EJ7NET Day 2 - Poor propagation but good weather

Our second day on Cape Clear (and our first full day of operation) was marred by poor band conditions. Propagation was almost non existent. We were hoping for good pile-ups on 20m and 15m after the contests finished at 1pm, but instead we found a dearth.

Rolf activating SOTA as EJ7NET/P

In the morning, while the contests were still ongoing, Rolf HB9DGV decided to activate the summit of the island as a SOTA, so most of us accompanied him to the peak on what was a glorious day. The poor band conditions were compensated somewhat by the excellent weather! Rolf made several QSOs on 30m CW before going to 40m CW, where he had plenty of contacts. In fact, he stuck at it for a couple of hours. W
The activation took place at the site of a megalithic passage-tomb, a stone monument dating from around 5,000 years ago.

Liam celebrates the first JT65 QSO
after several hours of trying.

Liam EI7DSB spent a great deal of time on JT65, but it was a several hours before conditions allowed for a QSO to be made. The main action was on 20 metres CW, where conditions picked up in the evening time to allow a good run. At times, EU, USA, Japan and Asiatic Russia were being worked, but at other times the band was quiet. There is a dedicated 6 metre station, attached to a two-element beam. Two contacts into Spain were made in the morning time but apart from one or two other fading signals, nothing else was heard on this band for the rest of the day. Hopefully we will get at least one good opening while we are here.

Bernie making contacts on 30m CW in the shebeen.

Bernie HB9ASZ had some luck on 30m CW, with a steady if somewhat slow QSO rate. Late in the evening, I went on 80m SSB while Declan EI6FR worked 40m SSB and plenty of stations from Ireland and UK were logged. Some of the team went to the local pub to sample the Murphys stout, and even though I was working 20m CW, I still got to see most of the World Cup final, in which Germany beat Argentina by one-nil.

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