Callsign: VU7WDXCC: Lakshadweep Islands Dates:
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News
May 18 - There will be the 2nd round!
May 18 - There will be the 2nd round!
With a significant financial support from 26 Japanese HAMs Yuris will go to VU7 again in June 2023. The focus this time will be on the 6m band, however other bands will also be used. QTH this time will be on Minicoy Island, IOTA AS-106.
All VU7W April QSOs are uploaded to the LoTW already.
April 29 - QRT
VU7W is QRT now with over 40k QSOs in the log. Yuris is on his way home.
At the end of the DX-pedition 6m band 3 element yagi was given as a gift to the local HAM Mr. Aboobacker (VU3EBX).
April 28 - The last day
Today is the last day of this DX-pedition. Spiderbeam and the low band vertical were already taken down this morning. One vertical antenna is left up and will be used until sunset.
Also today Yuris will have a sightseeing trip around the island, followed by packing and closing dinner in the evening.
Few more photos added.
April 25 - Evening news
Yuris is on 160m FT8 with good signal levels in Europe (~22:00 UTC). About 70 callers are visible in a single FT8 period in Europe. Unfortunately, on his end received signals are not that many and with not so good S/N levels, due to the higher local noise floor.
Earlier in the evening he was on 3565 kHz with even better signal level despite working in 3 parallel streams, and had lots of callers as well.
He says that he will be on 60m band some time during April 26.
April 25 - News
Today the low band vertical was erected. Yuris will spend more time on low bands the next 3 nights.
The antenna dismantling will start on local Friday (April 28) morning, because the ship leaves the island on early Saturday (April 29) morning.
Yuris also had a meeting with local HAM Mr. Aboobacker (VU3EBX).
April 22 - News
The last two days made 60 QSOs on 6m band. Few EU, 4X, BY, JA6.
Answering the questions why so few CW and no SSB QSOs I will answer with the 2 photos below. The first photo shows 15m band during the day time. The 2nd photo - 80m band noise floor this morning before sunrise when I was on 80m CW.
The island is densely populated (more than 10k inhabitants on 6 square km). I am located in the 3-floor hotel. As almost everywhere in the modern world, it is full of colorful LEDs, air-conditioner devices and other electronics, which emit radio interference in wide spectrum.
I will probably disappoint many of those who are waiting for SSB QSOs, but this is the reality.
April 18 - News
You can see in the photos section how does it look on the roof where Spiderbeam is located. Metal tower and solar panel frame detunes the Spiderbeam, especially on the upper bands. Power amplifier fails to tune on 17,12 and 10m bands due to high SWR of the antenna. Unfortunately, it is not possible to lift up the Spiderbeam any higher.
Internet is weak and only available in the reception area, so I will upload the logs to Clublog every couple days.
I haven't given up on building the low band vertical. The owner of the place is very forthcoming, and I hope to agree with him on usage of a spot in adjacent area to place it. Villagers are walking through the territory in the dark, so radial and guy wires are problematic on the ground level.
The noise floor is high here. Lots of LED lamps around.
I will pay special attention to W1 and W6 as propagation windows are short to these areas. I am using VOACAP for propagation predictions.
April 17 - Spiderbeam is up
The plan worked out. Spiderbeam is up. Low band vertical is next in the list of "to be done" tasks. Not sure if Yuris will manage to do it today.
April 16 - evening news
So far managed to set up EFHW and 6m yagi antennas. Started to assemble Spiderbeam. It is tricky to get it up on the roof. There is a plan, hopefully it will work out tomorrow. There is no internet in the shack. It is available in some spots on the other floor of the building.
Few photos added.
April 16 - VU7W is on the air
First QSOs made on April 15. Work on antennas in progress.
April 13 - The journey starts
The journey has started. 4 flight legs plus ship in one direction with 100 kg of luggage.
April 9 - Yagi instead of Delta for 6m band
For 6m band Yuris will use 3 element yagi instead of initially planned Delta.
April 6 - Initial announcement
Yuris/YL2GM will visit Lakshadweep Islands and do one-man operation on the air as VU7W from April 15 to 29, 2023.
VU7 is #51 in Clublog's DXCC Most Wanted List as of April 7, 2023.
QTH will be located on Kavaratti island