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South Pacific DX'pedition 2004 / F6COW F6EPY F6GNZ

November 24-December 9, 2004 : Rarotonga, South Cook (ZK1/S) IOTA OC-013 Zone 32

December 11-December 23, 2004 : Hiva Hoa, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia (FO/M) IOTA OC-027 Zone 31

Operating Frequencies

 

BAND

160

80

40

30

20

17

15

12

10

CW

1.828,5

3.515

7.015

10.118

14.015

18.095

21.015

24.905

28.015

DIGI

  

7.035

10.145

14.085

21.085

28.085

SSB

  

3.780

7.075

14.215

18.135

21.215

24.985

28.465

Area Map

General

Michel F6COW, Dominique F6EPY and Radi F6GNZ will join together for this DX´pedition to South Pacific. The intent is to enjoy DX fun while having relaxing vacations from the wonderful site of Kiikii Motel in Rarotonga, then to activate more rare Hiva Hoa, Marquesas Island in French Polynesia. We will experience typical low sunspot conditions which explains why we have chosen the winter solstice (rather than equinox with better overall conditions on the high band) in order to favor low band operations in northern hemisphere and provide EU operators an opportunity to work both OC locations.

November 24th - December 9th 2004: Operation from Rarotonga, South Cook

The operating location will be Kiikii Motel the well known, ham friendly, hotel used by many previous DX'peditions. Room 17 on the sea front is recommended featuring 200° azimuth clearance on the ocean towards north. The antennas can be erected 10 m above the sea water allowing very low angles of departure.

We will start operation on November 24th in the evening and cease at noon time on December 9th.

December 11th - 23rd 2004: Operation from Hiva Hoa, Marquesas, French Polynesia

The operating location will be Pension Kanahaue on the heights of Atuona, the main village of Hiva Hoa, near the Temetiu Village Pension site used in June 2004 by ON4AXU. On both Nuku Hiva and Hiva Hoa, it is very difficult to find locations on the north coast (the only one seems "Pension Chez Yvonne Katupa" in Hatiheu, Nuku Hiva, used by several expeditions but it was fully booked for this time of the year). We will therefore operate with mountains on the north horizon but yet on a hill.

We will start operation on December 11th in the evening and shut down in the morning of December 23rd.

Equipment

  • Station 1: ICOM 756 PRO II (Main) + ICOM 706 Mk IIG (Spare)
  • Ampli 1: ACOM 1000
  • Station 2: ICOM 706 Mk IIG (Main) + ICOM 706 (Spare)
  • PC interfaces: MicroHam USB Micro Keyer by OM7ZZ
  • Antennas: Butternut HF9VX with elevated resonant radials + top loaded Butternut HF2V with elevated resonant radials + center fed 2 x 20m/40m zeppelin with Drake MN-2500 antenna tuner
  • Logging Software: Contest & DX'pedition logger Win-Test by F5MZN (shareware) . Donated by F5MZN as DX'pedition sponsor.
  • Special modes: SSTV with MMSSTV by JE3HHT, TTY with MMTTY by JE3HHT and WinWarbler by AA6YQ, PSK31 and PSK63 with WinWarbler by AA6YQ
  • Propagation Tools: Hamcap by VE3NEA (freeware) which must be installed together with ionospheric prediction core VOACAP from HF package of US ITS (freeware from US government). Ionoprobe by VE3NEA (shareware) for real time ionospheric parameter updating. W6EL Prop (freeware) is the best for use on low bands (where VOACAP is not reliable).
  • Utilities: DXAtlas by VE3NEA (shareware) which is interfaced with Hamcap and Ionoprobe

 

 

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