[Dx-qsl] VU4K Andaman Islands

Sat Mar 22 13:39:43 EDT 2014

Interesting writeup by Krish, VU4K, operating from the Andaman Islands. 
No easy task.
 "VU4K -- Andaman Islands
 <http://dx-world.net/2014/vu4k-andaman-islands/>
 SATURDAYMAR 22, 2014
*TAGS:*Andaman Islands <http://dx-world.net/tag/andaman-islands/>,AS-001 
<http://dx-world.net/tag/as-001/>,Port Blair 
<http://dx-world.net/tag/port-blair/>
53 COMMENTS > <http://dx-world.net/2014/vu4k-andaman-islands/#comments>
*UPDATE*from Krish VU4K
 "The pile has been crazy is an understatement. 15kc spread is just
 not sufficient to pick folks out. I have tried AGC off, AGC with
 filter and full auto. Unless I can segment the pileup, there is no
 way I can pull people out. It is just an unintelligible buzz that is
 heard at this end in the entire 15kc spread.
 There was some useless chap from EU telling that "everyone
 everywhere is better". The crap started when I told I am moving to
 15m to work NA. The tirade was on 17m and was against me doing
 numbers and alternating between NA and EU. I had to get the QSO's
 rolling no matter. I cannot let people keep calling me endlessly and
 take away that hope of a QSO, and did not want the probability to go
 down to zero either. I was on 15m and I moved to 17m since the path
 was open to NA, whereas 15m did not show any opening to NA that
 early on and that EU chap did not like that.
 Its been days since I have had any sleep over 2 hours. I was finding
 it hard to concentrate after long runs. Day #1 and with 26 hours of
 operation, there are over 1600 Qso's. I will upload a picture today
 of the setup. It took 8 hours to install the 2Ele steppir and the
 sunset is 5:30pm. We spent 2.5hrs on the terrace with a flash light
 in the dark. There is a sheet metal roof which is an open sloping
 walk way to the terrace and nothing will stop one from rolling down
 from at over 6 storey. Treacherous especially when hauling gear across.
 The vertical has not yet been installed. I am not sure if the
 vertical is going to do any better and it takes at a minimum 4 hours
 to install and I need to run 500feet of LMR400 to get to the water.
 Except for 80m, the steppir covers all bands. I will take a call in
 the next day or 2, but the priority is to hand out QSO's.
 Internet has been an issue. The USB dongle seems to recognize the
 SIM data card and i can see the full bars for the signal but there
 is a problem with trying to connect. The same setup worked fine on
 Mainland. it could be an authentication issue for establishing the
 connection down here. I will spend some time to look into it. It is
 such a handicap without real-time net access."
MORE > <http://dx-world.net/2014/vu4k-andaman-islands/#more-50427>