Sunday, 19/10/2014

Alas, I couldn’t activate Grand Bey Island (MA-040) on Saturday as I’d originally planned due to limited tidal access and the fact the adjoining natural sand causeway would be submerged.

So I had a closer look at the tide times online and realized that the sea for this Sunday lost 1m in height which would allow me brief access to the island some 400m off-shore.

This became the new time for an activation!

On Sunday morning I left my FDX buddies in the car at Fort Du Guesclin Island (MA-038) and headed to Saint Malo to enable MA-040.

Located at the mouth of the Rance River, this D.I.F.M. referenced island is claimed by just 5 of the world’s leading Island Hunters with the first recorded contact taking place more than 20 years ago.

Leaving on foot from the nearby Bon-Secours beach, I arrived at site of my picturesque DXstination and hastened to see if my predictions were right.  YES!  This time the access is good.

But, it’s barely 9 am and low tide is 11:23 am so it leaves me about 2 hours to activate.  I must act quickly to log as many Island Hunters as possible!

So I load the station, battery and antenna and steer my 35 kg carriage across the sand and rocky tidal flat onto Grand Bey Island.

Finally I set up in a quiet corner of the island with a nice sea breeze blowing from the Bay.

Nearby are the remains of an ancient fort and the grave of François-René de Chateaubriand, a French writer native to Saint-Malo whom is buried on the island.

The tranquility doesn’t last for too long though because a lot of tourists come in this period eager to enjoy this beautiful Indian summer day!

After my first CQ DX call on 27.555 MHz USB my first QSO is made with FDX friends whom also log me for MA-038.

14FDX108 Gui is worked at 10:00 with a monster 5/9+ signal.

He’s followed by 14FDX017 Chris at 5/9+, then 14FAT706 mobile at 10:02 at 5/7.

It’s great to have the guys in the log in the opening moments of the N/V IOTA activity and many keen DX Hunters are added to the log soon after.

Since I was active only for 2 hours, I know I haven’t been able to please everyone, but the long 6 hour drive home was also a consideration.

So I finished at 24:02 with 47DX101 John in the Kingdom of Denmark at 5/3.

Results:

• Stations Logged: 52
• DXCC Worked: 10 [France (14), Denmark (47), Portugal (31), Brazil (3), Italy (1), The Netherlands (19), England (26), Germany (13), Spain (30) and Thailand (153)].
• DA members ITL: 3 [3DA012 Roger, 14DA049 Fred and 14DA911 Chris].

It’s the end of this 2014 D.I.F.M. Tour weekend and a big thanks go to Chris, Gui and company with whom I had a great time in wonderful WX about 23 ° all weekend.

It’s 1:15 p.m. when we hit the road towards our QRA and arrive home at 19.15 already in our heads with future projects for 2015.

A big thank you also to 14DX181 Marc for passing information and integrating the new island (Snake/Serpent) on the Islands Base Online (IBO) database.

Also to 26DX047 Darran who passed the information on cluster.dk.

Thanks also to all those who made the log/s for our different island adventures during D.I.F.M. Tour Weekend (DA & FDX) and sorry for those that we couldn’t hear.

We make an appointment in 2015 to try again!

73 de Phil 14DA028