I had the good fortune to meet Dominic 9H1M at the IARU Region meeting in Cavtat in October 2008. Dominic said MARL would be pleased to offer their club shack for a contest visit. The shack is located in the centre of the island and comprises a number of rooms. The club has an IC7400 and a triband yagi for 20-10m at about 10-11m high and dipoles for 40 and 80.

I took my light weight 400 watt amplifier, microHam keyer and the Asus Eeepc for logging with Win-Test. All of which together with the cabling, I could carry quite easily - see above.

10m - All I heard I worked! Thanks to Brian 9J2BO, who was a good signal too!

15m - Really poor propagation with very little heard and no Gs at all - worse even than last year. Not helped by RF feedback which affected the keying interface and necessitated three reboots.

This had me baffled as it changed with the beam orientation - but on reflection RF may have been getting into the microHam keyer which then upset the

No long path on Sunday even though there was on 40m. Not a single VK or ZL worked on 20, strange.
40m - Impressive signals from all over the place.
80m - Seemed very good even on a low dipole.

Overall - a large number of new stations this year, several VUs, AP2,and even a VE4 but no 
VK3,5,1(!). All VK/ZL Qs were on 40, nil on 80, really odd, and two 9H Qs.


5 banders, what are those!, 4 banders, none of them either!

My amp survived the airline handlers so that was good but I think my K2 beats the IC7400 for signal handling,

and I need to take more ferrites for RF problems too. And spend more time testing before starting.

Only lost power for about 30 mins at 0130 local time, while trying to work John, J79WR on 40, luckily I got him later.

I only fell asleep once for an hour at 0330 ish. Not too much problem with unwanted callers though I did give in to just one, JG1SWM, on 80 in a moment of weakness

 and he has already sent me a QSL card! It was an all time new one for him on 80..



Biggest signal 5B4AGN. 
Gottaways 9M6XRO, 5X (40 due to keyclicks from OE),9J (40), VE8 (wrkg VE3EJ), and many others too many to mention.



We stayed at the Corinthian Palace Hotel, rather smooth, and the WX  was very nice too! 18C, blue sky, no rain and just a bit windy.


Many thanks to the Malta Amateur Radio League (tnx Domenic 9H1M) for the use of their club rooms and especially to Joe 9H1AJ as he provided meals on Saturday and a full English breafast on Sunday.

 I was pleased to give an impromptu talk/demo to some new local amateurs-to-be on Sunday including a live contest QSO with Sid GM4SID and to present the club with a MFJ Antenna Analyser (tnx for quick delivery from W & S).

Dominic says: I am very pleased that all this worked out fine for you and your xyl. 
Please do not hesitate to contact me in anything I can help. It is always my pleasure to be of help. 
I also wish that you pass this to any HAM people who would like to visit our country.
Send also my regards to all RSGB people especially those I met in Cavtat.
 
Dominic is at dominic@esclmalta.com  
 
 
Bob G3PJT