PA2CHR-Chris and PA3FYC-Jos, are activated via EME rare country – Guatemala. They intended to activate 3 bands: 144, 432 and 1296 MHz. The call signs are: TD9CHR and TD9FYC. Details are here.
On 24th of February our common window with TD9FYC was opened at 19:08 UTC. I was disappointed by the huge local noise level (over 20db!) from the azimuth of 210 degrees. Which, however, happens almost daily. Around 22:02 this noise suddenly disappears and I started to see( and hear!) TD9FYC on 144.137 MHz. Theirs
trace was 19/-22 in QSO with IK2UWL and next CQ. Using MAP 65 I found a clear QRG and called them. From the first call I’ve got an answer! Can not say, it was easy QSO, because I waited for possibility around 3 hours. But we are, “lunatics”, have a lot of patience….
during our QSO TD9FYC was -23 db. on my screen. I received in H-pol. So DXCC # 172 and grid square # 989.
Next try on 70 cm will be on 3-4th of Mach. Team has a schedule, which we can see here
No easy, but complete QSO on 70 cm too. On 4th of March, 05:17 utc.His -23, mine -22 db.
Spatial offset on 3-4 of March was -84 to-88 degrees. I have only H-pol antenna on 70 cm, so impossible to see even faint trace. But Chris install his 30 el antenna in a way, that could manually change H/V pol. And he worked successfully with European stations exactly on V-pol.
Expedition’s log and some pictures are here.