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Re: VP6 - Pitcairn Island

: tirs okt 22, 2019 10:52
af oz7c
Hej

VP6 - Pitcairn Island
The big VP6R Dxpedition is in full swing. W0GJ passes word they will be in the weekend's CQ Worldwide SSB event, which I believe is the biggest "contest" of the year. Glenn says they will be on all bands.
The Braveheart ship anchored just off the island at dawn on Thursday last week, gear and operators cleared customs and immigration then went to the home of Andy Christian where the gear was waiting. The gear was shipped ahead, arriving six weeks ago. Steep dirt roads were muddy from recent rain, which would have likely caused several days' delay if the gear wasn't already prepositioned. Antennas were up by the end of Thursday and four stations were on the air from Andy's. Friday morning everyone moved to the other radio site and set up more antennas and radios. That is primarily the low-band site. The DX Engineering 160M falling derrick vertical, almost full-size, produced big pileups and 700 stations went into the 160M log. Antenna projects were finished up Saturday morning. Commercial power on the island is available from 8 AM to 10 PM, after which they go to generators. 16,000 QSOs were in the logs by the end of Sunday, and it included several 6M EME QSOs. They continue to have a station on 20M fulltime, sometimes more than just one mode on that band, helping everyone have a good chance of at least one QSO, especially for an all-time new one. The Flex radios are working well. They often have a 400 QSO per hour rate going. On FT8 F/H they sometimes area working five stations at once. The log is updated to Club Log periodically, during periods of commercial power.

Meantime, they are having some timing issues with FT8 and are working on fixing it. Glenn says if you're not sure of your QSO, work them again. One op (not specified yet) had a fall, fracturing some bones and is being evacuated on a supply ship to Papeete via Mangareva. The op team is now 12 operators still on site.

Despite the previous rainy weather, things are now pleasant. When it rains travel between the two sites is treacherous. www.pitcairndx.com.
Late info: They are aware many FT8 QSOs are not making it to Club Log but think they have resolved it with the latest Club Log upload. They are currently posting many photos to their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/580069859103416/

73 Boye