[ADXA] 7P8LB - One Down, 4 To Go

[w5zn at w5zn.org]

7P8LB is now QRT, so we have one down and four (5X, 9G, XR0, 5V) left to 
go still fired up and running.

I'm not a big sports fan but do love football. My sport is radio!! 
Nothing adds excitement to whatever your favorite sport is more than a 
"buzzer beater" to win the game.

I mentioned near the start of the 7P8LB op that I only needed them on 
160 meters and would be gunning for them. I've worked a bunch of 7P8 ops 
dating back to 1977 but for the life of me have no clue why I did't have 
them confirmed on 160.

The 7P8LB Team Leader Rune, LA7THA is a low band guy and had promised a 
low band focus for NA and JA, two areas in high demand for 160 & 80 
meters. There first five days were not good. They had horrible RX noise 
from QRN and locally generated noise and they could not hear anything on 
160. They kept trying resolve the issue but were not very successful. 
Finally on Wednesday they were able to obtain the best RX noise 
reduction possible and were able to work about 13 USA stations. Their 
transmit sigs were very weak here in Arkansas and you will recall we had 
TStorms and heavy QRN. The only copy was near their SR at 0400z (11:00 
PM local here) for a few minutes. Thursday night they were back on 160 
with the same weak sig and were only able to put 1 USA station in the 
log. Part of the problem for us here in North America is they did not 
standby for NA very much and all of Europe was calling as well, drowning 
out any NA stations.

After Thursday night, Rune promised they would standby for JA and NA 
Friday night and focus on those areas. He did as promised although sigs 
were still not good. They were able to get a good number of JA's in the 
log at JA SR on their Saturday morning which was promising for those of 
us in NA coming up later. At our sunset around 0115z their sig was just 
barely audible but then disappeared. Around 0200z (9 PM our time) 3B8XF, 
who is Nigel G3TXF, was on and had a decent sig that built at his SR so 
there was some promise for 7P8. Around 0315z 7P8LB became audible 
here....I'm talking extremely WEAK and not strong enough to start 
calling, but audible. Their SR is at 0410z and from 0315z the sig began 
to very slowly build. At 0400z their sig was strong enough for me to 
start calling. They were still struggling with RX noise and there were a 
ton of folks in a very hairy pileup calling them. AT 0410z I nailed 
them! They only worked 12 USA stations last night. I was number 9 and 
made it in just at the buzzer....a "buzzer beater" in my favorite sport! 
At 0420z the sunrise in Lesotho had consumed their sig.

This is a long email however its purpose is to once again emphasize the 
importance of being ready and being there at the right time. For three 
previous nights, beginning Tuesday night, I had sat at the rig with the 
cans on from 7:00 PM (our sunset) until almost 11:30 PM (their sunrise) 
listening to noise Tuesday night and bad QRN Wednesday and Thursday 
nights and then last night listening to noise until 10:15 PM.

DX'ing is not easy, especially on 160 meters, however being one of only 
26 stations in the USA to work a DXPedition on that band when there were 
literally hundreds calling is one hell of a reward.

I trust many ADXA folks had similar success on the band or bands that 
you focused on for this DXPedition! I know many of you made it in the 
log and several of you nailed them on 80 meters. CONGRATS TO ALL! A job 
well done ADXA folks!

73 Joel W5ZN