Some action on 6 metres today for EJ7NET

We enjoyed two openings on 6 metres today.

We had a couple of openings on 6 metres today, one this morning at around 9am local time (08:00z) and another one which is ongoing at 7pm here (18:00z). We have made our first QSOs on CW on that band, having used only SSB this morning. There has been activity on 20 metres SSB today following the completion of the CQM contest. We did more 40 metres SSB too, including a call into the Irish Radio Transmitters Society (IRTS) news on 7.123 Mhz after 11am. We worked a good few EI and G stations on 40 during the day. 17 metres continues to be very active, with a lot of CW contacts made on that band in the past 24 hours. Some late night 80m CW was done last night, but apart from a few North American stations, the traffic was mainly from G and near EU.

We have just had our main meal of the day, consisting of roast

Tony EI3HA preparing our main meal.

beef, vegetables and gravy, washed down with red wine, courtesy of our chef, Tony EI3HA. Who could ask for more? We have an IOTA dxpedition in a thatched cottage with all mod cons, including central heating, hot water and broadband access, and we are eating like kings! I am getting to know the guys a bit better. The late night chat over a couple of whiskeys last night was very enjoyable.

I managed to find time to visit a wedge tomb and stone fort which are located on the hill not far from the QTH here. These are structures which date to between 3,000 and 4,000 years ago. It was quite dull up there and overcast, but when I came back to the house the sun came out....

I am impressed at how different things are here. There is not much vehicular traffic at all. It is quiet, and beautiful, surreal almost, and there is no pollution so we are breathing fresh Atlantic air. While I can't imagine living here in the depths of winter - what would one do with one's time in the driving rain (apart from ham radio) - I would say that the island is a great place to come to unwind and get away from civilisation. We do not have a television, so we're not really following events in the world all that closely. We do know, however, that there is a national bus strike on, but that's because some of us have had a peek at the news headlines online.

A bird's eye view of the EJ7NET shack. On left is Tony EI2GX working 40m SSB,
while on right are Rolf HB9DGV and Bernie HB9ASZ working 20m CW and 17m CW.

A couple of the guys are interested in photography. If we get a clear evening, we are going to try to get a nice picture of the QTH in twilight, or against the backdrop of the stars, if the weather allows it.

A wee word of thanks to all those - in EI and beyond - who have spotted us on the cluster or mentioned us on Facebook and given us a bit of extra traffic. Much appreciated.