Another DXpedition of the Radio Club VOEST |
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The crew: OE1VBL Rupert
The QTH: DXCC Cape Verde D4
The Time-Table: Start 27. Feb. 2002
The QSL Policy: QSL okay via Buro to OE5XVL In case your letter gets rejected send it to OE5OHO. We ONLY accept NEW IRCs! Send SAE plus 2USD from DX, 1USD from
EU
The Pilotstation: OE5OHO Oliver I try to keep you informed about all details concerning the operation, see The NEWS
Real Audio Files: Recorded by OE3MWS 1.03.02 on 6m 4.03.02 on 6m (SSB) 4.03.02 on 6m (CW) The LINKS: OE5OHO
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YES YES - another Activity by the Radio Club VOEST Duration of Activity: 28th February until 14th of March 2002.
ONLINE LOG - click to see if you are in the log!!! List of callsigns who should have RXed our card direct. The GOAL: You might be surprised to hear D44TA without any
announcement in the popular DX-magazines and newsletters. As a matter of
fact this was part of the strategy. The Team consists of 5 operators and a few of the crew have been already active as TK/OE5XVL from Corsica in 1999. D44TA is a special station operated to commemorate 20 years of cooperation between Austria and the Cape Verde Republic. The crew wants to concentrate on the higher bands mostly which means 40m up, including some 6m operation if propagation is permitting contacts. They might be active in one of the contests during the DXpedition and even show up in RTTY and PSK31 if they get the software running... Please read the NEWS
The DOCUMENTS: Click here to view the licence of D44TA.
The EQUIPMENT:
The NEWS: 28.02.02 - 17:00z Just talked to Gerhard OE3GEA operating D44TA on 10m SSB.
All OPs, XYLs, antennas and equipment went through the controlls without any
problem. They are just erecting antennas - the 3ele 3bander for 10/15/20m
is up and currently they are running lowpower 100W only. While Gerhard hits
the airwaves the others are still setting up the station, I could hear
Roland OE5RHO shouting in the background. 01.03.02 - 11:00z D44TA was spotted on 6m already, so it seems they have put up the 3ele Yagi and put it to good use - some EU already have worked them! I try to ask them for their exact gridsquare/locator (they should have a GPS with them!) and will update this information asap - I saw HK85 spotted but stay tuned! Meanwhile GL in the pileups... 02.03.02 - 10:00z Seems like they really have some trouble with the powersupply being not available for 24hrs. But despite this D44TA again was active from AF-005 simultaneously with one station on 6m and one on HF during late evening hours for EU. Some spots show that they had some NA QSO also. I received first emails from Japan that they heard D44TA on 10m CW but couldnīt get through. On the magic band 6m I received emails that the crew had outstanding signals over more than 3 hours to most parts of the old continent (EU). Up to this point I am not aware of any QSO to other continents than EU?!? The D44TA crew might spend some points in the ARRL SSB Contest this weekend... Today finally the password and login arrived so the homepage is now up and running. You are welcome to email any suggestions or questions by clicking on the rotating email left or by clicking on the bottom email-link. 04.03.02 - 20:00z Yesterday the crew did report the latest news. RTTY - they have got a simple modem on site but had problems using the software under XP. But they finally managed to install Win95 and they announce to be probably active in RTTY during the next days - be patient as the transeivers are not equipped with good filters! QSO-NUMBERS - on sunday logs showed about 2500 QSO on shortwave (45% CW, 55%SSB) and very amazing 600 QSO on 6m. D44TA was already active on 80 and 40 and there might be some more lowband QSO this week... STATION - the crew shows up with 2 stations, one on 6m if propagation allows and the 2nd on shortwave. Sometimes they are on two HF-bands. The only thing that is rarely in use is the amplifier! POWERPROBLEM - the available capacity of the local powerplant only allows parts of the island to be provided with power. The QTH of D44TA seems to have power only for 8-10hrs a day, sometimes from 15h local to 24h local Cape Verde time. The voltage starts at 200Vac and drops during the afternoon down to 160Vac. As soon as it gets dark the linevoltage shows something like 150Vac! Therefore the PA is not used. The houseowner was able to supply the team with a generator which allows to extend the "on-the-air" time. They tested the generator with the amplifier but it is not working too well, so they normally run only 100W into the 3ele yagis (one for 10/15/20m and one for 6m). 6m Longpath to Japan - as some JA stations reported there is a chance for 50mc contacts via LP during about 22:30z until 01:30z. Yesterday D44TA called on 6m longpath for JA - but no propagation. Maybe the mountains into that direction are too high? They might try again during next weekend...
PARTY - the crew informed me about a big party which was organized by the local Austrian Cooperation buro.
About 20 officials stayed at the D44TA QTH and it seems that the OPs will put on some weight due to the
superb buffet. AUDIO FILES - OE3MWS recorded D44TA on 6m - thanks for providing the files Manfred! If you want to share your recording of D44TA with us please drop me an email! 07.03.02 - 12:00z Updated QSO numbers now show about 5500 QSO on shortwave (about 35% CW, 65% SSB) and really amazing 1000 QSO on 6m! OE5RHO Roland informed me that heīs running PSK31 and RTTY now. He was calling 1h RTTY on 17m but only made 1 QSO. Total RTTY QSO have been about 20 yesterday. He promised to look more on 10/15/20m to see if thereīs more response (according to emails I received he should!). The crew explained that it is not possible for them to run on 15m and to QSO on either 10m or 20m due to interaction of the stations. Hubert OE5MKM mentioned that heīs hearing all sorts of SA beacons on 6m. Despite some caribbean stations there is no response from South Amercia for some reason! If you are in SA - donīt miss Cape Verde on 6m!! The first picture of the DXpedition arrived - showing the antennas as they have been during the first days of the DXpedition. Since about 2 days the 6m yagi is mounted on a separate waterpipe so shortwave and 6m can beam into different directions to use propagation to different places... I personally made a QSO with them on 6m using 10W and a 5ele yagi. Yesterday condx havenīt been good on 50mc according to Hubert. Nevertheless D44TA showed a true 57 in JN78. So for Europeans D44TA is a GOOD chance for a new one on 6! During the upcoming weekend most parts of the crew will be on the neighbour island Fogo, visiting the vulcan there. Gerhard OE3GEA will stay at the site and run some QSOs but might visit some parts of the island Sao Tiago on some short trips. Due to the lower activity from friday till sunday evening the team plans to be very active the last days of the operation! Their flight back home to Austria is scheduled for 14th of March in the evening. Expect last QSOs during 13th evening hours Cape Verde time and maybe even morning hours on the last day?!
08.03.02 - 16:00z Hubert OE5MKM informed me that he was looking LP for Japan on the 6th of March and managed to work 3 VKīs on 50mc. So far nothing from Japan. Meanwhile the team has worked about 6500 QSO on shortwave, about 1100 QSO on 6m. I assured myself that the team is leaving Sao Tiago on the 14th of March late evening Cape Verde time. Activity will be a bit lower this weekend (see info above). As I see it there will be some CW and SSB QSOs during the weekend, but chances for RTTY or even PSK31 are low. Once the team is reunited on Sunday they will try to be more active till the end of the trip. Good luck!
12.03.02 - 18:00z During my last QSO with D44TA I got the following information: After the generator did deliver a bit too much voltage one of the switching power supplies had a failure! They could fix it to some extent, but that power supply is not working as it used to - that means only one good power supply for the main station! That explains also why the crew did not show up simultaneously on two bands. The notebook which was used to run digital modes suffered too - the powersupply was damaged and is not running anymore. One solution is to use a car-adapter to run the notebook, but the powerconsumption in combination with the TRX is too much for the hardly fixed switching power supply. Which means that the crew has to choose between running digital modes or SSB/CW. They did decide to go for the SSB and CW QSOs. Roland informed me that there is a chance for PSK31on 18.106 to 18.107 during D4 evening hours, later on he might run PSK31 on 40m, somewhere between 7.034 and 7.036. Just by chance he might try 80m PSK31 very late in the D4 evening. Furthermore he announced to be active only in PSK31 during the rest of the D44TA DXpedition, no more RTTY! Sorry guys. Donīt expect PSK31 QSO after 00:00utc If you should have a QSO with D44TA in a digital mode you better spot it! If thereīs no response they likely will be QRV again in either SSB or CW. Hubert mentioned that he looked hard for JA on longpath. Keep fingers crossed propagation will allow QSOs to happen. QSO numbers are about 1150 on 6m and over 10.000 on shortwave. Only about 48 hours to go - good luck to you all.
14.03.02 - 18:00z Hope all of you who needed D4 for a new one have made it into D44TAīs log. At least there will be someone else operating from the Cape Verde islands in the future... The team is heading back to Austria right now after cleaning antennas, packing up all stuff and leaving the QTH behind them. From the responses I got via email it seems that a lot of hams have been happy about D44TAīs precence and activity from AF-005. If you want to give some feedback you are welcome. If you have audio-files you want to share youīre welcome too.
The D44TA Online Logbook
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