Here is a brief summary (from Emil, DL8JJ):

Rockall Expedition We made history!

• Made 7227 QSOs.
• 54 hours QRV.
• 3800 CW, 1500 SSB and the rest DiGI.

We made world record of top score, all bands.

4 days and 3 nights spend on the top and overnight.

I’m Emil Bergmann and am the first German ever on the island, stay over night on rock, ever first German HAM radio guy that ever operated from there.

We are the 6th humans worldwide in the history of Rockall to stay overnight on the rock…

Great team, great memories forever…

STATION EQUIPMENT DESCRIPTION:

• 2x Yaesu FT-857 Transceivers

• ANTENNAS:

• Emil (CW/FT8):  Dipole 2x 7.5m sloping from a Spiderbeam 10m-Mini fiberglass pole, (fed with 300 Ohm Window-line). Auto Tuner: CG-3000.

• Nobby (SSB): Random Wire (with two counterpoises) on a Spiderbeam 10m-Mini fiberglass pole, matched with an MAT-40* Auto-tuner.

• Nobby (FT8):  Half-Size G5RV*, its legs just thrown over (and touching) the tent, matched with an MFJ-902 (manual) tuner.

• Honda 10i Inverter Generator

• Notebooks with N1MM and WinTest (logging software), MSHV (digi software).

More in my presentation at HAM RADIO 2023.

Cheers!

Emil Bergmann  (DL8JJ)

MM0UKI Rockall DXpedition

-----------------------------------

*EQUIPMENT CHOICES:

Due to the harsh WX conditions on Rockall, it was desired to use antennas which could change bands without going outside to make adjustments.  There are a few things to consider when planning the antennas system.

The CG-3000 Auto-Tuner is fully automatic and requires only a coax to the transceiver.  It detects the frequency automatically and tunes itself.

The MAT-40 was an excellent Auto-Tuner, but it requires a separate cable from the transceiver's CAT to obtain frequency information.  No problem (at first).   Unfortunately, running FT8 also requires a connection to the transceivers CAT, but there is only one connection.   

It was not possible to use the MAT-40 when running FT8. 

As a result, a third antenna (half-size G5RV) was deployed and matched in the tent with an MFJ-902 (manual) tuner when the SSB station was running FT8.

Lesson Learned:  When planning equipment, it may be better to take along a larger tuner not requiring a second cable to the transceiver.

PHOTO GALLARY:

     (All Photos:  Emil Bergmann, MM0UKI (DL8JJ)

QSL CARD