Bad luck for my 160m goal.
The pulley to which the wire antenna is attached has fallen down, rendering the antenna unusable. Unfortunately, this can only be repaired towards the end of the year.
Additionally, my Ameritron RCS-4 coax switch for the receiving antennas is malfunctioning. The cause is currently unknown, and the weather is too inclement to begin repairs.
On a positive note, 7O73T, 4W9X, A60A, and TO9W have been confirmed on 160m in the meantime.
Confirmed 160m DXCC : 85
Contacted and confirmed TX7L, Marquesas Islands. A seemingly easy country, however, took 28 years to contact and almost didn't happen again. With only the OB1-30 available, it was a matter of waiting for the right moment on 30m. Luckily, at the right time in the shack and in CW, I could operate without issues.
Unfortunately, due to the same antenna problems, missed Temotu and North Cook Island. Very disappointing
After the euphoria of the Bouvet expedition, activities have dropped back to zero. And I paid for it in cash: two out of three motors of the Steppir are no longer functioning. After opening up the motor boxes, I managed to get the driver back to work, but the second motor was completely stuck. Ordered a new one from Steppir (excellent and fast service, by the way, so unfortunate that there are no dealers in Europe anymore), and in the coming weeks, I will try to mount it again.
So, onto 160 meters.
With 76 confirmed countries, there is still a lot of work to do. 10-band DXCC gets the highest priority at this moment. During my first tests of the wire antenna last week, I had significant EMC problems. Because the Flexradio is directly connected to the internet router, I managed to crash the router with the slightest power, causing all kinds of consequences. I was warned that the 1:2.47 unun, which ensures the correct impedance, plays no role as a current balun. I did experience the same kind of problems in 2022 but not so frequently as this year.
Two solutions implemented : first, I connect the radio to a separate Wifi booster, to avoid a physical connection between the radio and the router.
Secondly, I quickly ordered an MFJ 915 choke from Wimo (also very fast service), and now all problems seem to be solved. The only drawback is the limitation of 1500 W (outgoing and returning power combined). Because of that, I use power in the range of 800W-1000W. Better to use a bit less power than to risk a broken system.
160m CQ-WW-CW contest
Two adjustments for the 160m contest this year: I installed only 12 radials due to the suspicion that there are enough reflections available in the extremely wet ground. The antenna, still an inverted L with a vertical leg of 15m and a horizontal section of about 17m, was carefully trimmed to resonate at 1824 kHz, just okay for a good SWR between 1800 and 1850 kHz (so that I can smoothly operate FT8 later this year).
The second adjustment this year is the focus on reception. For this, I installed the necessary hardware back in August. The Ameritron RC4 switch, powered through the coax, serves as the heart of the receiving system. Connected to it is a 60m beverage-on-ground that I had successfully used last year. But this year, I've also added 2 K9AY-style single loops that are oriented towards the Caribbean and the US. The fourth position was intended for a beverage antenna, but it didn't happen this year.
I use the simple loop by qro.cz and the 160m design. This means lower (only 5m) but wider and more wire used in comparison with the normally used K9AY.
The decision not to go for a complete K9AY setup is twofold: I didn't want to bother with additional multi-wire control wires because I don't have enough free positions to the shack and didn't want to mess with the rotor and Steppir control wires. I had planned a relay circuit for switching direction 180 degrees with just two a 12DC and ground wire, but due to bad weather and especially lack of time, it didn't get installed.
Secondly, I can later use these two loops as a two-element broadside/endfire array in the hope of achieving an equivalent result without having to install a beverage.
Regarding the operation of the receiving antennas during the contest, here are the observations:
The contest:
I had set a few goals, knowing that due to good propagation, many people were not going to use 160m. As always, trying to work new countries, especially the Caribbean. Secondly, testing the receiving antennas. Thirdly, achieving a better score than last year. A top score in ON is almost impossible since the top-10 positions are occupied by ON4UN, ON4WW, and ON4IA, all stations with multiple beverages and arrays.
The biggest successes occurred just before the contest and at the end of the contest. When testing on Friday evening in FT8, I worked 7O73T. On Sunday evening, I was called by 4W8X. At first, I thought it was a pirate, the signal was very strong, but meanwhile, this QSO has been confirmed. In between, I can add C3 and ZF1 as a new country, and I attempted to contact A60A. The status of this qso is still uncertain."
The inverted L performed very well. I made it through everywhere. 800W was sufficient for me because I wasn't strong enough on reception. On 160m, reception is everything!
But the weakest point this year was the operator. The preparation for the contest was dramatic. Tired, no time, and especially insufficient CW training. I usually practice a few weeks in advance with Morserunner and Rufz, but this year it seemed inadequate. I was unable to pull stations strongly from the noise, had to ask for repeats several times, and lost a lot of QSOs as a result. Moreover, I had to take a 3-hour nap on Saturday night. The concentration loss due to fatigue was too significant, and the risk of penalty points increased. When my body calls, I have to listen, unfortunately.
Despite all this, I still made 830 contacts. The strongest strategic choice was to manually change the direction of the loops on Sunday, giving me three receiving antennas pointing east. I stopped at 21h UTC on Sunday for practical reasons. Next time, I need to be able to take Monday off.
All in all, I am very satisfied, and this gives hope to work the last 20 countries for 160m DXCC. Being present in the shack is key, and this is a weak point for me. Everything has to happen over the weekend...
setup before the contest, FT8 testing...Complete books are written on social media about this expedition.
A success ? a total failure ? something in between ?
I don't know. I worked them only once, just like FT8WW, VK0IR, 3Y0X, VK0MM and other special ones in that region.
My english is not good enough to write down my remarks, it would be too much black/white while the real story is grey.
But I have questions, many questions :
1. Funds received from corporate and private sponsors arrived at about 800.000 US$. Well done ! The goal was 12 HP stations on the air, several weeks on the island and achieving 150.000-200.000 QSO.
How high would sponsoring have been if they had communicated that this could be limited to two 100W stations with simple wire antennas ? Was story-telling part of the marketing strategy ?
2. What if the vessel - or a similar one - used by the VK0IR/3Y0X team was used ? Helicopter in stead of a zodiac ? A real boat in stead of a sailing ship. What if the VK0IR or 3Y0X team went to Bouvet ? 3Y0X made almost 87.000 QSO on all bands. Was this a lucky shot or the result of a perfect planning and better choices ?
3. What's going on with pirates and QRM makers ? With only 100W on the island, almost every station in the world was able to disturb. What if 1500 W was used ? Did the ham community change so quickly and so badly ?
4. 3Y0J communicated their poor setup and conditions and asked for working them only once to give a chance to as much hams as possible.
184 QSO were made by Belgian amateurs. ON7** made 8 QSOs !! I can't understand this. Why should one make a contact on 15m SSB+CW+data and on 17m SSB+CW+data ? Not one award gives points for so many combinations. I only see one reason as an anwer to that question : a selfish operator.
5. Is it needed to count an unhabitated rock somewhere at the end of the world as a DXCC entity ?
6. Many hams are complaining they could't work Bouvet. Can you expect to work such a most-wanted expedition with a 3 element and some power ? This is an important question for my own station ? Is my setup sufficient to work every dxpedition ?
But, suppose I had a 5 element 20m monoband antenna in stead of my 3 el Steppir. Not one contact was made on 20m with ON-stations. In this case it was much better to have many smaller antennas in stead of one big one.
7. Does FT8 comply with big expeditions on remote locations without internet time-control ? Is there a standard for F/H in WSJT, MSHV and JTDX ?
Multi-channel DXing in FT8 costs several dB on transmitting side. If only 100W can be used on a wire, isn't more logic to use the basic FT8 modus ?
8. Am I the only one that classifies the TN8K Congo expedition as THE expedition of 2023 ?
I made it. 3Y0J is in my log... even better, I'm in the log of 3Y0J.
For sure one of the hardest contacts I've ever made.
Full of stress, trying to win a price in the big pile-up lotery.
Nothing like my Bouvet-plan :
- on Sunday - I made a 35km trip to my shack when I was informed that the expedition should end after only a few days of activation - in stead of the planned Monday or Tuesday time schedule.
- on SSB (my God!) in stead of CW or FT8, on the 17m WARC band, and with ON4CCP in stead of OT1A
I used every Watt I had, I was lucky to have a 3 element on 17m (my good old dear Steppir yagi), and it must have been the longest chaaarlieeee - chaaarlieeee - paapaaaaa ever.
Never experienced a pile-up like that. It felt like at least half of the callers were not hearing the DX station. It my first experience with the Flexradio. I
In my dreams, I saw just one signal of a split station showing up on my computer to respond to 3Y0J. It should be very easy to pick up that frequency and call.
In reality >20 stations were calling again and again, without listening. Impossible for me to detect where 3Y0J was listening. I couldn't determine the responding station.
I can't understand why people are doing this. You can't make a contact if you do not listen !
After my recently confirmed distance record on 80m with New-Zealand, I just worked the Australian station VK3ZL... on 160M !
16.633 km with 350W. I received -10dB and he was -17dB on my inverted L antenna.
As from now on, a DXCC on 160m is just a question of time and patience. This QSO was due to grayline propagation.
While preparing my system for an ultimate effort to work TN8K on 80m this night,
ZL3IO appeared on my FT8. Just for fun, I called him with 500 W.
Bingo ! First call = QSO.
Distance 18.700 km, a new DXCC on 80m and a new WAZ zone on 80m.
To be fair, this is not because of my poor home-made inv-L antenna, but because of his 80m 4-Square.
Anyway, he made my day.
