OV P08 DXpedition to the Isle of Masn - Day 7
OK, really sorry for the lack of posts, but I have run into a small problem, whilst dismantling the mast that I have just purchased from another amateur here on the island, my index finger on my left hand got a little squashed after the tower section flattened it, I will upload the rest of the photographs soon to the ‘Dismantling the Tower‘ pages, so check back there to see the gory details…
But here for the moment is the X-Ray of my finger showing the crushed tip, I hope that you are not squeamish!
OK, now back to the crew and there DXpedition to the Isle of Man.
I arrived at Eary Cushlin just in time for food, that was good timing, but I found Claus playing at Chef and the entire crew sitting down, relaxing and enjoying a nice evening in the sun with some great food.
The meal was very enjoyable and there were loads of food to go round, it was a shame that the only amateurs from the Isle of Man that visited the crew during the week that they were here was myself (MD0MDI), Mike (2D0GBM) and David (MD6LET), I had hoped that at least a few members from the local IOMARS club would have visited but it seems that they really do not want to be that hospitable, even though the Germans crew of OV P08 could not be more hospitable and would more often go out of their way to show visitors passing what they were doing here and even offer food and drink to anyone passing.
Today was going to be a long one for me and the rest of the crew, it started off just before midnight with a spot of radio work and I was luckily invited to man the main radio and see what I could do with it, we hitting the radio on 20 meters just before midnight from Eary Cushlin, with a Spiderbeam pointed over the pond towards the USA would spell danger for anyone, and from the first few tentative contacts made, came a nice pile-up with the QSO rate per hour reaching an average of 70 per hour, and considering I was not exactly saying 59 and bye all the time, and was trying to have the odd small chat with most operators, and a laugh to boot, so an average of 70 per hours I think was quite good, especially as we reached 120 at one point….
Bernd (DH1SBB) and Me, James (MD0MDI) having a laugh during a pileup in the early hours of the morning.
With a busy day looming ahead, we decided to shut down the radio a bit earlier than I personally would have liked but with the day that we had planned getting nearer a good night’s sleep was being called for, so even though I could have quite happily carried on for another couple of hours without a problem, we called it a night, and I must thank the crew for giving me this chance to grab the microphone and also to all the stations that I contacted using the crews call of MD/DK1SG, thanks…