Jeff, great write-up. Thank you. I never heard 9M0W on either 80 or 160 on
any of the days and listened many of the SS and SR both long and short path.
Using beverages and the YX array since noise wasn't bad here over that time.
Worked 9M0W on 40M for a new band. Never heard on 30 - 10 either. Oh well.
I though people might want to hear a few notes about my trip to Layang -
Layang literally 10 years ago as 9M6/N1UR. My wife Christine (KB1PQN) were
there for a week from March 14 - 23 2008. Pretty identical conditions
actually. We also had challenges getting the antennas to the right places
vs feed line length and location and noise. I didn't attempt 160M because
conditions were so bad and we were only running 100W. I did have a loaded
vertical up on 80M and worked the West coast of NA and some of the stronger
stations in Europe.
We were welcomed by the staff at the resort however they should have been
better prepared for our arrival given the notice they had but were not and
ended up scrambling to accommodate. Generator issues occurred all week as a
fact of life.
We had no problems thankfully on the flight over. It was the weekly flight
using an Otter. Very weight limited and we had everything in 2 golf case
carriers and 2 large suitcases. We paid quite a bit for extra weight each
way - around $400 as I remember.
We actually stayed at that fantastic Shangri-La but it was during the
Currency Crisis of Asia - Pacific and the hotel was begging for business.
Probably paid $125 a night or something like that. It was amazing for a
night before and after the trip.
I found out from one of the military that the reason the Dive Resort does
not open before the week you went is for fear of a Typhoon during the Oct -
Feb period. There is no way to evacuate everyone quickly and the height of
the island is less than 1 meter above ASL. A storm surge could be
devastating. So there may never be a good common darkness to East Coast USA
time from Layang Laynag.
Christine and I made 8,500 Qs that week - which was combined with some R & R
and snorkeling. 100W and just 3 simple vertical and arrays.
Thanks for all of your efforts despite "no joy" on top band from this end.
73
Ed N1UR ex (9M6/N1UR and XX9TEP)
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