*DXpedition Story* The Climb to the White Peak
September 1, 2010 by Darren
14DA161 Dorota and I have been to Andorra in the rugged eastern Pyrenees mountains on two occasions in the past but have cancelled our climb to the White Peak for SOTA DX because off the poor propagation and WX conditions. On 28-29/08/2010, however, it was excellent WX conditions — in fact I had observed a significant change in temperature during the week and hoped that would help to have an “opening” in the DX work.
We left Toulouse on Saturday morning and during the trip to Andorra we already made some nice contacts.
We arrived at the pass at 13:10 (UTC), close to Le Pas De La Case which is a town in the Parish of Encamp on the border, and took the direction of the summit with our bags + radio equipment. At 15:00 (UTC) we were ready to transmit as 51DA/APE-001 White Peak but it was quiet at the beginning of the activity with not many stations heard.
On the mountain, at an altitude of 2725 meters, we used an ICOM IC-7000 QRP (10W peak) transceiver powered by our LiFePO4 40Ah battery on a half wave groundplane antenna whichwas mounted at only 2.5 meters from the ground. With these working conditions we had a great pile up and one that was worthy of a most wanted activation! It was exceptional conditions indeed and it had been a long time since we had experienced similar ones (the last time was in Gibraltar 55 Division)……all of Europe, Brazil……
The QSOs were chained quietly letting a minimal of time for the operators to take the mic, and it allowed us to make not less than 132 contacts until 21:38 (UTC). By this time night had fallen and the clouds had reached the top of the summitt. It had become very cold also so we decided to go back to the pass for the night. It was a difficult return, too, made thanks to our headlamps throughout the clouds! We were so happy arriving at the bottom in the car!
On Sunday we went back up to the summitt and made a few contacts, achieving 196 altogether!
Now at home, we can say that we spent some magical moments at the White Peak summit this weekend in Andorra. Lastly, we would like to thank all those who came to contact us on the air for adding to the magic! We hope to return some time in the future!
Dorota 51/14DA161 – John 51/14DA058
*Soon* Ancenis Loire IWI Tour
August 16, 2010 by Darren
Zealous DXplorers 14DA049 Fred and 14ATS049 Anthony will team up for a 24 hour tour of inland water islands in the Ancenis Loire region in Department 44 on August 20, 2010.
For more information, please see http://www.delta-alfa.com/activities/loire/ .
*Active Now* 14DA/MA-125, Ile Coalen
August 13, 2010 by Darren
Busy IOTA DXpeditioner 14DA028 Phil will be active from the Manche Atlantic Ile Coalen (Also known as Ile de Quoalen, Île de Quoalenin) Bretagne in the Côtes-d’Armor department (22), Brittany, France on August 14, 2010. The special callsign for this event will be 14DA/MA-125 where MA-125 is the reference number attributed to the island by the D.I.F.M. organisation.
For more information, please see the activities sectionat http://www.delta-alfa.com/activities/coalen/
*Active Now* 14DA/CYI Castel Yar Island
August 11, 2010 by Darren
Veteran IOTA DXpeditioner 14DA028 Phil will be operating from the never before activated island of Castel Yar at the bottom of the Pommelin Bay at Pors Guyon from August 7—20, 2010.
This tiny IOTA DXstination is stepped in history and is sure to be hotly sought after on the band…
For all the details, please see http://www.delta-alfa.com/activities/14dacyi/ .
14DA/68013R, Hydroelectric Power Station Island
August 7, 2010 by Darren
By 14IR206 & 14DA017
Some weeks ago, 14IR206 Florent and I agreed to activate an inland water island (IWI) for DA-RC as we hadn’t been on the air together for a while and were both missing the pile-up adrenaline rush. We are mostly DX hunters Flo and I, but it’s also good from time to time to be hunted!
After hours of intense Google maps browsing and some reconnaissance missions to gather more information, we chose 68013R, a nearby and easily accessible inland water island named the Hydroelectric Power Station Island – Kembs on the Rhine River (See below).
We first planned to be active on Saturday (the whole day) and also on Sunday (morning), but because of the poor and strange conditions, we finally started Friday evening and were on-the-air until Sunday evening (30/31st July & 1st of August 2010)
Our biggest regret for this inland water island activity is not having made it in June as the end of July propagation is not the best for this kind of activity…but never mind 
There was some propagation, but amazingly localised (point to point), mostly on the evening time and with hours of silence on 27.555 MHz USB.
We had strong and quite long lasting conditions to Scandinavia, Scotland (108 Division) and Ireland (29/68 Divisions), but curiously, almost nothing from Italy (1 Division), France (14 Division) or Spain (30 Division)!
Propagation was so weird that a 317 div OM called us and said we were the ONLY Europeans he was hearing at the time!
14AT014 Jean-Pierre and 14DA028 Phil, both notorious French IWI chasers, had a hard time working us, but they both managed to take advantage from an extremely quick and narrow opening.
The biggest surprise came from 3DA012 Roger coming out of nowhere when our motivation and strength was at its bottom level. Strong thunderstorms were raging and we were already packing some accessories in order to leave soon … and then Roger was here! Tnx Roger, you’re the only South American in the log!
The radio setup was extremely simple and light: FT-897, 100W, vertical half wire dipole tapped on a 6 meters long fishing rod!
14DA/68013R was a “connected” activation, we had Blackberry Smartphone and an Internet connected PC laptop. Cluster connection was NOT used to confirm QSO but it helped us to make advertisement for the activity, also, we got informed that we did not chose a good QSY, as it was used by another IWI activity we didn’t hear.
Nicotine, Caffeine and dried fruits gave us the power needed for that 3 days DX-Adventure and helped us to stay awake with so few hours of sleep. Knowing each other for 15 years, the atmosphere was excellent and it didn’t end with fists on the nose like it happens from times to times during DXpeditions!
68013R’s team had the pleasure to welcome some visitors:
- an HB9 amateur radio OM
- 14FAT268 our good friend Stéphane
- 14AT065 Vincent, on holidays – met him for the first time at Djibouti AFB in 1999
- 14FAT001, the famous Eric
- a French F1 OM, licensed in 1968
We have done our best to please our “takers”, some were hardcore IWI hunters, others just wanted to ragchew and won’t QSL, but it doesn’t matter for us, as everyone was welcome.
The stats say we made 84 QSO and worked 21 DXCC. In regard to our equipment and the propagation, we can say it’s a very decent result.
It is likely that we will make another attempt from there in order to please more IWI hunters, but 68013R also excited us a lot and we have some projects in the same area, but this time with limited battery power, QRP power out and very limited “on air” time.
For those lucky enough to have worked our IWI station, the special QSL card will be available soon from our QSL Manager whom is 14DA115 Muriel (See http://www.delta-alfa.com/about/qsl-managers/)
More pictures coming soon!
73 de Regis and Florent
*Active Now* 14DA/68013R
July 31, 2010 by Darren
Competent DXpeditioners 14DA017 Regis and 14IR206 Florent will be active as 14DA/68013R from the lovely Rhine River’s Ile de la Centrale in French Department 68 (Haut-Rhin) from July 31 until August 1, 2010.
For more information, please see http://www.delta-alfa.com/activities/14da68013r/
*Active Soon* 14DA/AT-016 Houat Island
July 27, 2010 by Darren
Experienced IOTA DXpeditioner 14DA024 Fabrice will be active on the eleven meter band as 14DA/AT-016 (D.I.F.M. Reference) from Houat Island off the south coast of Brittany on August 7 2010.
For all the details of this exciting Islands On The Air (IOTA) activtity from the RSGB recognised Bretagne (Morbihan) Region Group (EU-048), please see
*Active Soon* 14DA/AT-025 Île d’Oléron
July 25, 2010 by Darren
Renowned IOTA adventurist 14DA007 Chris will be active as 14DA/AT-025 from the Île d’Oléron from August 1 2010. One of the many islands in the RSGB defined Poitou-Charentes Region IOTA group (EU-032) and not activated since 2005, this popular tourist island is expected to be on the hitlist of many dedicated IOTA Hunters in the 11m community.
This activity will also double as a Lighthouse On The Air (LOTA) activation one of the beautiful lighthouses on the island.
For all the details, please see http://www.delta-alfa.com/activities/oleron/
*Active* 14DA/59008R Folien Island
July 18, 2010 by Darren
Experienced IWI-Man 14DA028 Phil will be active from the tiny inland water island of Folien on Sunday July 18 2010.
“Tomorrow (Sunday 18/07) I active in 14DA/59008R Folien isl. (iWi), already activated in 2009 (9 stations logged), and i hope this time a better cdx. I hope to listen many DA on Folien isl. , RTX : ICOM 706 MK2 , KL501 (200w) and Bamby antenna…”
For more information, please visit http://www.delta-alfa.com/activities/iwi-tour/ or http://phil11m.blog4ever.com/blog/lire-article-261538-1761763-14da_59008r.html
14DA/33-037R Report
July 5, 2010 by Darren
Our IWI-Kend Story
14DA115 Muriel and I leave home at 08:30 local time, heading for the little town of Portets where our target of the day is located……the Ile de Renon. We arrive there without any problem and immediately start to settle the portable station for Part 2 of the IWI-Kend. The Bambi antenna is quickly erected and then the power generator is hidden behind a small group of trees to slightly stop the noise.
The weather is perfect — not a single cloud can be seen anywhere and it’s already 23c at 09:30.
Time to switch on the radio, a Kenwood TS-450, and we hear a few voices on 27.555 MHz USB. We make our first call as 14DA/33-037R from our small river island and then QSY to 27.470 MHz which was is planned frequency. The first station in the log is 14RD027 Paul who is from the area.
Unfortunately, we have a 9++ QRM on this frequency due to some Italian CB operators chatting on AM with 1000+ watts so it’s impossible to copy the low stations.
We exchange a few SMS with Phil 028 who is activating another IWI, telling us that he’s experiencing the same problem on 27.480 MHz. This frequency is calm for us so we propose Phil to swap our monitors which he agrees.
Here we go again with many stations calling our IWI-Kend station and lots of stations from Poland being logged. Then, much to our surprise, we hear Phil 14DA028 quite low on the frequency but workable. Later on in the day, however, he was 5/9 and it was great to have regular chats with him!
Propagation then opens up even more and we soon work all Europe which we are both very thankful for.
A quick lunch break between 12:00 and 13:00 because we’re hungry and then it’s back on the transceiver for some more IWI DX
Suddenly, while monitoring 27.555 MHz, we can hear 2 division calling and for a second can’t believe it! A moment later, 3DA012 Roger makes the log and a few other US stations can be heard here and there. Then we clearly hear 2DA155 Rod calling on the same frequency but it seems he cannot hear us.
Later in the afternoon, a bad station, probably from the same area, comes on the frequency and fakes having a QSO with a pretend buddy, covering everyone who is attemptiing to work us. As soon as we stop transmitting, he does the same. As soon as we call on 27.480 MHz then he speaks again 
The band being very noisy with a lot of Italian stations monitoring in AM and FM below 27.460 MHz and above 27.640 MHz, we got permission from the IWI-Kend boss to monitor 27.540 MHz which is one of the only clear frequencies on our side.
Then a few minutes later, another SES station comes and calls without even worrying about our activity. Fortunately, many stations monitoring our frequency shout that the frequency is already in use and he is soon gone after some big QRM.
Finally, we stop at 19:00 local, the last station in the log being 1ET029.
Log Stats
In summing up, 108 stations are in the log for 14DA/33-037R from 17 divisions. These include Italy (1), Brazil (3), Germany (13), France (14), Switzerland (15), Belgium (16), Greece (18), Netherlands (19), England (26), Ireland (29), Spain (30), Portugal (31), Austria (35), Denmark (47), Scotland (108), Poland (161) and Croatia (328).
DA-RC members in the log include 3DA012 Roger, 13DA007 Simon, 14DA007 Chris, 14DA024 Fabrice, 14DA028 Phil, 14DA049 Fred and 328DA010 Tom.
Other IWI stations worked include 14DA/62-011R, 14DA/49-015R and 19AT/ZI.
In spite of hot WX which reached upwards of 38c and inflicted bad sunburn, it was a great experience for us on our first IWI activity.
Thanks everyone for calling and see you from our next activity!
