Louis (PA3FTP)

My DX experience as Dutch ham station PA3FTP

And then it's that time again, the holiday expedition to Finland is over. OH73ELK was a great experience. Both as a holiday destination but especially a new experience as a radio amateur. From 20 to 26 May I have been QRV almost daily for one or more hours at 10, 20 and 40 meter SSB. I worked in many new countries that I found in NL much more difficult or possibly just not working, such as Australia, Japan, Taiwan or Uruguay to name but a few, also 5 or 10 watt QRP stations that just arrive in Finland 5-9 +. If the frequency is empty noise less than 1 s point, delicious.

Nowadays we just have so much QRM in NL that the weak stations simply can't beat it. Fortunately, this is very different in Finland. Where we were, there was no sign of life in the wider area (excluding the animals and fish), so no direct QRM from residents. Partly due to the location of the island between the many lakes, the beam out of one a piece for 10.15 and 20 meters (Russian-made!) And the possibility to add power with an R-140 if needed, you are without a doubt a Big Gun at that location, even without the R-140. All the broadcasts that I did caused a pile-up whether I came out with OH73ELK or OH / PA3FTP. It was just hard work! Very nice and especially educational to experience that. On the other side of the pileup gives you a lot of insight into how things can be improved and how you can stand out as a calling station. And that after almost 40 years of experience as a radio amateur. If I had known this before ...!

I can therefore recommend everyone to do something like this once. As far as I'm concerned, it certainly tastes more. Do you also want to have a nice holiday (also for the family of course) and want to sit on the other side of a pile-up? Then I can heartily recommend this place!