DJ8QP Gus DX-operator, IOTA
DXpeditioner and QSL-manager 
Actually everything started
quite harmlessly. During my days at the high school in
Pfarrkirchen / Lower Bavaria I wanted to have my own radio. An older
classmate at the boarding school offered me a gray sheet metal-box with a
double-scale for 20 DM. That was the pocket money for a whole month and with
that I had to pay all my school expenses. The metal box turned out to be an
Echophone radio. A part of the scale was marked AMATEUR.
Besides listening on medium
wave, these Amateur bands attracted my interest. A piece of wire from the
window became my antenna. However, I hardly understood anything about QRA, QSO
and 73...
But that became better in the
course of time and somehow I began to make notes about what I heard: My first
logbook was created in 1961, when I was about 15 years old. The pages of my
logs were filled more and more and by chance, a few hams from the surroundings
were included. Some of them I visited on the weekends by bike, and with shiny
eyes I saw a real Amateur Radio installation for the first time.
Something like that I wanted
to have one day, but my enthusiasm was immediately subdued: You had to be 18
years old and know the code to get the license.
Very much to the disappointment
of my parents, my passion continued because my results at school at this time
definitely did not get better due to my intensive SWL-activity.
At home on vacation in Tittmoning
on Salzach, a sleepy town directly on the Austrian border, approximately 35 km
north of Salzburg, by coincidence I found a ham. It was Werner, DJ7LB, who
willingly informed me about the secrets of Amateur Radio.
I spent almost every day into
the late hours with him during the vacation. Werner had built most his
equipment himself. He gave me a Morse-course on a record.
It lasted until 1967, however
until I finally was ready to take the exam. After all, I also had to go to
school. On 6 March 1967, I passed the exam in Munich - two weeks later came the
license with the Call DJ8QP. I had got an American army- rig from Werner, DJ7LB
and I had to build a power supply; after that I could start on 40 and 80 M.
My first QSO with DJ7LB and other friends in the neighborhood made
me very excited. It was worse with my first CW-QSO. Calling CQ went well, but
when an OK-station answered me, the heart dropped into my pants and the QSO
almost didn´t take place due to my excitement. But that became ever better in
the course of time. With 50 Watts and a Windom antenna, after a while I had worked
all of Europe.
The first attempts with a
2-watt-transistor-station from SEMCO and the shortwave antenna therefore were
quite promising. I built a handheld 2 M AM - rig with crystal controlled
transmit channels. In those days you tuned across the band after a CQ. After
the high school diploma in 1968, the military service in Bad Reichenhall
followed, where I managed to get permission to install an antenna and was able
to operate.
With a 10 watt military-rig, I
could now operate up to 15 M and thus even work across the big pond.
The low power however made
only CW meaningful, so I got a lot of practice, which was useful in the
service. My time in the service meant a lot of traveling and everywhere I went,
I took a rig along and in 1970 I was even QRV from Turkey - even if that was
not quite legal…
There the colleagues were
amazed as I had QSOs in FM with DL on 28 MHz with 10 watts since the equipment
was claimed to have a maximum range of 50 km.
But how could they know
anything about Es and the ionosphere? My study to become a teacher began in the
autumn of 1970. This brought me to Regensburg, where I found lodging at a ham
(Heribert, DL8HF).
Transistor-technology had
already hit me and so I decided to develop a handheld SSB-Transceiver. Had I
known that ICOM already had decided to do this with the IC -202, I might never
have started this costly project. So my BBT-transceiver became ready in 1971:
SSB, CW, AM, FM with two VFOs, crystal-filters on 9 MHz, 5 Watts, expensive
Plessey building blocks and a MOSFET in the front end and mixers.
The BBT (Bavarian mountain-day
= radio-contest with light weight equipment from the mountains) became my next
big radio favorite. I participated in this contest for many years and also
organized it for some years.
Serious life began in 1973. My
studies were finished and I got my first employment in the Berchtesgaden area.
Since our first apartment,
(Margit and I got married in 1972) , was rather unfavorable radio-wise, I used
the satellite radio via OSCAR with its uplink on 2 M / downlink 10 M and 2 M-DX
was no more possible. The transfer in 1976 to a small village-school in
Neukirchen, where Werner, DJ8NU became one of my colleagues and with a location
directly at the edge of the mountains, clearly influenced my life as a ham.
I now lived here with wife and
child approximately 700 m ASL in a great VHF-location. Shortwave now took
second place because the suitable equipment therefore was missing, for VHF
however possibilities were great. The winters up there in the mountains were
rough and long. A 32-element-antenna and a homemade PA (150 Watt) were used on
2 M. Many contests on CW and SSB; RTTY
with mechanical equipment; satellite-radio, and my first attempts with SSTV
with an awfully expensive fluorescent tube.
Several thousand 2 M contacts
and some 70 cm-contacts (with just 1 Watt) came into the log, altogether 35
countries. The best DX on 2 M was EA8. In 1982, I became the proud owner of a
Drake TR7. HF-activity with a discarded VK2AOU-Beam was now more frequently again
on the program.
In 1986, a transfer
was again on the agenda, not far from the old QTH, but clearly at a lower
altitude. A 300 years old farm with much space became the domicile for the five
of us. The old wooden mast was brought along and now with a 3-Element-Beam for
shortwave and a more than 20 m high vertical antenna for 80 and 160 Meters. My
Interest now caused by the local realities had to be the lower frequencies.
Big antenna
reconstruction was required, because I had gotten the telescope mast from my
colleague DJ8NU, who unfortunately had deceased. The antennas from below
upward: Fritzel 3-El-Beam for 20/15/10 + 3-El-Beam for 30/17/12, over it
16-El-group for 2 M and at the very top 2-El-Beam for 40 M. The mast itself was
isolated from ground and adjusted for 80 and 160.
Good transmitting antennas alone are not enough, so I
asked my neighbor for permission to stretch wire antennas across the fields in
the winter. My choice was 4 x 200 m beverages with dual wires. One sees the
feedpoint for these antennas to the right, these antennas are simply
unbeatable.
The next years were the time
of operating at dusk. It simply fascinated me to pick up extremely weak
CW-signals and this of course meant to either stay up late or to get up early.
In 2008 I had worked
299 countries on 80m and 229 countries on 160 M. During our vacations we are
always on the way and most of the time I have combined this with operating. If
possible from an IOTA-suitable island.
Meanwhile I have been active
more than 70 times from islands, had approximately 40000 QSOs and of course
still chase new islands myself; I now have worked myself more than 800.
Since some years we have been traveling to Africa and particularly into the Sahara. Countries like 3V8, 7X, CN8, S0, 5A, 5T, TZ, 6W, 3X, XT and 9G have always been visited on cross-country-tours with our own vehicle. Thanks to these trips, I know Mokhtar, 7X5JF personally, and I am his QSL-Manager since some years. In 2006 we were in Georgia and since then I’m holding the callsign 4L9VB
For approximately 25 Years I
have also been the QSL-Manager in the local club, Traunstein DOK C16, and I
take care of and use the Club call DL0TU. But in each ”career as a ham”, there
is a crack somewhere. For me this happened on the June 2, 1999. A vehement
storm in the evening with wind-gusts up to 150 km per hour actually tossed my
free standing mast about.
The picture shows what
everything looked like the following morning. Amateur Radio was now out for
many months, because it cost much work and time to disentangle the scrap
metal-pile to rebuild everything again. One hardly believes however what can be
done with bent aluminum-tubes.
The rotor had survived, 3
elements for 20/15/10 came up again, the beam for 30/17/12 was reduced to 2
elements and the boom for 40 was replaced. The mast was repaired by Robert,
DL6MFK and it could be used again as an antenna for 160 and 80. The 2 M beam
was beyond repair.
I had good luck in 2000 and
got a 6 M license. A surplus TV-Antenna was installed on a 5 m mast. It´s a lot
of fun when the band opens up.
A short time after
I was back on again after my unpleasant break -it was time for the next shock.
Due to work on the house, it was necessary to move the tower. I soon found a
new place for it and the planning went ahead fast.
But I was never
able to install it because then .......
the next event in 2003 was announced:
For family reasons we had to
return to the roots; to Tittmoning in the valley of the Salzach, the
border-river to Austria. It immediately was clear for me, however: The good
radio-location was gone, numerous neighbors with their electronics and no more
space for beverage antennas.
But an antenna-system had to
be built again. The old three-part telescope mast was reduced to two sections,
the entire substructure was modified (thanks to Robert, DL6MFK) and the mast is
no more free standing, but guyed at two levels.
Antennas: Below a
7-Element- Titanex Log periodic, above it a 5-element beam for 6 Meters and at
the very top my long-standing 2-element beam for 40 with a dipole for 30. The
mast is isolated from ground and can be used on 80 + 160.
Tests with K9AY, pennant and
flag will follow.
As far as operation is
concerned it´s now more modest, that is on 160 and 80 Meters not much is
happening anymore and everything in direction south, west and northwest is hard
due to the high and steep shores of the Salzach.
If I really want to work
something new on 160 or 80 M, I go to my friend Rudi, DL5MEV, who has an
antenna installation of extra class. He has the space and therefore I gave him
my beverages along with the necessary know how. The first time in Tittmoning I
only used 100 Watts or less, now when necessary I use the maximum allowed 750
Watts.
Rigs: FT1000MP, FT100D for
travels, PA OM2500HF.... My neighbors in Tittmoning are actually all old
friends from the youth. They are all friendly, the Amateur Radio is well-seen
and nobody minds about my antennas.
So after all I can pursue my
hobby quite well, collect points in contests (usually CW or RTTY) for the BCC
(Bavarian Contest Club). With the computer-technology the digital operating
modes in Amateur Radio have become easier to realize. These modes usually work
quite well even with a bad location.
Since some weeks I am again active on the lower bands: I improved the ground system, no interference with the neighbours and my brandnew four season-beverage brought KH6 on 80m in my log -
Now I can calmly look forward to all future
expeditions since I already have all countries confirmed and only need a few
band points.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DJ8QP - 2009