21/07/2026
🇬🇧 ENGLISH
🌴📡 Hvar Island (EU-016) 2026 – Holiday DXpedition Summary 🌊
Another family holiday on the beautiful island of Hvar (EU-016) is behind us, and of course the radio gear came along! 😄
Over 15 days of holiday-style amateur radio activity, I logged 1,516 QSOs with stations from 94 DXCC entities. 🌍🎉
I was active in three modes:
🎙SSB
💻 FT8
💻 FT4
Unfortunately, most of my operating was on the digital modes. Running SSB would have been a bit too noisy and would likely have disturbed my two-year-old daughter during her naps. Family comes first! ❤️👨👩👧
I operated on 9 HF/VHF bands:
📡 80m • 40m • 30m • 20m • 17m • 15m • 12m • 10m • 6m
🛠️ Station Setup
🔹 Yaesu FT-857D (100 W SSB / 20–30 W FT8 & FT4)
🔹 microHAM USB Interface II + external USB sound card
🔹 Homebrew EFHW antenna (5 m vertical + 16.2 m sloping, oriented E–W)
🔹 LDG AT-100 Pro tuner
🔹 Software: N1MM+, MSHV, WSJT-X and Log4OM v2
🗺️ Activated References
🏝️ IOTA: EU-016
⛰️ SOTA: 9A/DH-086
🌳 POTA: HR-0236
🏖️ IOCA: CI-028
📍 Locator: JN83HD
✅ Highlights
🟢 Excellent activity on 40 m (7 MHz) and 15 m (21 MHz).
🟢 Great propagation towards South America and Africa – including several rarer African DXCCs. 🟢 One of the highlights was a QSO with Antarctica! 🐧
🟢 The homebrew EFHW antenna performed exceptionally well.
🟢 Plenty of space for the antenna thanks to an open field next to the apartment with a small forest nearby.
⚠️ Challenges
🔴 Heavy QRM on 20 m (14 MHz) throughout almost the entire stay. Only the strongest signals made it through, except during the SOTA activation.
🔴 The northern horizon (300°–60°) was blocked by a mountain about 1 km away and roughly 600 m higher than my operating position.
Overall, I'm glad I packed the HF station once again. While this was first and foremost a family vacation, I managed to take advantage of every free moment to get on the air.
A big thank you to everyone who worked me from Hvar! Looking forward to meeting you again from the next activation.
73 de S55X 📡
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🇸🇮 SLOVENŠČINA
🌴📡 Počitniška radioamaterska aktivnost z otoka Hvar (EU-016) 🌊
Letošnje družinsko počitnikovanje na otoku Hvar (EU-016) je za nami. Seveda tudi tokrat brez radijske opreme ni šlo. 😄
V 15 dneh radioamaterske aktivnosti sem v log vpisal 1.516 QSO-jev z 94 različnimi DXCC entitetami. 🌍🎉
Delal sem v treh načinih dela:
🎙 SSB
💻 FT8
💻 FT4
Žal je bila tudi letos večina aktivnosti na digitalnih načinih. Na SSB sem pri 100 W hitro preglasen in bi motil svojo dvoletnico med počitkom, zato je bil družinski mir na prvem mestu. ❤️👨👩👧
Aktiven sem bil na 9 bandih:
📡 80 m • 40 m • 30 m • 20 m • 17 m • 15 m • 12 m • 10 m • 6 m
🛠️ Oprema
🔹 Yaesu FT-857D (100 W SSB, 20–30 W FT8/FT4) 🔹 microHAM USB Interface II + zunanja USB zvočna kartica
🔹 Doma izdelana EFHW antena (5 m vertikalno + 16,2 m poševno navzdol, orientacija V–Z)
🔹 LDG AT-100 Pro tuner
🔹 Programska oprema: N1MM+, MSHV, WSJT-X in Log4OM v2
🗺️ Aktivirane reference
🏝️ IOTA: EU-016
⛰️ SOTA: 9A/DH-086
🌳 POTA: HR-0236
🏖️ IOCA: CI-028
📍 WW Locator: JN83HD
✅ Plusi
🟢 Odlična aktivnost na 7 MHz (40 m) in 21 MHz (15 m).
🟢 Odlični pogoji proti Južni Ameriki in Afriki, v log sem uspel dodati tudi kar nekaj redkejših afriških DXCC entitet.
🟢 Posebno zanimiv QSO je bil tudi z Antarktiko. 🐧
🟢 Doma izdelana EFHW antena je delovala odlično.
🟢 Za postavitev antene je bilo dovolj prostora na prosti parceli ob apartmaju, z nekaj gozda v okolici
⚠️ Minusi
🔴 Skoraj ves čas aktivnosti so bile na 14 MHz (20 m) prisotne močne motnje (QRM), zato sem sprejemal predvsem najmočnejše postaje. Izjema je bila le SOTA aktivacija.
🔴 Proti severu (300°–60°) je bila lokacija zaprta s hribom, oddaljenim približno 1 km in približno 600 m višjim od moje lokacije.
Kljub temu mi niti malo ni žal, da je bila tudi letos HF oprema del družinske prtljage. Čeprav je bil to v prvi vrsti družinski dopust, sem izkoristil vsako prosto priložnost, da sem sedel za postajo in odpeljal kakšen QSO.
Hvala vsem, ki ste me poklicali in naredili zvezo z Hvara. Se slišimo ob naslednji aktivaciji!
73 de S55X 📡
