News 17-04-2012: PA7TWO - PA/M5TWO is back On-The-Air!
On October 21st 2011 we started with the removal of the old mast and completed four days later the installation of the new antenna tower. Just one day after we finished with the installation, the temperature dropped significantly and unfortunately up to today we were not able to install the new coax & antennae in the tower.
Update 06-05-2012: All antennae have Ecoflex coax feeds connected and seems to be working just fine. Within one week over 20 new DXCC on the higher WARC bands as result of 'some' DX-ing & antenna testing, that looks very promesing indeed.
Antennae farm consists of: A VHF/UHF vertical, 4 element LFA for 50MHz, 8 elements Quad for 144MHz and the 5 band 2 elements HF beam are mounted in the tower.
Update 23-05-2012: Back on-the-air and QRV on Wire dipoles on 3MHz & 7MHz. A horizontally polarised 2 ele yagi is used on 14MHz, 18MHz, 21MHz, 24MHz and 28MHz. A 8 element QUAD is in use for 144MHz. Furthermore, vertically QRV on 24MHz, 28MHz, 144 & 432MHz too. The 10MHz band has been forgotten in original bandplan (.), need to put in some Wire this summer. When 10MHz ant is deployed, QRV 3 <> 432MHz!
Update 03-06-2012: Antennae, coax & connections seems to be stable and up to now no surpises noticed. Still the 7MHz wire dipole needs to be replaced (80m done) and 10MHz wire dipole to be mounted. Current weather forcast is not good with one week of rain. Hopefully the week after next I can continue completing the station. I worked EA6VQ on 144MHz during a short sp "e" opening last week, so that proves that 8 ele Quad is working just fine too. At current lurking on 12 & 17m. Both DXCC + WAS hunting has started on those bands.
Update 09-06-2012: 30m Wire dipole is mounted! I used the new DX-Wire 'UL' type for this antenna. Hunting DXCC's can start on this band as wel :-) Now QRV all bands 3MHz <> 432MHz. I ordered the last remaining missing filter being the Comet CF50MR for 50MHz. These filters are not sold here in PA land, so had to buy this one oversees.
A series of photos of the new tower is depicted below. All still 'under construction' and to be finalized when time allows.
Update 05-07-2012
The first real test for the station was the 1A0C activation. While working the guys on the various bands / modes on activation day #1, I noticed on the second day I was within the top 10 in the leaderboard band/slots. Mmmmm, that created the idea to take this activation more seriously and test the station (and the operator hi hi ) to the maximum possible.
Let's see if the station setup performed as expected. The day after the 1A0C activation was ended, the depicted below displayed the final results:
1A0C -- 2012
SR/SS: 03:39Z / 18:49Z Last QSO in database: 2012-07-04 21:59:13
'First Past the Post' leaderboard: Order takes into consideration how soon 1A0C is worked on the LAST band slot.
Dupes allowed but discouraged. The red number is the total number of band slots.
Taking into account no SKEDs and away from the radio during the normal working hours during daytime at my job, I think the final conclusion simply was "YES", the new station setup performs as expected :-)
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For me the D64K activation was the next test. Station became active on 21MHz on the 8th of August 2012. Working South EU for a short time, next pounding into the states for a prolonged time. I carefully traced the 'other' stations and when he called for EU, BINGO! It looks like I am the first PA in their log :-) Now I focus on the other HAM bands / modes with this dx-ped I guess.
'First Past the Post' leaderboard: Order takes into consideration how soon D64K is worked on the LAST band slot. Dupes allowed but discouraged.
The red number is the total number of band slots.
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3D2C - 2012
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Let's take a look at this dx-ped. Expected was to work them only on the high HF bands when looking at the propagation predictions and furthermore due to the 'far from ideal' wire antennae farm for the low bands. And so it happend. However, not a bad end-result!
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3D2C Log Search Results for PA7TWO
CW
SSB
RTTY
PSK
JT65
160m
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-
-
-
-
80m
-
-
-
-
-
40m
-
-
-
-
-
30m
-
-
-
-
-
20m
X
X
-
-
-
17m
X
X
-
-
-
15m
X
X
-
-
-
12m
X
X
-
-
-
10m
X
X
-
-
-
6m
-
-
-
-
-
2m
-
-
-
-
-
Number of QSO(s) including dupe: 11
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New antennae tower:
Now, let's take a look at the new tower:
Come closeby your PC monitor, you can see the 30/40/80m DX-Wire dipoles! Do you spot them?
24-05-2012
Let's take a look inside.
23-05-2012
Side view. Tower at DX working heights :-)
06-05-2012
7O6T on 28MHz in the log :-)
30-04-2012
Tower in lowest position.
Nov-2011 Tower mounted to the wall. It will take a few months before I can populate the tower with antennae :-(
QSL, general information & awards section
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PA7TWO operating at PA6NH site running a Harris 590 Receiver & Telefunken S2525/3 HF amplifier on 29/30-01-2011 during the UBA-SSB contest.
Greetings dear HAM friends!
I am currently residing with my family in the beautiful city of Alkmaar, world famous for its Dutch cheese market / cheeses. Alkmaar is located in the north-west part of The Netherlands, 55 km north of its capital Amsterdam.
I have two kids, Kees jr (KC) my son Kees and daughter Anna. Checkout my kids Kees & Anna on Youtube. Both are Karate and Judo specialists. Anna at 9 years young ranked 3rd in the Dutch Karate Kata Championships in 2009, both kids ranked 4th in year 2010 and 4th again in 2011 in the same event. Search on YouTube for "JudoKarateKids".
In 1991 I passed the CEPT-Class-II license and was restricted to VHF/UHF with relatively low power. Passed the CEPT-Class I license exam in 1992 and after many VHF contests year after year with top rankings, I had some DX experiences on SIX in between as well.
Learning the CW code was accomplished in nearly 3 months time with the UFB help of my Morse teacher Gerard PA1GR. I decided to do the Morse exam in England on 09-August-2001 and passed with colored flags in receiving and transmitting. After I passed the CW exam, I obtained the full CEPT-Class A license the same year in both the United Kingdom (M5TWO) and in The Netherlands (PA7TWO) thereafter.
I am enjoying the 6 metre band the most, very active on the HF bands too and from time to time you can find me on VHF as well.
I mostly operate CW & DiGi modes these days, occasionally you can find me on SSB.
The former callsigns I held were : PD0RCJ, PE1OOY, PE51OOY, PE7TWO, G7TWO.
About QSL stuff: I QSL 100%! I am most happy to reply your QSL-cards, please read the instructions below how you can choose between the various ways to exchange QSL-cards with me:
Direct #1: EUROPE ONLY: Add 1 U.S. $ or a NEW type International Reply Coupon (IRC) to your qsl-card for the return postage costs together with a SAE, and I assure you my QSL-card is on its return to you within 5 days.
Direct #2: REST OF THE WORLD: Add 2 U.S. $ or a NEW type International Reply Coupon (IRC) to your qsl-card for the return postage costs together with a SAE and I assure you my QSL-card is on its return to you within 5 days. I am sorry that 1 U.S. $ is not sufficient anymore to cover the postal costs to abroad.
Direct #3: No added postage funds means a return QSL-card via the Buro. Can take up to 1 to 2 months. I have a ‘standard’ backlog due to the huge amount of QSOs and thus QSL-cards I have to deal with.
Buro: I return a.s.a.p., in general it takes just a few months from *my* side. Let me state this very clear: ALL Buro QSL's are handled, do not worry! The Dutch QSL Buro is world-wide known for its fast and accurate handling of QSLcards service.
SWL: QSL cards by SWL's are also very much appreciated and can expect an extra quick paper QSL in return!
LOTW: On a regular basis I upload my all my log files to the LOTW. Please upload your logbook too!
If you want to send me an e-mail, please do so to ‘pa7two @ amsat . org’ (remove the extra anti-spam spaces in the email address) .
Holder of the following ARRL Certificates / Plaques / Letter of Achivements :
DXCC 6M (Owww yes!)
DXCC 10M
DXCC 12m
DXCC 15m
DXCC 17m
DXCC 20m
DXCC 30m
DXCC 40m
DXCC 80m
DXCC 5Band
DXCC 6Band
DXCC 7Band
DXCC 8Band
DXCC 9Band
DXCC PHONE
DXCC MIXED
DXCC CW
DXCC RTTY
DXCC 5Bandplaque
DXCC Challenge 1000 Award letter & plaque
WAS TPA #428 (3rd Dutch HAM that was awarded, accomplished in exactly 2 months time)
WAS DiGi Mode
WAS PSK-31 Mode
WAS RTTY
WAS Basic
10m WAS Basic
12m WAS Basic
15m WAS Basic
17m WAS Basic
20m WAS Basic
40m WAS Basic
80m WAS Basic
WAS Phone
WAS CW
5BWAS (Applied for award on 11-2011, application approved early March 2012, award received 12-05-2012.) (Actually this is a 6 band WAS!)
WAC
WAC 5band
VUCC 50MHz
WPX Mixed (Still waiting for the paper certificate.)
WPX Digital (Still waiting for the paper certificate.)
If you need The Netherlands as a new one on 2m, 6m, 10m, 12m, 15m, 17m, 20m, 30m, 40m or 80m in CW , SSB or RTTY/PSK31, drop me an email and we SKED!
Vy 73, de Kees – PA7TWO – M5TWO aka "The Six Maniac". SOC#784 UKSMG# 1244 EPC#10242. Crew member PA6W.
Check out my homepage! It is an old non-updated webpage from my early HF and 50MHz days, and contains cool 50/144/432 MHz audio clips from the early days too! http://home.wanadoo.nl/pa7two/
PACC 2005 activation together with CW guru Rob PA3GVI. We ranked 4th in section MOST (D).
Activating PA6LH Lighthouse 'Van Speyk' NET-007 in Egmond aan Zee on 7/14MHz in August 2007, resulting in 407 SSB QSOs during an "dx-pedition style" 3 hours duration activation.
Not applicable for the few fortunate HAMs who made a QSO with me while activating PA6LH, unfortunately this was just an "once off" event. Due to this short activation, many of you were able to finally complete and request the Lighthouse award. It was great fun and thanks a lot for the massive positive feedback received for this operation, really encouraging!!
Some PA6LH QSLcards of this operation are still available for the one who needs (PA6LH via PA7TWO via Direct or Buro!)
Some QSLcard examples:
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One of my other hobbies, my beemer F800R! Personally tuned motorbike (previous profession was bike mechanic for 13 years), look at the power curves!
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Bye bye 'dip' in the torque performance curves :-) Power performance values meassured at the rearwheel in SAE values (DIN is value / 0.94 x 0.98).
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Last modified: 2013-03-29 20:27:00, 145988 bytes fetched
Last QSO in database: 2012-07-04 21:59:13
@D64K
