The lower 40 meter yagi was tilted in the storm during Christmas. It is now back to operating position and ready for some pile-ups.

More antennas installed at SM5EPO.  FB-33 Tribander for 10-15-20 meters up 25 meters above the ground. Also a 80m dipole was installed @ 22m.

Congratulations to PeO SM5EPO, that has now retired and now work full-time at the SM5EPO and SK3W Radio stations.

SM5EPO can be found here:
http://www.voacap.com/skimmer/?dx=sm5epo&band=

Started some work to improve the electrical installation.

Some antenna work in the darkness. 50MHz antenna at SM5EPO, around 27 meters above the ground.

DXCC

WAS

We reached our goal, to beat the old SM record from SL3ZV, and with a pretty good margin. In the end of the contest we targeted the OH2U record, but unfortunately the propagation dropped.

We had a great team this year, with a couple of newcomers and some very old timers. This year we had 11 radios connected, all bands with support radio and computer. On 10 meters we used the TenTec Orion, with the Sub RX for the support. Seven Elecraft K3′s one K2, and the the outsiders on 20m, FT1000D and IC-756.

The antennas seamed to work fine, except for 160m. Something is not as it should, and more investigation is needed. Another finding is hat we lack antennas pointing to the south. With high bands in shape, we needed to turn the “running” antenna too much.

Operators:

160m: SM0GNS Peder, SM6MCW Peter, SM3NXS Sten
80m: SM3CCT Bengt, SA5BJM Johan
40m: SM0MXO Hans, SM5TXT Torgny
20m: SM5AJV Ingo, SM5PHU Jonas
15m: SM5IMO Dan, SM3EVR The Tord
10m: SM3SGP Gunnar, SM0EPO Peo

Yes!

The contest is running!

Operator team this year:

160m: SM0GNS Peder, SM6MCW Peter, SM3NXS Sten
80m: SM3CCT Bengt, SA5BJM Johan
40m: SM0MXO Hans, SM0TXT Torgny
20m: SM5AJV Ingo, SM5PHU Jonas
15m: SM5IMO Dan, SM3EVR The Tord
10m: SM3SGP Gunnar, SM0EPO Peo

QSL INFORMATION:  Via SM5DJZ

The last antennas was repaired in the Ericsson Tower today. 5 element for 15 meters @26m. The tower now have 3 element 40m in the top, 4/4 element for 20 meters (19/37m) and 5 el @26m. The indication for the top rotator was also installed.

Unfortunately the new tower light was broken yesterday.

Also, we have started to build the operation positions. Got lots of help from Johan SA3BIB and Anders SM3XIK. First operator SM5AJV/SE5E arrived in the evening!

When to plan vacation in Sweden? July is a good choice, but last week of November is also a must. Preparations for CQWW CW!

This weekend we lifted the upper 4 element 20m yagi in the USA Stack. We also connected the power to the rotator for the 40 m yagi and power to the tower light.

On Sunday night in the rain and darkness I connected the new 80m phase box. It seams to be working fine, but still have to test with high power.

Plenty of work still to do on the list before the contest. I expect the hired guns to show up on Friday, 15 minutes before the contest, and open their boxes with the golden Benchers…