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For 2009 Frank DH7FB and I had planned to activate Sardinia which is not that much a rare DXCC within Europe. Most stations within a 2000 radius from Sardinia might have already worked that county on meteorscatter because it is a popular place for vacations and many hams, i.e. DL1RNW, OE6IWG and DH7FB were active from there via MS during the past years.

However, since there is zero permanent EME activity from that DXCC we expected a substantial demand from elsewhere.

We used the same equipment as in October 2008 in Guernsey, with just one exception. Instead of the the 3CX800 amp, which again made problems during final testing, we decided to take my "spare" MC2K by LZ2US, with two GU74b - and 45 kg weight.

On 30 April Frank traveled from Berlin to my place and the next morning we continued to Livorno, from where the ferry boat to Olbia/Sardinia left at 2330 local. On 1 May 2009 we left the ferry at 0730 local at Olbia and travelled some 100 km straight to the DXpedition location in JN40UJ. First we had to meet the owner in his cafe bar in Irgoli who then guided us to the actual place which was about 1 km from the beach only.

The house was perfect for our purposes, no direct neighbours and the takeoff was also as predicted by PA0JMV's plot: most of the moon pass could be used. We started assembling the station and antennas straight away - the moon was already up in the sky. However, at one point there was a moment of confusion: As soon as the amp switched the HV on, the fuse blew. This was scary as it meant we might not be able to run decent power. After some minutes we found out that the local mains supply was as weak as we had feared. We could only draw some 6 amps. And those 6 amps were already consumed by the warm water boiler and the fridge. So we decided to switch everything which was not ham radio related off for the working periods. This way we could at least get good EME power to the antennas, still way below of what the LZ2US amp is capable of. That one did not even get warm; it never exceeded 34°C whilst in operation. The last thing before going to bed was always switching the warm water boiler and the fridge on so that we had warm water for a shower in the morning and cold drinks during the day.

90 minutes after that trouble we were operational, started calling CQ and immediately got good sigs back with JM1GSH as 1st QSO. We were in the game!

All in all we completed with 162 different stations in 36 DXCC entities (if we did not miss counting one). Country firsts were established with BX1AD, XE2AT, PJ4NX and probably also with OY4TN and maybe more of which we are not certain.

Very disappointing was the activity from Spain (zero) as well as from the Western part of the USA. We always had moon way beyond the moonrise hours in CA/OR/WA but hardly any call was copied from there. We don't think they all have IS0 already.

We changed callsigns every moon pass which made some hams call again though the first QSO with the other IS0 callsign was complete. Sure this was just meant to be an act of friendship BUT....this was not very helpful as we did not maintain a checklog and not just once gave Os to a station we had worked before (as we saw in hindsight) and not to another caller in the pileup for whom it might have been a first contact with IS0 at all. We will reconsider this callsign swap in our next activity. Moreover some hams did not send 73s after receipt of our Rogers as we had requested. So we were not sure if they received our RRRs and wasted time to send two or three more sequences Rogers. Yet, we are certain we completed with 99% of those who called us.

The setup once again showed it is perfect for EME DXpeditions. It is stored now and waiting to be put back into use by us or others. We have no plans et for our 2010 DXpedition. If YOU have any suggestion for a DXCC/grid which is within reach by car from JO30 or JO62, please tell us. And trust us, we still think about how activating ZB land again but without the support of the local ham community it is impossible to work EME from there. The ZB regulatory body wants a statement of consent by the Gibraltar Ham Radio Club to grant a QRO licence (some 300 watts out). Without that, one is only allowed 100 W ERP! Sadly, the Gibraltar Amateur Radio Society did never even reply to our letters/emails/faxes.

Video and Links
We have uploaded a video to Youtube showing area and a short look at shack (with DH7FB operating). Have a look here. The relatively dark recordings are because of the conversion on Youtube; the original file is much brighter - as was the wx in Sardinia: always sunny.

A link to the holiday house rental is here.

And a Google Earth Location file is here. [ KB]

We are very grateful to UKW-Berichte and to SSB Electronic for sponsoring this activity.

(The leading number stands for initial, the "2nd" for another contact with that station. Only complete QSOs are listed.)

1 May 2009 IS0/DH7FB
1 1325-1329 JM1GSH C –25
2 1331-1335 JH0MHE C -18
3 1335-1339 JM1WBB C –14
4 1339-1346 IK1UWL C -21
5 1345-1349 PA0ZH C -17
6 1349-1554 RZ4HF C -17
7 1353-1358 JR3REX C -19
8 1357-1401 DK5LA C -13
9 1401-1405 RU1AA C -12
10 1405-1409 ES6RQ C -10
11 1411-1417 DL1DWI C -16
12 1417-1422 I2RV C -15
13 1423-1428 OH2LHE C -17
14 1427-1432 PE1L C -17
15 1431-1439 F8DO C -16
16 1439-1443 RK3FG C -14
17 1443-1447 PA3FPQ C -21
18 1447-1453 RX1AS C -17
19 1453-1457 OH7HXH C -19
20 1457-1501 OH7PI C -16
21 1501-1505 SM7GVF C -15
22 1511-1518 PA4PS C -24
23 1521-1526 RA9YDL C -25
24 1525-1532 G8VYK C -25
25 1529-1540 OH3KLJ C -28
26 1543-1547 PA0JMV C -23
27 1547-1551 OH6ZZ C -21
28 1555-1559 DK3WG C -26
29 1613-1617 PA3CMC C -18
30 1627-1633 RU1AC C -27
31 1723-1731 SM5CUI C -30
32 1735-1740 KB8RQ C -10
33 1739-1744 SM2A C -19
34 1745-1752 WA2ODO C -22
35 1749-1755 DL9MS C -13
36 1759-1803 K5GMX C -19
37 1803-1805 DL2NUD C -17
38 1809-1815 OH4LA C -25
39 1815-1821 W1IPL C -21
40 1821-1827 DJ8MS C -21
41 1827-1831 F6HVK C -18
42 1831-1835 YL2HA C -23
43 1843-1851 PA3DOL C -20
44 1851-1857 SM5CFS C -18
45 1903-1907 WA3BZT C -21
46 1907-1911 W5UN C -23
47 1917-1921 K2BLA C -20
48 1935-1939 DH3YAK C -23
49 1943-1947 S52LM C -20
50 1949-1953 K7MAC C -12
51 1959-2005 DL2LAH C -23
52 2005-2011 UA4AQL C -14
53 2025-2029 OZ1LPR C -15
54 2029-2033 OH8MGK C -24
55 2039-2043 ES3RF C -19
56 2051-2056 OK1UGA C -15
57 2059-2105 IK1FJI C -10
58 2107-2111 I2FAK C -24
59 2111-2115 ZS6OB C -22
60 2115-2119 IT9CHU C -16
61 2119-2123 DK5SO C -23
62 2123-2129 I1ANP C -17
63 2129-2135 K1JT C -19
63 2135-2141 DL4WO C -23
64 2141-2145 G4ZFJ C -21
65 2145-2149 IT9CJC C -20
66 2149-2154 DG1VL C -27


2 May 2009 IS0/DF2ZC
67 1141-1145 ON7EH C -17
2nd 1447-1451 DL9MS C -15
68 1151-1155 JH5FOQ C -17
69 1157-1201 ON4KHG C -18
70 1203-1207 DJ3VI C -18
71 1207-1213 PA7RP C -17
2nd 1219-1223 RZ4HF C -17
72 1225-1233 UA3PTW C -24
2nd 1235-1239 RU1AA C -11
73 1241-1252 JE1TNL C -25
74 1253-1300 JS3CTQ C -25
2nd 1331-1334 I2RV C -16
2nd 1347-1351 DL1DWI C -18
75 1353-1358 VK4CDI C -22
76 1359-1409 PA1GYS C -22
77 1411-1417 PE1RDP C -17
78 1415-1421 SP2NJI C -22
79 1437-1441 RA6DA C -15
80 1441-1445 DK3EE C -17
81 1445-1458 DL7FF C -25
82 1451-1458 SV8CS C -25
83 1515-1519 SM5DIC C -23
84 1537-1541 JO1LVZ C -23
85 1545-1549 F1DUZ C -22
86 1549-1553 DL8YHR C -25
87 1555-1559 LY2BAW C -27
88 1609-1613 DC2MW C -23
2nd 1617-1623 DG1VL C -25
89 1621-1631 DK4TG C -22
90 1631-1635 I3MEK C -22
91 1635-1639 DD0VF C -22
92 1929-1933 RW6AG C -19
93 1933-1937 WA4EWV C -19
2nd 1949-1953 W5UN C -8
94 1951-1956 PA3ECU C -24
95 1955-2000 AA4SC C -23
96 1959-2004 YU7XL C -19
97 2005-2009 K1OR C -16
98 2011-2015 PA3EXV C -17
99 2041-2045 DG0OPK C -22
100 2047-2051 K5QE C -10
101 2053-2057 K5RNT C -12
102 2053-2103 DJ9MG C -23
103 2107-2111 G4CBW C -20
104 2113-2119 WA4NJP C -19
105 2119-2123 I3LDP C -18
106 2123-2133 PE1LWT C -27
107 2145-2151 OY4TN C -25 Country 1st
108 2157-2201 AA7A C -24


3 May 2009 IS0/DH7FB
109 1321-1327 7K3LGC C -17
2nd 1327-1333 DJ3VI C -20
110 1327-1333 RW3WR C -17
111 1347-1351 EA6VQ C -23
112 1403-1409 DL1RNW C -24
113 1423-1431 RU3GX C -22
114 1607-1611 DM1CG C -9
115 1621-1627 DF7KF C -12
116 1627-1633 DH8WG C -25
117 1643-1649 HB9Q C -21
118 1651-1655 IK7EZN C -19
119 1657-1703 SK5CR C -19
120 1705-1709 HA0HO C -24
121 1713-1717 HA0DU C -23
122 1719-1727 ON7UC C -23
123 1733-1737 GW3XYW C -18
124 1747-1751 OH6KTL C -26
125 1755-1803 F6BEG C -26
126 1807-1813 G4AEP C -29
127 2003-2007 K9MRI C -23
128 2019-2023 UT6UG C -16
129 2059-2103 DK5YA C -18
130 2111-2115 YU1IO C -20
131 2132-2145 KI4TZ C -26
132 2159-2232 N4BH C -29


4 May 2009 IS0/DF2ZC
133 1353-1359 VK2KU C -20
134 1415-1421 ZL3TY C -19
135 1417-1425 SP2OFW C -15
136 1425-1429 RA6AX C -10
137 1519-1537 BX1AD C -25 Country 1st
138 1553-1607 JH0BBE C -27
139 1607-1611 ZS2GK C -22
140 1613-1617 DK5WL C -20
141 1625-1629 DO1ERS C -21
142 1633-1645 OM3BC C -24
2nd 1647-1651 ZS6OB C -22
143 1719-1723 PA2CHR C -17
144 1729-1733 PI9CM C -19
145 1747-1751 YO9FRJ C -27
146 1757-1801 DL8EBW C -24
147 1805-1813 OE6IWG C -27
148 1821-1825 DC9YC C -24
149 1825-1839 GI6ATZ C -26
150 1853-1857 9A2TK C -23
151 1859-1903 RN6BN C -10
152 1901-1911 F6APE C -23
153 1911-1915 YL2OK C -26
154 1919-1923 F5GHP C -20
155 1935-1939 UR5LX C -16
156 1941-1945 TK5JJ C -23
157 2005-2009 PJ4NX C -20 Country 1st
158 2055-2101 S54T C -25
159 2127-2133 W4RBO C -27
160 2135-2139 S53J C -17
161 2145-2155 XE2AT C -25 Country 1st
162 2253-2303 OH6UW C -22

QSLs for QSOs with IS0/DF2ZC: www.qrz.com/df2zc
QSLs for QSOs with IS0/DH7FB: www.qrz.com/dh7fb
QSLs will be printed by 27 May 2009 and should be mailed thenafter.

We prefer direct QSLs if you want to have your card soon. Via buro it might take much longer up to two years.

Direct QSLs with SASE or SAE plus 1 $ within EU, 2 $ outside EU for postage, please. Direct QSLs without sufficient return postage will be answered via buro only.

Of course, we are happy about any financial support as small as it might be but nothing is asked for and nothing is expected. I repeat: We do not expect anything more than a resturn envelope plus sufficient postage/$s/IRCs. If you like you can fund future activities but we don't ask for it.