OH0/EA8DBM , YL/EA8DBM 13 and 23 cm EME part 2

After the expedition to the British Isles and Monaco, I encountered a number of small issues with the antenna, rotator, cables and to top it all off, the amplifier burned out.

(Of course, it would be more accurate to say that I fried the amplifier myself… but let’s be honest who ever blames themselves, right?)

As a result, I decided to skip the high lunar declination period in July and instead prepare more thoroughly for August, September, and October. The two most important things are: the amplifier and the antenna!

Huge thanks to Peter AG6EE, who sent me a new amplifier and within two weeks it had already made its way to Europe!

The antenna, however, has proven to be a bit more challenging. I bought some inexpensive lycra, cut and stretched it, and covered it with aluminum tape. But when I turned it toward the sun, the whole thing melted and started to sag and drip within just 10 minutes.

Another approach I tried was to cut and build a multi-segment, foldable structure using car sunshades. It’s a promising idea for the future, but more complicated than I expected definitely time-consuming. So I ended up washing off the glue and reassembling my old, reliable “rag” reflector, which I’ll reinforce with a fresh layer of foil tomorrow.

I originally had the idea to take the ferry to TF (Iceland) in August, but I didn’t buy tickets until the new amplifier arrived. By the time it did, the cabin tickets were sold out… and I’m not quite ready to spend two days at sea without a cabin, lying on a wooden shelf next to five rugged Vikings. So TF is postponed until July 2026. Maybe by then, I’ll also add a second band 432 MHz to the setup.

Before my longer September trip to the south, I need to test everything closer to home. So I’ve decided to return to the Åland Islands (OH0) for a few days. Fortunately, I received a temporary license from Finnish TRAFICOM back in April to operate on 1296 MHz through the end of 2025.

No special license is required to work on 2320 MHz, which is nice.

My first-ever EME expedition was actually to the Ålands two years ago. I had a small 1.8 m dish back then which I dropped and broke two ribs on, so its radiation pattern ended up being skewed by several degrees in both azimuth and elevation. On top of that, the reflector had spent three years stored in the attic of my shack in direct line of sight to the volcano in Tenerife and had badly degraded. The best solar signal I saw was about 2.5–3 dB. Despite that, I managed to log 38 QSOs, mostly with large stations. But looking back at the log, I don’t see many of the stations I later worked easily on subsequent trips. So I hope there’ll be more interest this time!

I’ll be active from August 14 to 17 the first two days on 23 cm, and then during the ARRL EME contest on 13 cm. Since activity on 13 cm is usually low, I’ll likely be able to return to 23 cm on request over the weekend.

On the way back (August 17 or 18), I’ll make a stop in YL (Latvia) either from KO27 or KO28 to activate the country on 13 cm. I’ll probably also do some 23 cm there. Then I’ll head into LY (Lithuania), where I’ll try to be active for a little while too.

++++++++++

Finally, I had a couple of free days with good weather, so I managed to assemble and double-check everything. Everything is working as usual. On Tuesday, August 12, I’ll head to Tallinn, and on Wednesday, August 13, in the evening, I’ll take a ferry to the Åland Islands.

Since I was lucky with the weather, I was finally able to experiment with the antenna’s focus and see how well CS/SUN signals can be received at different focal lengths.

Many people say the correct focus is 34–36 inches. Of course, each dish and its material are unique, plus measurements should be taken from the start of the parabola—which isn’t always possible. In the end, I realized why my reception had worsened so much on the last trip. I took the time to check signal reception across the entire possible range of the central holder’s length, from 36 to 29.5 inches. It turned out that I had set the focus too far, causing the antenna to overshoot beyond the dish edges.

In my case, the optimal focal length—from the central plate of the antenna to the edge of the septum—is 30.5 inches. Considering that the focal point is about an inch inside from the septum’s edge and about 1.5 inches behind the dish’s center, the actual focal length is approximately 33 inches.

As a result, instead of 5.5–6 dB (on the 23 cm band), I now get 8.5–9 dB. On the 13 cm band, the incorrect focus gave me 2.5–3 dB. I expect an improvement of 1–2 dB here as well, but I didn’t have time to check because the sun went behind a building.

In the diagram, from left to right: distance to the edge of the septum, ground noise, cold sky, and sun

+++++++++++

Morning, August 14

With the ferry docking at 5 a.m., I was already on site by 6. The spot’s not bad at all — the house sits not far from the bay, straight to the west.

A welcoming committee of roughly a billion mosquitoes showed up right on time, buzzing with enthusiasm. )))

The official parking area — a gravel lot — is behind the house, but the west side is blocked off. So I’ll risk parking out front and hope nobody sends me packing. After all, there’s a brand-new “assistant” in the crew now, and that’s got to count for something.

Everything’s ready — about 5 hours to MR, with CS/SUN coming in at 6.5–7 dB.

I misjudged the azimuth a little when I parked. With the antenna’s rotation sector limited to about 200 degrees, a high Moon means I have to pick my battles — either sunrise or sunset. To the east, there’s a wall of pines about 20 meters high; to the west, not many callers… and those few should show up earlier. )))

I tried to park so the antenna would be dead-center in its arc, but I was off just enough that I couldn’t start until the Moon was already up at about 20 degrees.

Still, a solid start — I managed to work everyone who called in.

End result: 22 QSOs logged during the evening/night Moon pass.

2025-08-14,21:20:00,2025-08-14,21:24:00,DL4DTU,JO60,1296.101000,Q65,-21,-23,,,,,,,

2025-08-14,21:34:00,2025-08-14,21:40:00,JJ3JHP,PM75,1296.101000,Q65,-23,-17,,,,,,,

2025-08-14,21:42:00,2025-08-14,21:46:00,OK1UGA,JO80,1296.101000,Q65,-15,-15,,,,,,,

2025-08-14,21:50:00,2025-08-14,21:54:00,OK1IL,JN69,1296.101000,Q65,-20,-21,,,,,,,

2025-08-14,21:56:00,2025-08-14,22:00:00,VK2JDS,QF46,1296.101000,Q65,-21,-14,,,,,,,

2025-08-14,22:00:00,2025-08-14,22:04:00,JQ3JWF,PM75,1296.101000,Q65,-19,-17,,,,,,,

2025-08-14,22:04:00,2025-08-14,22:08:00,G0LBK,JO03,1296.101000,Q65,-22,-22,,,,,,,

2025-08-14,22:10:00,2025-08-14,22:14:00,DL1HUH,,1296.101000,Q65,-19,-10,,,,,,,

2025-08-14,22:14:00,2025-08-14,22:18:00,OE9ERC,JN47,1296.101000,Q65,-12,-12,,,,,,,

2025-08-14,22:18:00,2025-08-14,22:22:00,JH3AZC,PM85,1296.101000,Q65,-20,-18,,,,,,,

2025-08-14,22:22:00,2025-08-14,22:26:00,ZS4TX,KG30,1296.101000,Q65,-22,-22,,,,,,,

2025-08-14,22:32:00,2025-08-14,22:36:00,VK3NFI,QF31,1296.101000,Q65,-24,-19,,,,,,,

2025-08-14,22:36:00,2025-08-14,22:40:00,I2FAK,JN45,1296.101000,Q65,-17,-18,,,,,,,

2025-08-14,22:40:00,2025-08-14,22:44:00,G4YTL,IO92,1296.101000,Q65,-23,-20,,,,,,,

2025-08-14,22:44:00,2025-08-14,22:48:00,ZS6JON,KG33,1296.101000,Q65,-21,-17,,,,,,,

2025-08-14,22:48:00,2025-08-14,22:52:00,PA3EXV,JO32,1296.101000,Q65,-19,-18,,,,,,,

2025-08-14,22:56:00,2025-08-14,23:00:00,OK2AQ,JN89,1296.101000,Q65,-25,-26,,,,,,,

2025-08-14,23:00:00,2025-08-14,23:04:00,DL8FBD,JO40,1296.101000,Q65,-24,-22,,,,,,,

2025-08-14,23:04:00,2025-08-14,23:08:00,JS6UJS,,1296.101000,Q65,-22,-16,,,,,,,

2025-08-14,23:14:00,2025-08-14,23:18:00,DJ3JJ,JN48,1296.101000,Q65,-26,-22,,,,,,,

2025-08-14,23:22:00,2025-08-14,23:24:03,EA8DBM,IL18OH,1296.101000,Q65,-22,-26,,,,,,,

2025-08-14,23:24:00,2025-08-14,23:28:00,PA3HDG,JO31,1296.101000,Q65,-23,-21,,,,,,,

In the morning, new ‘clients’ joined in, which made things livelier, and the antenna seemed to be working well. I quickly worked everyone who wanted a contact, and even easily completed QSOs with two 2.4 m portable dish operators, KB7Q and AC2AC.

A total of 19 QSOs in the morning."

2025-08-15,06:12:00,2025-08-15,06:16:00,DM2CFH,JO61,1296.101000,Q65,-23,-18,,,,,,,

2025-08-15,06:30:00,2025-08-15,06:34:00,IK7EZN,JN90,1296.101000,Q65,-21,-20,,,,,,,

2025-08-15,06:34:00,2025-08-15,06:38:00,IK5VLS,JN53,1296.101000,Q65,-22,-19,,,,,,,

2025-08-15,06:38:00,2025-08-15,06:42:00,DL7UDA,JO62,1296.101000,Q65,-17,-20,,,,,,,

2025-08-15,06:42:00,2025-08-15,06:46:00,DF2VJ,JN39,1296.101000,Q65,-22,-26,,,,,,,

2025-08-15,06:48:00,2025-08-15,06:52:00,DK3WG,JO72,1296.101000,Q65,-22,-24,,,,,,,

2025-08-15,06:54:00,2025-08-15,06:58:00,DG0FE,,1296.101000,Q65,-17,-20,,,,,,,

2025-08-15,06:58:00,2025-08-15,07:02:00,OK1VUM,JN79,1296.101000,Q65,-20,-17,,,,,,,

2025-08-15,07:02:00,2025-08-15,07:06:09,OH3LWP,KP11,1296.101000,Q65,-22,-21,,,,,,,

2025-08-15,07:06:00,2025-08-15,07:10:00,GM0PJD,IO85,1296.101000,Q65,-17,-16,,,,,,,

2025-08-15,07:10:00,2025-08-15,07:14:00,AC2AC,EL96,1296.101000,Q65,-25,-25,,,,,,,

2025-08-15,07:14:00,2025-08-15,07:18:00,LU8ENU,GF05,1296.101000,Q65,-24,-23,,,,,,,

2025-08-15,07:18:00,2025-08-15,07:22:00,K6DIS,,1296.101000,Q65,-18,-15,,,,,,,

2025-08-15,07:22:00,2025-08-15,07:26:00,KB7Q,DN45,1296.101000,Q65,-23,-23,,,,,,,

2025-08-15,07:31:00,2025-08-15,07:34:00,OZ5TG,JO45,1296.101000,Q65,-26,-24,,,,,,,

2025-08-15,07:44:00,2025-08-15,07:48:00,DF3RU,JN59,1296.101000,Q65,-14,-10,,,,,,,

2025-08-15,07:52:00,2025-08-15,07:56:00,G4KLX,IO90,1296.101000,Q65,-24,-23,,,,,,,

2025-08-15,08:02:00,2025-08-15,08:06:00,PA3FXB,JO33,1296.101000,Q65,-19,-17,,,,,,,

2025-08-15,08:08:00,2025-08-15,08:12:00,YO2LAM,KN05,1296.101000,Q65,-15,-17,,,,,,,

Total: 41 QSO

By lunchtime, there was no one left to work, and in my opinion only ZS5Y remained unworked — he was just fatally unlucky. As soon as I saw him, one of the Big Guns dropped right on his frequency… and then Derek’s have moon set. Hopefully, I’ll catch him tomorrow.

The Moon was in full view almost the entire time, and the “sight” hardly drifted at all. When the elevation dropped to around 10 degrees, the Grand Gain kicked in with a huge boost — but by then there was no one left to work. Out of boredom, I checked my own echo, and I liked what I saw. :-)

Looks like the setup’s in great shape.

Tomorrow kicks off the ARRL EME contest for 13 cm and up, so today I swapped in the new septum, set the focal length just right, and did some Sun measurements. For my “compromise” antenna, the numbers look fantastic: ground noise at 2 dB, cold sky/Sun at 5 dB — I’ve never seen it work this well. The PA is pushing 200 W, and with the 7 m cable that’s about a 1 dB drop, so I should have roughly 150 W at the feed. Back in Monaco, with my old long cable, I think I was losing closer to 2 dB.

So I’m really looking forward to the start — if the weather plays along, it should be a blast. The band on 13 cm is wide open here in all directions — EU, USA, JA — crystal clear.

Sunday might be a problem, though: the forecast says worsening conditions and winds up to 80 km/h. So, if you need OH0 in your log, don’t miss the chance on Saturday — it might be the only window.

++++++++++++

On Friday evening, August 15, heavy rain began, but with only moderate wind — so I decided to leave the antenna deployed, waiting for the start of the ARRL contest.

As the night wore on, the gusts just kept getting stronger. By 4 a.m. local time I had no choice but to dash outside, quickly collapse the umbrella antenna, and lash everything down with guy ropes. The wind was already howling at 10–11 m/s (around 40 km/h), and by morning they’re promising up to 17 m/s (60 km/h).

It’s been blowing relentlessly all Saturday and Sunday, with no real break in sight until Monday morning (August 18). If there’s even a short lull, I’ll try to get on the air for a bit — but at the moment, the forecast looks grim.

++++++++++++++

Saturday, August 16, midday — I caught a brief lull and tried to deploy the antenna to get at least a little time on 13 cm. But the moment I started, the side wind from the bay hit so hard that the ribs wouldn’t even open.

In the end, it’s probably lucky I didn’t manage — every short pause was followed by violent squalls. I shot a quick video, but of course it only shows the “quiet” phase; the real force of the wind is hard to capture.

It was obvious there’d be no chance of setting up today — not even in my dreams. So, out of sheer frustration, I wandered into the forest and at least foraged myself some lunch.

+++++++++

August 17, Sunday — the storm raged through the night and morning, but after lunch it slowly began to ease, and I decided to take the risk of opening the antenna. The sky was completely overcast, with neither the Sun nor the Moon visible. I aligned the azimuth using the Sun, but while turning 100 degrees toward the Moon, a gust of wind ripped out the bolt holding the central rod, and the antenna swung 30 degrees off to the side.

By the time I replaced the bolt and re-tuned, I had lost 40–50 minutes. Still, I managed to get it fixed and on the air. The result: 8 long-awaited QSOs on 13 cm. Unfortunately, I couldn’t complete with N1AV, even though he was hearing me. After that, I switched to 23 cm, but by then the Moon was already too low.

8 QSO:

2025-08-17,11:14:00,2025-08-17,11:18:00,OE9ERC,JN47,2320.101000,Q65,-12,-20,,,,,,,

2025-08-17,11:26:00,2025-08-17,11:30:00,OK1DFC,,2320.101000,Q65,-19,-27,,,,,,,

2025-08-17,11:30:00,2025-08-17,11:34:00,HB9Q,JN47,2320.101000,Q65,-09,-18,,,,,,,

2025-08-17,11:50:00,2025-08-17,11:54:00,OK1KIR,JN79,2320.101000,Q65,-19,-17,,,,,,,

2025-08-17,11:54:00,2025-08-17,11:58:00,PA3DZL,JO21,2320.101000,Q65,-24,-22,,,,,,,

2025-08-17,11:58:00,2025-08-17,12:02:00,OH3LWP,KP11,2320.101000,Q65,-19,-21,,,,,,,

2025-08-17,12:02:00,2025-08-17,12:06:00,G4CCH,,2320.101000,Q65,-22,-16,,,,,,,

2025-08-17,12:11:00,2025-08-17,12:12:22,PA0PLY,JO32,2320.101000,Q65,-24,-22,,,,,,,

I set the septum back to 23 cm, checked everything, and parked the antenna — the wind has finally died down!

The Moon will be up at 20:30 GMT. If anyone still needs OH0, I’ll be available.

The evening and night turned out to be surprisingly calm and clear — just the kind of weather you dream of for an expedition. The Moon was lighting up half the sky, the air was pleasantly cool… if not for the swarms of bloodthirsty mosquitoes, it would have felt like paradise. :-)

But after the weekend, activity was almost nonexistent. Everyone seemed to be asleep — except me. I logged a couple of QSOs, then, out of boredom, ran an echo test. My echo came back steady at –22 to –24 dB, a good sign the antenna is doing its job. With no one else around, I gave in and decided to catch some sleep.

I’ll be back on in the morning if anyone still needs OH0. By 18:00 I’ll have to hand the house back to the owner and head for the ferry.

2025-08-18,00:32:00,2025-08-18,00:40:00,VK4CDI,QG63,1296.101000,Q65,-30,-20,,,,,,,

2025-08-18,00:46:00,2025-08-18,00:50:00,BA7NQ,OL63,1296.101000,Q65,-27,-21,,,,,,,

2025-08-18,06:44:00,2025-08-18,06:48:00,PA0TBR,JO21,1296.103000,Q65,-14,-16,,,,,,,

2025-08-18,06:58:00,2025-08-18,07:02:00,PA3DZL,JO21,1296.101000,Q65,-21,-19,,,,,,,

2025-08-18,07:02:00,2025-08-18,07:06:00,NC1I,FN32,1296.101000,Q65,-20,-13,,,,,,,

2025-08-18,07:29:00,2025-08-18,07:32:00,ES3RF,KO29,1296.101000,Q65,-17,-24,,,,,,,

2025-08-18,07:32:00,2025-08-18,07:36:00,SP5GDM,KO02,1296.101000,Q65,-14,-16,,,,,,,

2025-08-18,07:50:00,2025-08-18,07:54:00,SP7EXY,,1296.101000,Q65,-20,-17,,,,,,,

2025-08-18,07:54:00,2025-08-18,07:58:00,M0FXX,IO91,1296.101000,Q65,-19,-20,,,,,,,

2025-08-18,08:02:00,2025-08-18,08:06:00,DJ2DY,JN39,1296.101000,Q65,-20,-18,,,,,,,

2025-08-18,08:06:00,2025-08-18,08:10:00,W2HRO,FN20,1296.101000,Q65,-25,-32,,,,,,,

2025-08-18,08:12:00,2025-08-18,08:16:00,DK5AI,JO51,1296.101000,Q65,-24,-22,,,,,,,

2025-08-18,08:18:00,2025-08-18,08:32:00,ON4MU,JO20,1296.101000,Q65,-26,-26,,,,,,,

2025-08-18,08:34:00,2025-08-18,08:38:00,DJ7FJ,JN48,1296.101000,Q65,-20,-19,,,,,,,

2025-08-18,08:46:00,2025-08-18,08:50:00,NC1I,FN32,1296.101000,Q65,-06,-08,,,,,,,

2025-08-18,08:52:00,2025-08-18,08:56:00,UA9FAD,LO88,1296.101000,Q65,-21,-12,,,,,,,

2025-08-18,08:58:00,2025-08-18,09:02:00,OZ5TG,JO45,1296.101000,Q65,-23,-19,,,,,,,

2025-08-18,09:10:00,2025-08-18,09:14:00,PA0BAT,,1296.101000,Q65,-15,-14,,,,,,,

The antenna with the travel septums from OK1DFC works great. On request I switched to 13 cm and logged 2 more QSOs. The antenna gain on 13 cm is lower than on 23 cm, but the beam is noticeably sharper — you really feel it if you “miss” the Moon even slightly.

In Monaco, it took us almost an hour and a half to complete the QSO with PA7JB. Today, however, I just had to aim a bit more carefully at the Moon (as it came out from behind the clouds) and made a quick QSO with a –22 dB report — impressive considering John only has a 2.4 m dish and 250 watts.

13cm band 2 QSO, Total: 10 QSO

2025-08-18,09:42:00,2025-08-18,09:46:00,PA0BAT,JO31,2320.101000,Q65,-23,-24,,,,,,,

2025-08-18,10:08:00,2025-08-18,10:12:00,PA7JB,JO22,2320.101000,Q65,-22,-24,,,,,,,

Then I moved back to 23 cm. There were still a couple of hours left on the Moon, but it was already time to start packing for the trip to Latvia.

++++. another six QSOs on 23cm

2025-08-18,10:34:00,2025-08-18,10:38:00,DL0SHF,,1296.101000,Q65,-05,-05,,,,,,,

2025-08-18,10:38:00,2025-08-18,10:42:00,CT1WO,IM58,1296.101000,Q65,-20,-22,,,,,,,

2025-08-18,10:52:00,2025-08-18,10:56:00,HB9Q,JN47,1296.101000,Q65,-01,-06,,,,,,,

2025-08-18,11:10:00,2025-08-18,11:14:00,PA7JB,JO22,1296.101000,Q65,-21,-17,,,,,,,

2025-08-18,11:14:00,2025-08-18,11:18:00,DL1SUZ,JO53,1296.101000,Q65,-20,-18,,,,,,,

2025-08-18,11:28:00,2025-08-18,11:32:00,SM5DGX,JO89,1296.101000,Q65,-03,-16,,,,,,,

2025-08-18,11:36:00,2025-08-18,11:40:00,N0CTR,EN26,1296.101000,Q65,-16,-17,,,,,,,

2025-08-18,12:13:00,2025-08-18,12:26:00,NY1V,EM69,1296.101000,Q65,-25,-29,,,,,,,

Total : 13 cm -10 QSO

23 cm - 67 QSO

It seems not bad, now it's time to pack everything up, get on the ferry and try to be in Latvia by tomorrow evening.

Many thanks for the financial support: OK1IL, ZS4TX, PA3DZL, PA0BAT