HB0/HB9DBM, JN47sf, Eschen, Liechtenstein

2018 DXpedition

Q-Team

HB9DBM, Mark (operator)

HB9CRQ, Dan (operator)

Equipment

1.5m dish 1x2mm mesh, homemade automatic azimuth and elevation control

23cm: 100W at feed, circular, preamp at horn

13cm: 90W at feed, circular, preamp at horn

9cm: 80W at feed, circular, preamp at horn

6cm: 80W at feed, circular, preamp at horn

3cm: 50W at feed, v-pol, preamp at horn

Results

We worked a total of 131 QSOs and 108 initials on 5 bands in 5 moon-pathes, one path per band! It was nice to work a total of 25 CW QSOs on the 5 bands.

23cm:
60 QSOs (3 CW, 57 JT65c)
58 initials
20 DXCC (DL7YS, EA8DBM, ES6RQ, F1RJ, G4RGK, HB9Q, IK3COJ, JA6AHB, KA1GT, LX1DB, LZ1DX, OK1KIR, ON4AOI, PA3FXB, SM6CKU, SP5GDM, UA3PTW, VE3KRP, YL2GD, ZS6JON)
4 continents
Smallest station worked: DF2VJ 2.6m mesh dish 140W at feed (-28/R-25)

13cm:
12 QSOs (3 CW, 9 JT65c)
9 initials
9 DXCC (DL7YC, HB9Q, IK3COJ, JA6AHB, W5LUA, OK1KIR, ON4AOI, PA0BAT, UA3PTW)
3 continents
Smallest station worked: JA6AHB 3m mesh dish 100 W at feed (-19/R-17)

9cm:
12 QSOs (4 CW, 8 JT65c)
8 initials
6 DXCC (DL7YC, HB9Q, WA3RGQ, OK1KIR, PA0BAT, VK4CDI)
3 continents
Smallest station worked: VK4CDI 3.6m mesh dish 15W at feed (-26/RO)

6cm:
20 QSOs (8 CW, 12 QRA64D)
13 initials
10 DXCC (DL7YC, G3LTF, HB9Q, JA1WQF, W5LUA, OK1KIR, OZ1LPR, PA0BAT, UA3PTW, UR5LX)
3 continents
Smallest station worked: UR5LX 2.4m offset dish 45W (-18/R-15)

3cm:
27 QSOs (7 CW, 20 QRA64D)
20 initials
10 DXCC (DL7YC, HB9Q, JA1WQF, W5LUA, LX1DB, OK1CA, OZ1LPR, PA0BAT, UR5LX, VK7MO)
4 continents
Smallest station worked: OK2AQ 1.2m offset dish 40W at feed (-19/R-17)

The HB0/HB9DBM story

In HB0 the 13cm band is limited to 2308 MHz and there is NO allocation on 3400 MHz. This is the same as in HB9, where HB9Q holds a special permit to use 2304, 2320 MHz and 3400 MHz. Talking to the license office of the Liechtenstein Telecommunication Authorities they agreed to issue us the same permit as we have in HB9 for our activity days during the DXpedition. So we were able to be QRV 5 bands with full license coverage.

Day 1 we drove 160 km to Eschen (HB0) where we arrived just after midday. We immediately started to build the station. We were lucky that the rain stopped just before we arrived. To optimize the EME window we chose a place for the antenna which is 50m from the house with the shack. It is west from the house and about 10m uphill. This gave us an moon-rise elevation of 8° and 8° as well on moon-set. Which for HB0 is a very good „take-off“. However on moonrise we had a group of huge trees close-by. With the declination going down throughout the activity, we started beaming into them, which unfortunately disturbed our activity on 6 and 3cm. By about 4 PM the 13cm station was built and tested, ready for the coming moon-rise at about 10PM. During night the sky clearned-up and the temperatures dropped below 0c. The 13cm station did perform very well and at moonrise we had the usual pile-up. After a few hours of operation all stations QRV were worked and there were no takers anymore. So we closed down for about 3 hours to catch some sleep. Then back on the moon we worked a few more stations. And again we were calling CQ with no takers. Weather in Europe was at many places a problem and of course it was a working day, this were probably the two mayor reasons for really low activity during this moon-path and the coming ones.

Day 2 we were QRV 9cm. Weather was nice and the station running very well. But of course the activity was very low. Never the less we enjoyed each and every QSO.

Day 3 we were QRV 6cm. The weather was again nice. Our station worked great and it was really fun to work many CW QSOs. The activity was not bad, but again we could have worked many more stations!

Day 4 we were QRV 3cm. The weather was still ok. It was great to work VK7MO with his portable station for a very first VK-HB0 on 3cm and of course our ODX of the DXpedition! Then we had the close-by trees taking their toll, so we stopped for a few hours. Activity was very nice and it was fun to have every now and then a caller. We were very happy with the performance of the station as we worked again stations with less ERP than us!

Day 5 we were QRV 23cm. The weather changed during night. It started to rain, at times very heavy. And it became windy with some very high gusts (probably in the 50-60 Km/h range). Never the less we could operate with no problems. It was really great to work 58 initials throughout the moon-window. But we could have worked more stations if they were QRV. Here again the bad weather in Europe kept activity lower than normal. At about 2PM the moon set and we started immediately to dismantle the station. Luckily the rain stopped for about 1 hour, which made it much easier to do the outside work. By 4PM all was packed and we drove home where we arrived at 6PM.

This was our 4th DXpedition with our “portable” station. We are very happy to report that we experienced no technical problems and suffered no damage at all. Last but not least we are very happy with the performance of our station.