Our journey for KNL-13 turned out to be surprisingly smooth, despite concerns about getting caught in the midst of farmer protests. The fields, unlike the previous November edition, were in excellent condition. We were blessed with favorable weather conditions initially, which unfortunately took a turn in the following days, becoming extremely windy.
The highlight of our expedition was the second night, perfect for South-American DX. It marked our first attempt at setting up a reversible beverage antenna pointing towards Argentina and Japan, reducing the length of coaxes. To our amazement, we picked up Japan's JOFR RKB Mainichi Hoso, Fukuoka on 1278 kHz with considerable strength, a rarity during this period of high solar activity. However, no other Japanese stations managed to make it to our extensive antenna farm.
As the days progressed, propagation conditions deteriorated, resulting in miserable conditions during the final night. We suspected the Japan wire might have been damaged, possibly due to the relentless wind. Upon rolling it up, we discovered a significant portion of wire was left in the field, necessitating a search afterward. It was also a surprise to notice that nothing was heard from the Far East and Central Asia.
The beverage antenna for Colombia/Far East faced challenges from local pulsing noise, and we struggled to identify the culprit. Despite these obstacles, our trip to the western corner of Belgium proved once again to be fascinating, yielding more than a handful of FIRST logs.
Antennas used : Rev-bev JPN/ARG 45/225°, rev-bev CLM/AUS 260/80°, bev NAm 300°, BOG AFR 150°, Sony AN1 (Frank), T2FD + INV-V 9MHz (Leen), 40m longwire (Ron), LZ1AQ loop + vertical + Mini Whip model Veron/VRZA (Jan).
FIRST logs noticed so far :
Protesting farmers put sign posts upside down | The Argentine/Japan RevBev Balun |
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