[SEDXC] DX IS!

[BLamboley at aol.com]

> News #17- 2008 Feb 16 20:00z
>
> Some more detailed  information about the past days of the DXpedition:
>
> First, our  apologies for not writing news earlier. We have been a little 
> busy...  This note will try to catch up on the events of the past days...
>
>  By Sunday night Feb 3 all the radio operators were at the Sofitel hotel in 
 
> Papeete, Tahiti... except for Robin. Robin was on the M/V Braveheart,  at 
> anchor in Mangareva.
>
> After catching up on missed  sleep, we met several local amateur radio 
> operators for a leisurely  lunch Monday at a nice restaurant in town. One 
> operator's checked bag  failed to make the flight from Los Angeles, so he 
> spent the rest of the  afternoon shopping for clothes.
>
> That evening the team had a  small planning meeting, and then fell asleep 
> (some in the meeting) due  to the lingering effects of jet lag. By 4am 
> Tuesday we had checked out  of the hotel and crowded into two mini-vans for 
> the quick ride back to  the airport. Our 5:20AM flight to Mangareva left at 
> sunrise. The ship's  master, Nigel Jolly, met us at the airport. He had 
> been in Japan and  was flying down to join the ship as well.
>
> Our flight stopped at  an intermediate atoll, a classic example of a flat 
> circle of coral with  coconut trees -- and an airstrip. The airport 
> "terminal" is a thatched  hut. After re-fueling, we were off to Mangareva. 
> Again, the airstrip  sits on the outer fringing atoll. But Mangareva has a 
> very large lagoon  with some hilly islands inside. No one lives on the 
> outer segments, so  we had to take a water taxi across the lagoon. Anchored 
> near the wharf  was the M/V Braveheart, our home for the next few days. 
> (Check out  Google Earth for a great satellite image!)
>
> By now it was  lunchtime, and the customs/immigration offices were closed 
> for siesta.  We stowed our baggage, and received a safety briefing and 
> orientation  to the boat (e.g., how to work the marine toilets, showers, 
> etc) from  the crew. At 4pm our paperwork was finished, the ship weighed 
> anchor,  and we were off. During the two hour crossing of the lagoon, 
> supper was  served. At 6pm, as the sun set, we exited the lagoon into the 
> open  ocean.
>
> Wednesday was an uneventful day at sea. Conditions were  fairly quiet and 
> most team members were in good spirits. That night,  around midnight, we 
> passed Pitcairn Island. The mayor and some  islanders came out in a "long 
> boat" and tied up next to our ship as we  motored slowly by the island. We 
> took on fresh fruit and vegetables and  a large number of bamboo poles... 
> and delivered mail, medical supplies,  and a computer video projector -- a 
> donation from us to the Pitcairn  school. It all went very quickly and, 
> with a cheerful wave from the  mayor at the helm, the long boat cast off 
> and slipped behind into the  darkness.
>
> Pitcairn Island stands about halfway between Mangareva  and Ducie Island. 
> Thursday was spent in very quiet sea conditions with  a long swell, but the 
> seas got a little bigger during the night. At 9am  Friday we were motoring 
> around Ducie Island, examining the shore  conditions, one full day ahead of 
> schedule. The Braveheart anchored on  the east side. The remainder of 
> Friday was very demanding physically.  Many hundreds of kilos of equipment 
> and supplies were move out of the  ship's hold to the deck, and loaded into 
> small boats for transfer to  shore. Unfortunately, low tide occurred near 
> noon... so the boats could  not get closer than 150m to shore. We had to 
> carry everything through  shallow waters, walking carefully to avoid coral, 
> and set onto the  shoreline. This was difficult work... and when the small 
> landing boat  returned to the ship to the next load, the shore party had to 
> move  equipment up over a 3m hill of loose coral to a safe spot.
>
> By  noon the sun was nearly overhead. It was a long, hot, difficult day. 
>  The late afternoon was spent putting equipment under cover, building tents 
 
> and cots, and finally eating a small supper. During the night it rained  
> heavily several times. Most everyone was exhausted... but at least we  were 
> dry and the evening temperatures were very  comfortable.
>
> The crew of the Braveheart has been fantastic.  While we worked on Saturday 
> and Sunday building antennas and assembling  radio stations, the crew built 
> a field kitchen, washing-up stations,  picnic tables, a covered area with a 
> large workbench for antenna and  other projects, a field shower by the 
> lagoon and radio operating tents  at two sites 1 km apart. Outdoor toilets 
> were built at both sites, and  the crew moved generators (heavy!), fuel and 
> water. They prepared meals  and took laundry back to the ship. Although we 
> are camping in the  wilderness, in these practical respects the crew is an 
> integral part of  the overall Ducie Island team. They have worked with many 
> radio  expeditions before, and have lived on Ducie Island before, so they 
> know  what to do. Nigel, Niel, Matt, Bro, Nick and Theresa are fantastic 
> and  fun to have around, too.
>
> Sunday evening the construction work  was not done, but most were ready to 
> play with radios a bit. We went on  the air with 3-4 radio operating 
> positions for a little "cooking  session" to test equipment and have some 
> fun after the long days of  hard work. After a thousand contacts with 
> stations around the world,  sleep caught up with all of us and the stations 
> were shut down for the  night.
>
> Monday evening at 7pm we started full-time radio  operations with 7 radio 
> operator positions. As we are a team of 13  radio operators and 6 
> Braveheart crew, staffing 7 radios 24 hours per  day makes for some 
> scheduling challenges. The radio operators have  settled to the following 
> pattern:
>
>     *  8 hours on the air
>     * 4 hours off
>   * 8 hours on the air
>     * 8 hour  rest.
>
> Three groups of operators have staggered patterns, so  there are always 
> seven people available to work the  radios.
>
> If you do the arithmetic, this adds up to a 28-hour day.  Each calendar day 
> our sleep periods and on-air times slip by 4 hours.  Over the course of six 
> days each person will have a chance to  experience both daytime and 
> nighttime radio conditions, communicating  with all parts of the world.
>
> Bro is our main camp cook, and the  cook on the Braveheart. Breakfast is at 
> 7am (later for people scheduled  to be on the air), lunch around 1pm, and 
> supper at 7pm. The basic  staples are stored in waterproof drums on shore, 
> with enough supplies  for a few days on our own. The Braveheart sends more 
> supplies, fuel,  and fresh water (and clean laundry!) ashore almost every 
> day.  Fresh-caught fish are often featured at lunch or dinner. The diet has 
>  been varied and delicious. We work too hard to put on any weight, 
>  fortunately.
>
> The typical day is partly cloudy, hot in the  mid-day sun but comfortable 
> in any shade with a breeze. We have about  the most scenic spot in the 
> world for a shower: on the shore of a  turquoise lagoon with white sand and 
> colorful fish. One afternoon I was  taking my "shower" (one half bucket of 
> fresh water, hoisted up by rope  on a tripod high enough to drain through a 
> plastic hose and a normal  shower head), and then realized there was a 
> speckled fish about 20cm  long just at the shoreline of the lagoon, 
> watching. I cannot imagine  what that fish was thinking, but he floated in 
> the water right there  until I had packed away my towel and soap.
>
> The tents are a bit  hot. We've tried to locate all of then under trees, 
> but the shade can  be a bit sparse and it's difficult to get good air 
> circulation without  exposing the tent too much to potential stormy winds. 
> For operators who  must sleep during the day, we have tarps overhead in 
> breezy locations  where a camp cot can be placed for a nap.
>
> We sleep 3 persons in  large tents (tall enough to stand inside) on folding 
> camp cots that are  pretty comfortable. Evenings are beautiful -- huge 
> star-filled skies, a  waxing moon until midnight now, and pleasant 
> temperatures. A few nights  have had showers -- short, dense downpours. On 
> the first night I used  one of these to take a quick fresh-water shower. 
> The rain temperature  was very refreshing... but the shower was a bit TOO 
> short: I was left  standing naked on the beach with a few soapy areas when 
> the rain moved  away. Life is so difficult sometimes.
>
> The Braveheart remained  anchored off our main camp, on the east shore of 
> the island, for the  first few days. Last Tuesday it moved around to the 
> north shore as the  seas on the windward side were getting rather rough. 
> Last night  (Thursday) it had moved around to the southwestern lee shore. 
> Each day  at high tide one or two landing boats can get over the shallow 
> lagoon  entrance and cross over to our camps.
>
> We have two radio  operating sites. The second is about 1 km away on the 
> north shoreline.  It's a moderately easy walk over an open plain of ancient 
> coral worn  rough by erosion. We schedule operators at night in a pattern 
> to  minimize the long walk in the dark, but with a flashlight held low 
>  (waist high), the shadows cast by the irregular terrain make it pretty 
>  easy to pick one's way across under the stars.
>
> From a radio  operating standpoint, the expedition to date has been a huge 
> success.  We are far above even the most optimistic expectations for 
> results to  date. The new antenna designs are outstanding performers. The 
> new  radio, on its first expedition, has been superb and the manufacturer 
>  (Elecraft, in the USA) has been swamped with inquires. Our laptops, WiFi  
> network, and microwave data network between the two camps has worked  well. 
> The Honda generators have been fuel thrifty and reliable. We are  now on 
> day 4 of full-time operations with very few problems. Reports of  our 
> signals from all over the world are uniformly excellent. Contact  totals 
> are running at record-breaking rates:
>
>   * cooking session: 1034 contacts
>     * Day  1: 17,026 contacts (this may be a one-day record)
>     *  Day 2: 14,301 contacts
>     * Day 3: 13,728 contacts,  including a clock hour with over 1200 
> contacts
>
> We are  now two hours from the end of Day 4, and in a few minutes we will 
> make  our 60,000th radio contact. While the pace will slow down, this is an 
>  outstanding start. You can imagine the big smiles around the  camp.
>
> For comparison, the top 4 radio expeditions in history  are:
>
>     * Comoros Island - 2001 Feb - 168,722  contacts in 20 days
>     * Rodrigues Island - 2004 Mar/Apr  - 153,113 contacts in 24 days
>     * St Brandon Atoll -  2007 Sep - 135,600 contacts in 21 days.
>     * Swains  Island - 2007 Jul/Aug - 117,205 contacts in 11 days.
>
> We expect  to be on-air for 14-15 days, weather permitting.
>
> Enough  statistics! Everyone is well. Outside of a few minor sunburns, 
> there  have been no injuries. There are no annoying bugs! We are having fun 
> in  a beautiful location, on an adventure that each of us will remember for 
>  the rest of our lives.
>
> More news later...
>
> --  Eric & company
>




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