[Moon-net] 144 MHz DXpedition to Gibraltar

[DF2ZC Bernd]

ZB2/DH7FB and ZB2/DF2ZC are activating ZB2 Gibraltar - locator is IM76HD -
from April 20th to April 23rd 2007 on 144 MHz, EME and MS. We are leaving
from JO30RN on April 18 early morning UTC with a stop-over at EA3DXU and
after 2600 km drive we will arrive in Gibraltar hopefully on 19 April
evening. Collection of guest licence will take place on 20 April as well as
station setup at the Caleta Hotel http://www.caletahotel.com/

We hope to be operational by late afternoon (UTC) of the 20th. However, we
don't know yet how much we can use the moon as at some point it will move
behind the rock. We will inform when we are at the site. The good news is:
It looks like we should have sufficient moon windows also for the West of
the USA. Hence, from that perspective it is highly unlikely we will pop up
on EME on the 20th as the moon might already be behind the rock when rig
setup is completed. 

Rig is 2 x 17 ele TONNA stacked horizontally, TS 2000 + MGF1302 preamp and
sufficient power and a lot of redundancy.

Here come the "rules of engagement". Please READ CAREFULLY to avoid any
unnecessary interference and delays in QSO completion. Our goal is to make
as many QSOs as possible and we sure won't be amused if stations cause QRM
and steal not only our time but also QSO perspectives from others:

(1)	ZB2 always 1st and always tx on 144,124 MHz.

(2)	We rx from 144,124 to 144,127 MHz (JT65 mode only) when there is NO
MOON in JA.

(3)	We rx from 144,080 to 144,083 MHz (JT65 mode only) when there is
MOON in JA. Any station is invited to call
      however we will give the JAs, VKs and ZLs priority in the pileup.
REMEMBER: We always tx on .124!

(4)	We always rx parallel on 144,123 MHz or 144,079 MHz for CW only.
      Please NO JT65 calls around these frequencies! In case we find a CW
station calling us we will switch 
      to CW using 1 minute sequences (ZB2 even minutes) and go back to JT65
after completion if there should 
      be no further CW calls. REMEMBER: We always tx on .124!

(5)   Please make use of our full 3 kHz rx band! In case of huge pile-ups
please don't hesitate to call even 
      higher than just +3 kHz max from the lower end of our rx band.

(6)   We will work without any redundancy: Though being both friendly and
courteous characters we will not 
      generally transmit 73s after receipt of RRRs but go straight to CQ or
sending reports to the next station.

(7)   PLEASE STAY ON FREQUENCY IF YOU CALLED BUT WE ANSWERED SOMEBODY ELSE.
We will take a note of any station 
      calling and will try to work them one after the other. 

Moon rise dates in IM76HD during our stay are:
20 April: 0735Z
21 April: 0835Z
22 April: 0940Z
23 April: 1045Z

We will probably NOT be on exactly at moonrise but some 10 minutes later as
we will try a dx record QSO with ZL at moon rise.

Internet access might be available but is not certain - and not needed. We
are sorry to disappoint those claiming permanent web access is a
prerequisite for succesful WSJT operations ;-)

However, we will probably send a daily QSO list and some JPGs to Guy DL8EBW
for upload on his website www.mmmonvhf.de

Because of this activity there will be NO 144 MHz EME NewsLetter this month.
The next issue will be uploaded to my website in May.

We look forward to working as many as possible from Gibraltar...cu in a few
days.

vy 73 Bernd DF2ZC (JO30RN)
__________________________
Website: www.df2zc.de
ICQ    : 273214349
144 MHz EME NewsLetter: www.df2zc.de/newsletter

144 MHz DXCC #21
144 MHz WAC


Kenwood TS 2000
2 x GU74b by LZ2US
4 x 2M18XXX 21 dBd full elevation