W8S Team planning be active from Swains Island, IOTA OC - 200, 4 - 27 October 2023.
Team - DJ9RR, DL2AMD, DL6JGN, KO8SCA, NG7M, PA2KW, PA3EWP, PA4WM, PA5X, PG5M.
They will operate on All HF Bands, CW, SSB, FT8, RTTY.
DXCC Country - Swains Island, KH8/S.
QSL via PG5M.
W8S Swains Island News 17 May 2023
Although it was silent for quite some time, we were still working on the project and are happy that we can now announce that the contract with Alex Jennings is in our hands. Alex Jennings is the proprietor of Swains Island and providing the logistic support for the DXpedition.
The DXpedition to Swains Island will take place in the autumn of 2023. The governmental ship Manu’atela is booked for our trip. We will arrive on Swains Island the 4th of October and will depart the 17th of October 2023.
Four new members are in our team because some couldn’t join due circumstances. The team still consist of 10 international operators. The operators are: DJ9RR (Heye), DL2AMD (Rainer), DL6JGN (Hans), KO8SCA (Adrian), NG7M (Max), PA2KW (Evert), PA3EWP (Ronald), PA4WM (Martin), PA5X (Johannes) and PG5M (Gerben).
Due to Covid and the global economic situation, our costs have increased considerably compared to 2020. The total cost has increased to 125.000 Euro and we therefore ask you to increasing your donation as well! In the meantime, we have been working on another antenna setup, focusing on the higher bands. We are preparing VDA’s for 10, 12, 15, 17 and 20 meters. We will have 2 additional radio’s active. With 6 stations running we can make more QSO’s and give more DXers an All Time New One. Our camps are separated by approx. 500 meters, which will allow us to operate on some bands with 2 stations simultaneously.
W8S Swains Island Team
W8S Swains Island News 11 December 2022
W8S Swains Island DX Pedition planned March 2023 Postponed.
W8S Swains Island News 16 June 2020
Dear friends,
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic it is still impossible to travel to Swains Island.
This means that we have to postpone our DXpedition until spring 2021 at the earliest.
Alex Jennings and the team will start planning again as soon as we are allowed to travel to American Samoa without restrictions (such as 14 days in quarantine). All equipment already purchased is waiting for us in Pago Pago.
We are very disappointed with this postponement, but if we look at it from a positive angle, propagation will be better next year! We continue our Swains DXpedition project and keep you informed via our mailing list, website and the social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter.
The Swains DXpedition Team
W8S Swains Island News 22 February 2020
Following the disappointing news earlier this week the Swains2020 team is extremely happy that we can announce the new schedule for the W8S DXpedition to Swains Island. The team will be on the island from September 23 until October 6, 2020.
We like to thank all our sponsors and supporters for the understanding and confidence we have received after the message about the forced postponement of the DXpedition.
We are therefore very happy that we can already share the new planning with you.
The Swains 2020 Team
W8S Swains Island News 18 February 2020
In close cooperation with Alex Jennings, the representative of Swains Island, the team has decided to postpone the W8S DXpedition to Swains Island to autumn of 2020.
The reason behind this postponement is the travel restrictions when entering American Samoa, restrictions imposed by the Department of Health of American Samoa as a result of the Corona virus outbreak.
The Department of Health allows non-residents to enter American Samoa only via Hawaii, after a 14 days mandatory quarantine in Hawaii.
For the team this is not a workable situation. It would require extending the holiday time by an additional 2 weeks, re-routing of the flights and purchasing new tickets etc.
Everything is prepared for our DXpedition, and we are eager to go, but unfortunately the Corona virus outbreak is out of our control.
Although this is a disappointment for everyone, the W8S DXpedition is not cancelled, but just postponed for later this year!
You and/or your DX-club made a donation to the Swains DXpedition, which is very much appreciated by the whole team as that helps the team to cover some part of the investment the team already made.
However if you are considering withdrawing your donation, please just let us know.
As soon as we have the new firm date for the DXpedition we will update you and the whole DX-community.
See our website, Facebook and Twitter for the latest news and announcements.
Regards,
Ronald Stuy, PA3EWP
W8S Swains Island News 20 January 2020
50 days to go…
The preparations are part of the fun too.
An amazing load of work is done by all team members. Antennas, hardware, software, the camp set up, medical wellbeing, transportation, satellite connections, inter camp communication, operating schedules, vaccinations to name just a few….
Yesterday we had a video conference call between all international team members to discuss the final loose ends. All lights are green.
The European members will depart from Amsterdam and Frankfurt on Saturday 7 March. Flying through Singapore, new Zealand and Samoa to their neighbouring islands American Samoa. Our American members will depart the same weekend to meet up in Pago Pago, American Samoa.
The vessel Manu’Atele will bring us to the Swains atoll. This will be a 24 hour journey. Landing on the island will be done by smaller boats at high tide to minimize reef issues. A serious challenge. Think of all the radio equipment, antenna materials, tents, generators, fuel and food for two weeks. The ship will leave after landing. Hopefully picking the team up again after 14 days.
W8S Swains Island News 27 December 2019
Everything is on schedule for our Swains DXpedition.
Last month Martin PA4WM en Gerben PG5M have been working on the antennas for Swains. After some small design changes, the antennas are ready now (thanks to Dado E74AW for helping with the 160m antenna).
We also have collected a lot of other equipment en tools. We were in doubt if everything would fit in the 3 boxes we created especially for this adventure.
This morning we started packing all the equipment. At the end of the afternoon we were ready. Luckily everything fitted in the boxes: 14 RX/TX antennas, 800 meters of coax-cable, 2.4 KM of radials, bandpass filters, power supplies and tools were packed in the boxes.
The boxes are ready for transport, the total weight is approx. 200 KG.
Within 3 weeks we will transport it to American Samoa.
After finishing this phase of our project we will now focus on the next phase the radio and computer equipment.
The whole team is looking forward to activate Swains Island as W8S.
Regards,
Ronald Stuy, PA3EWP