Sunday 14 September 2014

CTARC - Updates to Tristan da Cunha DXpedition - 14 Sep '14

The Tristan da Cunha DXpedition is currently on the go. Paul, Nigel and their equipment were airlifted by helicopter to the island. The Agulhas II has now set sail to Gough Island.

The weather on Tristan da Cunha is currently poor and the operators have not been able to unpack all their antennae. ZS1AU reports that they have not yet been able to put up their beam antenna owing to difficult weather conditions. However, both operators are now on air and have been worked by ZS Hams.

Updates: 22 September:

Paul and Nigel have now managed to erect the beam antenna, owing to improved weather conditions. This development, along with an improvement in propogation has lead to a marked improvement in communications. Nigel /ZD9XF continues to be very active on CW.

On 21 September, listeners to the CTARC Sunday morning bulletin at 08h30 S.A.S.T. were treated to a linkup on HF where Bryan /ZS1NQ /Div 4 relayed Paul /ZD9ZS to Cape Town where he delivered a report via the local 2m repeater on 145.750 MHz. Thanks to Dennis / ZS1AU and Danny /ZS1BL for their involvement.

A good time for local (ZS) hams to make contact with Paul /ZD9ZS is around 10h00 S.A.S.T. on 14195 kHz.USB. Sometimes he operates split on 14205 kHz.

The following operating frequencies apply:

Phone:

7195 kHz, LSB
14195 kHz, USB

Paul / ZS1ZS / ZD9ZS has now been heard and worked on the 20m frequency, operating using a vertical antenna

Morse:

10121 kHz CW
18080 kHz CW
24109 kHz CW

Nigel / G3TXF / ZD9XF is now operational and very active on CW, logging some 1000 contacts per day.