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Greetings fellow radio ops,
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As we have now returned from our nautical meanderings to Iceland & Greenland, this e-mail is by the way of an apology for lack e-mails and updates during those /MM ops.
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Following our initial ‘group mail’ on gaining the captain’s permission and a subsequent mail on 16th July we lost access to our ‘BT mail’ account which held the ‘MM’ group addresses.
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The reason for the breakdown is still unknown, but we did share this experience with a number fellow passengers who also could not access their BT accounts.
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On one occasion on 17th July we used Suzanne’s G-mail account? inputting all the addresses we could recall manually, again apologies to those who were omitted.
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We have now decided to set up a dedicated G-mail account for our /MM group to run as an alternative to BT mail on future trips.?
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The combination of atrocious weather and dire propagation made every QSO a real struggle, consequently we made just over 100 QSOs 98% were in CW?
?Even so, the majority of the QSOs suffered from very deep and destructive QSB such that even a 599 contact would degrade to barely readable in a matter of seconds.
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We found we had a problem with the auto ATU on the KX3 with the radio showing it as “not installed”. Fortunately as we resonate the G-whip antenna to specific bands or specific parts of a band (normally CW allocation) we rarely need to use the ATU. The only exception is when we tune ‘outside’ the resonant envelope for example moving up to the SSB frequencies on 10m and 15m etc.
However, since returning home the KX3’s auto ATU has worked faultlessly. I strongly suspect the extremely penetrating damp conditions experienced when operating on the open deck caused the non-compliance and malfunction.? One thing the KX3 lacks is a waterproof case.
The pervasive wet conditions also took their toll on the 17m loading coil for the antenna which went chronically ‘off song’. This produced the most amazing graphics on the display of the AA600 antenna analyser.? Again, since drying out all is back to normal. Some remedial work to further waterproof the loading coils is scheduled before our next nautical jaunt.
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Saying that, our next nautical adventure is a few weeks hence, when we intend to be in the Eastern Mediterranean. However, we are keeping a close watch on the geo-political situation in the middle-east as this may cause the geographical area of the voyage to be radically altered.
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Whatever happens we will keep you appraised as to progress.
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73 fer nw de Tony es Suzanne
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