[Wswss] TX5K initial summary
Neil Jessen
n6vhf at pacbell.net
Thu Mar 21 16:45:35 EDT 2013
Lance:
Wow...amazing write up on your experience! I don't think many people realize the extreme effort, logistics and crazy conditions involved with these DXPeditions. Thanks for being there with 6 Meters! I would have loved it on 6, but it wasn't in the cards for me. I did however work you guys on all modes, 10 through 40 meters. I will just continue to dream for 6 meters in the future.
73 & Thanks,
Neil - N6VHF
--- On Sun, 3/17/13, Lance Collister, W7GJ <w7gj at q.com> wrote:
> From: Lance Collister, W7GJ <w7gj at q.com>
> Subject: [Wswss] TX5K initial summary
> To: "'[PNWVHFS]'" <pnwvhfs at googlegroups.com>, "RMVHF+" <rmvhf at rmvhf.org>, "Western States Weak Signal Society" <wswss at mailman.qth.net>, newsvhf at mailman.qth.net
> Date: Sunday, March 17, 2013, 4:12 PM
> Hello,
>
> As I write the initial summary, I am on the Shogun on the
> return trip from Clipperton Island. As you can well
> imagine, the trip was very exhausting, as I was essentially
> on my own to set up the 6m station as far away from the HF
> operations as possible, and then race to get things set up
> to operate EME all night. Because we were a day late
> in landing on the island, it was struggle to get the 6m beam
> assembled and up before nightfall on the first day of March,
> but I did get the antenna up just after sunset, in time for
> moonrise on the second day of March GMT. In addition
> to missing a good day for EME at the beginning of the trip,
> I missed most of the last two EME days, when cndx were just
> beginning to improve. That left me with the worst week of
> the month for EME. Of course, I was very disappointed
> in the EME results, and the fact that I had no terrestrial
> propagation toward NA, aside from two contacts who
> apparently linked to an Es opening.
>
> While the number of EME stations worked was not as high as
> my operation from Fiji, the results were surprisingly close,
> and suggests that another dedicated EME DXpedition to some
> rare place during the BEST week of the month for 6m EME
> could yield at least 50 to 60 contacts. Despite all
> the difficulties encountered, the EME results were better
> than the Rarotonga, Samoa and Niue operations. As it
> turned out, I had no access to any internet at any time, so
> could only tell if a station received my RRR, completing the
> contact, if I received 73's from them. Below is a list
> of the 6m EME contacts, along with stations copied through
> Saturday March ninth when I was forced to shut down at
> sixteen-forty UTC:
>
> TX5K 6M LOG FROM 50.190 MHz
> NOTE: ? Under NOTES indicates RRR were sent but no 73's
> received
>
> QSO/
> STN # YR
> MONTH DAY
> UTC CALL -DB
> MODE NOTES
> 1 2013
> MARCH 2
> 0536 G8BCG
> 21 JT65A
> 2 2013
> MARCH 2
> 0544 ON4IQ
> 11 JT65A
> 3 2013
> MARCH 2
> 0556 S59A
> 22 JT65A
> 4 2013
> MARCH 2
> 0606 S57RR
> 22 JT65A
> 5 2013
> MARCH 2
> 0612 ON4GG
> 15 JT65A
> 6 2013
> MARCH 2
> 0622 K2ZD
> 17 JT65A
> 7 2013
> MARCH 2
> 0636 OZ4VV
> 18 JT65A
> 8 2013
> MARCH 2
> 0642
> SM7FJE 26 JT65A
> 9 2013
> MARCH 2
> 0427
> WA4NJP 26 JT65A
> ?
> 9 2013
> MARCH 2
> 0652
> SM7AED 17 JT65A
> 10 2013 MARCH
> 2 0740
> N3XX 28 JT65A
> 11 2013 MARCH
> 2 0758
> K6MYC 20 JT65A
> 12 2013 MARCH
> 2 0704
> 0K7XX 17 JT65A
> 13 2013 MARCH
> 2 0750
> G4IGO 21 JT65A
> 14 2013 MARCH
> 2 0852
> W6BBS 24 JT65A
> 15 2013 MARCH
> 2 0950
> ZL1RS 25 JT65A
> 16 2013 MARCH
> 2 1002
> N7NW 24 JT65A
> 17 2013 MARCH
> 2 1026
> K7XQ 27 JT65A
> 18 2013 MARCH
> 2 1044
> FK8CP 26 JT65A
> 19 2013 MARCH
> 2 1232
> N3CXV 24 JT65A
> 20 2013 MARCH
> 2 1324
> N8JX 23 JT65A
> 21 2013 MARCH
> 2 1554
> K7CW 25 JT65A
> 22 2013 MARCH
> 2 1612
> W7IUV 17 JT65A
> 23 2013 MARCH
> 2 1618
> W6BBS 24 JT65A
> DUPE
> 24 2013 MARCH
> 3 0632
> IW5DHN 15 JT65A
> 25 2013 MARCH
> 3 0714
> GW4WND 23 JT65A
> 26 2013 MARCH
> 3 0706
> G5WQ 25 JT65A
> 27 2013 MARCH
> 3 0728
> OZ1DJJ 28 JT65A
> 28 2013 MARCH
> 3 0748
> S51DI 26 JT65A
> 29 2013 MARCH
> 3 0754
> GM4WJA 22 JT65A
> 30 2013 MARCH
> 3 0831
> OT1E 18 JT65A
> 31 2013 MARCH
> 3 0850
> F6BKI 29 JT65A
> 32 2013 MARCH
> 3 1016
> KH7Y 25 JT65A
> 33 2013 MARCH
> 3 1040
> ZL3NW 26 JT65A
> 34 2013 MARCH
> 3 1242
> VE3KH 26 JT65A
> 35 2013 MARCH
> 3 1318
> VE3MMQ 26 JT65A
> 36 2013 MARCH
> 3 0712
> K6QXY 26 JT65A
> 37 2013 MARCH
> 4 0756
> HA8CE 26 JT65A
> 38 2013 MARCH
> 4 0806
> OZ1DJJ 24 JT65A
> 39 2013 MARCH
> 7 1114
> OZ7OX 27 JT65A
> 40 2013 MARCH
> 7 1142
> OK1RD 27 JT65A
> 41 2013 MARCH
> 8 1110
> ES6RQ 23 JT65A
> 42 2013 MARCH
> 8 1120
> OH6MIK 22 JT65A
> 43 2013 MARCH
> 8 1140
> LA8AJA 22 JT65A
> 44 2013 MARCH
> 8 1230
> N6RMJ 26 JT65A
> 45 2013 MARCH
> 8 1336
> W7MEM 27 JT65A
> 46 2013 MARCH
> 8 1358
> N2TIN 24 JT65A
> 47 2013 MARCH
> 9 1206
> UT7QF 26 JT65A
> ?
> 48 2013 MARCH
> 9 1236
> SP3RNZ 24 JT65A
> 49 2013 MARCH
> 9 1316
> HA0DU 26 JT65A
> ?
>
> COPIED BUT NOT COMPLETED:
>
> 1 G3WOS
> 2 G8VR
> 3 JR6EXN
> 4 K4RX
> 5 K7TNT
> 6 K8SIX
> 7 K8WW
> 8 KJ9I
> 9 KR7O
> 10 LY2BAW
> 11 LZ2WO
> 12 N5DG
> 13 ND0B
> 14 NN7J
> 15 N7IP
> 16 OK1DO
> 17 S57A
> 18 S51D
> 19 SV8CS
> 20 VE1JF
> 21 W5UWB
> 22 W7UT
> 23 W9GA
> 24 YT1AR
>
> We completed over 260 contacts via Es and TEP, and spent
> many hours beaconing when not on EME. Very briefly, a
> few of the problems encountered were:
>
> 1. Delay in landing by a day while searching for a place
> that would permit us to get through the reef
> 2. My having to haul all the equipment, operating tent,
> sleeping tent, generator, fuel, water, etc. by hand cart
> south of the landing point and set it up before nightfall.
> This was very time consuming as well as exhausting.
> 3. Gasoline rationing in the middle of the week forced us
> to only run barefoot when beaconing or working TEP - there
> was no EME on those days anyway because of the high
> Degradation, but it limited our ability to put out a big
> signal on terrestrial propagation on those days.
> 4. The antenna location fifty meters from the pounding surf
> caused everything to be drenched in salt spray. The
> result was that the antenna performance degraded daily, my
> K3 became inoperable at over 10 watts, the 6M1000 amplifier
> relays became intermittent on receive, and the number and a
> few other keys on my laptop computer no longer work - I have
> to copy and paste them from the station log in order to
> enter numbers into this email.
> 5. My operation was forced to shut down earlier than
> planned because of anticipated difficulty in leaving the
> island on time, causing me to miss valuable moon time
> of improving cndx.
> 6. The consistently high winds made it difficult to move
> the antenna around - especially at night, because it had to
> be well tethered.
> 7. All my clothes, along with my LMR600 coax were washed in
> salt water in the hold of the ship for 10 days en route to
> the island, and the cardboard boxes containing all my gear I
> had were destroyed. The connectors on the 25'
> emergency extra length of LMR600 coax were all corroded, so
> I had to use jumpers in series with the 50' length so it
> would reach the operating tent.
> 8. The 6m operating position was too far to connect with
> the wi-fi network that would permit real time posting of the
> 6m contacts via the DXA page and it turned out that there
> was no way for me to access the chat pages even via a low
> bandwidth telnet client. At least on my other
> DXpeditions, I was able to get messages out by occasional
> internet connections.
> 9. A number of large 6m stations were apparently not able
> to get on the air to work this rare DXCC
> 10. I had hoped for some terrestrial propagation toward
> asia, but did not have any.
> 11. Ground gain on moonset was not as good as I had hoped.
> 12. Unlike the situation for the HF operators, whose gear is
> being shipped home for them by the DXpedition funds, I will
> have to figure out some way to ship all my gear home from
> San Diegopier at my own expense.
>
> A few of the unexpected positive events included:
>
> 1. Only a few storms dropped only a few minutes of
> rain
> 2. We were able to depart the island around noon on
> Monday despite the tidal extremes associated with new moon
> 3. Nobody was seriously injured
> 4. At least some people who made the effort to get on
> EME got a new country despite the poor EME cndx and the
> obstacles on my end
> 5. It was possible to endure the extreme heat by cutting
> open the operating tent to let the wind blow salt and sand
> through, and generally the evenings were quite bearable.
> 6. The French public TV crew got some great photos of the
> 6m EME operation, and hopefully we will be able to pass some
> of these on to you eventually.
> 7. There was absolutely NO interference from the HF
> operations, so the effort to get down far to the south of
> them was successful.
> 8. Ground gain on moonrise was outstanding, due to the
> proximity of the antenna to ocean.
> 9. I was very pleasantly surprised to get two USA stations
> in the log on terrestrial propagation.
> 10. I made the first contact of the group from TX5K, by
> working G8BCG on EME.
>
> A more complete report with photos will be prepared as soon
> as Ican put something together from home with a computer
> keyboard that is not damaged. I also have a lot of photos to
> share, some of which are really GREAT. I will try to
> post a number of these on my FACEBOOK page.
>
> The Alpha 8406 amp that was very graciously loaned to me
> from RF Concepts worked great, until my K3 was damaged and
> could no longer drive it toward the end of the trip.
> As soon as I get it back home, I will be soaking all the
> parts of the 6M8GJ yagi in a hot water bathtub to remove all
> the salt, and will plan to use the anti corrosion compound
> on ALL the connections next trip, even it it delays me
> getting on the air a day. The K3 will also need some
> major repairs after the damage caused by the salt spray
> corrosion...
>
> ManyMANY hanks again to all of you for your support and
> effort in watching for us. It certainly was a HUGE
> effort by everyone and I only regret that I could not put
> more stations in the log - including W7GJ. HOWEVER, it WAS
> the most successful combined HF/6m EME DXpedition to
> date. Given all the difficulties I faced, though, I am
> inclined to stick with the solo operations in the future...
>
> VY 73, Lance
>
>
> -- Lance Collister, W7GJ
> (ex WA3GPL, WA1JXN, WA1JXN/C6A, ZF2OC/ZF8, E51SIX, 3D2LR,
> 5W0GJ, E6M)
> 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)!
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> Wswss mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/wswss
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:Wswss at mailman.qth.net
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>
More information about the Wswss
mailing list