pa2kw – Page 5 – Swains 2023

9 October 20239 October 2023

On the Island challenges

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.

8 October 20238 October 2023

Team Update 07 October 2023

The Team continued to set up antennas in the simmering heat. By times it is unbearable, the heat is so strong that we have to take many breaks, which slows down the progress. Furthermore a lot of work has been done on the station setup and the High Power Bandpass filters have been setup. We had a good run on various bands and try to maintain an even balance over the various bands.

The 40m phased array was setup today and works great!
Tomorrow the last antennas for 80m and 160m as well as 2x K9AY RX antennas will be setup.

The Team is in good spirit, but also exhausted from all the hard work in the heat.
Since today we’re fully operational with 4 stations on at all times.
We’re now working in our rotating schedule, which comprises of shifts of 3,4 and 5 hrs. We’re doing our best to work as many as possible of you!

7 October 20237 October 2023

Short update from Swains

Yesterday end of local morning we landed on Swains.

We offload all materials in 4 separate runs from Landing craft to shore, it took till mid afternoon

We offload all materials in 4 separate runs from Landing craft to shore, it took till mid afternoon

Beachlanding on Swains through the reef….

We split up in red camp and blue camp teams and started building up antennas. We got 6 antennas up between half afternoon and sunset, conditions were tough with heat, heavy rain and mosquitoes. We started running 30m CW last night (local time) and afterwards we continued on 30m + 20m FT8. This local morning again 30m CW and now 12m CW and 20m FT8. In the mean time were setting up more antennas and will soon start up the 2nd camp (blue camp)

Antennas red camp (Hexbeam, VDA 12, 17, 30)

Worked lot of EU + AS this early morning around 15:00-19:00 UTC 07 October 2023 on both 20m + 30m.

To be continued….