[Mldxcc] VP6DX News #21- 2008 Feb 25

[Ken Anderson]

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.