On the 25th and 26th of July, Johannes (PA5X) and I, Bjorn (PD5DJ), packed up our gear and headed to the island of Texel to take part in the IOTA Contest.
Texel counts as EU-038 for IOTA purposes, so it was a great spot to hand out some island contacts.
It all started just a few days before the contest. Johannes asked me — with only a couple of days to go — whether I fancied heading to Texel together for the weekend to give it a go. I didn’t have to think about it for very long. 😉
To be honest, we were fairly unprepared. But if there’s one thing we enjoy, it’s a good challenge! 😀
We decided to operate under the club call PA6Y/P — normally the contest club call of PI4CK (PA6Y) based in IJmuiden.
Getting There
To reach Texel, you have to take the ferry from Den Helder, run by TESO. From my QTH it’s only about a 45-minute drive to the harbour. The crossing itself takes just 20 minutes, and from the ferry it was another 20 minutes or so to reach our location — so before we knew it, we were on the island and ready to set up.
On the Air
Despite the short notice, we managed to get a solid multi-band setup running. We were active on 80m, 40m, 20m, and 15m, with a different antenna for each band:
- 80m — Vertical
- 40m — Vertical with elevated radials
- 20m — Inverted V
- 15m — V Antenna
The Gear
For the radios, we brought along two reliable workhorses:
- Kenwood TS-590SG
- Yaesu FTdx10
To keep everything powered out in the field, we ran a Honda generator alongside a LiFePO4 battery topped up with solar panels — a nice combination that gave us plenty of flexibility throughout the weekend.
We did toy with the idea of bringing an amplifier along, but in the end we decided to keep things simple and just work with 100W. Sometimes less is more!
A Wet Finish
The final day didn’t quite go as planned. After a rough night with very little sleep, I wasn’t feeling my best, so we made the call to pack up early. As it turned out, that was a lucky decision — a whole lot of rain was on its way!
Since we weren’t set up in a proper tent but rather under a Skadu shelter, there was no way it would have kept that heavy rain out. Calling it a day when we did probably saved us from a very soggy end to the trip.
Looking Back
Even though we went in without much preparation, the weekend turned out to be a fantastic experience. Operating from an island like Texel for the IOTA Contest has a special charm to it — the location, the setup out in the field, and the thrill of chasing contacts all made for a memorable couple of days.
A big thanks to Johannes (PA5X) for the invitation. Sometimes the best adventures are the ones you decide on at the last minute!
73,
Bjorn — PD5DJ
