SG & SSI 1 Penguin Lust A Production of The Boring Amateur Radio Club
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Methodology
4 DXpeditions We Used As Models VK0IR – Heard Island, 1997 –6 complete stations with Alpha amplifiers –70,000 lbs of gear ZL9CI – Campbell Island, 1999 –6 complete stations with Commander amplifiers –9 yagis, 9 masts D68C – Comoros Islands, 2001 –26 corporate sponsors, 41 radio club sponsors –26 operators, three weeks on the air 6Y2A Contest Expeditions to Jamaica –Vertical antennas only – no yagis
SG & SSI 5 Up front funding by –Team members –An exclusive grant from northern California DX Foundation No club, individual, equipment or QSL sponsors Simplified Financial Process
SG & SSI 6 Expedition Goals 1.Blitz-style operation, with quick setup and dismantle 2.Work a lot of guys 3.Live to tell the story 1.Be prepared to leave the island on 4 hours notice 2.Eliminate anything that doesn’t contribute directly to survival and to working lots of guys 1.Web sites 2.Web logs 3.Pilot stations 4.“Promises” 4.Achieve above with <1000 lbs of gear
SG & SSI 7 Expedition Goals 5. Avoid living in this house
SG & SSI 8 Penguins Micro-Lite Gear Lightweight Honda generator –Looks like a vacuum cleaner –Weighs 13 kg (29 lbs) –Super quiet –900 watts continuous duty
SG & SSI 9 Penguins Micro-Lite Gear Kenwood TS-50 –HF mobile rig –Weighs 3 kg –Introduced 10+ years ago –Rugged
SG & SSI 10 Penguins Micro-Lite Gear ¼-Wave verticals ½-Wave vertical dipoles RG-8X mini coax Band pass filters
SG & SSI 11 Penguins Micro-Lite Gear Dell Latitude XPi/133 laptop computers –“Disposable” –Compatible with K6STI RiTTY software + WF1B –CT version 9 for logging SSB and CW contacts –No network –Backups made hourly –Backups of backups made daily
SG & SSI 12 Operating Strategy Vertical antennas –You don’t have to be a propagation genius when you are using a vertical Heavy shoveling Recruit “big gun” ops
SG & SSI 13 A “Big Gun” Operator inaction
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SG & SSI 19 Falkland Islands South Georgia
SG & SSI 20 South Georgia South Sandwich
SG & SSI 21 Southern Thule South Georgia
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SG & SSI 26 Where do Penguins come from?
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SG & SSI 44 Gulf Quebec Florida ONLY!!
SG & SSI 45 Hasta 10 estaciones iguales a estas para concursos en multi-multi
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Observations
SG & SSI 54 Operating from both SG & SSI was difficult
SG & SSI 55 Nobody Listens to the Radio Anymore Example session: Call CQ on 21024, no answer Continue calling CQ for 10 minutes with same result W1JR/QRP answers with a good signal 500 stations calling on next over
SG & SSI 56 Pileup Management, aka Shoveling Work guys as fast as possible The more guys you work, the fewer are left to call Going “by numbers” probably doesn’t pay off Directional CQs may be counter-productive Waiting is frustrating
SG & SSI 57 The best situation for the DXer is to know where the DX is listening The best situation for the DX is to receive one call at a time Conclusion: at times the goals of the DXer and the DX are at odds Shoveling
SG & SSI 58 Introducing A Useful New Technique for Working DX: Listening The DX often announces his RX frequency You may miss this announcement if you are transmitting Transmitting at the same time as the DX is not productive, and therefore is not recommended
SG & SSI 59 Shoveling –CQ CQ DE VP8GEO VP8GEO UP 5
SG & SSI 60 Shoveling –TU VP8GEO QSX 042 UP 5
SG & SSI 61 Shoveling –TU VP8GEO DOWN 5
SG & SSI 62 Shoveling –This is VP8GEO listening ……….and 218
SG & SSI 63 Conclusions We were not loud Being is loud not essential, but it helps We made 70,000+ QSOs with 100 watts and verticals Both the DXers and the expedition operators had to adapt their techniques This would have been harder during a solar minimum
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