VP2V/LY3UM (FK78) British Virgin Islands.
Tomorrow morning, I’ll be busy packing and unpacking everything, returning the car, and then setting sail for VP2V around lunchtime. If all goes smoothly, I expect to be in position by approximately 18:00-19:00 local time. While I might not make it in time for moonrise, I’ll do my best to get set up and start operating as soon as I arrive.
Fingers crossed that the interference won’t be as severe as it was on KP2. I’ll be on-site until October 20th and plan to participate in the ARRL EME contest on 23 cm.
I arrived on schedule at the island after a 50-minute journey. Passport control took about an hour, and then came the "cherry on top"—another hour at customs. They bombarded me with questions: Why so much equipment? What exactly is amateur radio? I ended up answering the same questions twice, each time to a different customs officer. But in the end, everything worked out—they let me through!
The site I chose turned out to be perfect: an open field on a mountain with decent visibility to the east and west, right at the top of the hill. I set up quickly, as usual. RX was working, TX switched properly, and PTT functioned—but there was no power! It took about 40 minutes to troubleshoot and fix the issue.
While I was working on the setup, the noise levels started changing. Interference appeared, very similar to radar signals I’d encountered on OY this past summer. The LNA wasn't blocking it, and the ability to decode weak signals dropped by 3-4 dB.
Thankfully, after an hour, the interference vanished—or maybe the radar was turned off—only to return for another hour later. But overall, it was manageable. I made about ten QSOs before the elevation angle hit 75 degrees, and that’s when the rotator (or perhaps the sensor) started acting up.
I had to quickly take down the antenna and switch to the reliable manual drive.
In total, I logged 17 QSOs!
2024-10-17,00:34:00,2024-10-17,00:36:00,UA3PTW,KO93,1296.101002,Q65,-18,-19,,,,
2024-10-17,00:37:00,2024-10-17,00:40:00,NC1I,FN32,1296.101002,Q65,-15,-18,,,,
2024-10-17,00:41:00,2024-10-17,00:44:00,OK1KIR,JN79,1296.101002,Q65,-19,-19,,,,
2024-10-17,00:44:00,2024-10-17,00:48:00,RA4HL,,1296.101002,Q65,-20,-22,,,,
2024-10-17,01:00:00,2024-10-17,01:00:00,RD4D,,1296.101002,Q65,-23,-22,,,,
2024-10-17,01:00:00,2024-10-17,01:02:14,G0LBK,,1296.101002,Q65,-23,-25,,,,
2024-10-17,01:02:00,2024-10-17,01:06:00,PY2BS,,1296.101002,Q65,-26,-22,,,,
2024-10-17,01:09:00,2024-10-17,01:14:00,OK1IL,JN69,1296.101002,Q65,-28,-27,,,,
2024-10-17,01:17:00,2024-10-17,01:20:00,YL2GD,,1296.101002,Q65,-26,-26,,,,
2024-10-17,01:29:00,2024-10-17,01:32:00,PA0BAT,,1296.101002,Q65,-27,-23,,,,
2024-10-17,01:38:00,2024-10-17,01:38:00,SP5GDM,,1296.101002,Q65,-26,-23,,,,
2024-10-17,02:02:00,2024-10-17,02:02:00,N5TM,EL29,1296.101002,Q65,-26,-23,,,,
2024-10-17,02:05:00,2024-10-17,02:10:00,K5DOG,,1296.101002,Q65,-23,-26,,,,
2024-10-17,02:14:00,2024-10-17,02:24:05,W2HRO,FN20,1296.101002,Q65,-26,-26,,,,
2024-10-17,02:52:00,2024-10-17,02:56:00,OK1DFC,JN79,1296.101002,Q65,-23,-14,,,,
2024-10-17,03:04:00,2024-10-17,03:04:00,YO2LAM,KN05,1296.101002,Q65,-24,-24,,,,
2024-10-17,03:11:00,2024-10-17,03:16:00,W2HRO,FN20,1296.101002,Q65,-25,-25,,,,
17 October:
In the early daylight, the reason for the weak signal—both for reception and transmission—became obvious. In my haste to avoid missing the lunar window, I didn’t fully secure the tension bushings. These bushings, fastened with screws, are essential for maintaining the proper tension of the parabolic dish. Unfortunately, they weren’t screwed in all the way, causing them to slip under tension. As a result, 2.4-meter dish sagged, effectively reducing its diameter to about 2 meters. It’s honestly a miracle that managed to make any contacts at all!
The problem became clear in the morning, and I,m quickly set about fixing it. Everything has now been tightened and secured. I’m hopeful that after rebooting the OE5JFL controller, its "brain" will reset, allowing to switch from manual pointing to automatic tracking. That will certainly make life a lot easier!
During the day, I measured the noise temperature of the sun and cold sky using yesterday's backup LNA—an unimpressive 3.5 dB. I then swapped it out for the trusty old G4DDK, and the difference was huge—a solid 5.5 dB. This promised a good evening ahead.
With everything set for the evening moonpass, I positioned the amplifier and PSU under the awning and stepped away for just 15 minutes. Of course, as luck would have it, an unexpected tropical downpour arrived—fast and slanted. I rushed back to the tent only to find it flooded, with both the PA and PSU standing in a puddle of water. Unreal! I actually poured a glassful of water out of them. Not exactly ideal conditions, to say the least!
Thankfully, there was a hair dryer in the house, and I spent the next four hours carefully blowing and drying the equipment. After all that effort, I still felt a bit anxious before turning it all back on.
But luck was on my side—the equipment dried out perfectly, the antenna worked without a hitch, and the weather held up for the rest of the night.
By the end, I worked everyone who was ready and patient enough. A total of 17+31 = 48 QSOs are in the log!
2024-10-17,23:10:00,2024-10-17,23:12:00,ON4AOI,JO21,1296.101002,Q65,-23,-20,,,,
2024-10-17,23:13:00,2024-10-17,23:16:00,PA3DZL,,1296.101002,Q65,-19,-20,,,,
2024-10-17,23:16:00,2024-10-17,23:20:00,DL4DTU,,1296.101002,Q65,-18,-17,,,,
2024-10-17,23:19:00,2024-10-17,23:24:00,PA9RX,,1296.101002,Q65,-22,-22,,,,
2024-10-17,23:23:00,2024-10-17,23:34:00,G4CCH,,1296.101002,Q65,-26,-17,,,,
2024-10-17,23:33:00,2024-10-17,23:38:00,IK3COJ,,1296.101002,Q65,-23,-20,,,,
2024-10-17,23:39:00,2024-10-17,23:42:00,OK1VUM,JN79,1296.101002,Q65,-25,-21,,,,
2024-10-17,23:46:00,2024-10-17,23:46:00,G4YTL,IO92,1296.101002,Q65,-24,-22,,,,
2024-10-17,23:47:00,2024-10-17,23:50:00,UA9FAD,LO88,1296.101002,Q65,-26,-21,,,,
2024-10-17,23:51:00,2024-10-17,23:54:00,PA3EXV,JO32,1296.101002,Q65,-23,-21,,,,
2024-10-17,23:54:00,2024-10-17,23:58:00,YU1SAN,KN03,1296.101002,Q65,-23,-23,,,,
2024-10-18,00:08:00,2024-10-18,00:08:00,PA3FXB,JO33,1296.101002,Q65,-22,-20,,,,
2024-10-18,00:08:00,2024-10-18,00:12:00,PA0TBR,JO21,1296.101002,Q65,-25,-22,,,,
2024-10-18,00:11:00,2024-10-18,00:15:34,CT1WO,,1296.101002,Q65,-25,-23,,,,
2024-10-18,00:20:00,2024-10-18,00:24:21,EA8DBM,IL18OH,1296.101002,Q65,-26,-23,,,,
2024-10-18,00:42:00,2024-10-18,00:46:00,DL1AT,JO61,1296.101002,Q65,-24,-22,,,,
2024-10-18,00:46:00,2024-10-18,00:50:00,DL8FBD,JO40,1296.101002,Q65,-23,-24,,,,
2024-10-18,00:50:00,2024-10-18,00:54:00,SP7EXY,,1296.101002,Q65,-18,-22,,,,
2024-10-18,01:04:00,2024-10-18,01:04:00,DF2VJ,JN39,1296.101002,Q65,-28,-24,,,,
2024-10-18,01:09:00,2024-10-18,01:12:00,W5LUA,EM13,1296.101002,Q65,-16,-21,,,,
2024-10-18,01:13:00,2024-10-18,01:16:00,W2ZQ,FN20,1296.101002,Q65,-23,-23,,,,
2024-10-18,01:37:00,2024-10-18,01:46:00,DL1SUZ,JO53,1296.101002,Q65,-29,-27,,,,
2024-10-18,01:48:00,2024-10-18,01:52:00,DK3WG,JO72,1296.101002,Q65,-23,-27,,,,
2024-10-18,02:06:00,2024-10-18,02:12:00,KB2SA,,1296.101002,Q65,-22,-29,,,,
2024-10-18,02:14:00,2024-10-18,02:20:00,XE1XA,,1296.101002,Q65,-19,-15,,,,
2024-10-18,02:42:00,2024-10-18,02:42:00,DF3RU,JN59,1296.101002,Q65,-23,-21,,,,
2024-10-18,02:47:00,2024-10-18,02:50:00,N6RZJ,CM99,1296.101002,Q65,-19,-22,,,,
2024-10-18,02:54:00,2024-10-18,02:58:00,K5DN,,1296.101002,Q65,-21,-20,,,,
2024-10-18,09:26:00,2024-10-18,09:30:00,K1WHS,FN43,1296.101002,Q65,-27,-27,,,,
2024-10-18,09:46:00,2024-10-18,09:46:00,VK4CDI,QG63,1296.101002,Q65,-32,-24,,,,
2024-10-18,10:12:00,2024-10-18,10:12:00,JA6AHB,PM53,1296.101002,Q65,-25,-31,,,,
As the evening approached, the moonrise aligned perfectly with the start of the ARRL EME contest. About an hour before the contest, I decided to run a general equipment check. To my surprise, the TX SWR had suddenly jumped from yesterday's steady 1.07 to 1.7. It seems that during the daily setup and teardown—or perhaps during transport—the cable was either pinched or the braid had come loose. Not ideal, but no big deal; I had packed a spare TX cable specifically for situations like this!
I quickly swapped out the old cable, which had served me well, for the new one. However, to my dismay, the SWR skyrocketed to over 3! It seems the new cable had been damaged during the flights, possibly from being crammed into a suitcase. Of course, I hadn’t thought to bring the tools needed to disassemble and fix it. With no other option, I reluctantly reattached the old cable, hoping it would hold up through the night.
Initially, the reception seemed fine. I was hearing signals well enough, and they could hear me too—at least for the first half hour. But then the reception took a sharp dive, worsening by about 5-6 dB. Soon, no one could hear me at all. I double-checked everything: antenna alignment to the moon was spot-on, but it felt like I was operating under the same poor conditions I faced on the first day, with a faulty LNA and a half-assembled antenna. To make matters worse, it felt like a magnetic storm had hit, further disrupting everything.
After three long hours, conditions finally seemed to improve. Reception returned to normal, and QSOs started coming in smoothly again. Just as I was getting back into the groove with IK5VLS, the sky opened up, and a torrential downpour began. I quickly disconnected the cable and threw myself over the equipment to shield it from the rain! With a few drops already on the setup, I decided not to risk turning it back on and called it a night.
Tomorrow morning, I'll dry everything thoroughly with a hair dryer, just to be safe. Hopefully, I’ll be ready for another moonrise and a fresh start in the evening.
For now, I’ve logged 17 QSOs. Fingers crossed for better conditions tomorrow!
2024-10-19,00:01:00,2024-10-19,00:04:00,DG5CST,JO60,1296.101002,Q65,-15,-19,,,,
2024-10-19,00:06:00,2024-10-19,00:08:00,RA4HL,LO43,1296.101002,Q65,-20,-22,,,,
2024-10-19,00:10:00,2024-10-19,00:12:02,OK1UGA,JO80,1296.101002,Q65,-18,-21,,,,
2024-10-19,00:15:00,2024-10-19,00:18:00,OK2DL,JN79,1296.101002,Q65,-15,-19,,,,
2024-10-19,00:18:00,2024-10-19,00:22:02,DK4RC,,1296.101002,Q65,-13,-17,,,,
2024-10-19,00:38:00,2024-10-19,00:42:00,OK1DFC,JN79,1296.101002,Q65,-16,-13,,,,
2024-10-19,01:40:00,2024-10-19,01:47:00,DL7UDA,JO62,1296.079565,Q65,-23,-24,,,,
2024-10-19,01:52:00,2024-10-19,01:55:30,OK2DL,,1296.106565,Q65,-16,-23,,,,
2024-10-19,02:40:00,2024-10-19,02:40:00,IQ2DB,JN45,1296.100999,Q65,-25,-32,,,,
2024-10-19,02:40:00,2024-10-19,02:44:00,ON5GS,,1296.100999,Q65,-25,-20,,,,
2024-10-19,03:27:00,2024-10-19,03:27:00,F4KLO,JN18,1296.082999,Q65,-21,-18,,,,
2024-10-19,03:43:00,2024-10-19,03:47:00,IK2DDR,JN55,1296.084808,Q65,-23,-28,,,,
2024-10-19,03:52:00,2024-10-19,03:52:00,HB9Q,JN47,1296.101808,Q65,-10,-16,,,,
2024-10-19,03:58:00,2024-10-19,04:00:00,YO2LAM,KN05,1296.101005,Q65,-24,-25,,,,
2024-10-19,04:14:00,2024-10-19,04:22:00,ES3RF,KO29,1296.101005,Q65,-29,-28,,,,
2024-10-19,04:58:00,2024-10-19,05:04:00,OT7K,JO21,1296.101005,Q65,-20,-25,,,,
2024-10-19,05:16:00,2024-10-19,05:25:14,IK5VLS,,1296.071905,Q65,-22,-22,,,,
62 units total.
This morning, a local resident stopped by to rummage through a suitcase full of equipment. I didn’t want to leave for a while—I had to carry it by hand, he really wanted to stay! ;-)
Then I took a trip to the store to get an instrument, and it became clear why the SWR was off the charts and why, at times, no one could hear me.
As usual, a spare cable was hastily made on the last day. The SWR was measured and tested. However, there came an inevitable moment when the central conductor shorted.
I checked and prepared everything today, so when moonrise came, all that was needed was to press the button and get to work. But... the tropical rain hit once again. I found myself pouring water out of the amplifier and PSU, drying everything under a hot fan. This is quickly becoming a tradition! :-)
2024-10-20,01:45:00,2024-10-20,01:48:00,ZS4TX,KG30,1296.103999,Q65,-32,-24,,,,
2024-10-20,01:58:00,2024-10-20,02:00:02,DL3JJ,JO60,1296.103999,Q65,-15,-21,,,,
2024-10-20,02:02:00,2024-10-20,02:04:00,SA6BUN,JO78,1296.103999,Q65,-21,-18,,,,
2024-10-20,02:05:00,2024-10-20,02:08:00,SP3YDE,JO82,1296.103999,Q65,-26,-22,,,,
2024-10-20,02:09:00,2024-10-20,02:12:01,ZS6JON,KG33,1296.103999,Q65,-31,-25,,,,
2024-10-20,02:12:00,2024-10-20,02:16:00,DG0FE,,1296.103999,Q65,-25,-22,,,,
2024-10-20,02:18:00,2024-10-20,02:20:00,OH1LRY,KP11,1296.103999,Q65,-22,-22,,,,
2024-10-20,02:22:00,2024-10-20,02:24:00,OK1KKD,JO70,1296.103999,Q65,-22,-24,,,,
2024-10-20,02:28:00,2024-10-20,02:30:00,SP5GDM,KO02,1296.103999,Q65,-24,-20,,,,
2024-10-20,02:36:00,2024-10-20,02:40:00,PE1LWT,JO22,1296.103999,Q65,-32,-20,,,,
2024-10-20,02:56:00,2024-10-20,03:00:00,UA9YLU,,1296.103999,Q65,-33,-22,,,,
2024-10-20,03:27:00,2024-10-20,03:30:00,PA0TBR,JO21,1296.103999,Q65,-32,-23,,,,
12 QSO today: total 72 inits
It looks like everyone who was willing and able has put in the work, so instead of taking it easy on Sunday, I’ll be busy packing up the equipment for two flights tomorrow.
A huge thank you to everyone who offered their support:
Bernard ZS4TX
David G0LBK
Ivan OK1IL
Paul W2HRO
John PA7JB
Edfel KP4AJ
Your help has been invaluable!