EA6/G3SZU

Email: <my UK G call-sign> at <my UK G call-sign>.co.uk

QSL POLICY:   If I receive a card or a request for a card, I will QSL. All my cards are held by my QSL manager, Charles M0OXO and all requests should go to him at his QRZ.COM address. Charles also has an OQRS system on his web-site at M0OXO.COM.

We returned to Cala D’Or, Mallorca in May 2012 and stayed for 3 months in a ground-floor apartment at one of the resorts. I was able to put up my 32ft roach pole (with ATU & balun at the base) in the garden and load it against 4 radials about 2ft off the ground - and very successful it was too from 40 to 10m with regular contacts to ZL, VK and W….and with the addition of a short stub, I was able to make contacts around Europe and back to the UK on 6m.

The equipment was an IC-7000 running 100W together with a Winkeyer  and touchkey. I use Logger32 for my logging and have done for many years; I do recommend it. A length of RG58 coax connected the rig to the ATU down the garden. I would prefer to use something better but it is reasonably priced, transportable in a suitcase and not too heavy….but it does have RF losses. I suppose it’s about “doing one’s best” under the circumstances.

Here’s a view of the antenna, looking from the apartment. I quite like it and my neighbours weren’t too bothered by it - in fact some of my more mischievous drinking companions actively encouraged me to put it up to its full 32ft height as soon as possible rather than my conservative 16ft, so as not to  worry the locals.

Of course I knew there was a good reason for them doing this: the President of the Owners’ Committee wasn’t on  site until the last few weeks of our stay….and the scallywags knew he would be very unhappy when he saw the antenna on his return.

Bang!!!! He came back and indeed was not happy…and demanded information so that he could report me to the “Authorities” - besides anything else, he thought I was “illegal”.

I told him I would be delighted to give him copies of my licence, the CEPT agreement and an extract from the Spanish licence….as well as the RF Exposure table I had pre-prepared. Furthermore, I would be happy to go with him to the “Authorities”. I believe he approached other owners on the site and found no-one was upset about my antenna. He took me at my word and things calmed down - and we actually socialised for those last few weeks and he was in my farwell photo.

That said, I’m not sure the gates would open for me and my antenna in the future haha!

On the left is a view of the antenna from someone else’s apartment.

I think the moral of this story is: Be prepared and have all documentation to hand…….and choose your drinking companions very carefully!

This is the antenna I first used in Mallorca in 2011 - about 35ft from the ground on top of the apartment. It was the usual 32ft roach pole with a similar length of counterpoise hanging vertically ie. A dipole. I used a MFJ -971 T-Match tuner with a balun on the coax side and so the ATU was “hot”. This was fed back to the TX with RG58 coax. The antenna got me contacts all over the world and the only drawback was having to go up to the roof to do a band-change.

The MFJ Portable T-Match worked a treat - but you do have to be careful with low impedances - it’s easy to burn out the switch. Otherwise, it seems to load anything and is so small. I have several homebrew ATUs but they’re heavy and bulky - not ideal for a suitcase. I have compared the T-Match with a L-Match and found that the change in antenna current is minimal. The T-Match does not work well with some impedances but I have to say I didn’t get any problems with it (other than burning out the switch in Hawaii….ahem)

The equipment was just the same as in the 2012 picture below……

This is the Christmas 2011 antenna - a 66ft doublet using ladder line feeder to a balun and ATU. It was strung between two of the (empty) hotel blocks….it helps when you know the owner.

From 2013, we stayed in a top floor apartment with open, wooden slats on the balcony, on another resort. This nicely accommodated a 14ft x 12ft square “loop” fed at bottom centre.

 The bottom wire was just resting on the tiled floor - it didn’t seem to make much difference if it was 6 inches above the tiles or resting on the tiles. The usual ATU and balun were employed to tune it from 40m to 6m. Not as good as the verticals, but good enough to fill the log.

I thought that a loading coil might improve things on 40m (I think that was the band) and so improvised….

To lower the inductance….fill with vodka + tonic….to increase the inductance….use your imagination….trouble was, it started off low but kept getting higher….and higher….

Until 2017 , we spent at least 3 months a year in Mallorca.

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