In June 2001, my first ever DXpedition was with the Cambridge University Wireless Society to the Aran and Blasket islands, off the western coast of Ireland. Which count as EU-006 and EU-007 for Islands on the Air respectively. Fellow operators were Martin, G3ZAY, and Alan, M5AIQ.
QSL Cards
Via M0BLF bureau or direct. QSL Card status
Times and Bands
We operated all HF bands 3.5MHz-28MHz including some WARC bands, although 3.5MHz was only really used on our last night. Operation was mainly between 09:00 and 22:00 UTC on each full day, mainly SSB (although we did take a Morse Key with us as well!). The legal limit in Ireland is 150W, so it wasn't worth taking an amplifier, so we operated 'barefoot' with only 100W.
Equipment
We used a FT-890 with an HF-6 Butternut Vertical Antenna. As explained above, no linear was used.
Operators
The station is being operated by three members of the CUWS (unfortunately the other members were not able to join us):
Martin Atherton, G3ZAY
Martin is the shack-secretary of the CUWS. An experienced DX-er, he has been involved with many of the best-known DXpeditions.Alan Bain, M5AIQ
Alan is a post-graduate mathematics student at the University and the CUWS's Secretary. His main hobby seems to be collecting various bit of `junk' from rallies and trying to get them working again (often quite successfully!)Dominic Smith, M0BLF
Dominic is the Society's newest member and has recently been elected Chairman of the CUWS. He is a first-year undergraduate languages student.
Links
You might find the following sites of interest (no responsibility is accepted for their content):
Islands on the Air Award Scheme
www.rsgbiota.orgBlasket Islands Tourism and History
www.dingle-peninsula.ie/blaskets.htmlGreat Blasket Island
www.GreatBlasketIsland.comThe Aran Islands
www.VisitAranIslands.comCambridge University Wireless Society
www.cam.ac.uk/societies/cuws