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25.05.2007

We received our CU8T license.

30.05.2007

The 20 feet container with antennas, generator, coax cables etc arrived at Santa Cruz das Flores harbour. All material is now on hand.

20.06.2007

A 50MHz beacon will be operated on 50.113 MHz under the call sign CU8/CT3FN.

05.09.2006

IOTA contest The team consisting of Antonio CT1EPV, Luis CT1AGF, Tony CU2HJA, Juergen DJ2VO, Franz DF6QV, Jack F6HMJ, Derek G3KHZ, Philipp HB9FMU and Hermann HB9CRV was divided into 3 groups for the antenna erection. Unfortunately, one 12m telescopic aluminium mast and 2 delta loops got lost during the transportation. We made the best out of the remaining material and erected

Erection of the 5 band Spider beam failed due to a storm which damaged the beam. We were forced to reduce the height of the tower to 9m and diminish the beam to the driven elements only! Both Spider beams were erected close to the edge of the cliffs 50m above the ocean. The height on the tower wasn’t important as the antennas “saw” in direction Europe and North America the ocean, i.e. “saw” a height of 55m to 59m up! Station setup: 2 x FT1000MP, UK Amp Challenger PA, SB220 and FET PA 600 watts hf. Laptops with Windows XP and Win-Test as log program interlinked in a WLAN network. Contest operators were CT1AGF, DJ2VO, DF6QV, F6HMJ, G3KHZ and HB9CRV. Final result was good when one thinks about propagation forecast and sunspot cycle minimum:

CU8T EU-089 IOTA contest result

BandSSBIOTACWIOTAPoints
80 48 19 59 27 1017
40 223 44 136 36 2841
20 617 64 636 48 7287
15 30 27 187 30 1503
10 8 8 2 1 126
Total 926 162 1020 142 12774

Final score: 3´883´296 points

Lighthouse Farol do Albarnaz
Immediately after the IOTA contest we switched the call sign to CU8F and started the lighthouse operation: Farol do Albarnaz, WLOTA LH 0947, ARLHS AZO 016, coordinates 39°31´N 31°14´W, Locator HM49jm. Operation was on 80m to 6m and modes were CW, SSB, RTTY and some PSK31 QSOs. A big storm after the contest broke the Titanex V160E and 160m operation wasn’t possible. Sorry if you looked for us on the top band. Propagation was bad during the day and our major operating was 17.00 UT – 23.00 UT for Europe and 23.00 UT until 03.00 UT for North America. 2 stations have been operated in parallel. As planned a beacon was QRV on 50.113 MC when we were on the station. Backfeed via SMS to my handy wasn’t possible due to bad network coverage. A total of 146 QSOs have been established. Tropo QSOs with stations in Nebraska were made on August 3, 17.00 UT – 19.23 UT. Countries worked on 6M: CT1, CT, CU2, CT3, DL, EA, EA6, F, GD, GI, GM, GU, GW, I, IS; OK, OM, ON, OZ, PA, S5, SP and W. CU8F went QRT as planned on August 8, 02.00UT. By 19.00 UT all antennas were dismantled, packed and the whole material stored t>t the QTH of CU8AFF for a next year activity.
CU8F statistic:

Band SSB CW RTTY PSK31
80 251 168 0 0
40 316 759 0 0
30 0 1450 0 0
20 2965 1618 154 4
17 746 437 0 0
15 3 206 1 0
12 0 0 0 0
10 0 0 0 0
6 47 99 0 0
Total 4329 4737 154 4

Together with the 1946 IOTA Contest QSOs a grand total of 11´171 QSOs.were made

QSL via Tozé, CT1GFK.

A big thank you goes to the three 3 lighthouse keepers YL Goretti, Barcelos and Pimentel who supported our operation. Furthermore, we would like to thank GPDX, Spider Beam, MixW2 and Titanex for their support..

73’s Hermann CT3FN / HB9CRV

05.08.2006

After the IOTA Contest a big storm destroyed our V160E gp. Sorry, no 160m operation possible.

25.07.2006

All team members are now on Flores.

21.07.2006

Luis, CT1AGF arrived at Flores.

19.07.2006

The farmer who owns the big field South of the lighthouse gave us the permission to errect our antennas here.

19.07.2006

All material is now on Flores.

18.07.2006

Antonio, CT1EPV / CU9AB arrived at Flores.

17.07.2006

Tony CU2HJA arrived by ship at St. Cruz with the boxes stores at his QTH from our last year activity and with one car.

30.06.2006

From the Navy we got the permission to operate from the inside of the lighthouse.

30.06.2006

The foreseen 70 MHz activation of Flores island, CU8, had be cancelled. The license authorities ANACOM does not issue new 4m licenses.

20.06.2006

Licenses for the call signs CU8F and CU8T received.

19.06.2006

Rejean, VA2AM has to cancel his participation for family reasons.

10.06.2006

A 26.5m high ground plane type Titanex V 160E has been ordered.

09.06.2006

Material shipment left Germany by truck to Lisbon. Further transportation goes by ship via Sao Miguel CU2 to Flores.

27.05.2006

Going online with this homepage

25.05.2006

License application for the calls CU8F and CU8T filed.

21.05.2006

Antonio CT1EPV bought a diesel generator with 3 phases 230V at 16A and 1 x 230 at 16A. Now we have enough power to run 3 stations with 1kW output in parallel.