LATEST NEWS : The expedition is over and we thank you for the FUN you gave us. Please send your QSL card ( EJ4II AND EJ8GQB ) to EI4II.

26 July 2010 We are back on Ireland mainland, and very tired as we spend an half day to transport all the equipment to the beach (10 times 500m distance and 30m elevation times 2.), fortunately, we used a hand wheel and this was really the expedition joker. The weather was very good, a few rain, no wind (max 30 Km/), no injuries ordamages.We made a total of 2500 QSO and finished the contest with 1320 QSO and almost 200 multi. This was awonderfulexperience, and we thank you for the fun you gave us during the biggest pileups we neverexperienced. (Up to 4 QSO per minutes)

23 July 2010 Bernard EI4II arrived this morning on the island and we finished the antenna park installation. The weather was great and we are suffering from sun burn which is quite unusual in Ireland. EJ4II callsign is now on the air in CW and SSB. The pileups are huge as we never expected. It is indeed a very rare island. We are ready for the contest.

22 July 2010 Yes I am on the island, but with a few help. I am very tired due to the transportation of the equipment. I made qso yesterday evening on 20m and 40m, and then slept well. Today some help and the vertical is raised. This afternoon I will prepare the spiderbeam dipole and be on air around 16:00 utc for JA. Internet connection is poor but works. See you on the air with EJ8GQB callsign. The power generator is now running.

Leaving Kilmore Quay, on the way to the Great Saltee island

21 July 2010 Leaving today Brussels to Dublin, then Wexford, I will arrive on the island around 16:00 UTC, I expect to start activation start of evening on Thursday 22nd with EJ8GQB on SSB.

17July 2010 The power generator has been repaired and tested and we are finishing last details. Bernard EI4II will be on the Island from Firday afternoon and CW activity will start at that time as well as EJ4II callsign. Before, all activity between Thursday 22nd and Friday 23rd noon will be on SSB with EJ8GQB callsign.We have received mails from JAinformingus that the island is only credited by 11% of JA IOTA hunters, one of the most wanted EU island. We will have a special attention to JAPAN on Friday 23rd on 14MHz at 1100 UTC and 1600 UTC, we will also take this into account during the contest.

16 July 2010 We have now booked the boat forWednesdayJuly 21st 15:30, departure from Kilmore Quay to the Great Saltee island. We have to transport almost 250 Kg of equipment on 500m distance and 30m elevation to reach the operational site on the island. Bernard EI4II is coming on Friday and I have a local support for the transportation task andalsofor building the complete expedition antenna installation. The weather forecasthttp://www.windguru.cz/int/index.php?sc=47762shows the best conditions we can expect, no wind, only a few hours of rain and 17°C !

12 July 2010 While dismantling the station, we packed the equipment for the expedition.

10-11 July 2010 We made part to the IARUWorld championship contest in Multi-op all band Low power category to test our portable conditions. During the week-end we faced heavy rain and wind (gust up to 60 kph), the tent and antennas have received their quality label ;-), But the new power generator was not a success at all, there is a petrol leakage and we had to use an electrical cable from the house to the shack to do the contest. We will fix the problem or rent one. We must also have in mind that while Europe is suffering from heat wave, we may experience 10 degrees during the night.

View of the expedition practice installation 10-11 July 2010

27 June 2010 Flight/car booked (ON4EI) andfinalizingIARU HF expedition practice.

22 May 2010 Starting organisation and QRZ.COM profile.

HISTORY

I had a first QSO with Bernard EI4II in July 2008 with EI/ON4EI during my holidays, visiting the in laws in Clonmel area. Since that period we had several contacts each time I visited the family in EI and specially during my last campervan solo expedition in March 2010 on Bere island EU121 with my new Irish call EJ8GQB.http://www.qrz.com/db/ej8gqb.

Coming back in Belgium, I was looking for a new challenge and knowing he lived in the Wexford area, I proposed him to activate the Saltee Islands EU103 (uninhabited and bird reserve)

He immediately answered me positively as he sees those 2 island from his QTH every day.

GOALS

• To giveEU-103 IOTA contacts.
• To enjoy the pile up.
• To take advantage of the EJ prefix and especially during the IOTA Contest July 24th-25th.
• To score in theTop 5in ISLAND EXPEDITION MULTI OP ALL LOW MIXED category.

EQUIPMENT

• 160/80/40 : 18m Spiderbeamtop loadedvertical mast for 5/8λ@40m with an homemade tuning system and 20*19m radials. see the design description athttp://www.on7wr.be/Gigazette/ON4EI/3semainesenirlandeet2contests.pdf(in french)
• 160/80/40 : Inverted V dipole at 10m, used for short skip and sometimes for vertical RX.
• 20/15/10 : Spiderbeam beam at 11m with rotatable mast. (We will install the 3 dipoles only without directors and reflectors according to ISLAND EXPEDITION LOW POWER category antenna restriction).

• Transceiver : K3 ELECRAFT & IC756 100W
• Power : 2KW power generator+ 12V/30A Power supply supply with 12V75 AHbattery
• ASUS Eee PC & N1MM Logger.
• Spare tubes for Spiderbeam beam and mast(I hopeAEOLUS will give us a chance!).

FREQUENCIES +/- QRM

1849 Mhz 1835 Mhz

3770Mhz 3045 Mhz

7170Mhz or 7070 Mhz7035 Mhz

14270Mhz 14045 Mhz

21270Mhz21045 Mhz

28470Mhz28045 Mhz

OPERATING

Bernard EI4II on CW and Olivier ON4EI/EI8GQB on SSB.

This activity cost us time, effort and money, we wish you respect this and when we say "Outside Europe", please respect it, we will not hesitate from our side to thank you for waiting.

PLANNING

- EXPEDITION PRACTICE DURING IARU HF WORLDCHAMPIONSHIP WITH EI4II(multi-op all bandlow powermixed mode) : 10th-11th July 2010

- EXPEDITION QRV : 23-25th July 2010 (arrival on the island July 21st evening, installation July 22nd)

- IOTA CONTEST : 24-25th July 2010 (leave island July 25th evening)

LOCATION

More info :

Saltees website

http://www.salteeislands.info/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saltee_Islands

http://homepage.eircom.net/~shirleynicholson/LSI%202007one/index.htm

Dxpedition websites

http://users.telenet.be/on5kl/eu103.htm

http://www.qsl.net/ei7gy/iota2004/root.html

http://www.qsl.net/ei7gy/saltees/root.html

QSL

Via EI4II

FEEDBACK

Do not hesitate to send us any feedback.

Regards and hope to hear from you.

73

EI4II & ON4EI/EI8GQB

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