QRV from Mallorca (EA6)

Mum, where actually is grandpa?
My dear daughter, grandpa is where we all once will be.
Ah, I know, he is on Mallorca!

For a small vacation in June 2006 my YL voted for the island of Mallorca. For me it was the first time on that island. We rented a small house in Santa Ponsa (the west of Mallorca) from a friend of ours. The travel was done by plane from Düsseldorf to Palma de Mallorca with the LTU carrier. By rental car we went from Palma to Santa Ponsa (more precisely: Costa de la Calma).

My amateur radio equipment was:

Yaesu FT-897 and Kenwood TH F7E,

two LPD radios WT-77,

portable tuner MFJ 971,

40A switched power supply,

glas fibre tower by Walter Spieth with cross pole (cross telescope),

vertical loop with transformer ("Quickloop" antenna by Walter Spieth),

long wire antenna with transformer (18m length),

as well as 17m coax cable and various trivia.

Everything was stored in the suitcase, except the fibre tower (2.5 kg) and the FT-897 (4 kg). Owing to security reasons the tower had to be checked in as bulky luggage. The LTU did not ask any additional fee for that. The FT-897 was put into my rucksack (small backback). In total the amateurradio equpiment in the suitcase had a weight of 14 kg. At check-in my suitcase was exactly 20.0 kg. Three cheers for my bathroom scales.

Our holiday home (vacation home) had a small terrace and a garden in the back. I was able to put up the longwire antenna between a pillar and a tree at the end of the garden. My switching power supply unfortunately produced a noise level up to S8 (according to the S-meter) on frequencies above 18 MHz. I knew that before but had no other power supply to my availability. Anyway the position of our holiday home was not perfect regarding wave propagation, therefore I focused from the very beginning on portable operation. For that I took the Spieth tower (flas fibre tower) with me.

	Longwire from the terrace into (actually: above) a tree at the end of the garden.
	Feeding box to the longwire. Coax cable not yet connected.

While still at home in Germany, I was looking for a good location for portable operation. I used the satellite views from Google Earth and found the light tower at Cap de la Figuera (not to be confused with Cala Figuera near Santanyí) a suitable place. According to Google Earth the position of the light tower is 39° 27’ 26.7" NORTH, 2°31' 20.4" EAST. However, the satellite photos did not tell me that entering the road to the light tower by car is not permitted.

As an alternative that I can recommend by heart now, I chose for Portals Vells. Inbetween the two bays El Mago and Portals Vells (both having sand beaches) there is an elevation (little hill) that can be reached by car without problem. It is just 200 m further on the road than the Portals Vells Beach parking. The road ends here by looping around a small housing estate. From this location is just 300 m to the beach of Portals Vells. I used to be in contact with my YL (herself at the beach) via the LPD radios.

Position portable location at Portals Vells: 39° 28.42' NORTH, 2°31.234' EAST. QTH-Locator (Maidenhead): JM19GL.

	Portable Location Portals Vells Spieth tower with vertical loop, secured at a small tree.
	At last! No more noise from the switching power supply. Energy supply the direct way from the car battery of the rented car. Back home I soldered banana jacks into the clamps (100W and lots of solder).
	In the shadow of a tree: FT-897 and portable tuner.
	Only 10 foot steps away from the antenna. View onto the bay of Portals Vells. The beach is located to the right.
	Likewise, only 10 foot steps from the antenna. View onto the bay of El Mago. To the left (not visible here) the bay splits into two smaller bays.

During my stay on Mallorca, I operated two times from this lovely location. The second time, on 24th of June, there were good conditions on the 10 m band. I worked only on 10 m and managed also to contact my Heimat (my home countryside) which is the County of Bentheim.

Here to the logbook.

Stefan Freinatis, DL6BZ, July 2006