Dany F5CW posted a story and photos about the TX0C expedition at:
http://cdxc.free.fr/index-f.htm ...click on the 3rd bullet:
DXpédition aux îles CHESTERFIELD - OC176 - TX0C
Although the text is in French, here is a brief translation
of the Topband part courtesy of W4ZV's XYL Charlanne:
The expedition was delayed in leaving because of an unexpected
visit by the maritime police which necessitated unloading everything
and then reloading it! On top of that, wind conditions were not very
favorable which necessitated using the sailboat's motor. After landing
near mid-day local on 28 April, they unloaded all equipment and were able
to set up the 6 meter station and a FT-1000MP with trap vertical GP to
use the first night. Unfortunately they were not able to get the
Battle Creek Special up because of the reduction in manpower (4 ops instead
of 6 originally planned). The BCS was erected the next day and first
Topband operation was on 29 April. The night of the second day they made
the difficult decision to return earlier than planned because the same
unfavorable wind conditions would delay their return and Phillipe FO3BM
had a plane to catch in Noumea.
"In total 5800 QSO's were made in 61 hours of activity. Alas,
conditions on 80 and 160 were deplorable. In spite of the BCS antenna and
2 Pennants/Preamps for receiving, it was not possible to make the score I
hoped for even with the help of several 'parrots' on frequency! All told,
all participants were satisified with the operation and are ready to
start again." (I think only ~100 QSO's were on 160...de W4ZV)
Special thanks to W8UVZ/W0CD/K8GG for the Battle Creek Special and
to K0CS for receiving accessories (2 Pennant transformers/terminations and
Elbert County Preamps courtesy of Lance Johnson Engineering). QSL to JA1BK
and complete logs may be checked at http://www.big.or.jp/~ham/tx0c/
73, Dany FK8VHY (F5CW, J28EI, FT5ZB)
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