May 2016 WVDXA Meeting at Jane Lew, WV

As I was not able to attend the meeting (DARN!) Hal, W8HC, has authored the following description of the affair and provided the photos.  THANKS, Hal!

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Saturday was a wonderful day to be a member of WVDXA especially if you were in attendance at the meeting held at the impressive countryside QTH of Blair, W8KC, and Margaret Wright. 

Some 25 WVDXA members and guests were on hand for delicious gourmet food, DX fellowship and informative presentations.  I daresay our WVDXA meetings would rival any DX Club’s!

Bob Anthony, W8OM, (aka Papa November) took the ride up I-79 with me to Blair’s historic Jane Lew home which had once belonged to Howard Mason Gore (October 12, 1877 – June 20, 1947).  Gore served as 17th Governor of West Virginia from 1925 to 1929 and he previously served as the 8th Secretary of Agriculture from 1924 to 1925, during the administration of President Calvin Coolidge. 

We were warmly greeted by our gracious host Blair, and as soon as Bob and I entered the house, the mouth-watering aroma of Margaret’s lasagna baking in the oven immediately caught our attention.   

Other members were soon to arrive and we were treated to a pre-dinner “Show and Tell” which included a tour of Blair’s incredible downstairs hamshack.  Here we were introduced to his “Children.”  Well sort of… there was “Big Dawg,” “The Beast,” “Ole Yellar,” and “The Boss” some of the best looking homebrew amplifiers you would find anywhere!  Blair is an artisan when it comes to building amps and he has quite an awesome collection of classic Drake gear too!  Sorry about the drooling problem in your shack Blair!

Dinner was served and believe you me, the lasagna tasted every bit as good as it smelled.  There were salads and other great side dishes, garlic bread and meatballs… just an incredible spread.  Miraculously, everyone still found room for dessert, an array which included some of WV8RC’s spectacular home made pies and other assorted confections brought by the some of the guys.  If anyone left the Wright house hungry, it was his own fault!
Once the meal concluded, it was time for the business portion of the WVDXA meeting.  

Garry Ritchie, W8OI, was recognized for his recent award of #1 DXCC Honor Roll and proudly attended the meeting sporting his shiny new #1 HR pin.

A treasurer’s report was given with current balance of $295 followed by the “hat being passed” and another $263 being contributed to the “cause.”

The membership then voted to donate $100 to ClubLog as we have done in the past.

With the “business” out of the way it was time for the presentations.   Blair started things off with a show-and-tell that featured the K4AVU crimping tool used for easily installing the pesky PL-259 connectors.  He also demonstrated how to use DX Engineering’s coax cable stripping tool. Both of these items are “must haves” if you are looking for an “easier” way to install coax connectors. 

We were treated to a special WVDXA guest with the attendance of Wal Eckles, W8LRL.  Most of you already know that Wal is the “Top Dawg” on Top Band and is the only DXer in the world…. Yes, I said “World”… who has DXCC Honor Roll status ONLY with countries worked on 160-meters.  In fact, with deletes, Wal has worked a total of 342 entities on top band!  So it was a real privilege to hear Wal’s presentation as he gave us a great biographical account of his amateur/DX/160m career that has placed him at the pinnacle of top band DXing. 

Wal shared many photos and QSLs and has compiled quite a documentary that captures not only the W8LRL story but also chronicles some 160m “history” of top band operations that includes his correspondence and consultation with Mr. Top Band himself, Stew Perry, W1BB (SK). 

For those of us who have operated 160m or even attained DXCC on top band, we can appreciate the effort, patience and antenna work that would go in to attaining 342 countries on this difficult band! 

We were truly honored to have W8LRL in our midst!  [Ed. Note: Click on any photo to see a larger image.]

Wal, W8LRL

Although it was a “tough act” to follow, I, W8HC, was next up to give the K5P Palmyra Atoll presentation.  This was a slightly modified version of the team’s “official” PowerPoint presentation developed by John, K6MM. 

For those of you that weren’t in attendance, I do want to once again acknowledge and thank WVDXA for your generous support of our K5P DXpedition back in January. 

Following the K5P presentation, we adjourned and there were a few of us who made a final pass by the dessert tray before our group photo session.

It was indeed a great meeting with WV’s finest DXers… proud to be a WVDXA member and have such great company.

The photo below is Blair, W8KC, showing us his shack and a couple of his awesome home brewed amps.

Blair, W8KC

The group photograph below - Left to Right:

Dr. Jim Adams K4JWA, Garry Ritchie W8OI, Frank Powell KA8SYV, Rich Dillon K8VE, Gene Scherrer W8VZ, Bob Anthony W8OM, Wal Eckles W8LRL, Ron Selders W8UQ, Alan Carpenter W8OP, "Mac" Gray W8LMG, Anthony Simons W8AF, Al Worstell KE8UN, Blair Wright W8KC, Dave Poe W8IW, Steve Burgess KD8VNN, Hal Turley W8HC.

Attending but not pictured: Becky Thompson K8BT, Karl Thompson K8KT, Larry Fravel K8YYY, Rick Cummings WV8RC, Larry Chapman, N8ZL.

Group Photo - May 2016 WVDXA Meeting

Thanks again to Blair and Margaret for opening their home up to us and for the awesome hospitality and lasagna!!  We will need to do that again!!

Hal, W8HC

How Heard Island gave me W8OI a lifetime thrill

It all came down to this.  After decades of trying to confirm QSOs with every DXCC land mass in the world, a ham radio contact with one desolate island on the opposite side of our globe was all that I needed to finally reach the Top of the DXCC Honor Roll.   And after four years of planning, in March of this year a team of 12 strong and brave scientists, who were also ham radio operators, took a long, difficult voyage to get there to give me that QSO with the final DXCC entity I needed to “run the table.”


VK0EK team ready to depart Cape Town

The place is Heard Island.  It is about as far away from us in West Virginia as anything on earth can be.  It is close to Antarctica in the southern Indian Ocean.  No people live there, just animals, birds and perhaps thousands of other native species, many of which were heretofore undiscovered.  In addition to setting up amateur radio antennas and transceivers this crew was there to discover as many of those animals and plants as possible.  They were there to do serious research.

The story has a happy ending.  A wealth of scientific knowledge was uncovered and documented.  And thousands of hams around the world, like yours truly, got that last QSO needed to be able to say that they have worked and confirmed all 339 current entities on the DXCC list.  With the sunspot cycle dropping drastically, propagation to the US was poor much of the time but I was able to work Heard several times on CW, SSB and RTTY.  Many other hams logged this difficult one with a “whew” as they climbed another rung up the DXCC ladder.  By the time it ended, this VK0EK DXpedition made more than 75,000 QSOs with radio amateurs on every continent.  Perhaps you worked them too.  If you did, be thankful and consider the sacrifices they made for your pleasure.



Natives stand guard over tent city

As readers of this blog may recall, I was able to go on a DXpedition myself in 2009 to an uninhabited island in the Caribbean called Desecheo (KP5).  It was a “bucket list” trip for me, I personally worked thousands of hams world-wide around the clock for two weeks.  That K5D DXpedition logged 115,787 QSOs.  It was a satisfying accomplishment but it was also hard work and involved long, hot days with very little sleep and nearly a month away from home at my own expense.  So I appreciate what the Heard Island team went through.

 
For them it was a commitment of nearly seven weeks.  The international team first flew into Cape Town, South Africa from countries around the globe.  Next they sterilized everything they were taking with them because Heard Island is a nature preserve, not to be polluted.  They packed all of their radio gear, generators, fuel, food, water and an endless list of other stuff.  They then loaded all of that, along with themselves, on a vessel called The Braveheart and voyaged 12 long days to Heard.  That voyage was more than 3-thousand miles long and the ship averaged 11 miles per hour through cold and rough seas.  Imagine driving in an automobile night and day without stop at 11 miles an hour for 12 days going from the southern California coast  to the northeastern tip of Maine (about the same length of trip).  When the DXpedition ended another voyage of comparable distance was required departing Heard for Perth, Australia.  Then came the work of unpacking the ship before flying home to wherever.  And while on the island they struggled in bitterly cold weather erecting a huge field of antennas, a tent city had to be built, six stations had to be set up, then those stations had to be operated 24/7, all the research had to be carried out to discover new forms of life in the extremes and finally there was the “fun” of tearing it all down and packing it back aboard ship.


One of many antennas amid desolation

Wasn’t it nice of them to do that just so I could realize a nearly life-long ambition to confirm radio contacts with every entity in the world?  Hi hi.  After 63 years of hamming they put me right up on cloud nine.  

But best of all is the pride I feel in the fine company I share on that cloud.  The WVDXA has eight members at #1 DXCC Honor Roll.  In alphabetical order the other seven are N8DX, W8HC, W8OM (ex WA8VPN), W3UR, W8UV, W8WEJ, and WA8WV.  Three other members - K4OM, W8TN and W8QY - just need one more entity to have them all.   And three SK members made the #1 list before they moved on to that great ham shack in the sky - W8AH, W8QHG and W8GG.  Not bad for our little club, huh?

WVDXA is NO. 1 in Club Leagues on Club Log

The West Virginia DX Association (WVDXA) has now achieved the TOP of the Club League listing on Club Log.  Currently there are 110 clubs worldwide listed there and the fact that the WVDXA has reached the top of that listing is MAGNIFICENT!

We are certainly not an "old" club and not one with a huge membership.  But, the "DX Flame" burns strongly in all our members.  The camaraderie of this tightly-knit group of DX'ers is un-matched!  Those in the group who have been DX'ing for as much as 60 years are just as willing to help the newcomers as anyone else.

CONGRATULATIONS, guys!  This is the result of an untold number of hours of sweat, tears, and just plain hard work to put together your stations and to dig out those weak signals.

We ARE Number ONE!

WVDXA Fall Chili Lunch

Group Photo at the WVDXA Fall Chili Lunch

N8RR's Elmer Award

The WVDXA Fall Chili Lunch at the home of Frank, KA8SYV, and his gracious wife, Paula, was a rousing success!  Above you can see a shot of all 25 who attended.  (All photos are courtesy of Hal, W8HC.)

Frank presents the Elmer Award to N8RR

At the meeting, Frank, KA8YSV, presented Charlie, N8RR, with the Elmer award seen on the right.  As Frank made the presentation the group burst into a huge round of applause!  A close-up of the award can be seen on the right.  Click on any photo to see a larger image.

During "Show and Tell", Jim, K4JWA, gave a demonstration of his "Air Boss" launcher.  Putting antenna wires over tall trees is now a relatively easy matter.  Jim has a neat "Go Bag" with a motorcycle battery, a compressor, guage, etc. to charge up the Air Boss.   When fired, it launches a large sinker 100-feet or more into the air and that pulls a fishing line out of the reel attached to the tube.  Tie a larger line on the end with the sinker and reel it back in.  Beats a slingshot for sure!

K4JWA & the Air Boss

Also at "Show and Tell", Charlie, N8RR, demonstrated his SARK Antenna Analyzer to several interested members.  And, Clark, W8TN, displayed a mint DX'ing tool from 30 years ago - The DX Edge.  This grey-line sliderule was donated to Clark by Wally, W8LRL.

The absolute highlight of the meeting was when the entire group sang "Happy Birthday" and presented a card signed by everyone along with a Birthday Cake to Jimmy, W8JA's mom, Oleta.  She just celebrated her 91st Birthday yesterday!  What an amazing woman!

Oleta's 91st Birthday!

Since ALL three of the WV ARRL DXCC Card Checkers were in attendance, everyone could get their QSL's checked!  Donations for the upcoming FT4JA DX'pedition were collected by Larry, K8YYY.  Hal, W8HC, again thanked the club for it's donation to the upcoming VK9WA DX'pedition where he will be one of the operators. And, lots and lots of DX stories, tips and tricks were shared by everyone.  Not to forget, we consumed two different kinds of chili, nachos, donuts, two different kinds of AWESOME pie and some OUTRAGEOUS lemon cake, brownies, cookies, beverages, and so on - you get the idea - We Ate WELL!

W8ZT Enjoys the Chili!

Everyone who had a hand in this affair, even if all they did was show up, is to be commended!  It was another FANTASTIC WVDXA get-together.  And, we decided to try and schedule some kind of similar event every three months, even if we have to have it at Golden Corral.  Email is nice, but getting together like this really gets the DX juices flowing!

Attendees included:  Clark, W8TN, & Evelyn, Dave, W8IW, Janice, KC8BFF, Rick, W8ZT, Larry, K8YYY, & Beckie, Mary, KD8IPW, Jim, K4JWA, Dave, WA8WV, & Mary, Tim, K8RRT, Joe, WV8WVU, Frank, KA8SYV, & Paula, Bart, WT8V, Garry, W8OI, Jimmy, W8JA, & Oleta, Alan, W8OP, Charlie, N8RR, Rick, WV8RC, & Charlotte, Bob, WA8VPN, and Hal, W8HC.

W8TN named Outstanding West Virginia Amateur of Year






W8TN (left) presented WV Outstanding Amateur
plaque by ARRL Section Manager N8SFO
 

Clark Stewart, W8TN, was honored at the West Virginia ARRL Convention on August 22, 2015 as the Outstanding Amateur Radio Operator of the Year in the state.  The recognition was based on his activities during the calendar year 2014.  During an awards ceremony he was handed a beautiful plaque by WV ARRL Section Manager Phillip Groves, N8SFO. 

The award is given annually by the West Virginia State Amateur Radio Council after receiving nominations from clubs and individuals from around the state.   I was happy to write Clark's letter of nomination, pointing out the following.
 

"In my opinion, Clark has been deserving of this honor for many years.  Since getting his first license in 1964 he has always been active, helpful, knowledgeable, courteous and tireless in advancing amateur radio and leading other hams by example.  But what he achieved in 2014 for amateur radio in West Virginia truly was astounding. 

A prime example, which took a huge amount of his time during that year, was the October W1AW/8 operation from West Virginia.  W8TN was the “back office” for that highly successful week-long event.  Starting months in advance he set up a Blog, an Online Schedule for the many volunteer operators, and a Google Group Email Reflector and Chat Page.  He helped hams statewide install and train on logging programs, built sample macros for CW and RTTY operation and helped Hal, W8HC, sort out the bugs in final logs.  He put hundreds of hours into this operation which resulted in more than 40,000 QSO’s from W1AW/8 in WV during that one week of operation.

He led the effort to resurrect the long dormant West Virginia DX Association in 1963 and now serves as its President.  In January 2014 he urged the WVDXA members to compile an inventory of their ham radio related items to help their survivors who may not be hams to know the value of their equipment.  He constantly shares such advice and his knowledge of ham radio by answering questions from hams (not just in the WVDXA) on just about anything.

In April, 2014 he spent dozens of hours migrating the WVDXA members to a new Google Group email reflector after AOL and Yahoo changed the way emails to mailing lists were handled. 

Clark annually reminds WVDXA members how to save their Logbook of the World Certificates and helps many hams each year with LoTW issues.  As a case in point, a WVDXA member, W8UV, was trying to complete his Triple-Play award in September 2014 but could not get a RTTY QSL on LoTW from Hawaii.  Clark, on behalf of Phil, contacted the KH6 station and after 6 hours on the telephone remotely working on the Hawaiian’s computers, managed to fix the LoTW issue so that more than 10,000 QSO’s could be loaded up to LoTW. 

In this same way, he helps dozens of hams with computer issues by remotely connecting to their computer and solving their computer issues on a weekly basis.  He constantly helps people with the Logger32 logging program and publishes tips on his personal Blog (http://w8tn.blogspot.com/) about that logging program.

Clark will help any ham with any problem and does so regularly.  He helps install antennas, troubleshoots “shack” problems, teaches basic electronics, helps young people learn Morse Code, conducts ham radio forums, and fund raises for ham radio projects such as DXpeditions to rare countries and entities.  Under his leadership the WVDXA has raised more than $10,000 to help ham radio causes.  He does this constantly and certainly did it throughout 2014.

He has worked and confirmed every DXCC entity in the world except for North Korea and has personally operated on several rare DXpeditions around the world.  He has even worked beyond this world, including arranging communication with the Space Shuttle by students in Davisville, WV.

But Clark’s greatest attribute, in my opinion, is his almost constant desire to help others.  As an example of that, on November 2, 2014, Tim Stinespring, K8RRT, was in a serious auto accident.  W8TN immediately drove to the hospital, sat with Tim’s wife and daughter, and spent an enormous amount of time helping Tim and his family with the practical and legal issues of his accident.  Since Clark is an attorney, his expert advice, given for free, was a Godsend.

Clark Stewart is the real deal.  So it is with great pleasure that I nominate him to be the latest WV Outstanding Amateur, and I ask you and the other voters to give him careful consideration for this honor."

 

The WV State Amateur Radio Council obviously agreed.  They bestowed the honor on our WVDXA President as a number of WVDXA members, as well as other hams from around the Mountain State, watched with great pride.

 

 

WVDXA Supports Clublog Again

Upon unanimous consent of the membership, 'da Prez made a donation to Clublog in the name of the WVDXA in the amount of $100.00 U.S. (£64.13 British Pounds).  This will help support the operation of this great resource that many of us use at least weekly (if not daily!)  Below are comments about the current and future expenses of Clublog from their website:

Current Expediture

The running costs for Club Log between 1 April 2013 and 1 April 2014 were £10,230 ($16,368)
Most of our costs are for utilities. Club Log is a very intensive application that analyzes a vast database, and it also receives large volumes of visitors. For example, hosting a large expedition typically results in over a million page loads in a few weeks. The servers (main and standby in two different locations) each require a fast internet connection, electricity and cooling 24/7/365. Other expenses include subscriptions to directories and news services, conventions, security certificates, fees paid to our helpdesk supplier (Freshdesk), and disk storage for backups.

Future Expenditure

In 2015 and beyond, there are several new projects related to Club Log which will need a lot of disk storage and perhaps some RF equipment that we're planning ahead for. Additionally, it is becoming clear that a new server for running reports will be needed, separate from the main service, so that at busy times less juggling of resources is necessary. At the moment, Most Wanted charts are being scheduled to be updated at quiet times between expeditions, for example. This is a trend that will probably continue and it's going to be necessary to expand a little to keep up!

Looking at the donations list over the last year, it appears that Clublog's running costs average $1,364 a month.  Adding up the donations in May 2015, they only received $1,079 during that month.  But the April receipts totaled $2,277 so they more than made up for the May deficit in the prior month.  March was even better with $3,156 being received.  That means they received about $2,400 more than their running expenses for that 3-month period.  Hopefully the remaining 9 months have supplied enough funds to help with the future expenditure plans.  This looks good for the future health of Clublog.

The following email was received in acknowledgement of our donation:

Dear West Virginia DX Association (W8AH),

Thanks for your generous donation to Club Log! Each time a user performs an
upload or uses the expedition search tools, a donor's name is displayed at
random, as mark of appreciation.

Your donation ensures Club Log is free of charge and free from advertising.
It is thanks to the fantastic kindness of regular users that the running
costs are covered.

So thanks again, and I hope you continue to enjoy using the site! It's a
pleasure to have your involvement, and I am very grateful for your
donation.

vy 73,
Michael G7VJR

The 2014 Amsterdam Is. DX'pedition – a Most Memorable Experience

My good friend, Arnie, N6HC, has give the WVDXA a first person account of the recent FT5ZM DX'pedition to Amsterdam Island.  What follows is his account of the "Trip of a Lifetime" (in my opinion) to a place that just can not be any further away from West Virginia!
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N6HC Operating as FT5ZM

On January 14, 2014 a team of 14 very experienced DXpeditioners departed Fremantle, Western Australia on the RV Braveheart for a nine day 1900 nautical mile passage to Amsterdam Island in the southern Indian Ocean. The team consisted of ten North Americans, one South American and three Europeans.  The countries represented were the United States (New Jersey, Ohio, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, California), Canada, Martinique, Colombia, Norway, Russia and Tajikistan. We planned to activate Amsterdam Island for the first time since 1998. The island ranked in the top five of most wanted entities for DXCC.  Ralph Fedor, K0IR, had spent over two years organizing this trip to make it one of the most successful DXpeditions in recent memory.

The Northern Corridor Radio Group consisting of members from Perth and the surrounding areas proved to be an invaluable resource to the project.  They provided transportation from the airport, hosted two BBQs and loaned us multiple aluminum tower sections for our Yagi antennas.

The crew of five plus our ship Captain, Matt Jolly, worked tirelessly to ready the boat for our journey.  It quickly became clear that our team was really twenty strong as the crew was completely committed to making our endeavor a successful one.  They did a lot of the heavy lifting and made sure that we were comfortable and safe for our passage. The Indian Ocean was not so thoughtful and made our journey somewhat uncomfortable for several days.  We passed the time operating maritime mobile as VK6FZM, read books, did crossword and Sudoku puzzles, watched DVDs and clung tightly to our bunks during heavy seas.  We came to know each other very well over those nine days.

We arrived at the island on January 23, 2014 and the following day began transferring our equipment to the island by Zodiac.  The French inhabitants were extremely helpful with this task and efficiently allocated the offloaded equipment to the appropriate station sites using a fork-lift, tractor and trailer.  We didn’t know what to expect from the twenty resident islanders but our trepidation was quickly allayed.  We saw nothing but smiles and a can-do attitude that made it clear that our team had grown again this time to forty strong.  After a brief orientation, we split up into two radio teams and went to our respective work sites…either the lower Mataf site about 76 feet above sea level and a half mile from the Martin de Vivies base or the upper Antonelli site about 650 feet above sea level with a two mile hike from the base and uphill through very rough terrain.  It took us a couple of days to assemble the antennas and stations, erect the antennas, establish generator power and network our computers.

At both sites we used three element monoband Yagis on 10, 12, 15, 17 and 20 meters, single element vertical antennas for 30, 40 and 80 meters and an EY8MM “special” 160 meter top loaded vertical only at the Antonelli site.  The Yagis were rotated manually by the “Armstrong” method. The transceivers were Elecraft K3s driving either OM Power OM-2000 or Elecraft KPA-500 amplifiers. Several of the transceivers had auxiliary Elecraft panadapters.  The interfaces were by W3YY, the band pass filters were individual ICE models in the shack and 4O3A high power models at the tower base.  We used N1MM logging software and the MMTTY engine for radio teletype.  There were three 6000 watt generators at each site and the Braveheart crew maintained the generators throughout the operation. Corporate sponsorship was generous and without their support this operation would have been impossible. FT5ZM hit the airwaves on January 26, 2014 to humongous pile-ups.  Those pile-ups never abated. When we closed the operation on February 12, 2014 the pile-ups were still humongous.  In spite of meticulous planning, several obstacles were encountered.  The terrain between Antonelli and Mataf made networking of both sites problematic.  Some of the computer power supplies were RF noisy making it difficult to operate on some bands.  After one week of operation, we found that our 40 and 80 meter operation from Mataf was interfering with the geomagnetic monitoring that the resident scientists were carrying out; we had to shut down 40 and 80 meter operation from Mataf. 

FT5ZM Team

During the day, we were serenaded by the island seals and their calves who clamored for their next meal.  There were thousands of seals that called Amsterdam their home.  At night they came out of the ocean to nestle in the thick clumps of grass which were interspersed with large lava rocks.  They had no fear of humans and, if approached, could become very aggressive.  Our French host required us to agree not to travel at dark from our operating shacks.  It was dangerous at Mataf because we might find a family of seals in the brush around our towers; seal bites can be very nasty.  It was dangerous at Antonelli because the two mile hike to base was over uneven and perilous terrain.  The only way to abide with this constraint was to have 12 or 24 hour shifts.  There were three bunk beds at each site so it was possible to catch a quick nap if one was necessary.  Small “kitchens” were set up at each site so a meal could be enjoyed if anyone needed a snack or drink.

We were treated royally at Martin de Vivies base.  We were housed in a dormitory with two to a room.  We had flush toilets, warm showers and comfortable bunk beds.  We had use of the local laundry facilities and internet, although our connection rate was painfully slow and we had to use French keyboards!  The biggest surprise was the gourmet food that we enjoyed.  Breakfast was from 6:30 AM to 9:00 AM and was continental with a choice of fruit, fruit juices, hot chocolate, coffee or tea, cold cereal and warm baguettes with butter, margarine or jam.  Lunch and dinner were a different matter altogether.  We were treated to fresh fish, lobster, sausage, beef or chicken, salads, vegetables, rice, French fries (frites), pasta and delicious sauces to dress up the already yummy feast.  Dessert consisted of various choices of cheeses, cakes and pastries and even ice cream sundaes with chocolate and whipped cream toppings. With each meal there was a choice of beverage which included French wine.  No one suffered malnutrition on Amsterdam Island!  There was also a small bar which served soft drinks, beer, wine and various liquors.  No one suffered from thirst on Amsterdam Island, either!  It was not unusual for the team to give Francis, the chef, a round of applause in appreciation of his delicious creations.

Our radio team was integrated into the French team at the Skua restaurant.  We each performed at least once as “petit Marie” helping “grande Marie” clean the restaurant floor once daily and set and bus the tables for lunch and dinner. 

The eight K3 transceivers hummed for seventeen days churning out 170,000 QSOs. The breakdown by continent was 50% Europe, 25% North America, 22% Asia, and 3% Africa/South America and Oceania. The statistics by mode were 95,000 CW, 63,000 SSB and 12,000 RTTY.  Our most productive bands were 10 meters (30,834), followed closely by 15 meters (28,237) and 20 meters (27,816). We worked DXCC on every band except 80 meters (96) and 160 meters (85). There were over 36,000 unique calls in the log.

Unfortunately, we had to cease operation one day earlier than scheduled due to an approaching unfavorable weather front causing rough surf. Heavy seas would make it impossible to load the RV Braveheart.  With a heavy heart, we departed the island and waved goodbye to our friends at the pier. The nine day transit back to Fremantle blessed us with six days of calm weather and only three more days of tossing and rolling.  We were all glad to finally place our feet on solid ground on February 22.  With our sea legs still under us and the ground “moving,” we were graciously treated to another BBQ by the Northern Corridor Radio Group at their club station. The following evening our radio team started leaving the continent down under. 

We will fondly remember the generosity of our Australian hosts, the graciousness of our French hosts and the comradeship of the Braveheart crew. We gratefully thank our support team who helped at every step of the DXpedition. Lastly, we will never forget our radio team mates and what we accomplished together on this DXpedition.  We hope you made it into the log and that you enjoyed our adventure as much as we did.  

DXpedition web site: http:\\www.amsterdamdx.org

Copyright © 2014 by Arnold Shatz

First FT5ZM Operating Site Photos

FT5ZM Operating Locations

Here are the first photos of the FT5ZM Operating Sites.  The photo above shows the relative locations of both operating sites.  Mataf is near the landing site but Antonelli is over a MILE away!  Click on the photos to see a larger image.

Antonelli Site

The photo on the left showing the antennas is of the Antonelli Site.  Check out all those beams!  How much effort went into transporting those antennas and towers to the site plus erecting them and installing the coax.  The second photo on the left is from the Mataf site. 

Mataf Site

Jerry, WB9Z, one of the FT5ZM Team made the following comment 4 days ago just at the end of their first day on the island:

"The terrain is very rough for walking and putting up antennas. We’re talking up to 2 feet of dead grass on top of lava rock. This is one of the (if not the) roughest Dxpeditions ever been on. The entire team is exhausted after a very long day. All generators are in place, but there is still so much to be done."

How hard was it to tote all the towers, antennas, coax, rope, anchors, radios, amplifiers, generators, fuel, food, personal effects, and dozens of other things to the Antonelli site?  Then, everything had to be assembled, beams and towers put up, and all the equipment interconnected.  I am in awe of what these guys have done in so short a time.

Doesn't this make you want to leave the comfort of your shack and run out on one of these major DX'peditions!

Equipment for FT5ZM has been Shipped

Most hams never think about all the work that needs to be done BEFORE a DX'pedition can come on the air.  On the FT5ZM website there is a series of photos with descriptions showing just some of the work that has been done.  Click HERE for a link to that Post.

The container of all this equipment was shipped on October 15th to New Zealand where it will be put aboard the MV Braveheart which is the ship that will transport the FT5ZM team to Amsterdam Island.  But first, the Braveheart will have to travel from New Zealand to Western Australia.   That's some 3,400 miles if you FLEW!  It's, of course, many more miles when traveling by sea.  Then it's a NINE day ocean voyage from Fremantle, Western Australia, to Amsterdam Island.  Click HERE for a link to the website for the MV Braveheart.

The map below shows the locations mentioned above.  Click on the map to see a larger image.  The location on the bottom-right for New Zealand is where the MV Braveheart is based.  That ship will need to take the container of FT5ZM equipment all the way to Fremantle, Western Australia.  See the red-bordered insert of the USA (at the same scale as the main map) to get an idea of the distances involved.  Once the FT5ZM team boards the Braveheart, they have a NINE day trip on the ocean to Amsterdam Island covering some 1,900 nautical miles!  As you can see, Amsterdam Island is 11,317 miles from Hurricane, WV.  Point D on the map just to the right of FT5ZM marked "Antipode" is the exact opposite side of the Earth from Hurricane, WV!  If you drilled straight down from Hurricane, WV, this is where you would come out (not China!)

That container full of equipment will have had to travel a huge distance (from Atlanta, GA, to New Zealand, to Western Australia, then to Amsterdam Island.)  The team members will have had to travel similar distances.  Just to check on what is involved, I looked on a travel website (Orbitz) to see how one would fly to Western Australia from Los Angeles.  The best flight I found was a two-step one.  The first was a 16-hour flight to Dubai for a 2 hour lay-over and then an 11-hour flight to Perth, Australia.  Cost was $1,905.  I then changed the departure to Charleston, WV, and for $2,638.49 I could be in Perth in just 30 hours and 15 minutes but on 4 separate flights.  By the way, those travel costs are being paid by each individual operator.

Once the DX'pedition is over, all that equipment and the Team will have to travel those same distances again to return.  Putting Amsterdam Island on the air in the major way this group is planning, takes a HUGE investment of time, money, skill, people, just about everything you can imagine.  Below is the tentative schedule of operations from the FT5ZM Website:

The MV Braveheart will arrive in the port of Fremantle, Australia on January 12, 2014 and be available for the team to board. Fuel and supplies will be taken aboard and port documentation procedures completed. The vessel will sail for Amsterdam Island on January 15, 2014. The sailing time to Amsterdam Island will be 9 days, with an estimated arrival date of January 24.

Landing operations will commence as soon as the sea conditions and weather allow. Once the team is ashore, they will have 18 days to set up, conduct the DXpedition, and tear down for departure.

The return sail to Fremantle is also estimated at 9 days. The team anticipates being back in Fremantle by February 23, 2014.

With only 18 days to set up, operate and tear down their stations, they will be in a massive rush to get on the air as soon as possible and to operate as efficiently as possible.  If everything goes as planned, it will cost them $20 per minute of operating time!  If propagation is as expected, that works out to about $4.00 per QSO!  These numbers are available on their website HERE and are calculated by dividing the cost of the DX'pedition by the expected number of minutes on the air and the expected number of QSO's.  For those reasons, please do not try to ask the operators any questions like, "When will you be on 6-Meters?"  It only takes away from the time available for someone else to make a QSO.

As of this Post, they are still $167,000 short of their budget goal of $400,000.  Even though the WVDXA contributed $1,000 to this DX'pedition, you may want to consider another personal contribution.  At least, please remember the cost of this DX'pedition when you send for your QSL cards.

The FT5ZM operation is prepared for the long distances involved.  On 40-M, 80-M and 160-M they have four OM Power 2000 amps (view HERE) for generating the needed power on those bands.  They will use an Elecraft K-3 enabled for diversity reception with Beverages and a DX Engineering 4-square for receive antennas.  Between sunset and sunrise, one station will be dedicated to 160-M.  Click on the photo at the left for a larger view of the block diagram of their Top-Band setup.  A similar arrangement is planned for the other low bands (30-M through 80-M.)  For the HF bands, they will have 3-element monoband yagis on 10-M through 20-M and will be using Elecraft K-3's with the KPA500 amplifiers.  They will be operating 4 complete stations at two separate locations and the two locations are 5,800 feet apart!  But, with 8 stations available and only 14 operators, you can bet the operating schedule will be VERY demanding!

On their website if you click on the The DXpedition link, you can read about their itinerary, equipment, frequencies, budget and even get access to a propagation tool to predict the best times for YOU to work FT5ZM.

Amsterdam Island ranks as No. 4 on the Most Needed Countries List HERE worldwide.  That pretty much guarantees the biggest pileups many of you have ever seen.  But, with the Team of Operators for this DX'pedition being chosen from the "Best of the Best" everyone will have a good opportunity to make at least one QSO for an ATNO (All-Time New One.)  If you are not able to make a QSO from your home station, you might want to consider a trip to a friend's QTH as this entity will probably not be back on the air anytime soon!  GL to all WVDXA Members on this one!

WVDXA Now Supports ClubLog

At the June 2013 meeting, Phil, W8UV, made a motion that the WVDXA send a $100 donation to ClubLog.  That motion passed unanimously.  It proved to be a bit of a hurdle to manage to make the donation but Dave, WA8WV, and Clark, W8TN, finally managed to successfully do that by setting up a ClubLog account for W8AH (the WVDXA Club Callsign) and making the donation under that call.  It now shows on the ClubLog page as you can see below and will be randomly displayed with other donors after every upload and expedition log search.  ($100 U.S. dollars is £64.13 British Pounds.)

WVDXA Donation to ClubLog

We have also added the ClubLog logo to the right-hand sidebar on the WVDXA Blog (look just below the WVDXA Members list.)  Clicking on the ClubLog logo will take you to the ClubLog main page.

In the last 3 days, two more WVDXA Members have joined ClubLog and been approved by the Membership Manager as belonging to the WVDXA on ClubLog.  In addition, one other WVDXA Member has uploaded his log to ClubLog.

If you have uploaded your log to ClubLog but your call does not appear in the Leagues, it might be that it is "hidden" from the leagues.  This is usually due to being inactive for 12 months or more, but possibly by choice of the callsign's owner.  You can fix that by clicking HERE and following the instructions.

One other benefit of uploading your log regularly to ClubLog is that it provides a backup of the basic QSO information in your log.  If you should lose your computer (AND the backup you ARE making - right?) you can retrieve the basic info from ClubLog.  You will NOT get back things like Comments, Names, Notes, QSL info, etc. but you will get the basic date, time, band, mode, call and QSL status.

Finally, if anyone has digital logs for any operations using the W8AH callsign, let Dave, WA8WV, or me, W8TN, know and we will get them uploaded to the W8AH account on ClubLog.  Does anyone want to undertake entering W8AH's logs into a digital format?  At least his 40-M QSL's could be entered without too much trouble.  All that is necessary is to just take a laptop to the Radio and TV Museum in Huntington and enter the data right from the QSL's. 

June 2013 Summer Bash a SUCCESS!

Wooo, Hoooo!  The WVDXA Summer Bash was an OUTSTANDING success!  The attendance sheet has 33 people signed in but I'm certain not everyone "made the list."  I had hoped to get everyone together for a "Group Shot" for this Blog post but trying to get that many people to do the same thing at the same time is like herding cats - right, Charlie?  So, I did the best I could and took a half dozen shots during the "meeting" and cobbled them together into one image here.  Click on it to see a larger version.  I can tell you that I did not get a shot of Charlie, N8RR, who was sitting next to Tim, K8RRT, on the hearth and I may have missed others.

Group Shot of the June 2013 WVDXA Meeting

The meeting location was the QTH (and home) of Bart, WT8V, and Sue Haynes in Elkview, WV.  It seemed like everyone who wanted to was able to find the location and we had plenty of food.  Alan, W8OP, Rick, WV8RC, Papa November, WA8VPN, and Jim, K4JWA, volunteered to flip burgers and turn hot dogs.  They kept a steady stream of those coming inside and the XYL's, YL's, and others managed to lay out a sumptuous spread.  We had chips, drinks, homemade hot dog chili (sauce), homemade cole slaw (yum!), baked beans, pasta salad, macaroni salad, Jarlsberg cheese, chicken wings with 4 or 5 dipping sauces, pea salad, sauerkraut slaw, and all the fixin's for hamburgers and hot dogs.  I won't even attempt to mention the desserts because there were literally too many to mention.  An untold number of cookies, brownies, chocolate and raspberry goodness, a quadruple-threat pie, and some Little Debbie cakes which were hastily purchased to replace a homemade cake that never managed to make the trip.  

Dave, W8IW, circulated a sheet for donations to the Jackson's Mill Program and several folks signed up and paid their dollar.  Lots of "couch change" had been acquired by at least 11 members and donated to the WVDXA Treasury.  A total of $245 was collected!  On the motion of Phil, W8UV, the WVDXA decided to make a nice donation to Clublog.  The collected funds have been transferred to Dave, WA8WV, and he is taking care of the Clublog donation for the group. 

Jim, K4JWA, brought his ultrasonic detector with dish antenna that he built.  He had handouts of the article for anyone who was interested.  It was amazing that you could hear someone rubbing their fingers together across the room with this device.  Jim has used it to track down AC line arcing for Garry, W8OI, and himself.

We had some great discussions on QSL'ing, record keeping, station improvements by some club members, a "Show and Tell" on the Pig Knob that Jimmy, W8JA, is now using, and many other items.  The comments posted on the club email reflector after the meeting showed that many people were quite pleased with what they heard/learned at the meeting.  Some even showed up TWO hours early so as to not miss a thing - I will not mention names but N8NN and K8MN know who I'm talking about!

We even gained one new member.  Rick, WV8RC, brought along Fred, WV8FV, who joined the club.  Welcome aboard, Fred!

There were some minor sprinkles but it did not dampen the gathering a bit.  Spirits were high throughout the gathering and more DX items were discussed than you could shake a stick at.  All-in-all I can't think of a single negative except for the fact that we eventually had to leave!

WVDXA at the Dayton Hamvention - 2013

     This was a "Banner" year for the WVDXA at the Dayton Hamvention.  Rick, W8ZT, had a large banner for the WVDXA printed and he placed it on the windshield of his car in his extraordinary Flea Market space.  For those who have not been there, Rick's space is on an "end cap" on one of the aisles right next to the Hara Arena main building.  It is also close enough to a food vendor and the beer vendor that you can walk there in less than 30 seconds!  That means this banner is in a place to be seen by nearly every person who enters the Flea Market at the Silver Arena side of Hara.  Rick, as always, had plenty of chairs, drinks and space for the WVDXA guys and their friends to hang out. 

     In addition to having such a wonderful space that he makes available to the WVDXA, Rick added the name of the WVDXA to his Flea Market spaces with the Hamvention Committee.  That means the WVDXA will always have those spaces in the event Rick is not able to attend.  Thanks to Rick's generosity, the WVDXA will have a PRIME location at the Hamvention for as long as we want it.
     Many folks showed up to take advantage of Rick's hospitality as well as to just stop for a minute and chat.  We probably should have had a sign-in sheet!  Dave, K8MN, who was not able to attend this year, had some of his "spies" send him the photo of the WVDXA banner above and the shot of Seth, W8FG, and Dave,W8HYX, manning Rick's booth.
     At the DX Dinner, the WVDXA gathered 9 of our members in the lobby of the Marriott Hotel and made a formal presentation of our $1,000 donation to the Amsterdam Island, FT5ZM, DX'pedition (see photo below - click on any photo to make it larger.)  You can visit the Sponsors page of the FT5ZM web site HERE and click on the "Club and Organization Sponsors" link to see the WVDXA logo.  One of the leaders of that DX'pedition, Bob Allphin, K4UEE,(he is in the dark coat to the left of Garry, W8OI) made a very gracious speech about our contribution.  He noted that our "per-capita" donation was among the largest they have seen.  Thus, considering the size of our group, we were quite generous and he truly appreciated how deeply the WVDXA dug into their savings to help fund this operation.  Bob, by the way, has visited 120 DXCC entities and operated from 69.  He has participated in 37 DX'peditdions and NINE of those were from entities listed in the Top Ten Most Needed.  FT5ZM with be his TENTH from a Top Ten Most Needed Entity!  In addition, the operators who are signed on to the FT5ZM trip are nothing but the "cream of the crop" of DX'ers so whenever it's possible to work them, those guys will pull your signal out of the noise.

     In addition to the 9 members of the WVDXA who were present, there were 9 members of the FT5ZM operation there to accept our donation.  The WVDXA actually had more members present but some failed to put themselves in the photo.  Hunter, KD8SZF, and Mike, N8WC, were in the lobby watching the presentation but not in front of the camera.  They must be camera shy!
     At the DX Dinner, the WVDXA table was directly beside the NH8S Swains Island tables.  Hal, W8HC, and Clark, W8TN, were seated with the Swains Island crew instead of the WVDXA this year because they were both on that DX'pedition.  When it came time for the SouthWest Ohio DX Association (SWODXA) to announce the DX'pedition of the Year, it came as quite a surprise (to me at least) that the NH8S operation was selected.  You can see on the left a photo of the award.  At a breakfast the next morning, the NH8S team leaders presented each of the members of the DX'pedition with a similar plaque for their own.  WOW!
     Even though there was some rain during the Hamvention, this turned out to be a very nice one. It was the 44th consecutive Hamvention I have attended and the second for Charlie, N8RR.  Charlie even got his photo on the ARRL web page in the first picture in the Saturday Roundup HERE.  Tim, K8RRT, Steve, KC8FVE, and Clark, W8TN, were judiciously cropped out of that photo - Hi! 

     One of the things I heard comments about from several folks was the ability to talk to people they have worked on the air but seldom (if every) have a chance to see in person.  As a case in point, to the right is a photo of Arnie, N6HC, talking to Eric, T6MO.  Tim, K8RRT, was especially pleased to talk to Eric because Tim had chased him for well over a year before he finally managed a QSO just days before Eric returned to the U.S.  Tim also managed to grab Charlie, N8RR, and bring him to see Eric.  Charlie has the distinction of being No. 1 on the Leaderboard for T6MO in ALL of North America.  Charlie worked Eric on 8 band slots and the guy in second place (W1JR) only manged 7 band slots.  I can certainly see this would have been an historic face-to-face QSO.
     So, the Hamvention is done for 2013.  I hope all those who managed to attend had a marvelous time.

N8WC's CushCraft R-8 Project

     Tim and I were VERY pleased to help Mike, N8WC, get his CushCraft R-8 up in the air and working.  He did an excellent job putting the antenna together.  And, it is obviously working FB.

     For those who were not there, Mike, N8WC, had assembled the CushCraft R-8 and it was waiting in his garage when we arrived.  I put a coax connector on his cable and Mike and Tim got the cable run through the side of the house into the shack.  We then carried the antenna out in the yard and stood it up for a test.

     The test results on Tim's MFJ-259B looked good so we proceeded to attach a 3-foot piece of 1-1/2-inch water pipe to the top of the tower.  Tim, K8RRT, took care of this.  This mount was about our 4th or 5th idea.  We had a good deal of difficulty acquiring the right parts but finally got what we needed.  The 3-foot piece of pipe is clamped to a tower leg with four U-bolts on the inside of the tower so that it can be supported laterally by the bracing of the Rohn 25G.  This left enough room above the top of the tower to mount the R-8 on the water pipe.

     The BIG part of the project was pulling the antenna up with a gin pole.  It was difficult because we had to attach the rope BELOW the center of gravity.   This meant the antenna wanted to turn upside down!  But, with Tim at the very top of the tower, Mike, N8WC, just below him, and me providing the "ballast" to hold the end of the rope that was supporting the weight of the antenna - we got 'er dun!

     Once a coax connector was put on the other end of the feedline, we tested again and the numbers were not as good as when we were out in the yard but still mostly good.  Maybe this is because Mike has a metal roof on his house just a few feet below the antenna.

     We had another issue with the Kenwood TS-940S/AT which had not been used for over 20 years.  Tim and I were about to give up and head home when Mike came up with one more idea that was the key to fixing the transmit portion of the transceiver.  With that I found a spot for FG5FR on 30-M (at just after 5 p.m. local time) and Mike managed a very nice QSO with him (First Call by the way!)  Then, when Tim and I were back in Charleston, Mike telephone to say that he saw a spot for a ZL on 12-M and managed to work him on the First Call as well.

     All in all it was a VERY successful day!  We adapted, we overcame, and the end result is that Mike is back on the air.  The job would NOT have been completed today if it were not for EVERYONE!  Each person filled a vital role and solved a piece of the puzzle to get the job done.  It sometimes DOES take a "Community" to complete a project.

Clipperton Island 2013 - Feb. 28 to Mar. 10

The next big DX'pedition to Clipperton Island will soon be operational.  Their ship, the Shogun, is expected to leave San Diego today.  There are 25 radios operators on this trip and they plan to operate 10 complete HF stations - all using Elecraft K-3 radios. Antennas for HF will all be verticals.

Of special note, Lance, W7GJ, will be setting up a dedicated station well away from the main operation, specifically for 6-M.  Lance will have a K-3 and an Alpha 8406 6-M amp with his own generator.  The antenna will be an M2 6M8GJ.  Look HERE to see Lance's description of this antenna.  You can also look at Lance's web page describing his part in the TX6Koperation HERE.  That page describes his plans for his 6-M operation from Clipperton including frequencies and his EME (moon-bounce) plans.  An email from Lance today pointed out that he ". . . will be beaconing toward NA on 50.190 JT65A daily from 1800-1900Z . . ."  if he is not on the moon or there is other prop.  Otherwise, he will be beaconing in various directions on 50.117 as explained on his web page.

If you are interested in the planning that goes into such a large undertaking, you can access the "Project Description" as a PDF file from their document page HERE.  In that document you will find that the total budget for this DX'pedition is just under $235,000.  Each operator put up $6,500 each plus his airfare to San Diego or Cabo San Lucas.

One major feature of this operation will be the implementation of an internet application which will allow stations to see what is happening in near real time.  Here is how this system is described on their web site:

DXA is an innovative website that allows DXers to view the QSO log and the status and activities of the DXpedition in near-real-time. Within a few minutes after making a contact with the DXpedition, the DXer is able to see confirmation of that contact. Information such as the callsigns logged in the last minute and in the last hour, and the bandmodes currently being worked by the DXpedition, are displayed in a simple, automatically-updated interface. The entire application runs within a standard browser--no software needs to be downloaded or installed. The image below [at left here] is a screenshot of a simulation of the DXA interface as it will appear for the TX5K operation.

This should be really cool to watch your screen show (with a green square) confirmation of your QSO within a minute!  Plus, this will prove that you actually worked TX5K and not a Pirate as only TX5K can activate the green squares.  The DXA page can also be used as the Log Search for your call or other calls.

Here are links to other web pages concerning this operation:

The main web page for the TX5K operation is HERE.  

The link to connect to the DXA application is HERE.

And, a link to the "Quick Tips" page that will show you what is available from and on the main page is HERE.

The Team's Blog is located HERE.

 

There is also a mention that the team may update on various social media web sites so if you are on those, keep an eye out for TX5K's postings.  

TWO Members of WVDXA Going to NH8S

WOOO, HOOO!  The next big-time DX'pedition looming on the horizon is the Swains Island DX'pedition, NH8S.  The web page for that operation is located HERE.  It is worthy of note that TWO of the WVDXA's finest are operators on that DX'pedition!

Hal Turley, W8HC, and Clark Stewart, W8TN, will ably represent the West Virginia DX Association on the Swains Island DX'pedition in September, 2012.  Both are seasoned DX'peditioners and you can expect them to handle the pileups with precision and skill. 

NH8S could come on the air as early as September 5th.  United Airlines changed the date of the flight from Hawaii to American Samoa for the team of 20 from Sunday to Monday.  That means they will have one less day on the island so expect them to hit the ground running.  It will be a marathon of antenna construction the first couple of days with there being some 42 vertical antenna segments and yagis to build and install plus 2 Beverages and 2 H-Z Four Square receiving antennas.  Radios will be Icom IC-7600's and amps will be Elecraft KPA500's.  This is a "Tent and Generator" DX'pedition and the operators will be sleeping on shared army surplus cots under mosquito nets on the beach!

You can find the Operating Plan including projected frequencies of operation HERE.  NH8S plans to upload their logs on a daily basis by Satellite Phone.  Those logs will be available on ClubLog or you can search from HERE.

The Membership of the WVDXA came together in exemplary fashion and supported this DX'pedition with a HUGE donation!  The WVDXA logo is shown as one of the Club Sponsors on the NH8S web site.

The WVDXA Chat Page will certainly be used a good deal during this operation.  Make sure you are set up to use that resource.  It is available by click on the blue Chat Now! icon near the top of the right-hand frame on this page.

You can read more about the Antennas to be used on Swains Island on W8TN's Blog HERE and details about "Getting Ready for Swains Island" are posted HERE.  Both Hal and I are eagerly anticipating this trip and looking forward to personally logging every member of the WVDXA!