FT4TA Tromelin Island 2014

[IK0ZCW]

Hi friends

Most of the DXers consider entities as check boxes to tick once the country is worked and confirmed. That’s the game! However, we hope to bring you a lot more than just a simple check mark as you discover our next destination.
Let’s talk about the 9th most wanted DXCC entity according to the Clublog statistics, an empty box for 75% of the amateur radio community.

Tromelin, as well as Glorioso, Juan de Nova, Europa, belongs to the "Eparses", a French word to name these small islands scattered around Madagascar. These French territories are administered by the TAAF (Terres Australes et Antarctiques Françaises).
Their access is strictly controlled and regulated in particular for ecological reasons. Tromelin is the smallest one (1 square km) and the human impact is all the more sensitive.
That’s the only island where there are no French military troops and only 2 agents of the TAAF are posted there continuously.

The last operation took place in 2000. A 4 men team made 50,000 contacts with the callsign FR/F6KDF/T. No authorization has been given ever since.

2014 will be the 60th anniversary of the 1st hamradio activity from Tromelin. The operator was Marc FB8BK/T.

Today, after some successful collaborative work with the TAAF authorities, we are proud to announce that we received our landing permission and got the green light to conduct an amateur radio operation on this remote island.

We’ll be active on Tromelin from October 30th to November 10th, 2014. 6 operators have been allowed to stay of the island. They have been selected for their experience and all six are ready to face the challenge. The team is made up of Seb F5UFX, Michel FM5CD, Flo F5CWU, Eric F5SIH, Franck F4AJQ, Fred F5ROP.

The request is huge and we are conscious of this. For this reason, we are working hard in order to prepare our operation in depth. Some places in the world will have short openings and we’ll do our best to exploit these short moments with proper planning adjusted with the help of pilots.

The coming months will be devoted to the search of sponsors. We already have part of the equipment but partnership with equipment suppliers will be essential. On the other hand, we will contact foundations, clubs, organizations to request assistance to help us balance our budget, estimated at $90,000, most of which is devoted to logistic costs.

Our website is online. All details regarding the progress, plans of the DXpedition and sponsorship opportunities will be accessible through dedicated pages. http://www.tromelin2014.com

We will regularly keep updating you until our departure.

Team Tromelin 2014

Seb F5ufx, leader@tromelin2014.com


Forwarded with 88/73 and Season's greetings by Maurice, F5NQL ( F6KOP team member n° 10)

[IK0ZCW]

Hi friends

The interest generated by the announcement of our project a few weeks ago is extremely important. We expect you to live this adventure with us and its organization throughout the year and to share with you our passion for these remote lands. In due course, we will give some details about the different aspects of the project, but you will find below some answers to questions related to the size of the team, the logistics and the organization required.

Of all the islands that form the “Scattered Islands“ Tromelin is the smallest . This one-square kilometer piece of land was classified as a natural reserve back in 1975. The fauna and flora, almost intact, offer a great environment for scientific research. Each year, there are only a few scientists who are allowed to study turtle and seabird colonies. Each research program is the subject of a joint validation from TAAF (Antarctic and Australs territories authority) and CNRS (National Institute of Sciences of the Universe and the National Institute of Ecology and Environment).

Tromelin is the only one of the Scattered Islands to hold only a permanent population of 3 technicians belonging to TAAF. The other islands are homed to military detachments (Armed Forces in the South Zone of the Indian Ocean (FAZSOI) and one policeman.
Each mission on Tromelin substantially increases temporarily its population and induces a potential environmental impact.

The ham radio Dxpedition in 2000 incorporated this concern for preserving the environment with a staff of four operators. During our preliminary discussions with the authorities in charge of Tromelin, the compromise on the size of the team became obvious. It is inconceivable to lead an expedition with 24 operators on such a small and fragile territory. Besides the ecological impact, difficulties in gaining access as well as logistics would not allow it.

For our project in November 2014 there will be 6 operators who have been authorized for a period of 10 days. While this may reveal a gap with the standard big amateur expeditions that we are getting used to these days, do not forget that once our local team gets there, the population of the island will have already tripled.

In order to maximize our time during these 10 days, it is important to be supportive, organized and known each other very well. It is with this objective that an experienced group, with a real team spirit was formed. This solution was preferred to recruiting an international "patchwork” of operators without a common experience. F6KDF, the Lyon DX Gang and F6KOP Team have proven many times to be up to it.

The presence of French forces on Europa, Juan de Nova and Glorioso facilitated logistical issues for amateur military Dxpeditions conducted in 2003 on Europa and in 2009 on Glorioso.
For Tromelin, the situation is different because the transport of the operators and the equipment will be made by means of a small private plane. This induces a significant cost due to multiple trips, but it is our only way to rally the island.

The primary objective will not be for a handful of "big guns" to complete their umpteenth award but rather to give all the opportunity to contact us, whatever the geographical constraints or propagation.

At the end of 2013 we launched the website and communicated to the Amateur Radio community throughout the world. These last two weeks have been used to solicit amateur clubs and associations inviting them to take part in our project. Some have already committed to our DXpedition. We hope that many more will join them. The support of all is a prerequisite for the return of Tromelin on the air after so many years of silence.
The work will continue throughout the year. Soon we will designate our pilot stations with whom we will closely work while pursuing substantive work on the entire organization.

We are only a few hours ahead of another major Dxpedition, FT5ZM. Our Tromelin 2014 team wishes them good luck for a long journey to Amsterdam Island.

Thank you in advance for your support, have a great year 2014.

73’s - The Tromelin island 2014 DXPedition Team.

[IK0ZCW]

UPDATE: Sadly Eric, F5SIH cannot now join the Tromelin 2014 DXpedition, however he will continue to participate in all preparation tasks. In his place joins Vincent F4BKV who has participated in numerous DXpeditions (VP6T, HP0INT, TX6T, E51BKV or MS0INT) and many IOTA.

The interest generated by the announcement of our project a few weeks ago is extremely important. We expect you to live this adventure with us and its organization throughout the year and to share with you our passion for these remote lands. In due course, we will give some details about the different aspects of the project, but you will find below some answers to questions related to the size of the team, logistics and the organization required.

Of all the islands that form the "Scattered Islands" Tromelin is the smallest . This one-square kilometer piece of land was classified as a natural reserve back in 1975. The fauna and flora, almost intact, offer a great environment for scientific research. Each year, there are only a few scientists who are allowed to study turtle and seabird colonies. Each research program is the subject of a joint validation from TAAF (Antarctic and Australs territories authority) and CNRS (National Institute of Sciences of the Universe and the National Institute of Ecology and Environment).

Tromelin is the only one of the Scattered Islands to hold only a permanent population of 3 technicians belonging to TAAF. The other islands are homed to military detachments (Armed Forces in the South Zone of the Indian Ocean (FAZSOI) and one policeman.

Each mission on Tromelin substantially increases temporarily its population and induces a potential environmental impact.

The ham radio Dxpedition in 2000 incorporated this concern for preserving the environment with a staff of four operators. During our preliminary discussions with the authorities in charge of Tromelin, the compromise on the size of the team became obvious. It is inconceivable to lead an expedition with 24 operators on such a small and fragile territory. Besides the ecological impact, difficulties in gaining access as well as logistics would not allow it.

For our project in November 2014 there will be 6 operators who have been authorized for a period of 10 days. While this may reveal a gap with the standard big amateur expeditions that we are getting used to these days, do not forget that once our local team gets there, the population of the island will have already tripled.

In order to maximize our time during these 10 days, it is important to be supportive, organized and known each other very well. It is with this objective that an experienced group, with a real team spirit was formed. This solution was preferred to recruiting an international "patchwork" of operators without a common experience. F6KDF, the Lyon DX Gang and F6KOP Team have proven many times to be up to it.

The presence of French forces on Europa, Juan de Nova and Glorioso facilitated logistical issues for amateur military Dxpeditions conducted in 2003 on Europa and in 2009 on Glorioso.

For Tromelin, the situation is different because the transport of the operators and the equipment will be made by means of a small private plane. This induces a significant cost due to multiple trips, but it is our only way to rally the island.

The primary objective will not be for a handful of "big guns" to complete their umpteenth award but rather to give all the opportunity to contact us, whatever the geographical constraints or propagation.

At the end of 2013 we launched the website and communicated to the Amateur Radio community throughout the world. These last two weeks have been used to solicit amateur clubs and associations inviting them to take part in our project. Some have already committed to our DXpedition. We hope that many more will join them. The support of all is a prerequisite for the return of Tromelin on the air after so many years of silence.

The work will continue throughout the year. Soon we will designate our pilot stations with whom we will closely work while pursuing substantive work on the entire organization.

We are only a few hours ahead of another major Dxpedition, FT5ZM. Our Tromelin 2014 team wishes them good luck for a long journey to Amsterdam Island.

Thank you in advance for your support, have a great year 2014.

73’s – The Tromelin island 2014 DXPedition Team.
http://www.tromelin2014.com

[IK0ZCW]

Press Release #2

The Amsterdam DXpedition has been the focus of many DXers in the last few weeks. Our friends are now back home with more than 170,000 contacts in the log. Congratulations! While waiting for the update of their website you can find some superb pictures and a short article on the TAAF’s website (click here)

Concerning Tromelin 2014, a lot of work has been done since our previous press release.

First of all, we are extremely proud and grateful of the mobilization of the amateur radio community. We want to thank the major sponsors who joined our project. In the same way, a large number of smaller clubs have shown much generosity. You can find all our contributors on the dedicated page.

The budget is not balanced yet and all kinds of help will be necessary to make this expedition possible.

It is important to understand how logistical constraints related to transport are the major element in the organization of our operation. A few days ago, a member of the team met with our plane pilot who showed him the aircraft that we will be using. Together, they dealt with the problems of the transportation of the team and equipment. As of today, all is in order from a material and administrative point of view.

Also, in the next few weeks, we will reach for certain suppliers, manufacturers in order to provide us with equipment offering the best weight, reliability and performance ratio.

Work also continues with the TAAF authorities. The list of the topics to deal with is relatively long, but since day one all our interlocutors have been very receptive, reactive, and have provided an invaluable help.

The hamradio callsigns used on the territories managed by the TAAF are issued by their services on the Reunion Island.

FT4TA (Fox Tango Four Tango Alpha) has been issued to us for our operation from October 30th to November 10th, 2014.

The pilot stations setup is being organized and will be revealed very soon. Schedules are being tweaked thanks to the forecasts and contributions of all.
We are waiting for the return of Michel FM5CD, member of FT5ZM, in order to use his input from his last operation.

New communications will follow, more specifically on the "radio" aspects of the expedition. At the same time, we are preparing a series of articles for our website which will help you discover the Scattered Islands (Iles Eparses in French) and more particularly our final destination.

More than ever, stay tuned…

The Tromelin 2014 team

[IK0ZCW]

F5UFX , FM5CD , F5CWU , F4AJQ , F5ROP and F4BKV will be active from Tromelin Island between October 30 to November 10, 2014 as FT4TA
They will be active on all HF Bands
QSL via F5CWU , OQRS , LOTW

[IK0ZCW]

LATEST PRESS RELEASE BELOW

We have just passed the 100 days mark before the beginning of our FT4TA operation to the island of Tromelin. Since the last official press release many things have evolved well; we are extremely fortunate.

Thanks to the strong mobilization around our project, we are relatively trustful in the fact of being able to gather the necessary budget. If we do not meet last minute problems, and if individual donations continue to flow at the current rate, we should balance our budget (after the expedition). Some partners have not yet validated their assistance, and we definitively count on them!

In addition, several people in Japan have mentioned to us they encountered problems with the Paypal button on our website. In order to circumvent this problem, we invite people who would be in this instance to use our address (tromelin2014@orange.fr) directly from their Paypal account.

Almost all of the equipment was gathered by the team. This equipment was lent, purchased or taken from our personal stations. We want to express our thanks to Spiderbeam (masts), Elecraft (radios), OM Power (amplifiers), Microham (interfaces), Messi and Paolini (coaxial cables), DX Engineering (phasing 80m) and DX World.net, which sponsors us the Internet access by satellite to let you use our on-line logbook and read daily news from the team during the operation.

At the end of June, three pallets of equipment had been shipped to Reunion island. They have been transported last Sunday to Tromelin (by helicopter) by the logistics service of TAAF.

This possibility was offered to us suddenly and was not in our initial plan. Although it induces very important expenditure, we could not let pass this opportunity because it will deeply modify the physiology of our operation. It would not have been possible for us to carry all this equipment on a small aircraft. This freighting marks the true point of no return!

Our preliminary works with TAAF continue. Michel FM5CD and Seb F5UFX went at the end of May to Réunion to meet our interlocutors (TAAF, civil aviation, airline company). We want to highlight again the trusted relationship and the incommensurable assistance brought by TAAF.

2014 marks the 60th birthday of the first amateur radio activity from Tromelin. Prepared in collaboration with the philatelic service of TAAF, and drawn by an artist, a special stamp will be put on sale at the time of the Autumn Philatelic Exhibition in Paris (November 6th to 9th). During this event, an amateur radio station will be set-up on the TAAF booth by the radio-club of Provins, F6KOP. They will proceed to demonstrate and make contacts with FT4TA team twice a day. It’s very important to promote our activity in such an exhibition.

Our website evolves constantly. The pages known as "classical" are available since the beginning (operators, pilots, QSL manager, sponsors) and news articles appeared lately (historical, bandplan..). Others are in preparation and should be published soon (interview of FR5ZU and F6JJX, two ex-“Tromelin” operators, PowerPoint presentation..).

It is the ideal time to prepare your station to be ready. On October 30th point your antennas towards the Indian Ocean! In the meantime join us on Facebook & Twitter to follow our news and keep an eye on the Tromelin2014 website http://www.tromelin2014.com/. A surprise will be announced soon!

[IK0ZCW]

LATEST PRESS RELEASE BELOW

In just a month, we’ll leave Europe for Tromelin. Except for a major event, this communication should be the last before departure. It seems important to us to point out the objectives to you that we fixed ourselves.

Initially, we will seek to maximize the number of contacts to give everyone a chance whatever their geographical position. To achieve this goal, we should be active quite often on the most prolific bands. Our operators will make their best to exploit the propagation windows towards certain areas. The collaboration of all will be essential not to waste time, stupidly.

Our second priority will be activity on the low bands, with all the difficulties that it generates. Let’s hope that our equipment and effort will provide good results.

Once a day, the logs of FT4TA will be uploaded on Clublog by a satellite data connection. The leaderboard will not be activated (to discourage unrestrained race). In addition, we point out that neither the pilots, nor the QSL Manager will have access to the log during the operation. Useless to drown them under e-mails. In case of doubt, please reiterate the contact.

The dates of our operation will be concomitant with those of the philatelic exhibition of Paris. In addition to a presentation of our activity, the stamps celebrating the 60 years of the 1st amateur radio activity from Tromelin will be presented and put on sale by the TAAF. We are really happy to have taken part in its development and proud to see our activity highlighted.

We are pleased to announce that all the QSL cards requests (direct – OQRS – donors) will have this stamp applied. Envelopes will be then entrusted to the TAAF which will have the responsibility to convey, cover and affix the philatelic marks from the island of Tromelin, these stamps being valid only from the French Southern and Antarctic lands. It may slightly lengthen the answer time but it offers the opportunity of having your QSL and a wonderful philatelic envelope.

Lastly, keep in mind that the conditions under which the expedition will be realized will be testing, more especially as the team is small. We will be lodged by the TAAF. Besides the radio operation, a certain number of additional tasks will be carried out by the team to assist our hosts, which is legitimate in a community life. We could per moment be obliged to temporarily stop the transmissions of one or more stations for a short period.

[IK0ZCW]

NEWS Monday, 27 October 2014

Departure for Mayotte for our 7 operators

In a handful of hours, the totality of the team will meet in Mayotte island (FH) which will be finally our starting point. Some operators are already there, others are about to arrive. After ultimate checks, we will fly toward Tromelin thursday morning at the crack of dawn. We hope to start the operations in the evening. Even if all the indicators are green, we will be serene only once on the island because unforeseen hitches can still happen.

The last week, an opportunity to complete the team with one more person happened. After validation by the authorities and by the pilot of our chartered plane, we asked Guillaume F4FET to go to Mayotte. He was on a waiting list since the beginnings, ready to leave at any moment in case of last minute desistance and had carried out the medical check-up. In parallel, he took part to the organistion of the operation in particular on the topic “Energy”. Friday evening, its participation has been validated definitively.

This positive last minute change will allow us to increase significantly our presence on the air, and thus your chances of QSO with Tromelin.

The pressure goes up and the motivation is huge ! We’ll give you some news from Mayotte, just before to leave for Tromelin !

[IK0ZCW]

Last update Saturday, 01 November 2014

After a complete day to travel, we finally landed in Tromelin. We have been welcomed by the three TAAF agents; it was a great moment! After a good meal, some of us went to bed. Meanwhile, others spent all night working on the radio stations. In the early morning, more than 2000 QSO were in the log.

With just a few ground-plane antennas set-up before the night, signals were outstanding on high bands. We were aware that being active the first night on 160m would be ideal and we did our best to erect the mast before dark. This strategy was good because we have been able to log more than 200 stations on the top-band, most of which are from Europe and north America. We were using only our transmitting antenna to receive.

As we announced, all stations have been stopped this morning to focus on antenna work with the help of all the team members. This task was very difficult because of the heat and the strong winds. We still have a few antennas to install but we are already QRV from 160m to 10m on CW/SSB and RTTY. Until the end of the operation, we will keep at least 3 stations active around the clock but 2 more can be added at any time.

We did not have the time yet to explore the island but we have been able to see a lot of animal species. Birds are watching us peacefully and turtles come by at night to lay on the beaches.

[IK0ZCW]

Announced frequencies are 1826.5, 3523, 7023, 10115, 14023, 18079, 21023, 24894, 28023 and 50105 (CW); 3790, 7082, 14185, 18130, 21285, 24955, 28485 and 50105 (SSB); 10142, 14080, 18099, 21080, 24912 and 28080 (RTTY). OQRS for direct and bureau cards on Club Log; traditional direct and bureau requests via F1NGP. The FT4TA log will be uploaded to LoTW after six months. See http://www.tromelin2014.com for updates.

[IK0ZCW]

NEWS Sunday, 02 November 2014

20k QSOs, Top band in progress

As planned, we ended the antenna setup. Last night we put a beacon on 50.105MHz CW with one of our spare transceiver. Almost immediatly a hundred of contacts in Asia, Europe and Africa have been achieved.

We worked today to improve our low band RX. Even if a lot of contacts have been done already, we have some difficulties to receive on low bands, especially on 160m. We hope that it will help a bit. High bands are amazing and open almost around the clock.

Thanks to respect the operator instructions to give a chance to all regions of the world. The good propagation toward most of the regions generate big pile-up whatever mode or bands. To keep the rate we are sometime using a wide split, mostly on SSB.

Using a narrow split would generate slower rates. Those who have been already in such rare country will understand easily ! We made already 20000 qso. For the moment, we are close to our objective for each region of the world. Thanks for your cooperation and for sharing your informations with us through our pilots.

[IK0ZCW]

UPDATE 4 Novembre 2014

After 3 complete days, we are close to 30k QSO. The internet access is limited and expensive but reliable so we can upload the logs on a daily basis. As mentioned earlier, we are not using the leaderboard on Club Log. We do not want to push the DX’er to fight for the higher QSO number but we prefer to give a chance to everyone. Some of you already made a large number of contacts whatever band & modes because of the good propagation conditions toward all continents.

In these high solar flux days, it is difficult for a small team to find the good ratio between low bands and high bands which are open all night long. Everyday, we are looking at the stats to equalize bands & modes activity. If you have any comment or advice, please drop a mail to our pilots. The beverage we set-up yesterday evening is working very well and improved a lot the RX on 80/160m.

The 7 ops are doing their best to put as many stations as possible in the air simultaneously. Our “best time” is from our sunset until 2 o’clock in the morning. During that period, bands are open whatever the azimuth! At this moment, we have up to 6 stations running, as we put on the table the spare equipment to make more contacts. With the 6th station, we did already 300 qso on the magic-band. This morning, we turned off all the equipment for a while to work on the generator. Another cut will occurs by the end of the week.

Once more, thank you for your help !

[IK0ZCW]

FLASH NEWS – LoTW upload in progress for FT4TA, a first for a Top 10 DXCC entity during expedition!

The operation runs well. High bands are sometimes dead and suddenly overcrowded. We try to be active for all continents on CW/SSB and RTTY. Working US or Oceania is not easy because EU must QRX… and this is something quite difficult to achieve. Anyway, we will keep trying everyday until the end of the operation as everyone must have a chance to work us.

Today we were active on 160m/80m and 40m at our sunset trying to work west coast and Pacific stations. 40m was excellent with W6 on the beverage. The 160m attempt was not successful. We came on 80m a bit too late but we know it should work. Tommorow we will use the following stategy:

40m (7.023) long path between 1400z to 1600z and 80m (3.523) between 1400z to 1500z. Please send any signal report to our pilots.

At our sunrise, we usually operate on 80m or 160m or even both bands. Our new rx antenna really helps and we switch it from long path to short path NA/EU depending of the time. We are close to the 40K QSO.

Added note: They leave the island next Monday morning at 0900 meaning station tear down starts on Sunday.

[IK0ZCW]

UPDATE Our pilots gave some information and here ‘s what we can say:

Pileups are still big and wide, we do our best to find the best balance between rates and bandwidth usage…be sure of the fact there’s thousands still calling and the only reason we use many Khz…

We know many of you still need Tromelin for an all time new one. So narrowing pileups too much would not be good for you. Also there is no band open where we can stay "all day long". Again today the log shows lot’s of new “uniques”. Keep your fingers crossed, you’ll make it !

Excellent propagation makes some bands open at the same time for JA – EU and NA. Everyone has his best time. We are trying to give the same chances to everyone. Some areas have narrower windows, so PLEASE respect our instructions. When you are not listening to us, everyone is just wasting time. Operators at FT4TA won’t get you if they are not calling your area. Please allow us to do a good job.

We have been able to enjoy some short openings with the west-coast on the LP, we will try again according to our propagation schedule. We will keep our efforts on low bands and try again to be on 160-80 and 40 at our SS. 80m SSB was not in our plans and we are not sure to try again as conditions on this band are not the best for SSB. Remember we are not here to give you all band/slot, so we will come again on this band/mode only if we estimate conditions are good enough for most of you.

We keep fingers crossed but haven’t faced any problem or difficulties so far. Everyone has found a good rythmn, working radio until falling asleep on the keyboard, eat, sleep, radio, repeat. I’m sure you’ve noticed most of the six stations are active all day long. Everyone is tired but over-motivated to satisfy the entire community.

Remember to give your help via our pilots. We exchange emails on a daily basis via the satellite, we do not have any other internet access (no cluster, phone, etc).

We hope you appreciate finding your QSOs on LoTW.

[IK0ZCW]

UPDATE – We are now on the final lane of our operation. We will start to dismantle most of the antennas on Sunday because all equipment must be packed and stored in big plastic cases for transportation. The boxes will be transported from Tromelin to France in the coming months. We plan to keep all stations running but not on all bands for the last night. Estimated QRT time is around 0100z Monday.

For the coming 3 days, we want to focus on stations looking for Tromelin for an All Time New One (ATNO). Even if we made our best to give opportunities to everyone, there’s still a lot of work to do and we’ll try to do it as well as possible.

We kindly ask those having already a lot of QSO with us or with past operations to give a chance to others. This is HAM SPIRIT !

17 and 20m are the best bands for an ATNO and we will try to keep 2 stations on those bands. During daylight, 20m and 17m are almost dead and start to wake-up in the afternoon and works well up to the middle of the night.

We worked on low bands with some West coast and Pacific stations at our sunrise and sunset. We will try to continue to have 40/80 and 160m at these moment +/- 1h. Today again we worked many US on 80 at our SS. We were also on 160 but with no luck. We will try agin tomorrow. We now know we have a good RX towards EU-NA, but still need to improve JA side.

We ask other stations to be cooperative. Too often, our TX frequencies get deliberate QRM, especially on low bands. We are aware of this when reports need to be sent 10 times for each station. To avoid time losses, we are doing a QSY to another band or mode. Yes, that’s a pity !

We made the request of our LoTW certificate just before our departure and sent all documentations to the ARRL HQ. Once on the island, we sent the remaining document to let them validate the certificate. We took the decision to upload immediately the log on LoTW (during the operation). This is a simple way to thank all of you for your help and support and we think that’s part of a good operation when possible.

We are now close to the 60K contacts. We are very tired due to the lack of sleep but we are ready for the last weekend ! Good luck to all of you !

[IK0ZCW]

UPDATE – Today the team got in touch via sat-phone to inform they do not have internet anymore on the island. The logs are safe, but no more uploads will take place until they return to Mayotte on Monday. Later today they may be off air for 1 or 2 hours as they start to disassemble. No more 80/160 activity will take place. The focus tonight is 30 and 40m. They have made nearly 70,000 QSOs. Since there is no more internet please refrain from contacting pilots as the team will not now receive any new messages.

[IK0ZCW]

FINAL UPDATE - We made it! After so many years of planning, sleepless nights, daily issues to solve, it’s hard for us to realize that FT4TA is now history. We all worked, think, dream “Tromelin” for months!

I’m now writing you these words from Mayotte. Yesterday, the small plane came back to Tromelin to pick us up, after 10 days spent on this isolated island.. The departure from the island was full of emotions.

We don’t had time yet to look around on the blogs, websites etc … it’s hundreds of emails to be classified later, but for now, priority is given to families and friends.

Radio operations were executed “as planned”, all communications and amateur radio promotions activities were also a success. We will come back on this part and make a full debriefing later. Previous experience on this type of project shows that any problem in the complex organisation, from transportation, to logistics, energy, etc can occur at any time and make everything fail…nothing of this happened to us, thanks to the precise organisation, and that is the most important thing.

On the island our motivation was there from the first minute until the last. Our hard work from the time we step on the island of Tromelin allows us, from the first night, to start achieving our objectives. For low bands lovers, we knew that we had to take any chance from day 1 and erecting the 160m antenna appears to be a very good idea. We are sure low banders have much appreciated that; conditions have never been better than the first two nights. At the same time we also started up 4 others stations on the higher bands. What a huge work done in only a few hours before darkness, last tunings on the antennas were made with “head lights”. 2000 QSOs were in the log at sunrise! We then stopped all transmission during the minimum amount of time, to finish all antenna work installation, despite high temperature and strong winds.

We are still amazed by the huge pileups. Despite all team members having already experience from other most wanted entities, none of us had ever had to face such an incredible demand. Up 5, 5 to 10, to 20…whatever our instructions, bands were filled in seconds. Pileups were so big, that even catching a call, or just letters was a challenging task, and no matter the band, mode or the time of the day! We had to be fully dedicated and concentrated to keep managing pileups and good rate without making errors in logging. Since we didn’t had to reach a specific QSO number, we just kept focused on our initial goals, and following the propagation forecast allows us to get contacted by all part of the world. It seems to had been productive and we had given chance fairly to any part of the world. Despite this, it was sometime very difficult to get respect from the pileup, and more discipline would had allow us better rates and more contacts.

We took advantage of the excellent propagation conditions on the higher bands. At our sunrise, focusing on Japan and also West coast US by long path, then Europe all day long, following at our sunset and during the first part of the night by Americas. Of course, we always try to listen to other less populated areas and we believe we also give a faire chance to them. Sometimes getting more than one continent at the same time on the same band was really challenging.

The daily communication with our pilots allowed us to adapt our traffic pattern. Nevertheless, some “advise” was not really realistic. For instance, putting a 20m station 24/7 would have made us loose 12h of radio per day, since this band was totally closed few hours after sunrise and until sunset. We were also being asked to limit our split, and we focus on reducing to the minimum each time it was possible while still being able to keep decoding callsigns. Others were asking more low bands, less low bands, more RTTY, less RTTY, etc..

We will soon read emails and comments related to our activity. Obviously many people will provide us advice, some more relevant than others.

With more than 1000 QSO per day and per operator, while keeping focus on the respective openings, was challenging. In addition, we had to balance our time between the radio sessions, the help in the daily life on the island (cooking, cleaning, etc …), the continuous improvement on our antenna system, the daily satellite communication with our pilot, and finally some hours of sleeping.

Our objectives were clearly announced and supported by the community and we believe we had achieve most of them. In addition, we were happy to surprise most of you by providing immediate LoTW confirmation during our activity.

A detailed summary will come in due date. It will also be the opportunity to share with you this exciting adventure with all details. We will also come back with statistics, sharing our thoughts on what did work well and what is still to be improved. We will also explain in more detail the part of the activity that was much less known by the amateur radio community, but which was probably the most important, since our DXpedition was a wonderful promotional event for amateur radio towards the TAAF, the officials, schools, journalists etc …

But for now, please get in contact with Yann F1NGP our QSL Manager for all related QSL and log topic. Cedric F5UKW, our webmaster, will try to design and print the QSL card as soon as possible. Just to remember, all direct QSL will be stamped by the dedicated TAAF stamp issued specialy for our dxpedition, and will be send out from Tromelin

We have thousands of photos and hundreds hours of video and we are impatient to share some of them to show you the magical of Tromelin.
We are extremelty grateful to the TAAF to had allowed us to realised this expedition: THANK YOU

What an incredible adventure, 73?s de F5UFX for the FT4TA TEAM , QRT.