4Z0A - ACTIVATING ONE OF THE RAREST ISLANDS - AKHZIV ISLAND IOTA AS-100

Along Israel1s Mediterranean shore, probably unknown to most, there are only a few small islands. They are so small, that practically only one island could be targeted to be the site for Radio Amateur activity and even this one only if the sea is calm. Compared to other countries in the area, like Greece and Turkey that have hundreds of islands, we only have this tiny one called Akhziv. The size is only about 80 by 20 meters and this during a low tide.

For quite a few years this island hadn1t been activated, so I decided to lead a DXpedition to operate from this spot. The team consisted of Mark 4Z4KX, Yoram 4X1GY, Leo 4Z5FL, Leonid 4Z5DW and myself.

The island is very close to the Lebanese shore, thus we were obliged to operate only at day time, from
0500 to 1400 UTC. There was no way to stay over night.Due to these limitations I decided to bring over to complete stations in order to ,give1 this island to as many hams, world wide, as possible.

We chose Saturday, April 10, as ,D1 day. No major contests were scheduled for this date. We spent the night in a small hotel, double checking the equipment and planning how we shall operate the rigs in the most efficient way.

At 0400 Z we arrived at a small bay to be picked up by a large Zodiac to be ferried to the site. We
loaded the Zodiac very quickly and our captain Danny left towards the island. The sea wasn1t calm. The captain said that he might turn back and not land us at the island due to the rough sea around the landing point. I convinced him to make it in spite of all because many hams, world wide, were waiting to hear 4Z0A on the air. Finally he agreed with one condition - we should unload the boat in 3 minutes flat. We unloaded the raft quickly and lost only a box of audio accessories to the salty sea.

We decided about the 3 sites for the stations and started to set up the rigs and put up the antennas.
Due to the fact that we had been limited for only one day of operation, we decided to operate both in CW and SSB in order to make as many QSO1s as possible. In order to contact the long and far away DX
stations, we knew that we would have a window of an hour, or less, early in the morning. Back at Petach Tikva Malik 4X4JU prepared and co-ordinated a list of 40 hams, world wide, that were expecting
anxiously to work 4Z0A.

After only ten minutes, after the landing on the island, the first station was operational. The first rig was
an IC-728 and an automatic antenna tuner AT-160 hooked up to a LAKEVIEW 14 MHz rod. For the
beginning we did choose battery operation. The first QSO was made with AH8 and then we worked, in
quick succession, easily, ZL, VK, W6, W7, HP and many other DX stations including C21.
In the mean time the other two stations were assembled including the 220V generator. One station consisted of a TS440S and a Delta Loop tuned to 21 MHz. was operating in CW. The third station comprised an IC-706 hooked up to a famous Hy-Gain 12AVQ vertical antenna. The radials were connected to the wet ground. This station was dedicated for operation, during the morning, on 7MHz. to contact Israelis due to the skip conditions, preventing communications on other bands. Later we moved the rig to the 21 MHz. band to tackle the big ,pile-ups1 of Europeans.

During the operation we had some problems with RFI/EMI, due to the short distances between the
antennas but we managed to operate in spite of all. For our next DX-pedition we will prepare some filters to work smoothly.

The pile-ups were huge. We worked the stations by their numbers and found out, that at this way we able to work faster than using split operation. The 21 MHz. band was opened nicely. We worked mostly in CW with Europe and the Far East. Around 0900Z we moved to 28 MHz. Conditions were very poor but we managed to work JA and some Europeans.

Before noon we had a funny event. A police coast guard vessel stopped close to the island. They started to ask me several questions, but the were too far away and I couldn1t hear a word. I held up the licenses to prove our operation was legitimate « to no avail. Finally they called us with a public address system and asked me what were the exact frequencies we were using. in order to enable the son of one of them, also a ham, to contact 4Z0A!

Early in the afternoon we started to hear North Americans on 21MHz. SSB, coming in with very nice
signals. We tried to work NA to give 4Z0A to as many hams as possible before closing down and leaving the island.

At 1300Z we left one rig running the NA pile-up while starting to disassemble and pack the stations for
dispatch for the main land. At 1400 Z the Zodiac arrived at the island (before schedule), with a crew of four in order to load the vessel quickly and bring us back to shore.

The sea was by now very rough. We completed loading within 3 minutes and left the island towards the
small hidden bay. It was a very busy day. During the 7 hours of operation we managed 1929 QSO1s, 74 countries world-wide. We decided to come over again thus letting more hams to contact this tiny island.

The QSL manager is Leonid 4Z5DW.

Finally I would like to than the team « Mark, Yoram, Leo and Leonid helping me to get my dream to
reality. (We added some pictures to show you the tiny island and the way the stations did operate..
Pictures courtesy by Mark 4Z4KX )
                                                               73 and Shalom de Jan Misgav 4X1VF
 

SEARCHING FOR RELATIVES FROM KOSOVO

With the scope of the human tragedy unfolding from the war in Kosovo, we too have had some
involvement. The Israel Defence Forces set up a full scale field hospital in Albania, just over the border
from Kosovo, and Israeli youth movement youngsters have also been active in helping out in the refugee camps. Soon after the uprooting of the Kosovo population began, the public here contributing plane-loads of blankets and clothing as well donating much money.

Early on in the crises, the government decided to take in a few hundred Kosovar refugees, who are at present being housed in the Nature Protection Society1s field school dormitories at Maagan Michael.
These unfortunate refugees have no idea of what became of some of their closest kin, and the smallest
fragment of information could cause great relief.

Ziv 4X1UK and Mark 4Z4KX set up a portable station at Maagan Michael, and have been in contact with
an Albanian radio amateur to whom they have been relaying the names and information of the Kosovar
refugees in Israel. At this stage, we don1t know yet how much help they have provided. However, they are to be commended for their efforts.
 

THE SASA SOCIAL EVENT

It's no secret with the huge influx of olim (immigrants) from the former Soviet Union, the radio amateurs
of Israel have had their numbers greatly increased. Every Saturday morning, along with the Hebrew
language round-table on 7.050 KHz, a parallel net can be heard in the Russian tongue on 7.080 KHz, all
participants sporting 4X and 4Z prefixes.

Mark 4Z4KX (amazing how Mark is starring in our reports this month « hat1s off!) organised a
get-together of former Soviet hams at Kibbutz Sasa in the Galilee hills on the first weekend of May. 40
licensed amateurs along with their families made up a group of 100 people who rented 36 rooms, and
enjoyed themselves with picnics, barbecues, and nostalgic Russian songs to the accompaniment of an
accordion.

Valentin, a Kibbutz Sasa member of 16 years standing and operator of club station 4X6BYB gave the
group a tour of the Kibbutz. They also went to nearby Mt. Meron, the Galilee1s highest mountain, and
enjoyed the view of northern Israel from "on high". Needless to say, a good time was had by all.
 

MORE NEWS

** When going to the USA, no more need to apply for a reciprocal licence. Just take your valid licence
along, and sign W1, 2, 3œ etc.. /your callsign. Operate on the bands and modes as your own licence
permits. This precedes the USA joining the CEPT common licence group. Sorry USA hamsœ until this
happens, you must still apply for a reciprocal licence before visiting Israel.

** The Haifa amateurs recently held a meeting around the use of 2.4 GHz for digital purposes. The group
that pioneered Packet Radio in Israel continues in its pioneering work. The linked Haifa UHF and VHF
repeaters are now equipped for voice mail which can be forwarded to most other repeaters.

That's all the news that fits in this month - more for you next month!

                                                                       73 de Ahron and Ron