[SECC] VP6DX breaks Records!!!!!

[Bill Barr, N4NX]

Gang,

Good summary

73
Bill N4NX
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: [newsletter at vp6dx.com] VP6DX News #21- 2008 Feb 25
> Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2008 09:42:19 +0100
> From: Christian Janssen <cjanssen at bndlg.de>
> To: newsletter at vp6dx.com
>
> 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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