All 100 grids worked from this very ad-hoc "shack".
End-fed Chameleon string antenna, upside down and in less-then-ideal surrounding (metal fence, non-straight line).
FT8 mode plus GridTracker software make tracking grids such fun!
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During a 2-week stay in my native Poland in July 2025, I decided to focus on FT8 because 1) I didn't want to disturb my family by using voice mode, and 2) I wanted to know what FT8 was (it was a new thing to me). It turned out to be a learning experience, and an adventure!
For starters, there was the antenna challenge. Our flat in Poland is on 3rd floor, and I had to toss the Chameleon end-fed wire from our balkony, and attach it to a metal fence. There were a few problems with this: first, the Chameleon is supposed to be tossed up onto a tree or pole, not down. The feedpoint is supposed to be close to ground, and not vice versa. Second, the fence to which I attached the end of the antenna is made of metal. Even though I did not attach it directly (I used a long shoelace to provide isolation from the metal bars), this whole metal structure was still close to the anteanna, very well within its near reactive field, which I'm sure deteriorated the signal a lot. Third, the anteanna wasn't sloping evenly, because there were trees in the way, so there had to be a bend somewhere 4/5 of the antenna length down. All these factors must have contributed to the performance of my FT8 work.
On top of the antenna difficulties, I had problems with operating my radio IC-705 from a computer attached via USB. I needed that for FT8 operation, but any attempt at initiating transmission from the computer ended up with WSJT-X app on my Mac crashing, and the radio freezing in transmit mode. I attacked the problem by adding ferrite chokes, adding counterpoises, and limiting the transmission power where necessary.
Last but not least, I was limited in transmission power anyway, because I did not bring any PSU or battery, so IC-705 could do 5 Watts at best on its internal battery. So throughout my 2-week stay I operated only between 1 and 5 Watts at any time!
Despite all these challenges I managed to operate 100 different Maidenhead grid squares, with confirmed contacts, and earned QRZ's GRID2 award. But what is even more exciting, from the temporary location in Łódź in central Poland I made contacts not only with most of continental Europe's countries, but also with remote locations in Kazakhstan, Faroe Islands and Kuwait! And on one morning I made a confirmed contact with LU6ETB who is based in Bernal in Argentina... which is more than 12,000 km from Łódź. My 5-watt signal, to reach that location, must have made three ionospheric hops -- three bounces off the ionosphere and two off the Atlantic ocean -- from northern to southern hemisphere! I find it truly amazing, as 5 watts is the kind of low power a person would need to pick up a book from floor every second.
