KH0/EA8DBM QK25 Saipan is.

Hello everyone,

I’m writing this post from the plane, in the middle of what is shaping up to be a very long journey: Tenerife – Madrid – Istanbul – Manila – Guam – Saipan. It sounds exciting, but in reality… it’s an exhausting trip.

If everything goes smoothly—no lost luggage, no unexpected issues—I should be set up at the shack by 12 PM Pacific Time on February 28th (which is around midnight in Europe). I expect to have everything installed by the evening.

This time, I’ll be running a new 500–600W amplifier from AG6EE (huge thanks to Petr for this excellent piece of equipment!). Since my 23 cm transverter didn’t survive delivery, I’ll once again rely on the IC-905, which has already saved me multiple times in the past year. It’s an outstanding device that covers all EME bands from 144 MHz to 10 GHz, and I highly recommend it!

For the feed, I’ll be using a new travel septum, recently designed and built by Zdenek OK1DFC. As a backup, I brought my old feed, but this time with a powerful 500W coupler.

One challenge I foresee is the sun’s proximity to the moon on February 28th. I’m not sure if I’ll risk pointing the antenna, as I’m worried about the heat potentially damaging the feed holder. I’ll assess the situation on-site and see if I can come up with a solution.

On March 4th (Tuesday) in the morning, I’ll be flying to Guam, which means I’ll only be active from Saipan (KH0) for three days—March 1st to 3rd. If you need KH0, don’t wait until the last day!

The lunar window with Western Europe is short—only about an hour at moonrise in Europe. If you decode me, please call from TX2. Also, try to spread out when transmitting—it often happens that 3–4 stations pile up at 1500 Hz, leading to multiple cycles without anyone decoding properly.

I’ll update this post once I arrive and get everything set up.

See you soon on the air!

++++++++++

Arrived in Manila right on schedule—so far, so good. But, of course, no trip through an international airport is complete without some kind of bureaucratic disaster, and Manila did not disappoint.

Turns out, there’s a new (or maybe just newly enforced?) online declaration required for entry. No mention of it anywhere—not on the website, not in my flight booking, not even in immigration forms. Nope, you just land, and surprise! You suddenly need to download an app, get a verification code by email, and authorize it before being allowed in.

What does this translate to in reality?

Hundreds of exhausted passengers pouring off a 12-hour flight, only to be met with huge posters everywhere saying: No e-confirmation, no entry. Of the crowd, maybe 10-20% actually knew about this in advance. The rest of us? Chaos.

Now, everyone’s scrambling to connect to the airport Wi-Fi, which (shockingly) barely works. If you do manage to connect, it drops every few seconds just for fun.

After 40 minutes of frustration, I finally got the app downloaded. Then came the next battle: getting an email verification code. Should be easy, right? Wrong. The mail server was badly lagging, and each attempt to request a new code only locked me out of the app for longer.

With minutes left before my next flight’s check-in closed, I fought my way through immigration and somehow convinced them to let me use a good old-fashioned pen and paper.

Feeling victorious, I marched over to the Airlines counter for my Guam–Saipan flight

Handed over my passport. Smiled. Thought to myself, Wow, that was rough, but I made it. Everything’s going smoothly now.

Then the airline employee looked at my ticket… then back at me… and said:

“Sir, your ticket isn’t for February 27. It’s for March 27.”

But hey, at least I got the year right—2025!

Of course, the flight was completely booked, so now I’m stuck in Manila for at least another day.

So, change of plans: If all goes well, I’ll only be active on KH0 starting March 1, meaning moonset in Europe.

++++++++

Finally arrived in Saipan after two connections, but unfortunately, my antenna is lost somewhere in Guam…

Because of this, today’s EME activity is canceled. They’ve promised to deliver it tomorrow at 9:00 AM, so if they weren’t lying, I might still be able to get in two full moon passes before I leave for Guam on the 4th.

++++++

So far, things haven’t been going well. The antenna still hasn’t arrived, but I hope it will be delivered tomorrow. The location isn’t ideal — the western direction (in Europe) is open, but to the east, buildings limit access. There’s wind too, with speeds forecast to reach up to 50 km/h tomorrow. However, I will do everything in my power to make it work.

++++++

The night was rough—heavy rain and strong winds made for a pretty miserable start. But by the morning, things had calmed down a little, giving me hope. If the missing suitcase with my antenna (which got lost somewhere in Guam) finally arrived as promised, I could still activate KH0.

At 9 AM, I got confirmation from the airport—the suitcase had been delivered. Finally, some good news! I picked it up, threw it in the car, and in half an hour, I was at the shack. At that point, I knew I wouldn’t be able to set everything up before moonset in the U.S., so I took my time, checking every connection twice. I hadn’t been able to test my new setup properly back home in EA8 due to some unfortunate events, so I was doing everything on the spot. The only things I had managed to measure before leaving were sun noise and PA output power.

The wind had mostly died down, but occasional drizzle kept me on edge. I powered up the PA and immediately ran into an issue—at 40% power from the IC-905, I was only getting 200W out instead of the 500W I had measured at home. Pushing it to 60% got me 300W, still way below what I expected. My guess? I had swapped the factory 5m data cable for a homemade 15m one with thinner wires (since every extra kilo costs 60 euros in baggage fees). The voltage drop was likely the culprit.

With no time to troubleshoot and no second tent to keep the RF module dry, I decided to leave it as is and deal with it back home. I installed OK1DFC’s new septum on the antenna and tried to “catch the sun” for reception. But with thick clouds overhead, that was impossible. The moon was at roughly the same azimuth but 30° higher, so I had to make adjustments manually. The antenna was shaking so much that I couldn’t get a reliable measurement, but after about half an hour, I managed to fine-tune it.

: 55 QSOs in the log.

2025-03-02,03:33:30,2025-03-02,03:35:59,JJ3JHP,PM75,1296.100999,Q65,-21,-24,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,03:38:00,2025-03-02,03:40:00,JQ3JWF,,1296.100999,Q65,-24,-24,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,05:14:00,2025-03-02,05:16:00,UA9YLU,,1296.100999,Q65,-26,-17,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,05:20:00,2025-03-02,05:22:00,JA6AHB,PM53,1296.100999,Q65,-23,-18,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,05:37:00,2025-03-02,05:41:57,UA3PTW,KO93,1296.100999,Q65,-13,-25,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,06:36:00,2025-03-02,06:40:00,YO2LAM,KN05,1296.100999,Q65,-14,-15,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,06:44:30,2025-03-02,06:46:59,RA4HL,LO43,1296.100999,Q65,-12,-14,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,06:48:00,2025-03-02,06:50:00,ZS6JON,KG33,1296.100999,Q65,-22,-25,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,06:53:00,2025-03-02,06:55:00,ZS4TX,KG30,1296.100999,Q65,-24,-22,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,06:55:30,2025-03-02,06:57:59,RD4D,LO42,1296.100999,Q65,-12,-17,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,06:58:30,2025-03-02,07:00:59,OK1UGA,JO80,1296.100999,Q65,-14,-19,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,07:02:00,2025-03-02,07:04:00,SM5DGX,JO89,1296.100999,Q65,-13,-19,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,07:04:00,2025-03-02,07:06:00,IK3COJ,JN65,1296.100999,Q65,-20,-21,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,07:19:00,2025-03-02,07:21:00,PA3DZL,,1296.100999,Q65,-13,-20,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,07:21:00,2025-03-02,07:23:00,OK1KIR,,1296.100999,Q65,-09,-22,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,07:26:00,2025-03-02,07:28:00,HB9Q,,1296.100999,Q65,-12,-13,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,07:28:00,2025-03-02,07:30:00,ON4AOI,JO21,1296.100999,Q65,-18,-18,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,07:33:00,2025-03-02,07:35:00,DF3RU,JN59,1296.100999,Q65,-15,-17,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,07:37:00,2025-03-02,07:39:00,OK1DFC,,1296.100999,Q65,-19,-11,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,07:40:00,2025-03-02,07:42:00,DL8YHR,,1296.100999,Q65,-20,-22,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,07:43:30,2025-03-02,07:45:59,DG5CST,JO60,1296.100999,Q65,-10,-14,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,07:49:30,2025-03-02,07:50:47,IZ8GGF,JN70,1296.100999,Q65,-21,-29,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,07:53:00,2025-03-02,07:55:00,PE1L,,1296.100999,Q65,-19,-20,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,08:00:30,2025-03-02,08:02:59,DL4DTU,,1296.100999,Q65,-22,-18,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,08:04:30,2025-03-02,08:06:59,OH3LWP,KP11,1296.100999,Q65,-24,-21,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,08:07:00,2025-03-02,08:09:00,YL2GD,,1296.100999,Q65,-19,-15,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,08:09:00,2025-03-02,08:11:00,OK1IL,JN69,1296.100999,Q65,-21,-27,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,08:11:00,2025-03-02,08:13:00,PA3FXB,JO33,1296.100999,Q65,-22,-20,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,08:13:00,2025-03-02,08:15:00,IK7EZN,,1296.100999,Q65,-20,-22,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,08:16:00,2025-03-02,08:18:00,G4CCH,,1296.100999,Q65,-16,-19,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,08:24:00,2025-03-02,08:26:00,G4YTL,IO92,1296.100999,Q65,-22,-23,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,08:28:00,2025-03-02,08:30:00,DK3WG,JO72,1296.100999,Q65,-21,-29,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,08:32:00,2025-03-02,08:34:00,DL1AT,JO61,1296.100999,Q65,-21,-20,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,08:34:00,2025-03-02,08:36:00,DL8FBD,JO40,1296.100999,Q65,-24,-21,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,08:36:00,2025-03-02,08:38:00,DF2VJ,JN39,1296.100999,Q65,-20,-25,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,08:41:00,2025-03-02,08:42:05,OH2DG,,1296.100999,Q65,-18,-21,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,08:43:30,2025-03-02,08:45:59,PA1PS,JO21,1296.100999,Q65,-25,-23,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,08:48:00,2025-03-02,08:50:00,OM4XA,,1296.100999,Q65,-24,-22,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,08:50:00,2025-03-02,08:52:00,IQ2DB,JN45,1296.100999,Q65,-17,-23,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,08:54:30,2025-03-02,08:56:59,SP5GDM,KO02,1296.100999,Q65,-20,-23,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,08:59:00,2025-03-02,09:00:59,ES3RF,KO29,1296.100999,Q65,-26,-25,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,09:03:00,2025-03-02,09:05:00,PA0TBR,JO21,1296.100999,Q65,-20,-23,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,09:10:30,2025-03-02,09:12:59,LZ4FR,KN13,1296.100999,Q65,-21,-19,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,09:25:00,2025-03-02,09:29:56,F5KUG,JN03,1296.100999,Q65,-19,-21,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,09:32:00,2025-03-02,09:35:47,SA6BUN,,1296.100999,Q65,-13,-15,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,09:35:00,2025-03-02,09:39:56,DL1HUH,JO61,1296.100999,Q65,-13,-12,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,09:39:00,2025-03-02,09:43:23,EA8DBM,JO61,1296.100999,Q65,-22,-23,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,09:46:00,2025-03-02,09:48:03,SP3XBO,JO81,1296.100999,Q65,-19,-19,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,09:46:00,2025-03-02,09:50:37,DK0ZAB,,1296.100999,Q65,-17,-11,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,09:56:00,2025-03-02,10:00:00,SP7EXY,,1296.100999,Q65,-19,-16,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,10:00:00,2025-03-02,10:04:00,F1RJ,JN18,1296.100999,Q65,-23,-21,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,10:18:00,2025-03-02,10:20:03,OK1VUM,JN79,1296.100999,Q65,-25,-21,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,10:22:00,2025-03-02,10:24:10,OK2DL,JN79,1296.100999,Q65,-12,-14,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,10:24:00,2025-03-02,10:28:02,DL1SUZ,JO53,1296.100999,Q65,-26,-27,,,,,,,
2025-03-02,10:30:00,2025-03-02,10:35:56,DJ2DY,JN39,1296.100999,Q65,-26,-27,,,,,,,

++++++++

Moonrise was at 8:30 AM, so I got up early to prepare—unfolding the antenna and aiming at the sun, since with the new moon and heavy cloud cover, the moon itself was completely invisible. Today is my last day on KH0, and I needed to give the East Coast a fair shot at making contacts.

The wind had settled a bit but still came in strong gusts, causing the antenna to shake. At about 15° elevation, I could see I was already clearing the building in front of me. Managed to log two QSOs with some lucky stations and spotted KB2SA calling—coming in strong at -22 dB. Just as I started the exchange, I caught a glimpse of disaster—a sudden gust snapped a 10mm hardened steel pin connecting the azimuth and elevation rotator motors. In an instant, my antenna shot up two meters into the air, taking the feed, elevator, and all the cables with it—all while blasting 400 watts at KB2SA’s R-22.

A quick inspection confirmed the worst—the rotator was beyond repair, at least in the field. But this is exactly why I carried an extra 5 kg! I had a spare rotator with me. Swapping it took an hour and a half, but the sensor cables had been completely torn out in the process. Resoldering them on the spot would have taken too long, so to avoid missing today’s moon pass, I just connected the motors and aimed manually.

I’ll properly fix everything once I reach Guam, where I’ll have some time to spare.

Final result for this MR: only 6 QSOs. A rough way to end KH0, but at least I got something out of it!

2025-03-02,23:54:30,2025-03-02,23:56:59,NC1I,FN32,1296.100999,Q65,-19,-15,,,,,,,

2025-03-02,23:58:30,2025-03-03,00:00:59,W5LUA,EM13,1296.100999,Q65,-23,-18,,,,,,,

2025-03-03,00:01:30,2025-03-03,00:04:59,KB2SA,DM13,1296.100999,Q65,-24,-23,,,,,,,

2025-03-03,02:42:00,2025-03-03,02:44:00,VE6TA,,1296.100999,Q65,-23,-19,,,,,,,

2025-03-03,03:52:00,2025-03-03,03:56:00,VK4CDI,QG63,1296.100999,Q65,-28,-24,,,,,,,

2025-03-03,04:18:00,2025-03-03,04:21:00,VK2JDS,QF46,1296.100999,Q65,-19,-16,,,,,,,

It wasn’t easy working on MS—strong gusts of wind, the moon hidden behind clouds, and by the evening, a light drizzle had started. I kept losing track of the moon, but despite the challenges, I believe I managed to work everyone.

In total, I logged 15 QSOs, including 12 initials.

2025-03-03,07:35:00,2025-03-03,07:37:00,YO2LAM,KN05,1296.100999,Q65,-21,-17,,,,,,,

2025-03-03,07:46:00,2025-03-03,07:50:00,OK1USW,JN69,1296.100999,Q65,-26,-23,,,,,,,

2025-03-03,07:50:00,2025-03-03,07:54:00,LZ4OC,KN33,1296.100999,Q65,-23,-24,,,,,,,

2025-03-03,07:54:00,2025-03-03,07:58:00,IK2DDR,,1296.100999,Q65,-19,-19,,,,,,,

2025-03-03,07:58:00,2025-03-03,08:02:00,G0LBK,,1296.100999,Q65,-22,-21,,,,,,,

2025-03-03,08:02:00,2025-03-03,08:06:00,DL7UDA,JO62,1296.100999,Q65,-23,-20,,,,,,,

2025-03-03,08:08:00,2025-03-03,08:12:00,OK1DFC,,1296.100999,Q65,-13,-05,,,,,,,

2025-03-03,08:13:00,2025-03-03,08:17:56,DG0FE,JO62,1296.100999,Q65,-22,-22,,,,,,,

2025-03-03,08:30:00,2025-03-03,08:34:00,OT7K,,1296.100999,Q65,-17,-12,,,,,,,

2025-03-03,08:36:00,2025-03-03,08:40:00,DM2CFH,,1296.100999,Q65,-17,-15,,,,,,,

2025-03-03,09:00:00,2025-03-03,09:04:00,PA0BAT,,1296.100999,Q65,-21,-19,,,,,,,

2025-03-03,09:31:00,2025-03-03,09:35:56,DK4RC,JO60,1296.100999,Q65,-20,-13,,,,,,,

2025-03-03,09:43:00,2025-03-03,09:47:56,CT1FFU,IM59,1296.100999,Q65,-22,-20,,,,,,,

2025-03-03,09:49:00,2025-03-03,09:53:56,DF7KB,JO30,1296.100999,Q65,-23,-25,,,,,,,

2025-03-03,09:59:00,2025-03-03,10:03:56,F1RJ,JN18,1296.100999,Q65,-25,-22,,,,,,,

A total of 73 QSOs. Unfortunately, the U.S. stations didn’t have much luck—one moonpass was lost due to my own mistake, another due to the missing luggage, and to top it all off, the rotator broke apart at the worst possible moment, sending the antenna “flying into the sky”…

My apologies to everyone.

Now it’s time to pack everything up. Tomorrow morning, I fly to KH2—hopefully, things will go more smoothly there.

Thanks to everyone who donated:

NC1I Frank

PA3DZL Jac

IK3COJ Aldo

OK1IL Ivan

PA3FXB Jan