My DXpeditions

EA6/OQ7R (2008)

Early 2008 my girlfriend booked a holidaytrip to another EU IOTA island. I have to admit Kelly supports my hamradio hobby. In return I only had to pay the trip hihi. After activating SV8, EA8 she agreed on a trip to EA6. This year we left the 28th of May for a 9 day stay. We rented a bungalow in a resort called tropicana ***, its a the south-east side of the island. The bungalow itself was located about 20m ASL and 200m from the beach. Last year I learned I'd better had my own fisshing pole with me to support the antenna, so I took the 12M (36ft) pole from dx-wire which did a great job. This year I had a G5RV instead of a FD3 I usually use on a trip. There were easy to climb lightpoles available to support the legs of the G5RV. Conditions were not that good, so you could find me mainly on the lower bands like 30, 40 and some 80M. EA6 is not a rare country, but had some nice runs on 40 cw and PSK. I operated holiday style, so only in the evening about 2 or 3 hours a days with some days of no activity at all. At the end I had about 500 QSOs. 75% CW, 10% SSB and 15% PSK. Thanks again for the contacts, your QSL card will be answered, Kelly is working on that topic

Hamradio/climbing compliaint electricitypole	EA6 operating position.

A 12m pole, a G5RV and lots of fun	Turn your head 90degr to the left ;-)). setup @ Mallorca

EA8/OQ7R (2007)

Same plans, same equipment but different location. This year the girlfriend choose the destination Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands. Nice but crowdy Island. I was able to put the antenna on the roof off the bungalow....for the first few days. After a couple of days management of the hotel asked me (not even friendly) to remove the antenna. Still guessing why, no TVI, no compleining neighbours, ...a good example of how not to serve your customers. A fellow ham who went to the same spot a few weeks later had the same problem. However the first few day I managed to work a couple of hondred Qs. For my next trip I will use a fishing rod which I can erect during evenings and nights and/or ask permission before leaving.

Plenty of time to relax, no I wasn't /MM	The QSL card for this trip

SV8/OT0A (2006)

Early 2006 my girlfriend was planning a holiday to Corfu. I told her about fact that I could take the radio with me and activate this IOTA island. Lucky me, I even didn't had to convince here (isn't she great) to foresee 30kg extra luggage for this trip. We left from Brussels airport in early june for this one week trip. After a 4 hour flight we landed in the sunny Corfu. I had the yeasy FT-990 and an FD4 and made 500+ QSOs during this holiday style operation. I was suprised to work JAs so easy from that spot, but also worked the other continents. After the holiday my girlfriend developped the full-colour QSL-card, which will be send after receiving your card.

All you need.....a perfect location & understandable wife.	SV8 QSL card, thanks to Kelly for the design

In 1998 I had the chance to join Tiny, ON4CAT and Patrick ON4APS on a DXpedition to 5A, Lybia. I dreamt of this occasions since I made my first steps on HF, even before when reading DX articles in old CQ-QSO magazines of my nearly neighbour ON5NT. Now I had the chance to put my first steps into the DX scene. I started to improve my CW with the popular PED program and was ready to go. Tiny and Patrick were exclusivly working SSB, so I would work the nightshifts en master the lowbands and CW.




It was the first time I was experiencing the "grayline". Working eastcoast in the early evening and late at night working the friends from the westcoast. During the day I slept or explored the city and coastline with Abubaker, 5A1A. We made nearly 8000 QSOs during our stay and had lots of fun. I want to thank again Abubaker and the Lybian hamradio association for this opportunity.

Same year as the 5A DXpedition. Had some kind of a cold turkey. However this was more holiday style operation and made about 500 QSOs, mainly CW. I was QRV from a holiday resort but can't remember the name of the hotel. But that summer EU-OO1 was activated and all QSOs where confirmed by QSL.

In March, 1998, I found some spare time to make a trip to The Gambia. That time it was one of the most easy west african countrys to operate from. Easy to apply for the license and fair easy to get the custom documents. This was a one-men DXpedition. I carried all the cables, antennas (butternut HF-6V), computer and my +20kg heavy kenwood TS-930SAT. Ouch that hurt my back. But once their, I was only a couple of hondred meters from the beach in a small hotel that doens't exist anymore today. This trip costed about 500EUR for 9 days...those where the days.


I had only one major problem. The butternut was tuned during a very wet and rainy season, and when putting it up in the Gambian soil it was completely off frequency. So sprankled the base every day with some buckets of water...you can imagine the funny faces of the africans. They called me the crazy EL hihi. However I was able to log nearly 4000 QSO and found some time to relax on the beach and explore the inland. I visited brikama, the fish drier in xxxxx, did some jeep safaris, ... While staying in a 2 star hotel, this was a 5 star trip for me!