(Araucaria) [newsletter em vp6dx.com] VP6DX News #21- 2008 Feb 25

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Sent: Monday, February 25, 2008 5:42 AM
Subject: [newsletter em vp6dx.com] VP6DX News #21- 2008 Feb 25


Highlights:
... Fireworks at Ducie Island ...
... VP6DX breaks record for largest number of contacts on an expedition ...
... Other band and mode contact records also broken ...
... Pileups remain large ...
... Long path contacts made on 160m band with Ducie Island ...
... Description of stations ...
... New Pictures online ...

On 2008 February 25 Monday at 0437z, after 13 days 7 hours and 37 minutes of 
continuous operation, RA0ALM contacted the Ducie Island expedition on the 10 MHz 
band for the expedition's 168,723rd contact.

According to documents maintained by Jari Jussila OH2BU, this contact breaks the 
record for the largest number of contacts made by any radio expedition. The 
record was previously held by the Five Star DX Association's expedition to the 
Comoros Island (D68C) during 2001 Feb 8-28.

A few moments later, the pre-moonrise starry skies above Ducie Island sparkled 
with a barrage of flares launched from the deck of the M/V Braveheart in 
celebration. The thirteen operators and six Braveheart crew congratulated each 
other with handshakes, hugs, and some strong coffee. But deep pileups of 
European and North American stations were still calling. Soon the seven on-duty 
operators were back in front of the radios, while the others crept off to their 
cots to catch up on sleep in the cool of the evening.

The Ducie Island expedition has broken other expedition records in recent days, 
including:

     * largest number of RTTY contacts, previously held by the Swains Island N8S 
expedition of 2007 April.
     * largest number of SSB (voice) contacts, previously held by the Comoros 
Island D68C expedition.
     * largest number of contacts on the 40m band, previously held by the Libya 
5A7A expedition of 2006 November.
     * largest number of contacts on the 30m band, previously held by the St 
Brandon Island 3B7C expedition of 2007 September.
     * largest number of contacts on the 17m band, previously held by the Swains 
Island N8S expedition.
     * largest number of contacts with North America, previously held by the 
Comoros Island D68C expedition.
     * largest number of contacts with South America, previously held by the 
Peter the First Island 3Y0X expedition of 2006 February.
     * largest number of contacts with Africa, previously held by the Rodrigues 
Island 3B9C expedition of 2004 March-April.

As this message was transmitted by Iridium satellite from Ducie Island, the 
expedition contact total crossed 170,000 contacts... and continues to increase 
at about 415 contacts per hour. Most contacts now entering the logs are with 
European stations during their morning twilight period. In an hour or so the 
focus will shift to North and South America, east Asia and the Pacific, where it 
will remain until dawn at Ducie Island.

Long path contacts on 160m with Ducie Island
********************************************
Earlier, we reported that a contact on the 160m band had been made with A45XR in 
Oman, at the opposite side of the planet from Ducie Island. This contact 
occurred on Feb 18 near Ducie Island sunrise. All of the stations contacted in 
Europe were in their late afternoon, with the sunset terminator approaching.

On Feb 21 a series of long path 160m contacts were made between Ducie Island and 
stations in Ukraine and southern European Russia. Eleven stations were worked 
during 1345-1430z. Signals were best on the 225 (Ukraine) or 195 degree (Russia) 
beverages and inaudible in other directions, confirming a long path route with 
very little or no skew.

Contacts with southern European Russia used a path from Ducie Island 
south-southwest over Antarctica, then north across the southern Indian Ocean 
(Heard Island, Mauritius), across the Persian Gulf and Iran into Russia. These 
paths are 23000 to 24000 km long.

For the Ukraine, signals followed a south Pacific Ocean path into the Southern 
Ocean below New Zealand and Australia, then near the Maldives, the Persian Gulf, 
and finally towards the Ukraine.

During the same time period, a station in the Moscow City oblast was also 
contacted. This signal clearly arrived on the short path, crossing over 
Scandinavia.... Signals were loud on 015 degree beverage antenna and was barely 
audible on the 195 antenna.

Scandinavia and northwest Russia stations looking for a 160m contact with Ducie 
Island should check this time for a short path opening. Stations in Ukraine and 
southwest Russia should look for the long path.

During the hours leading up to and including this long/short path opening to 
Europe, Oman, Mongolia, and Tajik stations were also contacted on their short 
path directions.

Of course, we looked for the same opening the following morning, but without 
success. The 160m operator team will keep checking through the final day of 
operations. Departure from Ducie Island, now scheduled for February 28 Thursday 
at 2000z, has been delayed by 1-2 hours so that a final attempt can be made to 
work more eastern and northern European stations during this unique opening.

Description of stations
***********************
We have received inquiries about the equipment and antennas used on Ducie Island.

Each operating position uses:

     * Elecraft K3 radio. The outstanding receiver and transmitter 
characteristics allow us to run two positions simultaneously on any band -- even 
the very narrow 30m band -- with absolutely no interference. Good design makes 
the complex appear simple: the ins and outs of this sophisticated radio were 
quickly mastered by the operator team, none of whom had seen a K3 before the 
expedition.
     * Microham microKeyer II computer interfaces: plug in, turn on, call CQ and 
get to work.
     * Acom 2000, 1000 or 1010 amplifiers: quietly getting the job done without 
trouble. The position used on 160m includes an OM 2500 HF amplifier.
     * 200 W W3NQN bandpass filters from Array Solutions and 2 kW bandpass 
filters from 4O3A.
     * WinTest logging software runs on Durabook ruggedized laptops.
     * Honda EM65is and EM30is inverter supply, gasoline generators -- 100% 
reliability to date. The inverter system has been very tolerant of the widely 
varying loads presented to the generators as multiple operating positions switch 
between transmit (high power consumption) and receive (low power consumption), a 
vast improvement over previous gasoline generator designs.

The seven operating positions are divided into two sites: east (four positions) 
and west (three positions). The operating sites stand about 1km apart, a 15 
minute walk over a coral shelf bordering the island's inner lagoon. Each site 
has its own WiFi network, and a microwave link ties the two sites together. 
Sleeping tents and meals are located at the east camp.

The antennas include:

     * 160m: Titanex vertical. (west)
     * 80m/30m CW: Titanex vertical. (west)
     * 75m SSB: SpiderBeam 4-square. (east)
     * 40m: two SpiderBeam 4-squares. (one at each site)
     * 30m: Spiderbeam 4-square. (east)
     * 20 thru 10m: two Spiderbeam 2-element vertical Yagi arrays on each band, 
one located at each site.
     * 6m: 5-element Yagi

An array of beverage receiving antennas sits mid-way between the two sites. Each 
beverage is constructed using DX Engineering two-wire beverage kits, providing 
two directions for each installed antenna. At present four beverages (eight 
directions) are in available to the 160m, 80m CW and 75m operator. Each operator 
has independent choice of his receiving antenna. The receive antenna 
distribution system includes DX Engineering pre-amps, packaged with custom 
filter, switching, and protection hardware designed and built by K3NA and W2VJN. 
On-site construction was done under the hot sun by Robin WA6CDR and Milt N5IA 
(who sacrificed most of their operating time to date to make this happen!)

Receive antenna directions available to the operators are:

     * 015 - western USA, eastern Europe short path. (about 200m in length)
     * 045 - eastern USA, western Europe (two parallel 200m beverages, combined)
     * 085 - Caribbean, northern South America, Africa. (about 350m length)
     * 125 - southern South America (about 200m in length)
     * 195 - long path eastern Europe & Scandinavia (reverse direction of 015)
     * 225 - long path eastern Europe & Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand. 
(reverse of 045)
     * 265 - southeast Asia, western Pacific, northern Australia (reverse of 085)
     * 305 - Japan, China, northern Asia. (reverse of 125)

This beverage system came on-line on Feb 16 and has been an outstanding success 
in reducing tropical thunderstorm static, improving our ability to copy weak 
signals and look for unusual propagation paths.

All this hardware is here on Ducie Island to help make it easy for you to 
contact us. No matter how simple your antenna, or distant your location, please 
check our transmit frequencies. If you can hear us, we can probably hear you -- 
so give us a call! Even a make-shift temporary antenna should yield some 
surprising results. But hurry! On-air operations will shut down soon as we 
prepare to return home.

New pictures online
*******************
Have a look at http://ducie2008.dl1mgb.com/pictures/index.php.



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.
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