Tag: pa1aw

Some drone footage showing the Red Camp on Swains

The latest news from Swains:

Top Band:
The weather gods are in favor of the W8S Team today!
Lots of overcast make it possible for the Team to work with 4 operators (off-duty) on the 160m vertical. While others are operating some of the operators take some time from their scheduled rest to built up the last antenna!
The 160m vertical stands and is ready for action.

6m EME:
The first attempts on 6m were unsuccessful. There was a one-way copy and that is not enough. There will be another attempt in a few hours if there is a moon pass suitable for Europe. The team is confident that their learning curve will result in QSOs.

Greyline:
The team is aware that this morning they missed the last hour of the European grey line and the first hour of the East Coast grey line on 80m. This was necessary because they all had to do antenna work. Since all antennas are now up and working, expect full attention during the greyline on 80m and top band.

The team is fully aware that not everything is going as expected and therefore the expectation cannot be fully met yet.
Despite the extreme conditions in which to work, the ambition is as high as ever and the team is doing everything possible to meet expectations.

Although the images of the island look very tropical and idyllic, the reality is different. Temperatures around 40 C and very high humidity make conditions particularly tough. Building the station required a great deal of effort from the entire team. This is also one of the reasons why the construction of the stations took a little longer than hoped.

Unfortunately, due to the necessarily changed location of the blue camp, the PC network between the camps is not yet fully functional. This is the main reason for the delayed first log upload and also an obstacle for communication between the operators and the pilot team.

The feedback the Pilots get from you will be collected and shared with the team. It is not that the situation can be changed “on the spot” but this will be taken into account in the planning of the comming days.
This is a DXpedition with a lot of demand from all over the world. So yes, the attention will be spread all over the world with where possible extra attention for the more difficult areas.

Finally, some images of Swains, but believe me it is not a vacation outing.