W8S Swains Island OC-200

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Originally scheduled for March 2020 and postponed repeatedly, the W8S DXpedition to Swains Island (OC-200) is now set to take place on 4-17 October. The team (DJ9RR, DL2AMD, DL6JGN, KO8SCA, NG7M, PA2KW, PA3EWP, PA4WM, PA5X and PG5M) will operate CW, SSB, FT8 and RTTY on all bands with six stations from two operating sites. "Due to Covid and the global economic situation, our costs have increased considerably compared to 2020", PA3EWP says. The total cost has increased to EUR 125,000, and donations will be gratefully accepted. See https://swains2020.lldxt.eu/ for more information.

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27 SEPTEMBER 2023
And they are on their way….

After 6 years of planning and above all waitiung the long awaited DXpedition on Swains Island under the W8S callsign is becoming reality.















The team of operators are on their way to Hawaii where they meet September 27. The day after they will fly to Pago Pago (KH8), where they will stay for a few days before boarding the ship that will bring them to Swains Island.

In Pago Pago they will buy the latest supplies, do the final check of all the equipment, configure the laptops and radios and – if they have time – work for a few hours under KH8/their own callsign.

October 4th the team will reach Swains Island and they will spend the remaining daylight building as miu=uch as possible antennas in both camps. They hope to have the first signals out that same night under the callsign W8S. All is depending on the circumstanding during the landing and on the island.

When the operation is running there will be daily log updates via Charles M0OXO (QSL manager) who will post it on the clublog page. Check the QSL Piolicy on swains2023.com

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29 SEPTEMBER 2023

We are getting close…..

The team arrived in American Samoa and enjoyed a (healthy) late night welcome snack in the Pago Pago Hotel with our host Alex Jennings….

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30 SEPTEMBER 2023
A hard days work @ KH8/W8S…..

The ToDo list for the stay in American Samoa before boarding the ship is impressive. Today, many of these ToDo’s could be ticked off after a very productive day at the hardware store and in the workshop.
An impression of the teams’ work in and around Pago Pago:

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30 SEPTEMBER 2023
A special gesture of appreciation



As a special gesture of appreciation for their continuous support to many DX peditions, including W8S Swains, this photo was taken for our main corporate sponsor DX Engineering.
Some of the W8S Team members are posing with Mr Alex Jennings (owner of Swains Island) holding some of the donated coax cables and wearing the famous DX Engineering caps.

#DXEngineering

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1 OCTOBER 2023
W8S meets E51D

During their stay on KH8 some of the Team members met with Tamas HA7RY and Gabi HA5YG. Tamas and Gabi had just returned to KH8 from their E51D RIB DX-Pedition with George AA7JV and Michael KN4EEI.

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2 OCTOBER 2023
Final day with preparations

This Sunday the team had a busy morning at the yard followed by a sightseeing tour in the afternoon. A small impression:

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2 OCTOBER 2023
Breaking news

Due to adverse weather, the Government operated vessel Manu’atela, which will bring the W8S Team to Swains, is delayed by 24 hrs.

The Manu’atela will supply the island of Manu’a today and return for loading the items of the W8S Team tomorrow on American Samoa, weather permitting.

The W8S Team will continue their preparations and hope to depart the day after tomorrow (04 October 2023) for Swains, delaying the start date of the activation by 1 day to the 5th of October 2023.

Stay tuned for more updates.

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3 OCTOBER 2023
W8S team live at radio 93KHJ…

CATEGORY: NEWS
POSTED ON3 OCTOBER 2023
W8S team live at radio 93KHJ…
The Swains2023 W8S team together with Alex Jennings will be guests in the 7am (UTC -11) morning show hosted by Joey Cummings at 93KHJ radiostation in Pago Pago.

https://www.southseasbroadcasting.com/93khj/

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3 OCTOBER 2023
Team W8S meets 93KHJ

Today started early for the team. They were invited at 7am for the morning show at the local radio station 93KHJ. Together with Alex Jennings the Swains2023 adventure was presented to the listeners.

A small impression of this nice and usefull intermezzo:

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5 OCTOBER 2023
W8S on the way to Swains!

After a slight delay, the W8S Swains Team is finally on the way to Swains!

The vessel ‘Manu’atele’ sailed out the Port of Pago Pago (American Samoa) on October 5, 2023 at 09:00 UTC with the W8S Swains Team onboard!



The initial schedule was slightly delayed by the inclement weather and due to other commitments of the Government operated vessel, serving the local island communities.

After a decisive meeting with the local Port Authorities, which was attended by some of the W8S Swains Team members, the final go-ahead was given and the W8S Swains Team was allowed to board the ‘Manu’atele’ en route to Swains on Wednesday evening LT.

After departure from American Samoa and on the way to Swains, the ‘Manu’atele’ will drop some cargo at the neighbouring island of Manu’a and afterwards sail directly to Swains. A 30 hour journey lies ahead for the W8S Swains Team and the supporting crew.

Upon arrival at Swains, the W8S Swains Team and support crew will offload the ‘Manu’atele’ at high tide and go ashore with a landing craft, sailing up and down several times to offload all the cargo.

After the landing, the W8S Swains Team will start working in the simmering heat to set up the 2 operating camps and start operating hopefully during the local night, beginning on October 7, 2023 at 06:00 UTC.

You can track the ‘Manu’atele’ here: https://share.garmin.com/w8s.
As soon as the W8S Swains Team are on the island, a Starlink internet connection will be set up to keep the DX community updated, but more importantly the radio stations will be installed asap to start working you all!

Below a little view on the hectic day the team had today prior to setting sail with the Manu’atele

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6 OCTOBER 2023 BY ALEX
Message from the team on the 'Manu'atele'

Update 04:38 UTC 6 October

We are now at 40% of the trip to Swains.
We are doing well and no seasicknesses anymore.
Spirit is high.
Good support from Alex Jennings and his team.

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6 OCTOBER 2023
Update 16:00UTC 6 October

Update 16:00UTC 6 October:
Manu’atele arrived ar Swains Island. Still pitch black an waiting for sunrise and high tide to start off loading.

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6 OCTOBER 2023
Update 2130 UTC October 6

Update 2130 UTC October 6:
The whole team has just landed on the island.
First signals to be expected this Swains evening after 06.00UTC

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7 OCTOBER 2023
No more automated NEWS

Many of you have subscribed to the news update on the Swains 2023 website.
Unfortunately, sending the update messages causes too many technical problems.
Some “latest news” messages do not reach “the public” until 2 days later.
Outdated news, in other words.

We have had to decide to (temporarily) disable this service.
Please refer you to our @swains2023 social media channels on X and Facebook for the latest updates.

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7 OCTOBER 2023
W8S is on the bands…

Short report from the team:
We are QRV this evening!!

The 30m CW reports are genuine.

Good hunting !!!

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7 OCTOBER 2023
Short update from Swains

Yesterday end of local morning we landed on Swains.



We offload all materials in 4 separate runs from Landing craft to shore, it took till mid afternoon









We offload all materials in 4 separate runs from Landing craft to shore, it took till mid afternoon

We split up in red camp and blue camp teams and started building up antennas. We got 6 antennas up between half afternoon and sunset, conditions were tough with heat, heavy rain and mosquitoes. We started running 30m CW last night (local time) and afterwards we continued on 30m + 20m FT8. This local morning again 30m CW and now 12m CW and 20m FT8. In the mean time were setting up more antennas and will soon start up the 2nd camp (blue camp)








Antennas red camp (Hexbeam, VDA 12, 17, 30)

Worked lot of EU + AS this early morning around 15:00-19:00 UTC 07 October 2023 on both 20m + 30m.

To be continued….

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8 OCTOBER 2023
Team Update 07 October 2023

The Team continued to set up antennas in the simmering heat. By times it is unbearable, the heat is so strong that we have to take many breaks, which slows down the progress. Furthermore a lot of work has been done on the station setup and the High Power Bandpass filters have been setup. We had a good run on various bands and try to maintain an even balance over the various bands.

The 40m phased array was setup today and works great!
Tomorrow the last antennas for 80m and 160m as well as 2x K9AY RX antennas will be setup.

The Team is in good spirit, but also exhausted from all the hard work in the heat.
Since today we’re fully operational with 4 stations on at all times.
We’re now working in our rotating schedule, which comprises of shifts of 3,4 and 5 hrs. We’re doing our best to work as many as possible of you!

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9 OCTOBER 2023
On the Island challenges

Although the images of the island look very tropical and idyllic, the reality is different. Temperatures around 40 C and very high humidity make conditions particularly tough. Building the station required a great deal of effort from the entire team. This is also one of the reasons why the construction of the stations took a little longer than hoped.

Unfortunately, due to the necessarily changed location of the blue camp, the PC network between the camps is not yet fully functional. This is the main reason for the delayed first log upload and also an obstacle for communication between the operators and the pilot team.

The feedback the Pilots get from you will be collected and shared with the team. It is not that the situation can be changed “on the spot” but this will be taken into account in the planning of the comming days.
This is a DXpedition with a lot of demand from all over the world. So yes, the attention will be spread all over the world with where possible extra attention for the more difficult areas.

Finally, some images of Swains, but believe me it is not a vacation outing.

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9 OCTOBER 2023
6M EME….. antenna issues

Questions are asked about 6m EME.
Logical, we had big plans but found Murphy on our way!
Update:

one element of the boom screw was broken we had to fix that
The intended way of setting up the yagi was not possible so we have to improvise, sandbags are used for all other antennas but won’t hold the 6m EME antenna
we had the antenna up with the support of the Team, but guy stakes were not holding
we were promised suitable guy stakes by the support team, that did not work out either.
today 09 October 2023 is our last chance to get it up!
it’s easy to judge from the side line, more difficult when you’re in the middle of it….
To be continued….

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10 OCTOBER 2023
Live video stream from W8S



During the next few days the team will share their stay on the Island via this lIvestream.

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10 OCTOBER 2023
W8S on DX Engineering live

The W8S team will be doing a live interview with Tim Duffy K3LR on his DX Engineering show live at 17:15 UTZ today October 10.

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10 OCTOBER 2023
The W8S Swains Island YouTube channel



Live Streams and more on our YouTube channel!
https://www.youtube.com/@W8S-Swains-Island-2023

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10 OCTOBER 2023
Topband, Greyline and 6m EME

The latest news from Swains:

Top Band:
The weather gods are in favor of the W8S Team today!
Lots of overcast make it possible for the Team to work with 4 operators (off-duty) on the 160m vertical. While others are operating some of the operators take some time from their scheduled rest to built up the last antenna!
The 160m vertical stands and is ready for action.





















6m EME:
The first attempts on 6m were unsuccessful. There was a one-way copy and that is not enough. There will be another attempt in a few hours if there is a moon pass suitable for Europe. The team is confident that their learning curve will result in QSOs.

Greyline:
The team is aware that this morning they missed the last hour of the European grey line and the first hour of the East Coast grey line on 80m. This was necessary because they all had to do antenna work. Since all antennas are now up and working, expect full attention during the greyline on 80m and top band.

The team is fully aware that not everything is going as expected and therefore the expectation cannot be fully met yet.
Despite the extreme conditions in which to work, the ambition is as high as ever and the team is doing everything possible to meet expectations.

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12 OCTOBER 2023
Live stream of our 10m CW pile-up

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12 OCTOBER 2023
Life can be full of surprises….

Timestamp: 2023 10 12 at 02:43 UTC

It was the start of the shift of Operator Johannes PA5X, when he started calling CQ on the DX pedition frequency 14.181 on 20m SSB. As most of the time nobody is scrolling on the bands anymore and for minutes W8S Swains DX pedition called CQ without any response.

In need for a cluster spot, Johannes turned the dial to 14.188 where he heard someone with the call EA5JZ 20dB over S9 having a conversation with another Ham. The conversation was, believe it or not, EA5JZ (Paul Thomson) wanting to work the Swains DX pedition and telling to the other Ham that it was an ATNO for him. It was at that time that W8S OM Johannes PA5X started to call EA5JZ and told him that he was the luckiest Ham of the moment, with the DX pedition calling him and asking for a cluster spot.

EA5JZ Paul couldn’t believe his ears and was wondering if the W8S call was genuine. Assuring EA5JZ that this was really W8S, Paul was a really happy OM and was able to log W8S as an ATNO! The cluster spot was made and the pile-up started! Thank you Paul! 73 de W8S

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13 OCTOBER 2023
W8S Team presenting an Award and Commemorative Plaque to Alex Jennings



In order to commemorate the presence of the W8S Swains DX pedition on Swains Island in 2023, the Team had prepared a special award and plaque for Alex Jennings (the representative of the family who own Swains Island).

Today during a small ceremony held on Swains Island, the W8S Team presented both the award and stainless steel plaque, which will remain on Swains Island, for the next DX pedition / visitors to see.

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14 OCTOBER 2023
Preparation pays off

The extensive preparation of the W8S Team pays off in reaching the goals of the Swains DXpedition.

The VOACAP predictions have been studied as part of the preparation and each operator had the following 2 sheets at their operating position. One with the bandplan and essential settings, one with the VOACAP predictions to plan their activity.

Also pictured here is the custom made ‘cooling fan bar’. These cooling fans are mounted on an aluminum angle bar and provide additional cooling for the SPE Expert amps in the extreme heat on Swains.

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14 OCTOBER 2023
The magic of 6m also on Swains

A few days ago the first 6m QSO was made from Swains. Below videos will show how this was experienced by the team:

https://swains2020.lldxt.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/VID-20231012-WA0024.mp4

https://swains2020.lldxt.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/VID-20231012-WA0025.mp4

Today there was a nice opening on 6m to JA, a further reward for all the hard work dine by the team.

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14 OCTOBER 2023
First ever 6m EME QSO from Swains Island

First ever 6m EME QSO from Swains Island completed on October 14, 2023 at 19:17z by the W8S DXpedition team!