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Soci del Lagunaria DX Group saranno attivi da Lord Howe Island in Ottobre 2014 come VK9DLX
Parteciperanno al CQ WW DX SSB Contest come VK9LM
QSL: http://www.lordhowe2014.org

News 07.07.2014

Scritta da DL1MGB, 9 Luglio 2014, 20:07

E' passato un po' dalle ultime notizie sulla nostra DXpedition a Lord Howe Island nel mese di ottobre 2014. Ma questo non significa che non è successo nulla da allora. OK, l’esperienza acquisita con le ultime spedizioni DX nella preparazione e confezionamento per il trasporto in mare ci ha reso tutto più facile con il tempo. Ma tuttavia ci vuole ancora una quantità enorme di lavoro per essere tutti pronti a partire.

Quasi l’intero team si è riunito a Goch nella grande stazione di DR1A in cui abbiamo preparato tutta la nostra attrezzatura. Anche se abbiamo già una buona selezione di radio, amplificatori e antenne tra le nostre attrezzature, ci sono sempre nuove idee provenienti da ogni DXpedition che portano ancora più apparecchiature. Così è stato questa volta. Dato che prevediamo di partecipare al contest (CQWW DX SSB), nonché per la DXpedition normale abbiamo intenzione di organizzare configurazioni a due radio che condividono le antenne disponibili. Anche la progettazione dell’antenna necessitava di qualche colpo di genio. Per le bande alte useremo entrambe le antenne monobanda a polarizzazioni orizzontali e verticali per ogni banda, perché erano disponibili e perché minimizzano le interferenze tra le bande. Avere un grande campo dove montare le antenne è buono, ma avendo la baracca ad una estremità della proprietà, sono necessari cavi lunghi per alimentare tutte le antenne. Pertanto oltre 1.500 metri di cavo coassiale e altri 1.400 metri di cavo di comando li abbiamo confezionati nelle casse. Alla fine del weekend abbiamo avuto oltre 3 tonnellate di attrezzature confezionate in quasi 60 casse diverse. Saranno ora spedite dalla Germania all’Australia e più avanti a Lord Howe Island. Per essere sicuri di non perdere le foto nella nostra galleria http://www.lordhowe2014.org/service/gallery/index.php.

Abbiamo avuto un momento triste quando Felix DL5XL ci ha comunicato che doveva annullare la sua partecipazione a causa dei suoi impegni di lavoro in quel momento. Con lui perdiamo un eccellente compagno!

Più o meno per caso, ci siamo messi in contatto con Joerg DF7TH. Era già conosciuto da Dietmar DL3DXX e Gerd DJ5IW. Hanno condiviso l’attivazione a XF4DL nel 2006. Essendo un appassionato di CW è stato attivo da EI, TK, LX, OD5, EA8 o IS0 in passato. Lavora come libero professionista in sviluppo hardware e software, ha trovato il tempo per unirsi al nostro gruppo da seguire per Lord Howe Island. Avendo ora tre Joerg nella squadra, abbiamo deciso di chiamarli facendo seguire dei numeri ai loro nomi: Joerg-6 (DF6JC), Joerg-7 (DF7TH) e Joerg-8 (DL8WPX). Sembra divertente quando si chiama uno Joerg. Così, benvenuto nella squadra, Joerg-7!

Sentitevi liberi di visitare il sito web DXpedition su http://www.lordhowe2014.org e iscrivetevi alla nostra newsletter per rimanere informati.

Non avete idea riguardo il Lagunaria DX Group?
Visitate http://www.lagunaria-dx-group.org/ e conoscete meglio il gruppo, le persone dietro di esso ed i loro obiettivi.

News 17.09.2014

Written by DL1MGB, September 17th 2014, 08:59

In less than four weeks VK9DLX will be QRV. All systems are still on go and the team can’t wait any longer to start. Our cargo of over three tons was cleared by Australian customs and is now on the way to Port Macquarie. On September 25th, the Island Trader will take it onboard on its regular round trip to Lord Howe Island.

The main team will arrive on October 12th on Lord Howe Island. Some of our team members will arrive some days earlier. Robert (SP5XVY) will arrive on October 5th, Joe (DF7TH) on October 9th and Gerd (DJ5IW) and Mathias (DJ2HD) the day after. So don’t be surprised if you hear VK9DLX some days earlier than expected; and not on all bands simultaneously :-). The main focus of this advance operation will be RTTY.

Feel free to visit the DXpedition website on http://www.lordhowe2014.org and subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed.

No idea who the Lagunaria DX Group is?
Just visit http://www.lagunaria-dx-group.org/ and learn more about the group, the people behind it and their goals.

News 14.10.2014

Written by DL1MGB, October 13th 2014, 21:02

VK9DLX is QRV!

To make it short: We went QRV yesterday evening on 80m, 40m, 30m and 17m and already made the first 2,500 QSOs. Today we will continue antenna work to have also the high bands running until tonight.

Onlinelog will be uploaded when we finished the major antenna work.

More will follow later the day.

News 16.10.2014

Written by DL1MGB, October 17th 2014, 00:53

Sorry for being inactive on the news site. The last days we were very busy in errecting all the stations and antennas. But now we have a setup which produces good signals around the world and also allows us to work on some bands parallel in two modes. Especially having two stations on one band is not an easy task on a "limited" property of 5 acres.

At the moment our setup consists of 9 stations (yes, we already lost one transceiver; investigations are ongoing). Each station is equipped with a Elecraft K3, amplifier, notebook, microHAM MK2 interface and a lot more accessories. The antenna field consists of 16 antennas: Titanex vertical V160E for 160m, a fullsize 4-square for 80m, a 4-square and a VDA on 40m and 30m, 2 3ele yagis on 20m and a yagi and a VDA for the bands from 17m to 10m. Also the first beverage to Europe is up for low band operations.

On 160m we still have a RX problem. Of course the conditions are not the best for the low bands these days, but with a S7 noise level it makes it even harder to copy those weak signals. We try to locate the source to make a serious low band operation.

Yesterday morning we had a heavy rain fall. 20 cm of rain came down within one hour. We even had a water ingress in one of our shacks, but were able to fight against it with towels and buckets. The main thing: The antennas did survive the storm.

Regarding 6m we try to put up the antenna the next days. No special plans for this.

Onlinelog will be uploaded twice per day as internet connections permits. So far there are over 33,000 QSOs in the log.

Feel free to visit the DXpedition website on http://www.lordhowe2014.org and subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed.

No idea who the Lagunaria DX Group is?
Just visit http://www.lagunaria-dx-group.org/ and learn more about the group, the people behind it and their goals.

News 22.10.2014

Written by DL1MGB, October 23rd 2014, 03:29

Yesterday our last team member Bernd, VK2IA arrived on the island. Due to business commitments he was not able to stay with us the full length of the DXpedition.

QSOs are running good on all bands, though we observe a decrease of daily QSO numbers. Due to the relative low ranking in the Most Wanted list (#59 clublog.org), we expected this. And the latest solar flare doesn't really help. We will see how conditions develop until the CQWW SSB.

Of course we are also preparing ourselves and the stations for the CQWW SSB contest. We are planning to participate as a Multi-Multi effort with the callsign VK9LM. Even if you already worked VK9DLX, please call us in the contest. Many thanks!

We made some good progress of finding local noise sources which make life very hard on the low bands. One main source was a small power supply of a TV distribution network amplifier. Fortunately we could replace it by one of our notebook power supplies and the noise has almost gone. But meanwhile we have a new noise source, showing up at North America prime time on 160m. We try everything possible to find the source to get a better RX situation on the low bands.

On 80m we are aware that South America is looking for a 80m QSO with us at their sunrise. We try to be QRV just before Lord Howe sunset (around 0700z to 0730z) the next days.

6m was defintely a highlight the last two days. With a 5 Element Yagi on a 10m mast, pointed to JA, we were able to make about 260 QSOs. Mainly with Japan and some VK's. We also observed the opening from North America to FK, but heard absolutely nothing from them. It is still 1200km from FK8CP to VK9DLX. We will continue to observe Magic Band on DX-Cluster. We will also temporarily operate a beacon on 50.114 with antenna directed to Japan. If you notice anything please send the info to the DX cluster network or to our contact form on our homepage.

We still get e-mails and guestbook entries to change this or that callsign in the onlinelog. We definitely will not do that during the DXpedition. If the onlinelog doesn't show your callsign, just work us again. Regarding LOTW: We will upload our log to the Logbook Of The World within 3 months after the DXpedition.

Please also have a look at the picture gallery (http://www.lordhowe2014.org/service/gallery/index.php) for new impressions from Lord Howe Island.

Feel free to visit the DXpedition website on http://www.lordhowe2014.org and subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed.

No idea who the Lagunaria DX Group is?
Just visit http://www.lagunaria-dx-group.org/ and learn more about the group, the people behind it and their goals.

News 24.10.2014

Written by DL1MGB, October 24th 2014, 12:32

This is to inform the contest community that there will be a Multi-Multi operation from Lord Howe Island in the CQWW SSB 2014. Our callsign will be VK9LM. We will operate all six contest bands from 160m to 10m and man the stations when there is propagation from Lord Howe Island to anywhere in the world. Normally you will get DXcluster spots where we are on each band. But especially on the low bands it may be possible that we will not always find a running frequency (especially when we have to compete against European stations). But don't be shy to contact us to ask for a QSY frequency on 160m, 80m or 40m. In most cases not only we are the multiplier, but also you!

There will be no CW operation on the contest bands during the contest. But we will have two stations which can be operated on 17m and 12m during the contest.

Please note and understand that there will be no upload to Clublog for the contest log as long as the official log checking takes place. Of course we will also upload the QSOs with VK9LM to LOTW later.

Feel free to visit the DXpedition website on http://www.lordhowe2014.org and subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed.

No idea who the Lagunaria DX Group is?
Just visit http://www.lagunaria-dx-group.org/ and learn more about the group, the people behind it and their goals.

News 30.10.2014

Written by DL1MGB, October 29th 2014, 20:25

We are just about to take down the last antennas (160m vertical and beverages) and pack the last cases. Last night there was another 160m operation, but conditions are still bad for low bands. So only a few QSOs made it into the log. Most of the equipment was packed yesterday while we were having a fantastic weather with beatiful sunshine. So we were able to pack everything in a dry condition.

After we packed most of the stuff, the main team will leave the island today at 1400 local time. Joe DF7TH and Robert SP5XVY will stay on the island for more few days. Joe will depart in November 4th and Robert on November 8th. They will continue limited operations on some high bands. So please don't ask for anything more. There will be no more low band operation. Neither there will be a 6m station left.The online log will be uploaded when time permits. After the end of operations we will upload it completely to Clublog. We will also open the OQRS then.

Meanwhile thank you very much so far for your participation in the pile-ups! We had a real good fun working the crowds of people.

Feel free to visit the DXpedition website on http://www.lordhowe2014.org and subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed.

No idea who the Lagunaria DX Group is?
Just visit http://www.lagunaria-dx-group.org/ and learn more about the group, the people behind it and their goals.

News 07.11.2014

Written by DL1MGB, November 7th 2014, 07:08

The original plan was that Robert will stay until November 8th on Lord Howe Island to do some more RTTY operation and to have an eye on the sea freight when it leaves the island. But plans are there to be revised. Robert had to depart for home for business reasons. So the last man on the island is Joe DF7TH. He extended his stay until November 11th. He will operate until November 10th on the remaining bands 30m, 17m, 12m and 10m we left antennas up. As he is a one-man-show now, don't expect more than one station at a time in the air. Also he has to do organisational stuff beside operating. Therefore he will be QRV when time permits mostly in CW to give out a new one on the mentioned bands. Meanwhile signals are all equal and very low. So it seems he is digging out the QRP stations with some wire in the air.

By now we have over 115,000 QSOs with over 28,000 unique callsigns. We tried hard, but were not able to get more than 26% NA into the log. Europe with 47% of the QSOs is the dominating continent. We are a bit surprised that Asia with 23% has not more QSO's as it is our neighbour. We are very happy about the great number of over 2,200 QSO's with Oceania. And not to forget over 1,100 QSOs on 6m.

During the DXpedition one of our goals was to take part in the CQWW DX Contest SSB as a Multi-Multi operation. And so we did. Using the well-known callsign VK9LM we finished with over 11,000 QSOs and 23,582,880 points. On the unchecked raw score table VK9LM places on place 1 in Oceania and place 4 world wide. Many thanks for the numerous callers!

Of course we were asked when we will upload the online log for VK9LM. We will do that together with the complete log of VK9DLX after the end of the operation. We also got numerous requests to correct callsigns in the VK9DLX log. We will check those requests and will do the changes where applicable.

When VK9DLX operation will be closed, we will open the Online QSL Request System (OQRS) on our website. We ask you to be patient and wait until November 10th. We will inform you when the system is up.

Feel free to visit the DXpedition website on http://www.lordhowe2014.org and subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed.

No idea who the Lagunaria DX Group is?
Just visit http://www.lagunaria-dx-group.org/ and learn more about the group, the people behind it and their goals.

News 12.11.2014

Written by DL1MGB, November 12th 2014, 06:58

VK9DLX is QRT and OQRS for VK9DLX and VK9LM is online!

VK9DLX finally went QRT. On November 9th, 2014 Joe DF7TH made the last QSO before he took down all antennas with local help. The QSO counter for VK9DLX shows over 116,500 QSOs, combined with over 11,500 QSOs in the CQWW SSB Contest with VK9LM, we end up with over 128,000 QSOs in our logs. More detailed statistics for both callsigns when we merged and cleaned the logs and uploaded them to Clublog. We know that still some VK9DLX QSOs are missing in Clublog right now.

Meanwhile our Online QSL Request System (OQRS) is online to apply for QSL cards for VK9DLX and VK9LM. You can access it on http://oqrs.lagunaria-dx-group.org.

Feel free to visit the DXpedition website on http://www.lordhowe2014.org and subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed.

No idea who the Lagunaria DX Group is?
Just visit http://www.lagunaria-dx-group.org/ and learn more about the group, the people behind it and their goals.