Day 1: June 11
On Saturday morning 11 June 2011, 91FAT015 Didin, Widodo and I left home at 7:00 am (local time) for Serangan Island, off the Balinese coastline, for the EMU Islands Fiesta (EIF).
I rode a motorbike while Didin, together with Widodo, rode another.
From just south of Sanur, approximately 15 minutes we rode along the causeway of Serangan, which is also known as Turtle Island, and after passing a long bridge, found the main gate and a security guard in charge there.
We spoke with him to ask permission for our stay and then paid for motorbike parking inside the area of the island.
After we got permission from the guard, we then continued riding our motorbikes to the way of the beach of Serangan.
Not too long after, we arrived to the point that we had chosen before for our EIF IOTA station.
We arrived at this point at 7:30 am and immediately set up our 1/2 wave vertical antenna.
In about 10 minutes the antenna had been erected in front of the beach with a nice view of the surrounding waters, all the way out to offshore coral where snorkelling is popular.
After finishing this job we set up our radio equipment: a Superstar 2200 transceiver and a second Superstar 360 for spare, an RM Italy KL203 amplifier, 2 x Battery 12V and Diamond SX200 SWR meter.
We checked the antenna for better SWR and tested the output power of the RM KL203.
We got 100 Watts of 200 Watts if using normal power supply 13,8 V / 20 Ampere.
At 8:00 am (GMT 00.00) we finished setting up the whole radio equipment and were excited to commence our DX work.
We turned on the radio on 27.555 MHz USB but still no propagation so eventually we decided to have breakfast to pass the time.
At 9:00 am we started to hear some 153 division (Thailand) but there was many QRM on the frequency from Thai fishing boats using AM mode on all the frequencies/channels.
We made a CQ call on the international call frequency and then QSY to 27.580 MHz USB.
The first station in the log was 153TH001 Nikorn, followed by 153AT063 John, 153IR012 Andre, 79DA101 Jeru on Negros Island, 43DA020 Jeff in Far North Queensland, 43AT143 John, 60ER022 Tang on Hong Kong Island and 153RT256 Tan.
Soon after, we were excited to work 79DA/OC-129 on Cebu Island, operator Choi.
We also heard 43DA/IWI-001 Darren/Brett on Ballina Island on their Richmond River Islands Tour calling CQ DX on the call frequency.
I called Darren/Brett on 27.535 MHz and they responded to my first call!
We made contact with the IWI Team and progressive numbers were exchanged.
Caused by big QRM on frequency made by Thai fishing boats using AM mode, we asked the Aussie guys to QSY to 27.530 MHz for a better QSO.
After working 43DA/IWI-001, only many Thai fishing boats on every frequency made big QRM and finally we stopped transmitting for a moment.
While waiting for better propagation, Didin and I were fishing and Widodo was painting.
After we caught some fish, we grilled it and had lunch together.
At 3:00 pm we tried to make CQ calls on 27.555 MHz USB then QSY to 27.580 MHz USB but unfortunately no stations responded to our CQ call on this occasion.
At 3:27 pm again a station from 153 division responded to our call.
We worked 153RT408 Banana, and the last station 79DA703 Bolantoy at 5:43 pm.
Alas, we were waiting for better propagation until 9:00 pm but on the frequency only heard zzz.
Finally we slept at our friend’s house at Fisherman Village not so far from the beach and still in the area of Serangan Island.
Day 2: June 12
On the next day, it was really bad conditions for DX.
From morning until afternoon and evening there was no propagation and we only heard again Thai fishing boats on every frequency.
We tried to change frequency to 27.305 MHz USB where we heard some local stations (island to island inside Indonesia), made some QSO and joined in there.
We just QSO with some local stations on this last day and no progressive numbers were tx.
Less the result for EIF this year because of bad propagation but we had great time in the field logging 31 IOTA Hunters.
Some picture I have uploaded to my web blog at http://91da002.blogspot.com .
Please have a look some picture of 91DA/OC-022 Serangan/Turtle Island with our Crazy Team hi..hi…
Thanks for the nice new iota
73 105
153 ir012 Andre
Good stuff guys, the DX conditions were very poor but you did extremely well on Serangen Island for the EIF. Hope the DX gets better shortly.
Mike, 43DA007