ATF - a Danish ham radio rally

I visited a ham radio rally (the name is ATF) in Odense in November. The town of Odense is situated on the island of Fyn. This town is often used for meetings and conferences, because it is in the center of Denmark. People from Jylland (western part of the country) and Sjælland (eastern part of Denmark including Copenhagen) can drive there within a few hours.

This rally is held annually and it is quite popular among radio amateurs in Denmark. The stuff on display and for sale belongs to the category "general ham radio". Other rallies are more focusing on special branches of our hobby, for example VHF/UHF/Microwave.

There are several attractions when attending a ham radio rally:

• You can purchase equipment, both home-made and factory-made
• You can buy all the spare parts and cables you need
• You can listen to lectures on different subjects
• You can meet old friends and make new ones
• You can visit boots manned by specialists (e.g. "50 MHz")

ATF in Odense 2016-11-06.

The picture above shows the crowd in the morning. Everyone is busy checking the offerings on the tables!

Vy 73 from OZ1BXM Lars Petersen
Homepage: http://oz1bxm.dk

WSPR on 30 meters - my findings

I let WSPR run on 30 meters during 13 days of October 2016. The purpose was to learn how my antenna performed on 10 MHz.

My antenna is a loop skywire: 43 meters of wire shaped as a rectangle. The antenna configuration is shown below:

My loop skywire antenna.

The WSPR results were not as expected. I hoped to hear more continents. The average number of continents heard per day was 2.2. Not impresssive. I would have expected hearing at least 3 continents each day. 

Continents heard with WSPR on 30 meters (October 2016).

When I compare the results for 30 meters with those of the 40 m band, it is clear that this antenna performs better on 40 meters. 

OZ1BXM Lars Petersen

Homepage: oz1bxm.dk