(Araucaria) [newsletter em vp6dx.com] VP6DX-News #18- 2008 Feb 19

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News #18- 2008 Feb 19

Highlights:
... 160m contact made with opposite side of the planet ...
... 104,900 contacts and climbing ...
... QSO Statistics ...
... 17m RTTY operations started ...
... 30m RTTY frequency adjustment ...
... 6m beacon now on the air ...
... long path contacts made with Finland, European Russia on the 80m band...
... possibilities for 160m? ...
... North American 160m schedule ...

160m contact made with opposite side of the planet
**************************************************
At Feb 18 Mon 1252z, the Ducie Island 160m operator was called by, and 
completed
a contact with, A45XR in Oman. A45XR is located less than 300 km from the
antipode (exact opposite location on the planet) of Ducie Island --  
essentially
the most distant location from Ducie Island.

This contact took place during the late afternoon, Oman time, 1 hour 10 
minutes
before sunset. At the time of the contact, the terminator was 2000 km from 
Oman,
approaching from the east-northeast.

All directions between antipodes are of equal distance. Over what path was 
this
contact made?

At Ducie Island, A45XR's signals were heard best on the 305° beverage 
antenna.
This suggests the signal path traveled over Japan, northern China, and
Pakistan... exiting perpendicular from the twilight zone. It is possible a
single E-skip hop between Oman and northeast Pakistan completed the path 
through
the 2000 km daylight sector.

Congratulations to both operators!

Now that we have shown Ducie Island's topband operating team can contact 
even
the farthest points on the planet, what's stopping you from trying a top 
band
contact with VP6DX? If you think your antenna is inferior, or you are 
running
limited transmitter power, don't give up! Look at the comments in the 
guestbook
section of the VP6DX.com website: lots of stations are now in the VP6DX 
logbook
with very simple antennas and low heights -- event on top band.

So give every band and mode a try. We are waiting for your call!

We are stuck on an uninhabited island with nothing to do but work any 
station
who calls us. Well, perhaps that's not entirely true. It's almost time for
breakfast... and a nap for the nighttime operators.

104,900 contacts so far
***********************
Current dupe rate is below 7%, which is typical for this volume of QSOs. 
During
the next days we plan a greater focus on Asia openings, which are presently
underrepresented on most bands. Openings on 12 and 10m to Europe can be weak 
and
difficult, but we will try to capture all of them in the remaining days on 
the air.

30m has received somewhat less attention to date due to competition from 
other
band openings into difficult-to-reach areas. On Feb 19 Tue we added a second 
30m
antenna and started running CW and RTTY simultaneously.

17m RTTY operations started
***************************
RTTY totals to date also are below plan. To help correct this, and to 
exploit a
more convenient propagation time for North American operators, on Feb 19 Mon 
we
began RTTY operations on 17m during mid-day (local Ducie time). Our RTTY
transmit frequency on this band will be about 18101 kHz (below the packet
stations), listening down.

30m RTTY frequency adjustment
*****************************
We have received reports that our 30m RTTY transmit frequency of 10149 is
sometimes covered by commercial stations in Europe. We may move this 
frequency
back to 10139... but listen up in the JA RTTY window of 10140-10150.

Note that some form of radar or other broadband signal from northern Asia
occasionally covers most of the 30m band. During these times we redeploy the
operating position to another band. This interference may cause us to miss 
some
openings.

6m beacon now on the air
************************
At about 2008 Feb 19 Tue 0000z the VP6DX 6m beacon began operations. The 
beacon
frequency is 50105.5 kHz. Beacon power is 70 watts to a Yagi. We will try
beaming east-northeast for two hours around our sunrise... north-northeast 
to
USA/Canada/Central America for the remainder of the day.

The beacon speaker is on our picnic table, used for meals and relaxing, and 
next
to the east operating tent. In addition we have a spectrum display 
monitoring a
portion of the 6m beacon band.

Please submit any reception reports via the VP6DX.COM website (they will be
forwarded to the operator team). You may call us on the beacon frequency, or
contact any of our HF operators to alert us for an opening.

80m longpath to OH and European Russia
**************************************
During a window around Ducie Island local sunrise (1345-1445Z), long path
contacts have been made on both 75m SSB and 80m CW with stations in Finland 
and
European Russia.

The furthest contact was to northern Finland, about 25,000 km from Ducie 
Island
and 5,000 km beyond the antipodes.

The best reception at Ducie Island for most contacts is on the 195° 
beverage.
Some stations were heard equally well on the 225° beverage. The stations 
were
inaudible on any other direction. This suggests the path has very little 
skew
off the great circle long path route.

This long path route parallels the terminator (bearing 187° from Ducie), 
with
signals from Ducie traveling over Antarctica... Heard Island... Rodrigues
Island... the Persian Gulf... Iran... and western Russia.

We encourage stations in Scandinavia and western Russia to listen during 
these
times, and to call VP6DX if they hear our signal.

We will also be listening on 160m for contacts on this path (or some 
variant).
It would be a thrill to put long path contacts on top band in the log. Let's 
see
how far we can push propagation!

Please submit any reception reports for unusual openings, including openings 
on
other bands, via the VP6DX website.

North American 160m schedule
****************************
Most 160m operators in North America recognize that, when sun sets at Ducie
Island (0300z), it is dark in North America and most of Europe.

Between this time and European sunrise is the only propagation window for
contacts between Ducie Island and Europe. Many years will pass before 
another
expedition arrives at Ducie Island at the bottom of the sunspot cycle. As a
result, one of our expedition goals is to give as many stations in Europe 
and
Asia a 160m contact with Ducie Island.

To accomplish this goal, North American stations (with much shorter path to
Ducie) will need to wait.

Our top band operating team proposes that, on every evening, we will begin
making contacts with North America no later than 08z. There is no need for 
North
America top band operators to wait until their local sunrise to contact 
Ducie
Island. 160m is staffed with an operator throughout the night.

As described elsewhere, the team has invested considerable work in an 
effective
receiving antenna system to help us pull weak signals out from the static.
Please give 160m a try! We are waiting for your call.

We would be delighted if DX editors would publish this information as widely 
as
possible and DXers bring it to the attention of their clubs and fellow 
DXers.