9G4X Team will be active from Ghana, 22 - 30 March 2023.
Team - Gregg W6IZT, George N4GRN, Hal W8HC, Haim, 9G5AF; Bob, W9AP; Joe, K9UR; Mike, WB0SND; Curt N2ZX and Zeev 4X5ZS.
They will operate on 160 - 6m, QO - 100 Satellite, including activity in CQ WW WPX SSB Contest, 25 - 26 March 2023.
QSL via K4NHW, LOTW, ClubLog OQRS.
9G4X Ghana News 27 March 2023
The 9G4X M/2 contest operation concluded last night with a raw score of nearly 12M points. Contest QSOs and pre-contest contacts from our initial 30 hours have all been uploaded to CluLog with over 6,500 QSOs entered.
The extreme solar disturbances on Friday/Saturday and accompanying high A Index from this location at the equator, caused us to abandon any possible low band attempts during the contest. We had set up beverages and pennant RX antennas prior to the contest but only experienced favorable response with the pennant. However we were able to take advantage of some great openings on 10m and 15m Saturday night while our 3rd, non-contest station was utilized on CW for several hours on WARC bands during some of this time.
We are optimistic with post-contest condx as we see more favorable solar numbers for the remaining 4 days of the 9G4X operation and this morning we are making some antenna revisions that we hope will improve our situation on 80m and 160m. We hope to be on these bands tonight and will only be operating FT8 on these bands IF we are QRV.
Unfortunately we experienced a local power failure yesterday evening (2000Z), which as of now (1200Z Monday), has not been resolved. All of the facilities here, including our stations, are being powered by the on-site backup generator. The bad news is we are experiencing significant fluctuations with this backup generator causing our amplifiers to trip.
Electricians are currently working to make necessary repairs to restore commercial power. Meanwhile 9G4X will only be running 100w until this is resolved. Likewise we will not attempt low band operation until we are once again able to utilize our PAs without the sudden shutdowns.
Please know that 9G4X has returned to the DXpedition phase of the project… watch ClubLog’s LiveStream for our current QRG.
Finally, we are monitoring 50.313MHz using MSHV and with the 5-element EAntenna LFA donated by DXE. We are QRX for any traces to appear in the waterfall.
Thanks,
Hal W8HC
9G4X Ghana News 23 March 2023
Update- Our 9-member 9G4X team is now assembled at the spacious Sankofa Beach House on the Atlantic coast south of the Capitol city of Accra. Unfortunately the 7 US team members’ flight from JFK to Accra was delayed almost 2.5 hours due to a maintenance issue with the plane (Delta). Frantic search for a missing bag at Accra, resulted in another lost hour as we had hoped to have at least two stations QRV on early Thursday a.m. (GMT).
Waiting on us outside of security at the airport the team was met by our gracious host Haim, 9G5AF and Zeev, 4X5ZS who arrived in Ghana 2 days ago.
Bottom line... we left the airport at 5pm, probably the worst time of day to navigate a mini-bus through Accra, taking 2.5 hours to get to our QTH and almost an hour after sunset. This gave us a half hour to get to our rooms and freshen up before dinner at 8pm.
Tomorrow we build our stations and hope to be QRV on 3 stations by late Thursday. This is a great location and we are hopeful 9G4X will have a great signal from here!
Meanwhile, team members meeting for the first time had a great opportunity to get to know each other and share stories and experiences from the past…. This is truly what makes our hobby so great!
Masao, the owner of the Sankofa Beach House is very supportive of our DXpedition and our contest effort and we are most grateful for his kindness and hospitality… this is a great DXpedition and contest QTH!
73s 9G4X W8HC.
9G4X Ghana News 17 March 2023
9G4X DXpedition Announcement #2
Plans and final preparations are complete and on track for next week's scheduled 9G4X DXpedition. U.S. team members: Joe, K9UR; Curtis, N2ZX; George, N4GRN; Gregg, W6IZT; Hal, W8HC; Bob, W9AP and Mike, WB0SND will fly out of JFK on Tuesday (March 21) night with a direct flight to Accra arriving Wednesday afternoon. Here they will be met by their host Haim, 9G5AF and the 9th member of the team, Zeev, 4X5ZS who arrives a day earlier.
Look for 9G4X to be QRV early on March 23 (GMT) with two stations, followed by two more that will be set up later that day. The plan is to have four stations operating QRO on 160m-6m from their oceanside QTH at the Sankofa Beach House until March 31.
They will be using ClubLog's LiveStream where you can find their QRG. They also plan to use ClubLog's LeaderBoard function.
9G4X will be a M/2 entry over the CQ WPX Phone contest weekend. The LiveStream function will be disabled at this time.
During the WPX Contest, they will continue operating the two additional non-contest stations on the WARC Bands and 6 meters. The DXpedition is hopeful that with the 5-element 6m LFA, provided by their main sponsor, DX Engineering, they will have some good opportunities on the magic band... Fingers crossed!
Additional information about this DXpedition can be found on the 9G4X QRZ.com page including the link to the ClubLog tools and the link to the useful propagation tool provided by DR2M.
Please Note: 9G4X HF FT8 mode operations will be F/H only.
9G4X Ghana News 22 February 2023
February 22, 2023
Contact: Hal Turley, W8HC
Ghana (9G4X) DXpedition Announced
The Accra Amateur Radio Club, 9G2DX is hosting a DXpedition next month that includes veteran DXpeditioners: Gregg, W6IZT; George, N4GRN and Hal, W8HC. Rounding out their 9 member team is: Haim, 9G5AF; Bob, W9AP; Joe, K9UR; Mike, WB0SND; Curt N2ZX and Zeev 4X5ZS. They will be QRV March 22-30 including participation in the CQWW WPX Phone Contest March 25-26.
The DXpedition has been granted a special callsign, 9G4X for use during their 8 day operation from the Sankofa Beach House Resort located on the coast south of Accra in Langma Village.
During the contest 9G4X will operate in the M/2 category while outside the contest, the team will operate 3 stations 160m-10m with a 4th station dedicated to 6m as well as a 5th station QRV on QO-100. The team also looks forward to working with some of the local 9G hams sharing DXpeditioning and contest operating experiences that they hope will encourage the locals to pick up and continue after departure.
DX Engineering is the major sponsor of this 9G4X DXpedition. DXE has graciously provided a
5-element 6m LFA yagi from EAntenna that will be used during the DXpedition and which will be donated to the 9G2DX Club station afterward for their continued use during the 6m season.
Watch the 9G4X page on QRZ com for more details and donation information.
PayPal: ghanadxpedition (at) gmail (dot) com.
QSL via K4NHW, OQRS and LoTW