T30D - DXpedition
Western Kiribati 2014

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Bulletin # 1 - (March 30th, 2014)

After ZK2C in 2012 and 5W0M in 2013 our plan for a new DXpedition to the Pacific area is fixed. On the 25th of March we got our license T30D for Tarawa, Republic of Kiribati. The license is valid from now for one year. All flights are booked and accommodation is reserved. Our 12 team members and the technical part are well prepared to start another DXpedition. Still at the maximum of the 24th sunspot cycle we give a high priority to work especially on 10 and 12 m in all three modes. Also we will do a serious effort to the low bands.
We say a big Thank You to all of our friends who helped to organize this DXpedition, especially PY2WAS and PY2XB from T30PY-team, T30MK, DL5EBE, DL6KVA and others.

Bulletin # 2 – (August 29th, 2014)

Everything is on schedule 4 weeks before our expedition starts at the end of September. As already announced our group will run four stations 24/7. Also one or two more well equipped stations can be used from time to time and as back-up. Only one station will be possible on each band at the same time because we have only one antenna location. The antenna setup includes 3 spider beams, a 4 element for 6 m, several full size loops and verticals and small amplifiers. Our main targets are lots of radio contacts with far away Europe, but we will not forget the hams from the other parts of the world. A serious effort is planned to all bands 160 to 6 m and modes CW, SSB and RTTY. We decided to change the previous announced 10-m-SSB-Frequency from 28.445 to 28.465 MHz to avoid conflicts at the IOTA frequency 28460 kHz with our split. The most wanted bands and modes are known and will be considered. Right now we have no plans to take part in any contests to a full extend. If we have a good internet access we will do a daily log update at club log.

The T30D-crew is overwhelmed and grateful for the great support of many Ham Radio Foundations and individual hams. Special thanks go to sponsors who have made a donation in advance. This helped a lot with early expedition costs. Our crew also wants to thank the DL7DF-crew and DL9GFB for material help. One last challenge was to receive the confirmation from the involved airlines for oversize and excess baggage which is not only extremely expensive but also a long process.

Keep your fingers crossed for a high FLUX and good conditions. We look forward to receive messages of good and unexpected band openings during our stay and therefore we will check our email several times a day.

Bulletin # 3 – (September 28th, 2014)

Unfortunately our team member Guenter, DL2AWG, had an accident and has to stay in a hospital for some days. So he cannot come with us and we will miss an experienced SSB/RTTY-operator. That also means we have to minimize our equipment a little bit and have one amplifier less. Nevertheless our plan is to run four stations 24/7. We will arrive at Tarawa next Thursday and see you all on the air from October 2nd!
For Guenter all the best and a good recovery.

Bulletin # 4 – (October 6th, 2014)

After travelling more than 72 hours T30D-Team arrived safely but tired in Lagoon Breeze Lodge, Tarawa, Kiribati. We all are happy that lots of efforts were successful to get 3 pieces oversize baggage – all antennas, masts and lots of wire - along with 11 operators from Frankfurt via Seoul and Fiji finally to Tarawa. Each piece of equipment made this long way without any damage.

After a short look around Lagoon Breeze Lodge we decided in which bungalow the shack should be and where to place our antennas. Very close to the beach of the lagoon we had plenty of room for the antenna farm: two spider beams 20-10m, one spider beam 15-10m, verticals from 160 to 10m, loop for 30 m, 4 element for 6 m.

But then the first big problem was to solve. The local power network provided voltage was between 170 V and 205 V. As a result many of the switching power supplies for TRXs sometimes switched off and one of the KPA 500 power amplifier completely broke down. With much luck we could organize a power generator from a neighbor of Lagoon Breeze Lodge, which now supplies half of the electronic equipment – but again more money to spend for gas a.s.o . Some stations still depend on the reliability of Tarawa local Power company.

During one night we suffered from heavy rains and strong winds: one of the Spiderbeams broke down, but meanwhile we were able to repair mast and beam.

Internet is available, but mostly very slow. We will try to download the logs every day to Clublog.

Now some advise:

Please DO NOT send your QSO corrections to our Guestbook!!

Better send it to QSL-Manager DL4SVA@darc.de

Please check Clublog and avoid DUPES.

 

Bulletin # 5 (October 14th, 2014)

Tomorrow, October 15th, at high noon local time we will start to dismantel antennas. Internet was very slow and only a few hours available daily. It is not possible to check all emails and answer.
Nearly every day we have to repair our radial system of the lowband antennas caused by problems of the high tide water. Nevertheless some coax cables were also destroyed by crabs.
The power supply input voltage is often extremely low (185 V AC). This produces several black outs of the power supplies, which means, transceiver and amps switched off.
Thank you all for working us. We hope you enjoyed our activity from Tarawa.


Bulletin # 6 – (October 23th, 2014)


T30D is history. We are all safe back at home. The team is happy with a real good result facing all these unexpected problems after arriving Tarawa. Extremely low power voltage caused often break downs of our stations. But we were able to organize a generator to improve the situation. There was a damage of one spider beam already at the second day by storm but we were able to repair it. The high tide of the ocean at full moon and crabs destroyed several times the radial system and the coax cables to the 80- and 160-m-verticals. This was repairable only at day light. And finally the conditions on high bands were not so good as hoped for.

The log will be corrected right now by our QSL-manager and we will have a new update soon. If you are not sure about wrong QSO data do contact DL4SVA please. We are already in the process of designing one or two QSL-cards. The plan is to get the first direct cards out in December. The rest will follow in January and February 2015.

There are rumors that some spectacular QSOs with us were done using remote stations. Please remember that the working and accepting of QSOs for DXCC only is allowed via remote stations in maximal 200 km distance from the own home station.

Thank you all for working and supporting us.

Bulletin # 7 - (February 15th , 2015)

All direct ordered QSLs till today are answered and sent out. Our QSL-manager Georg DL4SVA starts the bureau traffic now. If you have any problems with QSO-data please contact him dl4sva@darc.de
The OQRS in club log is available for the future.
The T30D log will be activated on LoTW in March 2015.

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March 3rd , 2015 :

The complete log T30D is on LoTW


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