Tag: contest station

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Contesting from CR3L (Madeira Island) with RRDXA

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I am back from the megalocation at CR3L Madeira Island after working CQWW SSB with the R25 RRDXA team. It was a great weekend and we achieved good run rates however our targets were set at a higher QSO number. Since CR3L is in AF zone 33 we worked three pointers both to Europe and US and got a good score. That was fun. Claimed score looks like we will be around number 9 worldwide (a bit above 15M points). The CR3L Madeira station is located at Santana in a mountain side on Madeira overlooking salt water.  Thanks to the team! Ops: DF4UM, DH4JQ, DJ5KW, DJ8VC, DL1EK, LB3HC . Stay tuned for 2013 events.

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Claimed #9 WW score in CQWW 2012 contest from CR3L (Madeira) LB3HC in the foreground and DH4JQ in the background (we are working pileup) DF4UM in the foreground and DJ5KW in the background (working pileup)
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DH4JQ on rig A DL1EK in the foreground and DL8VC in the background (working pileup) N1MM logger
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RIG B Weather changes fast. Here the shack and the lower antenna in fog! The team after the contest
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The 80m vertical The 10m 5 el tower is “adjusted” by DL8VC! The lower Threebander and 160m ant
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Ready for takeoff from Madeira Island Approaching coastline from flight over Atlantic Ocean On the way back to mainland Europe
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WPX SSB meeting @ 65 degrees north – OH8X – Radio Arcala

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Before LA7JO, LB3HC, CU2CE and CU2DX was working the WPX SSB 2012 contest from OH8X, we had  some very good time discussing conditions, radio contesting and amateur radio with the Arcala team and with our new friends from the Azores. On the below image from the left: Juha OH8NC, Marius LB3HC, Martti OH2BH, Jose CU2CE, Veijo OH6KN, Stig LA7JO and Francisco CU2DX.

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This was a very nice meeting at the Arcala Xtreme Station @ 65 degrees northern latitude. The Arcala team has an approach to amateur radio that is both social, technical, and serious. This time in nice weather with spring temperatures around the corner and snow melting. Check in later. More pictures and video from Arcala will be posted. And also check 3830 for contest results!

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Selected photos from OH8X, the megastation in Finland

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By popular demand I have posted some pictures from OH8X, Radio Arcala. Enjoy!

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This picture (above) gives a good overview over the antennas at OH8X. You can see the M7 and the M1 towers stand out. Notice how small the M6 rotatable tower looks. The M6 tower in not small in real life its 32m high.

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This is how a real stack should look (above). Notice the icy elements. The orange cables inside the tower is for operating the ice knockers that keeps the elements free from ice and snow. (Snow turns to ice etc). The tower is fully rotatable.

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This is the 5 el yagi on 80, 3 el yagi on 160 and 4 over 4 on 40 (above). The tower is rotatable. It weighs approx. 40 tonnes. The rotor sits in the bottom of the tower and the rotator gearbox is BIG!

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This is the correspondent LB3HC calling in to the shack (via cellphone and not VHF for the occasion) to ask for a rotator turning operation to check proper rotation of the tower before the ARRL CW contest. The tower in my view that is… (behind the camera). The other towers speaks for themselves in the background.

The guys that built this station are extremely skilled. Kudos and congratulations to the Arcala team!
You can find more information here: www.radioarcala.com