General information |
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| Callsigns: |
T30L (DXCC: Western Kiribati, IOTA: OC-017), 5.Sep.2019-14.Sep.2019
C21WW (DXCC: Nauru, IOTA: OC-031), 15.Sep.2019-23.Sep.2019 |
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Please use the menu above to navigate our page for more details and follow the latest DX-pedition news below.
News and status
November 21 - C21WW and T30L story
November 21 - C21WW and T30L story
Below link to full C21WW and T30L DX-Pedition story with pictures:
C21WW and T30L story (4.4 MB, PDF)
September 23, 19:00 GMT - C21WW is QRT
C21WW is now QRT. Last log uploaded to Clublog. Thank you all for QSOs and 73!
September 22 - Update
22:00 GMT: Comment about little activity on 160m: they are struggling with low band antenna match-box issues on 160m band, which do not appear during sunny day. Probably it is related to moisture condensation during the night, which results in arcing.
19:00 GMT: Plan for the last day (September 23rd): They will continue to be on air during the day.
Spiderbeams will be removed in the evening, 40m vertical and low band vertical will be left for another night and removed last morning.
So we can expect another night with lowband operation, may be including 160m, up until their September 24 morning, which in GMT terms means up until after their sunrise at 18:40 GMT on September 23rd.
September 21 - Update
18:10 GMT: again high SWR on 160m, sorry. QSY
17:43 GMT: they managed to tune it and now active FT8 1835 kHz F/H.
16:20 GMT: Sorry, no 160m for Europe sunset tonight. Something happened with the low band vertical - SWR on 160m is very high. Will try to fix during daylight.
September 20 - Update
Low band vertical is fixed. SWR still a bit higher than before, but good enough.
September 19 - Update 15:50 GMT
Message from Yuris/YL2GM:
Thunderstorm just rolled over and bent low band vertical. Sorry, but no 160/80m band operation tonight anymore. Will have to operate on 40/20 m bands meanwhile and fix antenna in daylight.
Update 19:40 GMT: below morning video of the bent vertical before fixing:
September 19 - Update
Still 2 stations on the air.
Approximately 120m long BOG antenna is installed in EU direction. Longer one was not possible - the beach starts. In North America direction we can't put BOG, as ocean starts there.
We have obtained license for 60m operation.
Got news from Nauru Airlines that our flight back scheduled for September 25th has been cancelled. And we were put on the flight day earlier - September 24th.
This causes some extra inconvinience and costs - we will have to end our operations 1 day earlier than planned and instead spend one extra day in Australia.
We will dismantle antennas on September 23. On September 24th noon need to be in the airport. We should be home by September 26th evening.
September 17 - Update
Message from Yuris/YL2GM about C21WW:
Just got to the Internet. Antennas are up. 2 stations on the air SSB and CW. Around 4000 QSOs in the log. Log will be sent in the evening.
(photos added)
September 15 - Update
T30L is over.
Guys seem to have started activity from C21WW, but no news received from them yet.
September 14 - Update
Few photos of our yesterday's visit to the local school can be found on this page.
The newest of our SPE power amplifiers failed on Friday 13th. So we are left with 2 PAs.
This morning we took down low band vertical. Spiderbeam, EFHW and 7 Mc vertical are left.
During this last day in Kiribati we will continue to be on the air and pack the bags, followed by the closing dinner with traditional local specialities prepared by chef Ataieta.
September 13 - Update
(more photos added)
Today it's Friday 13th.
Yesterday mains power was ok - generator was not needed.
The first part of our DX-pedition is approaching its end. We conclude that we are very far away from Europe and only the ones with good antennas have managed to get into our log.
Today we dismantled one of two Spiderbeams.
During lunch time we will visit local school and will hand over school goods for pupils as part of Hams with Hearts program.
Tomorrow (Saturday) before breakfast we will dismantle low band vertical. During Saturday all other antennas will be taken down, except EFHW-8010 which will be left for the last night. One station will be on the air tomorrow.
In the evening closing dinner will happen, which will mark an end of our T30L Dx-pedition.
Sunday 11:50 local time (September 14, 23:50 GMT) we are flying to Nauru.
See you from C21WW
September 12 - Hams With Hearts
Tomorrow the team will visit local school in Tarawa and like in previous DX-peditions in cooperation with INDEXA Hams with Hearts will donate first aid goods.
We invite everyone to participate in this charity. You can read how on this page
September 10 - update
More photos added.
When you call us in FT8 DXPedition mode, you must initially transmit above 1000 Hz, otherwise we can not reply. Only when we reply to you with report, you need to switch TX frequency to the frequency where we replied below 1000 Hz and transmit report back.
Please study carefully FT8 DXpedition Mode User Guide. This guide is available in multiple other languages on WSJT home page https://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx.html
Yesterday finished antenna set-up. So we have 2 spiderbeams, low-band vertical with RA6LBS matchbox, separate vertical for 40m and EFHW Z37M dipole.
Yesterday whole day mains power was missing, we were using generator power. We are using 2 stations due to lack of propagation.
During the night the water level raised up to the low band vertical matchbox and caused it to fail. Today we raised the matchbox 0.5m higher.
Each day we need to fix low band radials tangled by tide waters.
Quite a challenge during antenna building was to fix the guy-wire anchors in the beach sand. Sticks we had brought were too short, so instead we used locally found wooden sticks about 1 m long, put some rocks on them for extra stability.
Later this week we will visit local school as part of Hams With Hearts progam.
We hope that propagation will improve and allow more contacts with Europe to be made.
September 9 - morning update
Short text in email from Yuris/YL2GM along with logs (uploaded):
"We have issues with Internet and mains power. Otherwise it' s OK. 73 to all"
September 8 - update
No news received from the team since September 7, 7:00 GMT. Probably issues with Internet on the island
September 7 - update on antennas
Low band vertical (160-30m) is up
September 6 - update on antennas
During the daylight of the 1st day Spiderbeam and wire antenna EFHW-801 have been installed. So their setup for low bands is very limited at the moment. Tomorrow more antennas will be installed.
Local time zone in T30L is GMT+12.
September 6 - T30L QRV
First QSOs are in the log
Some more photos in Photo section
September 4 - The journey has started
The team left Riga according to schedule.
They should arrive to Western Kiribati around 18:30 GMT, September 5.
September 2 - Callsign change to C21WW
Unfortunately initially announced callsign C21W can not be used. C21WW callsign will be used instead.
The journey starts September 4th local morning from Riga, Latvia.
August 1st - Initial news
Yuris/YL2GM, Kaspars/YL1ZF, Kristers/YL3JA and Jack/YL2KA plan to be on the air from Western Kiribati as T30L and from Nauru as C21W C21WW in September 2019.
Activity from Western Kiribati (T30L) is planned from September 6 to September 15, followed by Nauru (C21W C21WW) activation from September 16 to September 25.
Yuris has organized four successful DX-Peditions in the past years: EP2A, S21ZEE/S21ZED, 3C0L/3C1L, 3C3W/3C0W.
This Dx-Pedition is in memory of our friend Andy (K7GEX)
Animation showing the distance to be travelled and maps (click to view enlarged):
