WG,JO72,1296.100794,Q65,-24,-24,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,03:38:00,2025-06-21,03:42:00,PA3DZL,,1296.100794,Q65,-18,-19,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,04:04:00,2025-06-21,04:08:00,DF2VJ,JN39,1296.100794,Q65,-27,-24,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,04:08:00,2025-06-21,04:12:00,PA0TBR,JO21,1296.100794,Q65,-18,-23,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,04:10:00,2025-06-21,04:14:00,ZS6JON,KG33,1296.100794,Q65,-20,-21,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,04:14:00,2025-06-21,04:18:00,IK7EZN,,1296.100794,Q65,-19,-21,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,04:34:00,2025-06-21,04:38:00,UA9FAD,LO88,1296.100794,Q65,-26,-20,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,04:38:00,2025-06-21,04:42:00,SM5DGX,JO89,1296.100794,Q65,-12,-16,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,04:42:00,2025-06-21,04:46:00,I2FAK,JN45,1296.100794,Q65,-17,-22,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,04:46:00,2025-06-21,04:50:00,ZS4TX,KG30,1296.100794,Q65,-22,-24,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,04:50:00,2025-06-21,04:54:00,PA0BAT,,1296.100794,Q65,-20,-21,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,05:14:00,2025-06-21,05:20:00,G4YTL,IO92,1296.101000,Q65,-22,-22,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,05:22:00,2025-06-21,05:26:00,PA7JB,JO22,1296.101000,Q65,-22,-21,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,05:26:00,2025-06-21,05:30:00,ON4AOI,JO21,1296.101000,Q65,-21,-20,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,05:32:00,2025-06-21,05:36:00,ON4QQ,JO20,1296.101000,Q65,-24,-21,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,05:39:00,2025-06-21,05:42:00,UA1ALD,KO49,1296.101000,Q65,-24,-24,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,05:44:00,2025-06-21,05:48:00,RA4HL,LO43,1296.101000,Q65,-15,-19,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,05:48:00,2025-06-21,05:52:00,DL1SUZ,JO53,1296.101000,Q65,-16,-24,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,05:54:00,2025-06-21,05:58:00,UA9YLU,MO92,1296.101000,Q65,-22,-21,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,05:58:00,2025-06-21,06:02:00,PE1LWT,JO22,1296.101000,Q65,-22,-24,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,07:28:00,2025-06-21,07:32:00,ON5GS,JO21,1296.101000,Q65,-19,-18,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,07:32:00,2025-06-21,07:36:00,F5KUG,JN03,1296.101000,Q65,-19,-22,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,07:38:00,2025-06-21,07:42:00,OE9ERC,JN47,1296.101000,Q65,-08,-14,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,07:46:00,2025-06-21,07:50:00,SM6CKU,,1296.101000,Q65,-14,-12,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,08:04:00,2025-06-21,08:08:00,EA8DBM,IL18OH,1296.101000,Q65,-19,-26,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,08:08:00,2025-06-21,08:12:00,NC1I,,1296.101000,Q65,-10,-15,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,08:12:00,2025-06-21,08:16:00,OH3LWP,KP11,1296.101000,Q65,-17,-21,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,08:16:00,2025-06-21,08:20:00,IK2CDI,,1296.101000,Q65,-17,-17,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,08:24:00,2025-06-21,08:28:00,F5VKV,,1296.101000,Q65,+03,-15,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,08:40:00,2025-06-21,08:44:00,YU1DA,KN03,1296.101000,Q65,-23,-26,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,09:06:00,2025-06-21,09:10:00,K5DN,,1296.101000,Q65,-21,-23,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,09:20:00,2025-06-21,09:28:00,G4RGK,IO91,1296.101000,Q65,-24,-23,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,09:36:00,2025-06-21,09:40:08,N1AV,DM43,1296.101000,Q65,-24,-23,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,09:40:00,2025-06-21,09:48:00,W2HRO,FN20,1296.101000,Q65,-20,-24,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,09:54:00,2025-06-21,09:58:00,W5LUA,EM13,1296.101000,Q65,-19,-20,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,09:58:00,2025-06-21,10:02:00,CT1FFU,IM59,1296.101000,Q65,-23,-23,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,10:02:00,2025-06-21,10:06:00,RD4D,,1296.101000,Q65,-09,-10,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,10:08:00,2025-06-21,10:12:00,DJ2DY,JN39,1296.101000,Q65,-27,-23,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,11:20:00,2025-06-21,11:24:00,OK1DFC,JN79,1296.101000,Q65,-16,-13,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,11:26:00,2025-06-21,11:30:00,PA1PS,JO21,1296.101000,Q65,-23,-23,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,11:36:00,2025-06-21,11:40:06,AC2AC,EL96,1296.101000,Q65,-25,-23,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,11:44:00,2025-06-21,11:52:00,PA3JRK,JO33,1296.101000,Q65,-26,-27,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,11:52:00,2025-06-21,12:00:00,K5DOG,,1296.101000,Q65,-24,-20,,,,,,,
2025-06-21,12:20:00,2025-06-21,12:28:00,KD5FZX,EM12,1296.101000,Q65,-18,-16,,,,,,,
Total for this moon pass: 57 QSOs — bringing the overall total to 81 QSOs.
Tomorrow morning (I’ll start around 06:00 UTC to get at least some sleep),
I’ll aim at the sun and briefly transmit on 23 cm — a small window of opportunity for anyone who still wants to try.
Then I’ll swap out the septum (many thanks to OK1DFC!) and make another attempt to activate 13 cm.
If all goes well, I’ll switch back to 23 cm around midday.
+++++++++++++
As my experience shows — if nothing small goes wrong at the beginning, you'd better stay alert. It usually means something nastier and more catastrophic is coming. Don’t relax.
But after so many sleepless nights and the accumulated fatigue, I let my guard down.
A mobile shack has its perks: it’s easier to find a convenient spot, and if something’s not right — you just move somewhere else.
But there are also disadvantages: every day you have to unpack everything, and after each moon pass, pack it all back up again. Then there’s the endless battery charging.
After wrapping up yesterday, the next saga began — charging the EcoFlow. Since it’s practically impossible to charge anything in Monaco, I had to head into France.
But guess what? Not a single free charging spot. So I ended up driving all the way to Italy and, miraculously, managed to charge the battery up to 70%. I had no energy left for more.
All in all, it took over 100 km of driving one way just to find something.
This morning, I had planned to start with 13 cm. But after several requests, I decided to first give a chance to those who hadn’t worked me yet on 23 cm — one more hour, and I’d use the time to fine-tune azimuth and elevation before switching over.
I have a clear checklist of what needs to be done and checked before going on air.
And the most important rule: no distractions — with three exclamation marks.
But… it’s Sunday morning. People are walking up and down the central promenade, and the questions start:
“What is this?”, “How does it work?”, “Why are you here?”
When young people come up and ask, “Is that solar charging?”, I just turn around with a stone face and say “No” — then look away.
But when sweet old folks approach, I can’t bring myself to be rude. So I launch into the usual friendly story about the moon and amateur radio.
Apparently, someone wasn’t impressed — and decided to report me. A squad of police arrived on motorcycles. The “stone face” didn’t help this time — full ID check, permits, license review, phone calls, the whole package.
Meanwhile, people in chat and WhatsApp are messaging: “So… when are you QRV?”
In the rush, I powered up on 23 cm, cranked the amp to full — and suddenly: crackling, hissing, and smoke.
I turned around and saw the coaxial cable from the antenna… hanging disconnected.
A full-blown disaster. No one to blame but myself — an absolute idiot.
Resisting the urge to throw myself into the sea, I gritted my teeth and started rewiring everything for 13 cm.
To say I was in a bad mood would be an understatement.
I pointed to the sun — the signal was weak: only 2 to 2.5 dB.
I called CQ — no one could hear me.
I asked Zdenek OK1DFC to send a signal so I could calibrate, made a few adjustments to azimuth and elevation — and finally… the first and long-awaited QSO!
I’d been chasing this one for years — and now, at last, it worked.
In total, 10 QSOs in the log on 13 cm.
2025-06-22,09:32:00,2025-06-22,09:36:00,OK1DFC,JN79,2320.101000,Q65,-27,-26,,,,,,,
2025-06-22,09:36:00,2025-06-22,09:40:00,OK1KIR,JN79,2320.101000,Q65,-21,-24,,,,,,,
2025-06-22,09:40:00,2025-06-22,09:44:00,OE9ERC,JN47,2320.101000,Q65,-17,-20,,,,,,,
2025-06-22,09:49:00,2025-06-22,09:52:00,PA3DZL,JO21,2320.101000,Q65,-28,-26,,,,,,,
2025-06-22,10:04:00,2025-06-22,10:08:00,PA0BAT,,2320.101000,Q65,-24,-29,,,,,,,
2025-06-22,10:08:00,2025-06-22,10:12:00,G4CCH,,2320.101000,Q65,-21,-23,,,,,,,
2025-06-22,10:14:00,2025-06-22,10:18:00,OH3LWP,KP11,2320.101000,Q65,-22,-23,,,,,,,
2025-06-22,10:32:00,2025-06-22,10:40:00,DL4DTU,JO60,2320.101000,Q65,-29,-25,,,,,,,
2025-06-22,11:44:00,2025-06-22,11:52:05,HB9Q,,2320.101000,Q65,-17,-15,,,,,,,
2025-06-22,12:03:00,2025-06-22,12:05:31,PA7JB,JO22,2320.101000,Q65,-29,-28,,,,,,,
The toughest contact was with PA7JB — John and I struggled for about an hour and a half, but in the end, we somehow managed to complete it in 120D mode, almost by miracle.
By that time, the moon had already moved toward the city, and interference levels spiked sharply.
I tried to receive W5LUA on 2304, but in that part of the sky the QRM was just brutal.
Although Al could hear me clearly, I couldn’t decode a thing.
While I was working 13 cm in long modes, I switched on the 23 cm amplifier to test it — it seemed okay, nothing obviously wrong.
The police came twice, someone complained that I was grilling barbecue on a big plate ))
There was output, but no more than 200 watts. Still, I managed to complete one QSO.
2025-06-22,13:38:00,2025-06-22,13:42:00,HB9Q,JN47,1296.101000,Q65,-07,-13,,,,,,,
After that, I wrapped up the expedition — packed everything and went QRT.
Final result: 92 QSOs in the log.
Huge thanks to all my donors who supported me financially — your help made this possible!
NC1I, KB2SA, PA3FXB, PA3DZL, OK1IL, PA7JB, W5LUA, ZS4TX, PA0BAT, PY2BS, DF2VJ
Greetings from Dirk
F/ON5OF eme on 70cm with now broken 8x7,6m long yagis open feed from JN33MR Tourrettes sur Loup (see www.on5of.com)