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Both activations are a Cambridge University Wireless Society DXpedition.
Please note that the log search below only includes EJ/M0BLF logs. Logs for EJ/M0TOC and EJ/G3ZAY are unavailable.
During the activation, I posted updates on my Twitter feed:
Arrived on Inishmore, Aran Is. after a slightly bumpy boat trip across Galway Bay. Raining.
2:19PM 24 June
Just worked a full hour at 90 QSOs/hr as EJ/M0BLF. Learnt a 15sec CQ on DVK is perfect for eating a Pringle.
6:57PM 24 June
Some theatre students from UC Berkeley are staying on the island too. They were rehearsing in costume in the hostel lobby last night. Odd.
8:38AM 25 June
EJ/M0TOC running at about 145qs/hr on 14.262MHz.
11:00AM 25 June
Why does Guinness still taste better in Ireland? I thought Diageo had fixed this. Not complaining though. It's good.
7:52PM 25 June
Maybe a bit too much black stuff last night. Head was a bit hurty earlier. At least the fog has lifted & we can see the mainland now.
11:34AM 26 June
I've made just over 300 radio contacts from the Aran Islands since Friday evening. Not bad.
11:44AM 26 June
My Twitter feed tells me it's sunny & warm in Cambridge. It's raining, cool and murky here in West Ireland.
2:36PM 26 June
Great line by old guy in the pub last night: 'Ah you're like me, you don't need much sex. My wife's Japanese.'
5:13PM 26 June
Finished the radio operation from Inishmore. EJ/M0TOC made 471 contacts, I made 425 & EJ/G3ZAY 190 since Fri eve.
10:54PM 26 June
Leaving Inishmore & heading up the coast to Inishbofin EU-121. We'll be there til Weds, inc 6m UKAC on Tues eve.
7:06AM 27 June
Odd thing last night: people from Cambridge & California talking Scots Gallic at a Ceilidh in the Irish Gaeltacht.
10:59AM 28 June
If any #hamr followers speak to EJ/M0TOC this eve, congratulate him. He just heard he got a 1st in his exams in Cambridge.
5:07PM 28 June
Fellow hosteler returns with 12 fish he caught today. Takes pity on my beans on toast & gives me fresh pollack. #win
7:19PM 28 June
Nice contacts on 50MHz into Central Europe this eve. I've made 937 since Friday. Should hit 1k before leaving tomorrow lunchtime.
10:28PM 28 June
At Shannon airport, which has free wifi! Total radio contacts from Inishbofin: EJ/M0BLF 593, EJ/M0TOC 498.
6:59PM 29 June
Total contacts from EU-006 & EU-121 combined: EJ/M0BLF 1018, EJ/M0TOC 969, EJ/G3ZAY 190 #hamr
7:03PM 29 June
Times in BST (UTC+1).
The trip started on 24th June, when M0BLF, M0TOC and G3ZAY left London Stansted airport early in the morning to go fly to Shannon. Once there, we hired a car and drove to Rossaveal, from where we got the ferry to Inishmore at lunchtime.
The journey was a bit rough, as heavy rain and wind started to set in. Once we had arrived at Mainistair House where we were staying, the weather made putting up the antennas rather wet.
Mainistair House is an interesting place, not sure whether it is a low-class hotel or a high-class youth hostel, but with excellent dinners cooked by the hostel's owner Joel.
While on the Aran Islands, we walked to two of the ancient forts on the island at Dún Aonghasa and Dún Eochla.
Radio-wise, conditions weren't great. We only made one contact on 50MHz and 14MHz was our main work-horse band. Tom did, however, manage a nice rate on 7MHz from here too. The weather also only started to improve just before we left the island.
On 27th June, again early in the morning, we left Mainistair House and returned to Rossaveal, where we collected the car and drove it back up the coast to Cleggan, where we caught another ferry to Inishbofin.
Both Inishmore and Inishbofin have substantial resident populations, but Inishbofin is definitely the more frequented of the two. We stayed at the hostel, although there are three hotels on the island too.
While on the island we walked to Oliver Cromwell's fort and did a bit of other sight-seeing. We also went to a Ceilidh — in rather a more formal concert setting than the traditional pub — where musicians from California joined in playing traditional music from both Ireland and Scotland.
Radio conditions were slightly better from here, although our efforts had to focus again on 40m and 20m. Small 6m openings into Central Europe allowed us to make a few more QSOs and, at times, to run a second station.
We returned to London on the evening of 29th June.
Thanks to our sponsors, Spiderbeam, we were able to leave a Spiderbeam 40ft telescopic fibreglass pole, and a drum of RG58 coaxial cable, at Inishbofin hostel. Future visitors are welcome to use that equipment.
The following statistics are after combining all three logs from both islands:
EU-006 EU-121 Total
------ ------ -----
EJ/M0BLF: 425 593 1018
EJ/M0TOC: 471 498 969
EJ/G3ZAY: 120 0 120
Totals: 1016 1091
This DXpedition, and the return visit to the Aran islands, marks a special anniversary for me. On 19 June 2001, just before my 20th birthday, I went on my first DXpedition to the Aran Islands (EU-006) and also, on that occassion, to the Blasket Islands (EU-007).
That first activation marked the start of a new career in DXpeditioning, which over the last ten years has taken me to a number of fascinating, off-the-beaten-track, locations all over the world. Particular highlights include the St. Lawrence Passage in Quebec in 2003, Iceland in 2005 and 2008, the Faroe Islands in 2006, and the Minquiers islands off Jersey in 2007. For the full list, see DXpeditions.
Thanks to everyone I've contacted from islands over the last ten years; this hobby is a great excuse for travel, and I'm very grateful to all of you for making these trips so enjoyable.
Thanks for all the DX Spots, which really helped to generate some nice pileups.
A65CA 14263.0 EJ/M0BLF 2nd day S0 1048 29 Jun
M3ZDZ-@ 14263.0 EJ/MOBLF 5/9 take care DOMINIC 1041 29 Jun
DL3VZL 14262.9 EJ/M0BLF IOTA EU-131 tnx Dom 1029 29 Jun
EA5GXE 14263.0 EJ/M0BLF Thanks Dominic 73 1027 29 Jun
EA1AWR 14263.0 EJ/M0BLF 73 1015 29 Jun
G0ABY 14263.0 EJ/M0BLF EU-121 Inishbofin Isl 1009 29 Jun
EA1GGJ 14263.0 EJ/M0BLF EU-121 0947 29 Jun
9A2N-@ 14263.0 EJ/M0BLF tks for qso 73 0934 29 Jun
PA0AWH 14263.0 EJ/M0BLF CQ 0934 29 Jun
PA0AWH 14263.0 EJ/M0TOC CQ, heavy QSB 0928 29 Jun
G1WMJ 14263.0 EJ/M0TOC eu-121 0907 29 Jun
EI3GRB 7152.0 EJ/M0TOC Tom ..inisbofin eu121 0825 29 Jun
EI3GAB 7152.0 EJ/M0TOC Tom calling CQ from EU121 0812 29 Jun
DL1NUX 50150.8 EJ/M0BLF JO50LF<ES>IO43VO 2051 28 Jun
IK2WSO 7152.0 EJ/M0TOC 5 -9 italy 2038 28 Jun
DH2UAK 50151.0 EJ/M0BLF IO43<ES>JO71 2030 28 Jun
EI7IX 50150.8 EJ/M0BLF io43 cq 2030 28 Jun
M1VHT 7152.0 EJ/M0TOC Tom on EU121 2030 28 Jun
M0HDX-@ 7152.0 EJ/M0TOC EU121 cq cq cq 2025 28 Jun
EA7IQT 7152.0 EJ/M0TOC 2001 28 Jun
EI5DD 7151.9 EJ/M0TOC Inishbofin Island Co. Galway E 1951 28 Jun
MI0TMW-@ 7152.0 EJ/M0TOC new --op 1947 28 Jun
MI1FCQ-@ 7133.0 EJ/M0BLF 59 IN IRELAND 1935 28 Jun
MI0TMW-@ 7152.0 EJ/M0BLF op-dom-- eu-121 inishbofin isle 1931 28 Jun
MI1FCQ-@ 71330.0 EJ/M0BLF 59 IN N. IRELAND 1925 28 Jun
EI5DD 7151.9 EJ/M0BLF Inishboffin Island Co. Galway 1916 28 Jun
MW0DHF 7133.0 EJ/M0BLF DOM EU-121 1914 28 Jun
M1ACB 7133.0 EJ/M0BLF EU-121 Inishbofin 1900 28 Jun
MW0MWZ 7133.0 EJ/M0BLF SOTA EU-121 1850 28 Jun
EI7IX 50130.0 EJ/M0TOC cq ssb from IO43 1728 28 Jun
PE1LTY-@ 14256.0 EJ/M0BLF eu-121 1534 28 Jun
G0FYX 14256.0 EJ/M0BLF Dom on EU-121 Inishbofin Is 1508 28 Jun
HL4CBX 14257.0 EJ/M0TOC QRT ? 1344 28 Jun
A65CA 14257.0 EJ/M0TOC nil here 1233 28 Jun
G6CHD-@ 14257.0 EJ/M0TOC THANKS TOM EU-121 Inishboffin Is 1228 28 Jun
G3ZQQ-@ 14257.0 EJ/M0TOC EU-121 Inishboffin Is 1223 28 Jun
M0MSX 14262.0 EJ/M0TOC IOTA EU121 1031 28 Jun
M3POG-@ 14262.0 EJ/M0TOC Sorry wrong freq. 14.262 correct! 1016 28 Jun
M3POG-@ 14265.0 EJ/M0TOC OP: Tom - Inishbofin EU121 1014 28 Jun
MW0DHF 14262.0 EJ/M0TOC EU-121 CQ CQ CQ 0947 28 Jun
IZ8GCP 14260.0 EJ/M0BLF iota eu 121 cq cq 2027 27 Jun
EA1LT 14260.0 EJ/M0BLF EJ/ is correct call, sorry 2017 27 Jun
RJ3DA-@ 14260.0 EJ/M0BLF tnx QSO. 73. 2000 27 Jun
F5MAG 14260.0 EJ/M0BLF 1958 27 Jun
IZ2LSC 14260.0 EJ/M0BLF EU-121 1951 27 Jun
EA5ASM 14260.0 EJ/M0TOC 1936 27 Jun
UW1GZ 14260.0 EJ/M0TOC 1928 27 Jun
IK2LTR 14260.0 EJ/M0TOC Tom calling from EU121 1921 27 Jun
DL5ME 50000.0 EJ/M0BLF 6m open 1910 27 Jun
5B4AHL 14260.0 EJ/M0TOC Tom eu-121 1903 27 Jun
SP7IDX 14260.0 EJ/M0TOC EU-121 1853 27 Jun
IZ8MXB 14260.0 EJ/M0TOC EU-121 Inishbofin island 1845 27 Jun
IZ1LBN 14260.0 EJ/M0BLF ciao Dominic 5-9 good dx 1825 27 Jun
YT2DDK 14260.0 EJ/M0BLF tnx 73 1816 27 Jun
PE1PQH-@ 14260.0 EJ/M0BLF IOTA EU-121 Inishbofin Island, Tnx 1801 27 Jun
G1CQG 14260.0 EJ/M0BLF good sigs sw england 1758 27 Jun
IZ8LKL 14260.0 EJ/M0BLF EU-121. Tnx !!! 1729 27 Jun
G3ZQQ-@ 14260.0 EJ/M0BLF EU-121 1706 27 Jun
IK4WMA 50139.0 EJ/M0TOC cqing iota EU-121 1653 27 Jun
F4ULC 50139.0 EJ/M0TOC STRONG 1636 27 Jun
EI7IX 50139.0 EJ/M0TOC IO43vo 1631 27 Jun
F5DE-@ 50139.0 EJ/M0TOC IO43 EU121 1626 27 Jun
DL5MAE-@ 50139.0 EJ/M0TOC io43 1613 27 Jun
EA7FKH 14263.0 EJ/M0BLF EU121 1515 27 Jun
IZ8EJB 14260.0 EJ/M0BLF EU-121 SIMPLEX 1457 27 Jun
HB9ELE-@ 14260.0 EJ/M0BLF tnx 73s EU121 simplex cq 1450 27 Jun
S51ZZ 14260.0 EJ/M0BLF 1435 27 Jun
F4ELI 14260.0 EJ/M0BLF EU-121 1427 27 Jun
UA4CDO-@ 7152.0 EJ/M0TOC Correct 2137 26 Jun
LA4HNA 7152.0 EJ/M0TOC 5/9+10 73s 2135 26 Jun
M1ACB 7152.0 EJ/M0TOC Aran Islands - Inishmore 2117 26 Jun
VK7AC 7152.0 EJ/M0TOC tnx tom 2106 26 Jun
F1MQJ 7152.0 EJ/M0TOC eu006 thks 2053 26 Jun
G0UZL 7150.0 EJ/M0BLF Inishmore Island EU-006 Opp: D 1815 26 Jun
EA1HLW 14258.5 EJ/M0TOC Tnx 5/9 TU, gd copy 73! 1656 26 Jun
SQ2HFH-@ 14258.5 EJ/M0TOC 1651 26 Jun
RA2FIA-@ 14258.6 EJ/M0TOC EU-006 1647 26 Jun
HA6VH 14041.0 EJ/G3ZAY 1603 26 Jun
ES2MA 14040.9 EJ/G3ZAY cq eu-006 1559 26 Jun
S52UF 14259.0 EJ/M0BLF iota eu-006 1424 26 Jun
ON8MT 14259.0 EJ/M0TOC 1412 26 Jun
EA1OD 14253.0 EJ/M0TOC 1322 26 Jun
YT1UM 14253.0 EJ/M0TOC EU-006 1313 26 Jun
PG9W-@ 14262.0 EJ/M0TOC Correction Sri Tom 1250 26 Jun
PG9W-@ 14262.0 EJ/M0OTC Tnx Tom exellent signs from EU006 1248 26 Jun
M1ACB 14262.0 EJ/M0TOC Inishmore EU-006 1211 26 Jun
EA1OD 14130.0 EJ/M0TOC EU-006 1046 26 Jun
SA5X 18130.0 EJ/M0TOC EU-006 1043 26 Jun
PA3GEO 14261.8 EJ/M0BLF islandiota 1003 26 Jun
PE1PQH-@ 14262.0 EJ/M0BLF IOTA EU-006 Inishmore Island tnx! 0950 26 Jun
ON2MH 14262.0 EJ/M0BLF tnx qso Dominic 73 0935 26 Jun
F4GDI 14262.0 EJ/M0BLF Merci Dominique EU 006 0927 26 Jun
IZ0TRL 14262.0 EJ/M0BLF 59 ciao 0921 26 Jun
G4DUW 14262.0 EJ/M0BLF arran islands eu006 0915 26 Jun
G4ERW-@ 14042.0 EJ/G3ZAY EU-006 1752 25 Jun
DJ2PJ 18070.9 EJ/G3ZAY EU-006 1645 25 Jun
OK2PAY 18070.0 EJ/G3ZAY EU-006... 1457 25 Jun
CT1HMN 14041.0 EJ/G3ZAY CQ IOTA EU-006 1448 25 Jun
G7VJR 14040.0 EJ/G3ZAY booming 20+ 1423 25 Jun
RA1OW 14040.0 EJ/G3ZAY EU-006 1223 25 Jun
PB5X 14262.0 EJ/M0TOC EU-006 TU 4 QSO 1013 25 Jun
F5PBM 14262.0 EJ/M0TOC 1000 25 Jun
ON4ARV 14245.1 EJ/M0TOC TKS Fred 0957 25 Jun
MW0DHF 14262.0 EJ/M0TOC/P TOM CORR CALL 0957 25 Jun
RU4UR 14262.0 EJ/M0TOC fb sign simpl 0948 25 Jun
EA1HYP 14262.0 EJ/M0T0C 5/9 0946 25 Jun
M0CKP 14261.0 EJ/M0TOC EU006 ARAN ISLAND 0941 25 Jun
IK1NDD 14262.0 EJ/M0TOC EU006 0931 25 Jun
EC5BYB 14262.0 EJ/M0TOC EU-006 0922 25 Jun
PE1PQH-@ 14262.0 EJ/M0TOC IOTA EU-006 Inishmore Island ? Tnx 0916 25 Jun
G3ZQQ-@ 14242.0 EJ/M0TOC EU-006 0915 25 Jun
G0PPM 14262.0 EJ/M0TOC great signal best of luck 0908 25 Jun
EA4MI 14262.0 EJ/M0TOC Irland Island 0902 25 Jun
IZ7QPS 14258.5 EJ/M0BLF 2132 24 Jun
SQ8JLN 14258.5 EJ/M0BLF EU-006 TNX 59 2127 24 Jun
S51ZZ 14258.5 EJ/M0BLF 2104 24 Jun
EA1IR 14262.0 EJ/M0TOC cq cq 1849 24 Jun
DJ2OR 14255.0 EJ/M0BLF 1730 24 Jun
CT1BLE 14255.0 EJ/M0BLF tnx Dominique new one eu-006 1712 24 Jun
RW1AI 14255.0 EJ/M0BLF EU-006 1703 24 Jun
EA5HBM 14255.0 EJ/M0BLF IM98GF CIEZA MURCIA 1645 24 Jun
W1JR 14255.0 EJ/M0BLF EU006 Aran I. 1639 24 Jun
EA5GXE 14255.0 EJ/M0BLF Thanks for contact 73 1627 24 Jun
RV3YR 14255.1 EJ/M0BLF EU-006 1620 24 Jun