From: dxcoffee@alt119.net.remove-89p-this   
      
   For DxCoffee readers byÿThomas F4HPX   
      
   That was a holiday style DX expedition - my wife was born on Reunion and we   
   have still a family there as well.   
      
   There is around 120-130 OMs on the island (for 800.000 inhabitants) but many   
   are not so active on the air.   
      
   For me it was probably 10th time I was going there but the first one with ÿthe   
   radio as my license is still fresh.   
      
   I wanted to make some contacts in the area of Indian Ocean (sometimes not easy   
   to contact from Europe) and to try SOTA activity as the island is offering   
   plenty of montains..   
      
   Goals mostly achieved - for SOTA I was the first OM activating local summits -   
   actually 2 from 19 defined in the programme ÿ- 2nd and 3rd highest ÿ(FR/RE-002   
   and FR/RE-003)   
      
   The last one is the active volcano (check the pictures) and both over 2500 m   
   ASL highÿ   
      
   SO there is still 17 left for the next stays;-)   
      
   ÿI had two rigs:   
      
   Elecraft KX2 plus small ebay-sourced HF amplifier - that I was using for SOTA   
   with acid lead battery 12V 7AH   
      
   Yaesu FT-891 that was used during portable/mobile operations close to the car   
   for power supply from the car battery   
      
   Antenna - most of the time was the dutch HyEnd ÿ- an endfed 20m long dipole   
   working on 40/20/15/10m bands even without tuner ÿ- together with 10m high   
   fishing pole bought from Italy.   
      
   The issue was that my "home" QTH was not well "placed" to deploy antennas and   
   ÿit did not work for me so I had to give up digital modes and automatic CW   
      
   I had to work portable when on the go and only SSB   
      
   I tried initially KX2 from the beaches on 20M - I was hearing lot of stations   
   from Europe, India, China and Russia - but nobody was hearing me ! the same on   
   40m with Indonesia.... I was disapointedÿ   
      
   and afraid that my SOTA operations will be a failure but once got high enough   
   the things changed completely.   
      
   On the volcano the only band that was working well was 15M -but there was only   
   Japan at my reach - pretty amazed by 10.000 kms with 30W of power and good   
   reports received.   
      
   The same situation on second summit and most of the stations were from Tokyo   
   area.   
      
   But working from summits was limited in time (long way up and back to be safe   
   before sunset - and when you are not anymore 20 years old - sometimes a bit   
   exhaustingÿ   
      
   ÿwhen you have a 17kms walk with 8 or 10kg of radio gear and stuff in your bag   
   to carry)   
      
   ÿ   
      
   I contacted local radio amateurs and I got some tips about good "spots",   
   timing and frequencies therefore could make more contacts on 40 and 20M   
      
   with France, Poland, Italy, Spain, South Africa, India, Philippines,   
   Madagascar and Australia but not the other islands on Indian Ocean.   
      
   Possibly because not enough time operating radio and too much on the beach   
   with family .... but that is the holiday style "operation".   
      
   Next time will do better!   
      
   73 Thomas de F4HPX   
      
   ÿ   
      
   See also:ÿhttp://www.dxcoffee.com/eng/2017/frf4hpx-reunion-island-af-016/   
      
   http://www.dxcoffee.com/eng/2017/the-story-frf4hpx-reunion-island/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)