P29RO Team will be active from Loloata Island, IOTA OC - 240, Papua New Guinea, 25 October - 10 November 2022.
Team - DG2RON, DJ7TO, DJ9KH, DJ9RR, DK3CG, DL1KWK, DL2RNS, DL4SVA, DL6KAC, DL7JOM, DL7VEE.
They will operate on HF Bands.
QSL via DL4SVA, ClubLog OQRS, LOTW.
P29RO Loloata Island Papua New Guinea News 2 November 2022
After a week and almost halfway through our stay, it's time to sum up.
The choice and decision for this location was a very good one. Just off the coast of Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea, the island of Loloata is situated. It can be reached in a few minutes by ferry from the mainland. The luxurious Loloata Private Resort is a modern holiday complex for day-trippers and tourists. Electricity is available 24 hours a day and good internet is provided. The warm and humid climate is a challenge for central Europeans. Working in this heat takes a lot of energy!
We were able to install our antennas on the hiking trail on the mountain ridge. With water around the island and a free takeoff into almost all directions with no disturbances from the hotel complexes down on the shore, this is one of the best possible QTHs for worldwide radio operation. However, this comes with a downside: we needed roughly 60 m of coaxial cable for each antenna. On the high bands, we only use a robust two-element wire beam from LZ Antennas. A pentaplexer from LBS allows us to operate simultaneously three bands from 20 to 10 m, each with 500 watts HF. Loops are used for 30 and 6 m. For the other bands 160, 80, 60 and 40 m, we use verticals with an elevated radial.
We are very happy with the propagation and the good RX situation from
40 m upwards. After 7 days we already have over 55,000 QSOs in the log. The pile-ups are still tremendous. We have strived for equal operations on all modes and bands. The FT8 stations are also manned.
All operators work in rolling shifts. 4.5 hours at the station and 9 hours free for eating, sleeping, checking emails and making repairs.We have major hearing problems on 160, 80 and 60 m. On these bands, the noise level is always at S9 plus! Possibly an atmospheric problem near the equator at sunspot maximum and not man-made noise. That means stations calling us have to be louder than the noise floor. 80m CW is very hard to read. Under these circumstances, all OPs agreed that CW operation makes no sense on 160m.
A note on FT8 Fox & Hound. We use WSJT-X, not MHSV. This means, the confirmation must be on our transmission frequency. Additionally, those who call us below 1,000 Hz can't be worked. There are still a lot of stations from all parts of the world who cannot work correct F&H. So fare in last days we may use normal FT8 mode.
Due to the hot climate, we have to finish the antenna dismantling a day earlier. We are therefore only QRV until November 9th around 4 UTC.
P29RO Loloata Island Papua New Guinea News 26 October 2022
All team members and equipment arrived safely in PNG. No problems with Covid 19 but we had to wear a mask at all times. Everyone was tired from the lack of sleep over the past two days, but started installing the first antennas and radio room. The weather is extremely hot and muggy and is a challenge for everybody. At 50 [centigrade] degrees in the sun with no shade, we need three times as long as usual to set up the planned antennas.
The way from the hut to the antennas is one kilometer long plus a few meters of altitude! Loloata Resort General Manager Mr. Uday helps us a lot in our radio expedition. Loloata Private Resort is a beautiful self-contained resort and the staff is very friendly. The electricity from the hotel's generator is stable 24 hours a day. We have the option of installing our antennas alongside the island's hilltop trail. This will require more coax than expected, but we should be able to manage it for all antennas.
Due to the great heat, we can only do antenna work in the morning and in the last hours of the day. On Tuesday we were able to raise the 5- band LZ wire beam for 20 to 10 m, the 40 m vertical and the 30 m loop.
The next bands will follow. Today we will finalize the 160-m-Vertical.
Please refrain from comments and emails like: Why aren't you on 6m today? Please be patient. We do our best.