As you likely know my antenna elected not to travel with me due to some “machine problem” in Doha. Travelling independently it arrived Singapore last night and will be shipped to Dili on tomorrow’s flight.
Fortunately I have fallen on my feet here. My Australian hosts and their Timorese staff are amazing. Having received VIP treatment at the airport I was taken shopping for wire and coax to facilitate jury rigging a temporary antenna. Dili is no place to shop for this kind of stuff but despite this within less than an hour of arrival I had managed to purchase 100m of PVC covered antenna wire and a 20m length of 50R coax. However the cost however was enough to make my e yes water. When only one place in town has what you need they can take your money through your nose While I was shopping for wire my host located a 10m bamboo and had it delivered to site. What service. My team of Timorese pole erectters and antenna riggers did fantastic work once I had figured out the required wire lengths.
The antennas for 17/30m were rigged just as it got dark last night but the 30m anchor fell prey to the night tide. Repair work will be underway shortly when the tide falls back. The location is amazing with my bamboo antenna support only around 1m from the sea when the tide is in and around 10m when it’s out.
Signals on 17m early evening Timor time were amazing. Pleased to already have a bunch of Gs and CDXC members in the log. I plan to flip between 17/30m until the HF9V arrive s as re-rigging the bamboo pole could cause me to use all my expensive wire in a hurry. I am here until 21 Oct so plenty of time to get on the other bands.
Although the HF9V works pretty well on 80m an inverted L on the bamboo pole may give some advantage. An option for later.
Thanks for the Qs so far. Hope to see you on multiple bands. Bob 4W/G3ZEM
