W8S Swains Island OC-200

[IK0ZCW]

15 OCTOBER 2023
The magic continues on 6m

After a very nice opening to Japan the team had another moonpass for 6m EME. A succesfull moonpass resulting in the first ever EME QSOs made from Swains:





3 succesfull QSOs via the moon in the log, all with NA.

But the magic continues as later in the day signals from VK were heard and after turbine the beam there a few VK made the W8S log.



A very nice day on the magic band

[IK0ZCW]

15 OCTOBER 2023
W8S International Team of operators


L to R: USA: KO8SCA NG7M – Netherlands: PA5X PG2M PA3EWP PA4WM PA2KW – Germany: DL2AMD DL6JGN DJ9RR

[IK0ZCW]

16 OCTOBER 2023
W8S: an SSB Pile-up

[IK0ZCW]

16 OCTOBER 2023
Breaking News: The EXIT plan

Exit plan:

Blue camp is down, Red camp is still functioning fully tonight local time and tomorrow during the day.

Red camp dismantling will start bit by bit Monday LT during the day. To be finished end of the day on Monday LT.

On Tuesday morning LT we will leave the Swains Island.

LT Swains = UTC/GMT -11 hours

[IK0ZCW]

16 OCTOBER 2023
The “Dauer” and the “Gentry” from Swains!

During yesterday’s ceremony with the representative of the Island Alex Jennings, the Team took the opportunity to do the necessary photoshoot with sponsor flags and shirts, as well as the famous poses for the “Dauer” and the “Gentry”.

The Dauer (for DM9EE):



The Gentry (for K9PG):

[IK0ZCW]

17 OCTOBER 2023
QRT

As we all noticed W8S Swains2023 is QRT.

With a QSO number of almost 90K we can safely say this goal is met.



Here we have the team, tired but satisfied, having their final meeting in base camp on the island.

[IK0ZCW]

17 OCTOBER 2023
The beauty of Swains Island































A selection of pictures of Swains Island OC200

[IK0ZCW]

18 OCTOBER 2023
The team arrived safely back in Pago Pago

The team arrived safely in Pago Pago, after a 21-hour boat trip.

Now the team awaits a logistical challenge to re-pack the equipment into the boxes ready for shipment for the long way back to the Netherlands. Only 24 hours to organize this before the team gets on the plane to Hawaii.

[IK0ZCW]

19 OCTOBER 2023
W8S Swains – Final Logs online

By Charles M0OXO- W8S QSL manager:

I have just recieved the final log from the W8S Dxpedition to Swains Island. The log is now available on M0OXO OQRS and Clublog. I hope many of you find those last few missing Q’s. There are no Logs outstanding.

Please report all Missing Calls using the facility on OQRS situated beneath the Search result box called ”Not In Log?”. I am still working through the Missing Call list as they arrive and most of you will get a response within 12 hours if you use the facility on OQRS. Email enquiries will take several days to respond to.

Donor LOTW and Express LOTW have both been uploaded. If you are finding the odd QSO Missing from LOTW then check your Data. All of your QSO’s have been uploaded if you were a Donor or requested express LOTW.

https://www.m0oxo.com/oqrs

[IK0ZCW]

20 OCTOBER 2023
Special thanks to GDXF



Special thanks to GDXF as main sponsor for their support which could make the W8S DXpedition a great success.

[IK0ZCW]

20 OCTOBER 2023
Perfect continental split…..

Now that the team is on its return trip and the dust clouds are slowly but surely settling, we have time to take a leisurely look at the results of this DXpedition:

89530 QSOs in the log

If we look at the distribution over the continents we see a beautifully even distribution over the three largest ones:



If we look at the band/mode distribution we see a picture we don’t often see anymore at DXpeditions: 38% CW:



Judging by the reactions, the team made a lot of amateurs happy with this. If you have a lot of one, there is automatically less left for the other, so maybe the 14% SSB is disappointing for another group.

The Club Log Impact On Users statistics really shows what this DXpedition has meant. Among Clublog users 16.1% an ATNO:



Speaking of success…..

More statistics: https://clublog.org/charts/?c=W8S#r

[IK0ZCW]

27 OCTOBER 2023
Swains ride to W8S operation sites

In this video you see Hans DL6JGN and Martin PA4WM on their crew change ride from the sleeping and dining camp to the radio operation camp on the northern rim of the island. This ride shows you the operation sites with their antennas.


by Martin PA4WM

[IK0ZCW]

30 OCTOBER 2023
2000+ more QSO’s to our log

Hello,

After questions about missing QSO’s on the 15th of October on 30m FT8 we have carefully investigated the logs again.We noticed some problems with the integration of WSJT-X and N1MM on a laptop in camp Red.

We have correct this issue and resulted in 2000+ more QSO’s to our log.

Charles, our QSL manager, has added the missing QSO’s to his OQRS, Clublog and to LOTW (if applicable).
Sorry for this inconvenience, but finally the QSO’s are found and will be confirmed.

On behalf of the W8S Swains 2023 team,

Ronald PA3EWP