[50mhz] 5W0GJ Final Results

[Lance Collister, W7GJ]

Talofa lava!

Finally back home again after countless hours traveling!  In summary, I completed 
with 42 stations via 6m EME, plus one on Es (E51WL), who called me in sequence on 
JT65A while I was calling CQ aiming at the moon.  That is a great way to break in 
when the band is open, since when I am aiming at the moon 12 hours a day, I really 
don't have free time for dedicated listening for ionospheric openings!  And the 
increased sensitivity of JT65A permits contacts during strong ionospheric openings 
even if the beam is not aiming exactly at the other station.

   WORKED	
1	G4FUF
2	G5WQ
3	G8BCG
4	G8VR
5	GM4WJA
6	K2ZD
7	K6MYC
8	K7BV
9	K7CW
10	K7XQ
11	KB7Q/7
12	KB8RQ
13	KR7O
14	LA8AJA
15	LY2BAW
16	N2TIN
17	N3CXV
18	N6RMJ
19	N7NW
20	NR5M
21	OH2BC
22	OH6MIK
23	OK1RD
24	ON4GG
25	ON4IQ
26	OZ4VV
27	PA3HP
28	S57RR
29	SM7AED
30	SM7FJE
31	UT7QF
32	VE1JF
33	VE3KH
34	VE5UF
35	W1JJ
36	W5UWB
37	W7GJ
38	W8PAT
39	WA4NJP
40	WA7U/7
41	ZL1RS
42	ZL3NW

In addition to the above stations, I copied 37 other callers with whom I was not able 
to complete:

  COPIED	
1	DJ5JK
2	EA7KW
3	ES6RQ
4	G3WOS
5	G4IGO
6	HA0DU
7	IW5DHN
8	JR6EXN
9	K4PI
10	K4RX
11	K7AD
12	K9CT
13	KD7YZ
14	KH7Y
15	KJ9I
16	LZ2CC
17	LZ2WO
18	N3WXW
19	N5DG
20	NN7J
21	NR0X
22	OA4TT
23	OE9ICI
24	ON9CC
25	PA2CHR
26	PE1BTX
27	PE1L
28	S51DI
29	S59A
30	UN8GC
31	W4CSW
32	W4IMD
33	W7EME
34	W7IUV
35	W7KNT
36	W7UT
37	W9RM

So what do I think?  Well, I knew going into this trip that the windows with EU were 
shorter and the period of low Degradation was shorter than from 3D2LR last year.  So, 
although I was hoping for as many contacts from Fiji (52), I really didn't expect as 
many from this more limited operation.  And, although the moon positions during this 
DXpedition did avoid directions during the day of typically high TEC, the peak of the 
solar cycle is approaching, so the general geomagnetic field disturbances were 
higher, and people reported aurora in Europe when I first started my operation. And, 
although the solar flux may not be high enough to have any effect on 6m signals from 
my home QTH in Montana, there certainly is some effect in the TEP zone, where I was 
operating, even if the MUF was usually not enough to produce ionospheric propagation 
back down to earth!  So, there were certainly some unforseen disruptions that caused 
EME cndx to be less than ideal.  I found many times that reciprocity was not there or 
was not alternating over a reasonable amount of time with stations I was trying to 
work.  It was very frustrating to me to be unable to complete with the many stations 
I copied, and also disappointing that a number of stations I have worked in the past 
were not copied or active during this operation.

Having said that, I have to say that these results were very encouraging, since the 
total number of stations copied off the moon from 5W0GJ (79) was almost 15% greater 
than from 3D2LR last fall (69)!  I think I definitely could complete with several 
dozen new stations on another trip there during a period of optimum EME cndx.

As far as the QTH is concerned, I highly recommend Bungalow #4 at the Bayview Resort 
on Savai'i for ham radio, and especially for EME.  If I were to go back again to 5W, 
I would have no hesitation to go to exactly the same place.  The moonrise is out over 
the water except on very southern declinations, and the moonset is over the water in 
the distance during northernmost declinations.  The AC power did go off for 30 
minutes during one of my moonrises (which was probably the worst possible time for a 
power outage) but it was operational the rest of the 12 days.  The location is far 
from the main TV transmitters in Apia, and I did not detect any interference on 6m 
from the Samoan Channel 1 TV.  I also did not have any line noise, although I did 
have noise (which sounded like welding) on a couple occasions when I beamed west 
toward the village.  The Bayview Resort offered internet via Wi-Fi for $10/hour, 
which was much more handy than the nearest internet services available from the 
previous 3D2 or E51 locations.  Although the Bayview Wi-Fi reached most of their 
units, the operating position in the northern corner of Bungalow #4 was just out of 
range, so I had to dismantle the computer and leave the station in order to file 
update reports.

Many thanks to all those who made the effort to get on and so patiently and 
persistently kept calling me.  I would decode all the callers each sequence to check 
if the conditions were changing so as to be reciprocal with anyone.  If nobody was 
copying me at that time, I would just continue calling the person I had started with, 
even if they were not visible to me at that particular moment.  I am exploring other 
possibilities to try to provide a bigger signal next time, but it is obvious that the 
people who could take advantage of my moonrise ground gain over the ocean really had 
a much easier time of it.  Especially during trying conditions, being able to see the 
moon during that extra ground gain on my moonrise was really helpful!

To those of you who sent in contributions, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!  The excess baggage 
charges, in addition to the expensive travel costs, were very high, and it will be 
some months before the credit cards can be paid off!  It is your very helpful support 
that makes it possible for a guy on Social Security to activate these rare DXCC every 
year.  The accessible and reasonably affordable places to get to are dwindling in 
number, but I think we will be able to come up with a very desirable location for 
next year ;-)

GL on 6m and again, MNI TNX!  VY 73, Lance




-- 
Lance Collister, W7GJ
(ex WA3GPL, WA1JXN, WA1JXN/C6A, ZF2OC/ZF8, E51SIX, 3D2LR, 5W0GJ)
P.O. Box 73
Frenchtown, MT   59834-0073
USA
TEL: (406) 626-5728
QTH: DN27ub
URL: http://www.bigskyspaces.com/w7gj
Windows Messenger: W7GJ at hotmail.com
Skype: lanceW7GJ
2m DXCC #11/6m DXCC #815

Interested in 6m EME?  Ask me about subscribing to the Magic Band EME
email group, or just fill in the request box at the bottom of my web
page (above)!