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04:21:49 UTC 27 May 2012
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OR4TN, operated by Karel, ON5TN, was already QRV in the Antarctic summer of 2009/2010, 2010/2011. OR4TN will be back at the Princess Elisabeth Station for the Antarctic summer from Nov. 16, 2011 until end of Feb. 2012. More info on the Princess Elisabeth Station can be found on http://www.antarcticstation.org The above picture shows Karel relaxing in the sun with the Princess Elisabeth Station in the background. Please do not send emails to his home email address while Karel is in Antarctica. Updates will be announced here. Update - Nov. 1, 2011: Karel will be leaving Belgium on November 13, 2011. Update - Nov. 29, 2011: Karel has arrived safely at the Princess Elisabeth Station. They had no problem starting up the base after it was abondoned from early March 2011 until November 16, 2011. Karel has been very busy with the start-up and now with the preparation of the scientific projects. He hasn't had the time yet to put up his antennas. They had very bad weather for several daysbut now it's getting better. Karel is aware that with the good propagation even the higher HF bands are open now.
Update - Dec. 4, 2011: Karel started operating today and was QRV in CW on 20, 30 and 40m, only running 100 watts. Karel hopes to get an amplifier running for the coming weekend. Operating schedule (always work depending): during weekdays, only in the local late evening hours on 30, 40 and 80m, mainly CW. Princess Elisabeth Station time is GMT + 1 hour. Local daytime operations (CW & SSB) on the higher HF bands will only be on Sundays.
Update - Dec. 15, 2011: Karel has been monitoring the higher HF bands last Sunday. Only one contact was made on 12m, with KH6. Only ZS and LU beacons can be heard on 20, 17 and 15m. Other beacons are extremely weak. Karel spent several hours on these bands calling CQ without any reply. The higher HF bands are completely death at his location during the 0900-1900UTC period. Karel will be back to his former routine and operate the lower bands between 2100 and 2300UTC, mostly on Sundays. At least there it is surecontacts can be made. A carpenter is working on a new radioshack for professional use (mainly for contacts with Novo base). Once this is done the amplifier will be installed too.
Update - Feb. 16, 2012: Karel has been very busy with work. Today Karel appeared on 40m SSB (7120) starting at 20:50UTC with a S9 signal into Europe. Karel is only hearing signals on 40 and 30m. Karel will be leaving the Princess Elisabeth Station on February 28, 2012.
Update - Feb. 18, 2012: On Feb.16,after 40m Karel worked about 75 US and Canadian stationson 14006 CW between 2300 and 2345UTC.Karel has put up a new 40 and 20m dipole with a new balun which allows to run a bit more then his usual 400 watts. Keep in mind though that the bands are not open every day from down under in Antarctica. Feb 17 for exemple, both 40 and 20m were not open at all. With several people ready to leave PES, Karel's workload has decreased a bit. From now onwards until departure on Feb 28, Karel will try to maintain following daily schedule:
1) 7120 SSB from 2030UTC onwards, listening up some KHz for EU and when the band opens to North America he will listen above 7200. Thelisteningfrequency will be announced.
2) 14026 CW or 14210 SSB (both +/- 1 or 2 Khz) between 2300 and 0100 UTC for North America.
Last and final update - Feb. 28, 2012: OR4TN is QRT now.
Last modified: 2012-03-01 16:44:58, 19232 bytes cached
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