Not much time for playing radio lately I decided to spend time this morning to try and work EP6T from Iran. I didn't give it much of a chance as EP6T was weak on 12m and 15m SSB this morning. The pile-up was still very busy. Luckely the operator did direct ON and PA stations to another split frequency in Dutch, that saved a lot of time as it took only one call to get in the log. I have been working Iran before so it is not a ATNO but to get QSL is another story. Hopefully EP6T will confirm via LOTW. Now, this DXpedition is located at Kish Island. But were is Kish Island? I've been looking for it and found it is a very touristic island with a large airport, shopping malls, touristic attractions, beautiful beaches and it has a free trade zone. I think it is one of the most luxuary parts of the country. What we see from Iran most of the time are women in black clothes and religious man with beards. But Iran has a very western side as well, a legacy of the past. At the moment there is a documentary on dutch TV about the life of the dutch journalist Thomas Erdbrink who is married with a Iranian women and lives in Iran. The documentary is in Dutch/English/Persian. I've just seen the first episode and it's very interesting. The documentary can be viewed online.Link: http://www.vpro.nl/buitenland/kaart/onze-man-in-teheran.html
Thomas does like to interview people on the streets. And give a view of real life in Teheran. Not the thing we usually see in the news.
Update 26-Jan-2015: Totally unexpected I found EP6T transmitting in the afternoon on 10m, their signal was 5/9 on the HB9CV. But pile-up was huge. So all I could do was sticking on a frequency and repeat my call when I knew the operator was doing a S&P. I was lucky at the end and made another QSO with EP6T on 10m SSB. I've been calling on 17m as well, but had little spare radio time left and so I had to let them go there.
Congrats on working EP6T, Bas! I have yet to put my antenna up at this new location as I'm still unpacking. I hope to be back on the air soon! 73, Phil AK7DD
ReplyDeleteHello Phil, thanks for the comment. I hope you get your antennas up soon. 73, Bas
DeleteGefeliciteerd Bas, mooie verbinding!. De volhouder die wint. Ik neem aan met de Icom of...? Ik kon je vanmorgen volgen op het windowtje op je blog zag je over de 10m struinen. Grappig om je zo te volgen hi.
ReplyDeleteHallo Hans, ja klopt. Was vandaag thuis omdat ik afgelopen zaterdag moest werken. Dat geeft me altijd de gelegenheid om wat aan de radio te doen overdag. Heb ik normaal eigenlijk nooit tijd voor. 73, Bas
DeleteWell done, Bas! Like I said in my latest post, not being heard in a pile up does not equate to an inability to be heard - as your example shows when a lot of the pile up is excluded through regionally-directed calls. I note EP6T was a bit slow to come round to doing that, actually.
ReplyDeleteIran is, indeed, very westernised. Much of the Arab world is, at least in aspiration if not freedoms. But then, the UK, France, Germany Russia and the Netherlands (oh, and the US!) have had plenty of sticky hands in pies there for a very long time...
I just read your interesting post. Thanks for you comment. Iran was very westernized before the revolution in 1979. You can't change people in a moment from luxuary to middle ages. Hopefully some new radioamateurs will be active from Iran in the future. 73, Bas
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