TopBand: HEARD ISLAND MESSAGE # 72

[Bill Tippett]

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>*      H E A R D   I S L A N D   D X - P E D I T I O N    *
>*             PILOT PROGRAM   MESSAGE # 72                *
>*           MORE ON HEARD - JAN 19TH - 12:00              *
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>
>PLANNING
>Peter, who is responsible for the radio operations, makes
>use of the information you send to your pilots (and which
>is processed and forwarded to the island) to plan the next
>day's operation! In addition they use latest WWV forecats,
>their experience from the previous day and knowledge of
>areas where operation has so far been limited. It takes Peter 
>about 3 hours every day to make the detailed shedule (shifts,
>ops, stations, modes, directions, area, special attention 
>etc etc)
>
>WEATHER
>The weather continues to be mild: 10-12 deg C, some wind and 
>lots of rain.
>
>TRANSFERRING THE LOGS
>The logs are collected every morning. It takes a few hours to 
>process them (merge) and to verify. Then they have to wait for 
>the first PACSAT orbit to comes in sight. In one of our next 
>messages we will come back on how the logs are dealth with here 
>in Europe. At the same time, new life pictures are transferd 
>by Pacsat. These can be vieuwed on the WWW page.
>
>QSO's
>As of this mornong, Sunday, Jan 19th, over 37,000 QSO have 
>been made. On Saturday alone over 10,000 contacts were logged.
>
>SUPPORT FROM THE SHIP MARION DUFRESNE
>The ship that brough the crew to Heard and that will pick them 
>up on Jan 29 /30 , continues to provide super support. They 
>send the guys a daily detailes weather forecast.
> 
>SATURDAY PROPAGATION
>Peter commented especially on the "absolutely super" propaga-
>tion on Saturday. They had 6 stations on the air all the time. 
>They even worked West Coast on 15 meters!
>
>PLANNED IMPROVEMENTS.
>They know they have to do better on 80 m SSB and are working 
>on it. Don't panique, we have more than a week to go!
>
>EUROPEAN BEHAVIOR.
>Peter mentions they are loosing too much time because of the 
>absolutely appauling behavior of many Europeans. In addition 
>to the police-men, and those who deliberately jam the 
>transmit ferquency, it appears that a large majority never 
>listens and just keeps calling and calling, also when a QSO 
>is engaged with another station. Come'on guys, think of your
>reputation, there are a lot of guys that hear your bad 
>operating style!
>
>PROPAGATION TO USA.
>Peter says: "USA West Coast and to some degree Mid-West 
>(depending on band) is very difficult to work from here. 
>They are completely covered by others. So we need the 
>pile-up to stand by when requested by the operator. Also, 
>on the high bands, WE6/7 opens up earlier than mainstream USA. 
>To the main audience we might seem to pay a lot of attention 
>(to the West Coast), and loose some QSO's, but we want all to
>understand that the openings to the west coast are small, 
>aporadic and weak. Thereforre we give west-coast priority over
>any pile-up, in all modes. We need however, the cooperation 
>from the pile-up. Typically, to work West Coast stations, we 
>need to listen on one frequency, rather than across a whole 
>window, as they are so weak, otherwise we would not even find 
>them. But as the pile-up hears that we listen on one specific 
>frequency, everyone comes in with their comments, complaints 
>etc..." Please guys, be sensible. The faster they can work 
>these West Coast stations, the soonwer they'll get around 
>working the other call areas. 
>Peter continue: "What everybody shoud understand: 1/ we know 
>excatly what we do (and we have the best of intentions for 
>ALL OF YOU). 2/ all our operators have strict instructions 
>on what to do. These instructions are based upon our 
>experience here, the feedback from the pilots (your 
>suggestions and wishes)and extensive propagation forecasts. 
>3/ none of the operators will take another number than from 
>the area he is calling for. Is is totally useless calling 
>out of turn. It just makes everybody loose a lot of time 
>(you too!). 4/ please be sonsiderate and patient: we cannot 
>work everyone at once. It takes a bit of time to work all 
>of you, and we want to give everyone equal attention."
>
>RTTY
>So far 500 RTTY QSO's were made. It is not 100% sure if they 
>will do RTTY on Sunday though (message # 71 said so. There 
>will definately be RTT all weekend long NEXT weekend.
>
>MESSAGE OF APPRECIATION
>Dont hesistate to send your message of appreciation to the 
>Heard Reflector. The pilots will pass them on to the island. 
>After three hours of struggling to get your call through the 
>wall on signals and QRM it is nice for the ops to see 
>some kind of recognition.
>
>
>73,
>
>Your pilots: ON4UN, N1DG, W0EK, K0EU, W4WW, W2IJ, JH1ROJ
>
>
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>*                H.I. INTERNET ADDRESSES                  *  
>*Heard Island reflector: heard@ve7tcp.ampr.org            *
>*Heard Island WWW site: http://www.ccnet.com/~cordell/HI/ *
>*                       http://www.aurumtel.com/hnews.html*
>*WWW log server: http://www.aurumtel.com/heard-log.html   *
>*                http://heard.eunet.be/                   *
>*E-mail log server:heard-log@ve7tcp.ampr.org              *
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