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A35XM
- Tonga DXpedition March/April 2003 |
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Online
Log Search |
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Enter your
callsign here to see if you are in the A35XM log: |
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| The QSL
manager for A35XM is DL8YRM. |
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News
and DXpedition Diary |
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April
28, 2003 |
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We
are glad to present our QSO statistics. The QSO total is 15060
QSOs. |
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| Band |
DXCC |
QSO |
% |
EU |
%
per band |
DL |
%
per band |
| 80m |
32 |
516 |
3.43 |
121 |
23.45 |
25 |
4.84 |
| 40m |
73 |
1722 |
11.43 |
379 |
22.01 |
65 |
3.77 |
| 30m |
72 |
2399 |
15.93 |
932 |
38.85 |
152 |
6.34 |
| 20m |
81 |
3181 |
21.12 |
1669 |
52.47 |
320 |
10.06 |
| 17m |
78 |
2539 |
16.86 |
1242 |
48.92 |
265 |
10.44 |
| 15m |
59 |
2017 |
13.39 |
949 |
47.05 |
126 |
6.25 |
| 12m |
67 |
1617 |
10.74 |
405 |
25.05 |
16 |
0.99 |
| 10m |
37 |
1069 |
7.10 |
35 |
3.27 |
0 |
0.00 |
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| Breakdown
by continents |
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Top
15 countries |
| Continent |
QSOs |
% |
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Continent |
QSOs |
% |
| Europe |
5739 |
38.11 |
|
JA |
4322 |
28.70 |
| Asia |
5246 |
34.83 |
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W |
3243 |
21.53 |
| North
America |
3525 |
23.41 |
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UA
eu |
1019 |
6.77 |
| South
America |
313 |
2.08 |
|
DL |
969 |
6.43 |
| Oceania |
221 |
1.47 |
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UR |
618 |
4.10 |
| Africa |
16 |
0.11 |
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UA
as |
489 |
3.25 |
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SP |
470 |
3.12 |
| Breakdown
by modes |
|
OK |
373 |
2.48 |
| CW |
13197 |
87.63 |
|
I |
331 |
2.20 |
| SSB |
992 |
6.59 |
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HL |
235 |
1.56 |
| RTTY |
871 |
5.78 |
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OH |
222 |
1.47 |
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SM |
167 |
1.11 |
| Different
DXCC |
119 |
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HA |
157 |
1.04 |
| WAZ-Zones |
34 |
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F |
151 |
1.00 |
| WPX-prefixes |
1069 |
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OM |
137 |
0.91 |
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April
9, 2003 |
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We
have arrived well back home! Also the luggage is complete and without
major damages. |
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We
were a little unlucky on the flight from Tonga to LA via Auckland
- the flight departed five hours later than scheduled and the re-scheduled
connecting flight in Auckland had another hour delay. |
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In
LA we met Bill, W7II and his wife Bonnie. They showed us LA
with much enthusiasm. Bill handed us the second personal QSL card for a
QSO with us. |
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The
last online logs are on the server now. Some statistics will
follow. |
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April
4, 2003 |
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The
reality returns, it's time to say good bye. All antennas are taken down
except for the LP5. Reinhard still operates like crazy to squeeze out the
last QSOs to reach the 15,000 Q mark. We'll send the last log updates
from LA or home. We also plan to show some statistics here on this page
then. |
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| DL4WG
- DL8YRM - A35MS - DL9DRA (l to r) |
DL4WG
- DL5LYM - DL9DRA |
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We
were on Maniola yesterday. We have had phantastic weather (what you
expect?). Maniola is a beautiful small island without inhabitants. The only
way to get to the island was to swim (they told us). Therefore no photos.
Snorkeling was great, colorful corals, plenty of fish in all colors. However
we got sunburned and now feel body parts we were not aware of they existed...
Sitting is a pain now. :-( |
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| before... |
...after |
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Now
to the gourmet part of our holiday. We tried some cooking and prepared
a kind of perch. Yummy-yummy! The fish was good however we guess we need
some more cooking exercise. |
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Tonight we
are going to have a final dinner with Sofie and Herbert and tomorrow at
10am we have to be at the airport. We enjoyed the experience Pacific very
much and regret to leave. But maybe it was not the last time. See you
again in this or another stage!
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73,
the A35XM team |
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April
2, 2003 |
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80m
was down this morning. How quickly things can change... We also try 80m
at our sunset however nothing to hear from Europe. Reinhard operates more
and more RTTY while Tom does SSB. |
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On
Friday we take down our antennas which means we will be on
the air until Thursday evening UTC. On Saturday we fly back to Los Angeles,
stay there until Monday morning and then go back home. Tomorrow we go snorkeling
with our host Herbert. We are excited already. |
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April
1, 2003 |
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Yesterday
we visited Janusz
A35WE (SP9FIH) at his QTH
on the north west tip of Tonga. He probably has a better take-off to Europe
but attraction-wise "nothing is happening there". It's 45 minutes
to the capitol by taxi. Janusz has some 4,000 QSOs so far, SSB only. |
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This
morning we had a wonderful and the best opening into Europe on 80m.
Even half an hour after sunrise we could work SP, OK and DL. Despite some
rumors - we are EVERY day on 80m CW until sunrise. We call CQ, we are listening
(and try to guess calls...). We have also tried 160m meanwhile but
noone came back to our CQ calls! :-( |
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March
31, 2003 |
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Yesterday
we were on Fafa Island. This island is the typical type of south
pacific island - palms, white sand and blue water. We had a great relaxing
day and everyone of got a little sunburned. |
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We
now have 640 RTTY QSOs and a QSO total of 11,700. |
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The
Royal Tonga Beer Brewery is slowly getting problems with us. We had
to get again three beer crates IKALE (20 bottles each 0.33 liter) however
they have run out of stock again! Reinhard tried to help our host to win
an original Tonga Ikale T-shirt. You need to drink 100 (one hundred) glasses
of draft beer to get the shirt. However the beer was run out before the
goal could be achieved... We better don't publish photos of this beer drinking
contest. Luckily you don't get really drunk of this beer. |
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March
28, 2003 |
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We
have achieved 10,000 QSOs and have celebrated it of course. |
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We
have visited Manfred, A35MS, in his shop. He was very delighted and
told us a lot about Tonga and its people. He is living here for 22 years
now and has a Tonga passport. He is the kind of main Tonga electrician,
he builds TV antennas, power supplies, power stabilizers etc. He recycles
old electronic equipment and creates new equipment out of it. Unfortunately
he is only very occasionally on the bands, with 5 watts QRP. His trainee
Nele will also begin with 5 watts but perhaps he will like radio and wants
to operate with more power then, hi. |
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The
Tonga Night was just great, Irina even took part in the "Kava"
ceremony (editor's note: sounds interesting, whatever that is...). The beautiful
A35XM gentlemen however shirked and prefered to take photos instead. Afterwards
a Tonga buffet followed plus Tonga dances. We enjoyed it very much (editor's
note: both I guess). |
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March
27, 2003 |
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We
began with RTTY yesterday and brought some 280 RTTY QSOs into the
logs on 20m and 15m. 15m worked definitely better. |
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We
had another visitor - Janusz A35WE (= SP9FIH)! He
was enthusiastic about our antennas because he has only a Butternut
and a vertical for 10m. He now has more than 3,000 QSOs but only
in SSB. We want to visit him too, he is in a hotel at the north
west coast of the island, only 30m away from the beach...
And
we had one more visitor, Nele, the trainee of Manfred's,
A35MS, electronic parts shop. Nele showed much interest and
watched our SSB and RTTY pileups. He didn't know RTTY. Maybe he
gets a license one day with the help of Manfred, A35MS. He has already
practiced CW he said. He liked especially our antennas, he knew
only of longwire antennas here on Tonga. His mother is German by
the way. Thus he can speak a few words German. We want to visit
A35MS also.
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| Tonight
evening (March 27, morning UTC time), we won't be on the air because
we join a Tonga Night event with buffet, ceremony and dancing. We
hope the wind drops so that we can take a boat and go snorkeling.
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Look
at these beautiful young men:
DL4WG, DL9DRA, SP9FIH, DL5LYM, DL8YRM
(left to right): |
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We (partly)
see the Titanex V80 vertical,
the Butternut and the mast for the yagi. |
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Feedpoint
of the 40m vertical, Tonga style! |
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March
26, 2003 |
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We
are doing fine. We were pretty active in the last two days. There are now
some 7300 QSOs in the log. Yesterday we have had good propagation
on 12m and 10m, however again no Europe. We always watch 80m but nothing
to hear except W and JA. We will also try 80m at 0530 UTC
for Europe long path. |
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We
received our first QSL card yesterday: ZL2AZ (ex ZL1AIZ and
5W1BZ), Peter, visited us! He is on Tonga on business for one week and has
confirmed his three QSOs with us. Now, is this service!? We think it is
pretty unqiue that hams bring their QSLs personally DURING a DXpedition
to the DXpedition! Who is next? You are very welcome! |
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We
had good talks with Peter, showed him the equipment and had philosophical
talks about propagation into Europe... |
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March
25, 2003 |
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Uli,
DL3OI, is now back in the US and has sent two photos of the A35XM team.
Whom do we see here? |
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Upper
row (l. to r.):
DL8YRM, DL8DYL, DL3OI, DL4WG
Lower row: DL5LYM DL9DRA
and not to forget: "Dog Xray" |
Pacific
style of operating?
No, DL5LYM relaxes from building the Beverage. |
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March
24, 2003 |
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Another
news update from the A35XM group: Uli, DL3OI, is leaving today and
going back to LA. On Saturday, one of the transceivers broke - the new IC-7400
of Ralf. We are not sure what broke, however we are scared to try to fix
it because there is still warranty on the transceiver. Now there is an IC-746
left as well as an IC-735. |
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Since
Friday, we have no more good 80m openings into Europe. The team decided
that your Webmaster DF3CB has to donate a beer crate for the 80m QSO and
because building the beverage was so exhausting. DL5LYM looked very dishevelled
afterwards. Ralf, DL9DRA, gets up every morning early at 0300 local time
to try 80 but no success on the weekend. |
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Today
ST0RY stole us the pileups and the show
on the WARC bands and thus North America didn't call us anymore. By the
way, one of the STØRY operators, DL3DXX, is member of the same club
DFØSAX as the A35XM operators DL8DYL and DL9DRA. |
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After
some rain, the weather is now O.K. and warm again. Yesterday we have visited
Pangaimotu,
one of the offshore little islands. We went bathing and snorkeling. |
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Hopefully
propagation gets better again. |
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Hello
and 73 from the A35XM group! |
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March
23, 2003 |
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I
have unfortunately mixed up the link below to the A35XM guestbook with the
one of ST0RY. So if you have used the
link below to sign the guestbook, they were entered in the ST0RY guestbook.
The link below is correct now and I try to clear the mess today. 73, Bernd,
DF3CB |
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March
22, 2003 |
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Since
yesterday, it's raining with some little breaks. The QRM on the low bands
is thus higher. Nevertheless we had a very good opening into Europe on 80m.
We could hear fairly well due to the new Beverage and propagation began
much earlier than the predicted peak. 40m was not as good as the day before.
However we had no Beverage and some interference from 80. |
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There
are now 3,000
QSOs in the log and available online.
March
21, 2003
The
Titanex V80 and LP5 are now set up and working. We are now active
on all bands, however we want to add something better for 30m and
a Beverage receiving antenna. We have plenty of QRM on the low bands
and even the JA's are not loud. We hope it gets better.
The
log of the first day is now available as well as a picture of our
antennas.
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March
20, 2003 |
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First
news from the group: "We have arrived well! All luggage arrived, only
a few minor damages on the suitcases. We received our license and are on
the air since March 19, 1700 local time. The first European was DJ5AA on
20m. We now try to send the first log. |
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The
yagi stands and is fixed to Europe. The Titanex V80 and LP5 are being erected
today. The Butternut causes some trouble yet. |
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It's
veeeeery hot here. Luckily there is wind. We feel very well and our Lodge
hosts are very nice too. More to follow" |
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Last
updated July 6, 2003 | WebDesign DF3CB |
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