OC-203 Dxpedition

QSLs

2010-05-22T16:00:00.000-07:00

All direct requests up to 12th May have now been answered. The first buro requests have also arrived. These will go in the June return.

Many thanks to the many kind folk who included a extra dollar or IRC.

Kind regards

Paul

Band-by-band totals & eQSL

2010-03-27T13:15:00.000-07:00

Total logs per band:

10m and 12m: 0
15m: 105
17m: 6
20m: 545
30m: 1684
40m: 1093
80m: 139
160m: 1

And the good volunteers at eQSL have corrected the IOTA and grid reference. Thanks to Sugi JI3KDHfor the correction.

QSLs & eQSL

2010-03-25T23:09:00.001-07:00

Printed QSL cards will be designed and ordered soon. Please be patient will this process happens.

All ZL4M logs have been uploaded to LOTW.

All ZL4M logs have been uploaded to eQSL but I cannot manually change the IOTA number and grid reference. An e-mail to eQSL has been unanswered since before the DXpedition. Hopefully, the changes can still be made.

Cheers,

Paul

QRT

2010-03-23T21:19:00.000-07:00

The operation went QRT on March 22nd at 0933z. We needed to vacate the accommodation at 22z the next morning so dismantled the stations that night and removed the remaining antennas the next day in the rain!

We ended with approx 3700 QSOs in the log... we would have had many more if the higher bands had opened as we hoped they would.

It could be several things, the location (horizon-blocked from the North right through to East - i.e towards the Americas), the solar conditions and proximity to the South Pole auroral area or the relatively low gain of the hex beam (I'm used to a 3 element SteppIR in a good location!). Maybe a combination of any or all of these. Whatever, 30 - 80m were very good and I'd certainly use Seabreeze Cottage again as it was a modern facility, lots of room for antennas, no neighbours and the added bonus of the use of a car to get around!

Maybe a linear to run with the hex beam would be the answer. Another option would be to use verticals (e.g. groundplanes) for 17, 15, 12 and 10m as on the last day after the beam was taken down, we had a good run on 15m from JA just using the 40mb vertical with 2 elevated and 2 ground-level radials.

We ran barefoot at all times and judging by the size of the pile-ups, we were getting out really well. Some of the "real" signal reports we were given were very encouraging.

Whilst on the island, we scouted for possible alternative locations with several key factors in mind. Principally, a location with minimal horizon-blockage. The terrain of the inhabited area of the island is very hilly, with sharply rising bush-clad hills, even around the main township of Oban. Most of the housing is either near the waterfront or partially surrounded by hillside so we went looking for something on the top of the hills.

We also needed something self-contained, not in shared accommodation like a backpackers, lodge or motel. Sharing facilities and running antennas wires around properties would be an imposition if we weren't the only ones there.

We also needed room around the location to erect antennas, radial wires, guys etc.

So with all this in mind, we would recommend DXpeditions look at places like "The Letterbox House" or "Cowleys Holiday Home" which would seem to fill all of the above requirements.

And we left the 7m mast used for the hex beam under Seabreeze house for future operations.

And a word about the noise we had to deal with... it was not a problem on most bands as signals were strong enough to make QSOs. It was at its worst on 30m but fortunately the K3's noise-blanker did a great job of removing a great deal of it. Over 1500 Qs on 30m shows that QSOs were possible with persistence.

We'll publish a band-by-band synopsis here soon.

Also it is worth knowing that as of writing this blog, there is no Vodafone cellphone coverage (only Telecom) and that the local internet posts do not allow file uploads.

Now, a BIG thank you to Holger ZL3IO (ex-DL7IO) for the loan of the hex beam and to Stewart Islander, Mona Whigg for all her help.

Vy 73,

Paul

Two days to go..

2010-03-20T18:21:00.001-07:00

The higher freqs (20 - 10m) are still very poor... look for RTTY activity in the BARTG for the next day or so.

30 and 40m continue to be the best bands. 80m was very poro last night so we hope for better openings in the next two days before we dismantle the 18m pole.

The hex beam comes down tomorrow morning so last chance for 20m up today.

Cheers,

Paul

Four days left..

2010-03-18T16:30:00.000-07:00

Well, we have been here a week now and conditions are still somewhat unexpected. 20 - 10m has been very poor but had a good opening into EU LP on 20 SSB yesterday from 05 - 07z.

40m has been very good and the noise has diminished from earlier in the week. 30m is still hard work and signals need to be very strong otherwise we need to pick partials out and hope everyone realises we are struggling with conditions and need your help in staying QRX to get the QSO completed!

See you in the pile-ups!

Cheers,

Paul
ZL4M

Day 4

2010-03-15T18:37:00.000-07:00

All going welll, except for the weather and, unexpectedly, the higher freqs from 20 - 10m being very poor. Had the first short opening to the USA on 21MHz today...

QRN is a real problem and the QSO rate has suffered particularly on 30m where the noise is at its worst.

Logs were uploaded to Clublog today for ZL4M. We are having a slight issue with ZL4TY log uploads but hope to resolve that soon.

Over 1300 QSOs so far...

We are hoping for much improved band and weather conditions for the remaining 6 days.

Look for CW activity on 40m in the next couple of days. We are unlikely to be on 160m at all.

The 80mb antenna seems to be performing very well with good signal reports in Europe on long path...

Look for RTTY in a few days also.

Please no dupes... check the online log if you are unsure.

Cheers, Paul ZL4M

First day hiccup

2010-03-01T23:31:00.001-08:00

Found out today that the freight ship which will carry all the antenna poles and mast for the beam will not arrive in Stewart Island till much later than expected because the ship will be busy with a run to a mussel farm.

We travel over on the ferry which has freight restrictions hence the need to send the larger items on the freighter. So we will set up the stations first, then head back into the port later in the day and collect the antennas. So, we may not be operational the first day or may just use a wire thrown up into nearby trees. All going well, we'll have time for at least the 30m and 40m groundplanes.

The hex beam and 160/80 Spiderbeam pole will go up the second day... assuming the weather behaves itself.

Cheers,

Paul

3 weeks to go!

2010-02-17T22:29:00.000-08:00

Everything is progressing smoothly towards our departure. The two 60 litre containers for gear are full to overflowing.

Antennas wires, ground wires, electric fence standards to support the radials and large tent pegs to guy the poles, all packed in shipping containers.

Extra cables, coax leads, fuses, a spare power supply, a third laptop, a third rig and numerous other back-up items are ready for transportation.

We're all getting excited by the improvement in solar indices and hope this bodes well for the venture.

We plan to be on air early evening of March 12th, which is incidentally ZL4PWs birthday...

Fingers crossed for a smooth operation and hope to see you in the log soon!

Additional Operator

2010-01-03T15:21:00.000-08:00

Have the pleasure of welcoming Paul ZL4PA as the third operator on the dxped. Paul is new to pile-ups and we hope he enjoys his baptism under fire! Paul lives across Fouveaux Strait from Stewart Island, near the city of Invercargill.

Web-site

2009-11-28T15:24:00.000-08:00

The web site is now up and running...

OC-203 Website

On Friday the Spiderbeam poles (2 x 9m and 1 x 18m) arrived thanks to Holger ZL3IO (ex-DL7IO) who shipped them out from Germany with his household contents when he moved to ZL. (Hope you didn't leave any furniture behind!).

We are also indebted to Holger for the use of his wire beam which arrived with the poles.

Please note the date change, brought forward a week owing to work commitments. We now arrive on Stewart Island on March the 12th.

Web-site

2009-09-13T00:32:00.000-07:00

Work is under way on a web site with more information. We'll publish the address here shortly.

The web site will include a link to Clublog where online logs will be displayed. We hope to upload logs during the dxpedition every few days.

QSLs will also be uploaded to LOTW shortly after we return home.

Band Pass Filters

2009-08-25T00:56:00.000-07:00

Just ordered two sets of band pass filters from Dunestar in the USA.

We opted for 2 x 600 series switched 6-band filters and individual filters for the WARC bands.

We have been offered the loan of a 20-17-15-12-10m hex beam from Holger ZL3IO/DL7IO which will be greatly appreciated.

We just need to borrow a few dozen sunspots for the dxped, though they can come now and hang around for a few years!

Dates and Venue Confirmed

2009-08-10T18:00:00.000-07:00

We can now announce more detail. We will be operating from Seabreeze Cottage, Horseshoe Bay Road, from Friday the 12th till Monday the 23rd of March 2010.

Ray went on a day trip to Stewart Island in July and looked at several possible locations and chose the one above. It has a good amount of room around the cabin for antennas, no close neighbours, very close to the sea and modern.

View Larger Map

OC-203 Stewart Island DXpedition

2009-07-30T20:09:00.000-07:00

Hi,

Ray ZL4TY (home call VK4DXA) and Paul ZL4M (home call ZL4PW) will be activating OC-203 Stewart Island in March 2010. We will be active on most HF bands and modes with special attention to SSB and RTTY. Previous dxpeds to Stewart Island in recent times have been mostly CW.

This will be a 2-station operation on 15, 17, 20, 30, 40, 80 and hopefully 160m using mostly verticals and wire antennas though we are looking to borrow a small beam (e.g. hex beam). Unless we can borrow a solid-state amplifier, this will be a 100W affair.

More to follow!

Cheers,

Paul