FT4JA Island March – April 2016 1
Announced at IDXC-Visalia 2015 : Juan de Nova 2016 • 15 days
• 10 ops • March/April 2016
http://www.juandevovadx.com
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Why a DXpedition to Juan de Nova ? Most Wanted DXCC according to ClubLog website All modes, World-Wide
Rank
Prefix
Entity Name
1.
P5
DPRK (NORTH KOREA)
2.
3Y/B
BOUVET ISLAND
3.
FT5/W
CROZET ISLAND
4.
FT/J
JUAN DE NOVA, EUROPA
5.
VK0H
HEARD ISLAND
6.
KH1
BAKER HOWLAND ISLANDS
7.
BS7H
SCARBOROUGH REEF
8.
BV9P
PRATAS ISLAND
9.
CE0X
SAN FELIX ISLANDS
10.
KH3
JOHNSTON ISLAND HamRadio 2016 – DX Forum
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The TAAF "scattered islands" district "Iles éparses" FT/G
FH FT/T
FT/J FT/E FR
TAAF = Terres Australes & Antarctiques Françaises French Austral & Antarctic Territories
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Juan de Nova Island : data
Area : 4.8 sq. km Location : Lat = 17°03' S Long = 42°43' E - Maidenhead : LH12iw Population (02/04/2016) : 1 gendarme + 13 military + 10 ham radio ops 5
DX history • DXCC : FR/J & FR/E, now FT/J & FT/E
• Islands formerly only activated by weather technicians • Sole DXpedition TO4T / TO4WW (Europa Isl., same DXCC entity) in Nov.-Dec. 2003 • No activity since the authority has been
transferred to TAAF in Jan. 2005
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Old QSL cards Source: Les Nouvelles DX – F6AJA
AG du REF - Brive
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The challenge • Continue the trust relationship with TAAF
• Get all agreements for transportation, landing, stay and lodging • Organize logistics : find a boat, find freight forwarder • More than US$ 150,000 to collect within 1 year time frame
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The constraints • Limited to a small group of "health safe" operators, for a short duration
• Restricted access to some parts of the island to respect wildlife • Only small footprint / stealth antennas
• Leave no traces of our stay (garbage, generator fumes and leaks, …) • High temperature, wind, mosquitoes • Save water that is rare 9
Objectives • Non radio • Demonstrate / confirm to TAAF that we can do it right
• Radio • Find the right quality /quantity ratio for QSO : attention to the most difficult areas, give a chance to everyone • Focus on low bands Vs. expected good propagation on high bands
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Bearings to main ham population centers (short-path) Europe & USA: 310 to 350° Asia: 40 to 60°
S. America: 230 to 260°
VK & ZL: 100 to 140°
HamRadio 2016 – DX Forum
F4HAU Diego
F1NGP Yann
F4BKV Vincent F5CWU Flo
F2DX Pat
EA3NT Chris
F5UFX Seb (Team Leader)
F6BEE Jack
F4FET Gil F5PTM Pascal
The Team
6 Fresh men
4 FT4TA veterans 12
The way to Juan de Nova All operators meet in Mayotte Island, starting point of the charter boat Mayotte (FH) Departure Base
48 hours non-stop journey to Juan de Nova on board Antsiva FT4JA
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FT4JA on Juan de Nova a few landmarks
Dining and sleeping quarters
Low-bands antenna field
JdN lighthouse
FT4JA radio station Generators high band antennas
No-Ham land
Shrimp ship wreck
Distance between life quarters and radio station = 1,2 km
Access path to North beach 14
N
7 stations (2 tents)
10m vert. dipole
15m VDA
6El 6m
17m
20m
10m
2el SteppIR
3 generators
12m
40m
30m
80m 160m EU/NA Bev
Station design & Setup
JA Bev
• Final antenna set up a bit different from planned layout but in agreement with authorization • All High-Band antennas along the northern beach • Low-Band transmit and receive antennas on almost flat, high-grass piece of land • 1050m of Tx coax + 450m of Rx coax
0
75
150 15
FT4JA high band VDAs on the beach (here at low tide) seen from the south (LB antenna field)
High bands VDAs
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Monoband Low-Band antennas: 80m - 30m - 40m – 160m
FT4JA low band antennas 80m quarter wave Vertical
160m 26m Top-loaded Vertical
40m Four-square array
30m Four-square array HamRadio 2016 – DX or IOTA Forum
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VDAs used at FT4JA (and at FT4TA in 2014)
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160m : GP on 26m Spider-Mast • 4 x 5m wire Top-Hat • 16 x 40m radials • 2 x 200m beverage + KD9SV double-pennant
Produced 2242 QSO with 24 zones and 76 DXCC in all 6 continents ! Typical QSO distance : 8000 km Eu, 15000 US E. coast, 12000 Japan
Too much wind to keep it straight and vertical all the time
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7 identical operating positions in 2 tents, all powered by three 6 kVA diesel generators
• • • • • • • • • •
K3-100 Modmic microphone W3NQN Bandpass filter SPE1,3kFA linear Microham MK2 interface Laptop with cordless keyboard & mouse WinTest Logging Software Foot switch Rx antenna selector (LB positions) Very uncomfortable chair
Propa band planning
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21
FT4JA private Power Plant
-
3 SDMO 6 kVA diesel generators 3x 50m 2g6 cables + circuit breakers Fully protected zone in case of leakage About 700 liters of diesel 22
Operating Strategy & Goals • 7 stations for 10 operators means no much sleep : • Keeping at least 3 stations on the air at any time • Busiest time slots at sunrise and sunset with both LB and HB open • 6m beacon
• Detailed propagation planning that had to be followed by operators (posted at all 7 operator positions !) • A motivated TEAM willing to give every part of the world a chance to work FT4JA
• Band plan coordinated with concurrent VKØEK Heard Isl. expedition to avoid overlapping and expended pile-ups as well as confusion
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Facing the reality on Juan de Nova • Propagation was better than expected, so higher bands (10 & 12) were not dead • Best bands were 15m and 17m, open with all parts of the world • Outstanding effort on 15m (25756 QSO), with 2 stations in 2 modes most of the (opening) time, leading to 5148 "uniques" • 20m was closed during daytime • We got confirmation that 160m and 80m bands are very noisy under the tropics, with frequent visible thunderstorms
• It's confirmed that beverage receiving antennas behave strangely close to sea water. Experimenting in real time (darkness) was not safe and very time consuming • Limited 6m openings 24
Overall Stats • 105589 QSO, 25043 uniques (3125 dupes is far too many), • CW: 50321 (47,6%) , SSB: 45254 (42,9%) , RTTY: 10014 (9,5%)
NA 22096 / 20.9% QSO 6385 / 25.4% uniques
SA 664 / 0.6% QSO 262 / 1.0% uniques
EU 63915 / 60,5% QSO 14246 / 56.6% uniques
AS 16992 / 16.1% QSO 3686 / 14.7 % uniques
AF 1006 / 1.0% QSO 266 / 1.1% uniques
OC 913 / 0.9% QSO 313 / 1.2% uniques
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FT4JA Juan de Nova 2016: QSO breakdown by Band / Mode
CW 160m 80m
40m 30m 20m 17m 15m
12m 10m 6m Total
2333 3192 4030 6616 5065 8956 7627 7249 5167 94
SSB
332 3222 6954 7277 13707 8235 5405 124
50,329 45,256 Incl. 3125 dupes
Digi
Total
% Europe
2333 3524 7252 1556 8172 1933 13952 16233 4424 25758 15484 2099 12671 2 220 10,014 105,599 25,043 Uniques
77.6 59.0 40.8 51.4 55.9 65.6 63.4 62.7 65.4 72.5 60.5
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Summary - Feedback • Radio Objectives • Number of QSOs as expected, no area was forgotten despite difficult paths • Band breakdown according to propagation, but the emphasis on low bands was achieved too • LoTW upload shortly after the operation • Excellent (and unsolicited) feedback has been received from many
individuals as well as from our generous sponsors (foundations, clubs, associations) 27
Summary - Feedback • Non-radio objectives with TAAF • They again thanked us for the professional way everything has been conducted • The trust relationship is more than confirmed, they were not expecting such a great success FLAWLESS PREPARATION WAS THE
KEY FACTOR TO MEET BOTH RADIO AND NON-RADIO OBJECTIVES 28
HamRadio 2016 – DX or IOTA Forum
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FT4JA QSL MANAGER is F5CWU FT4JA's log uploaded on LoTW since 24th April 2016
Less than 1 month after: 52876 “software QSLs” out of 105,589 QSOs
> 50% !
7000 Online QSL requests : - 4700 direct for 27000 QSO - 2275 via bureau for 10188 QSO - 900 snail-mail requests 30
EQUIPMENT SPONSORS
THANK YOU ! 31
CORPORATE and INDIVIDUAL EQUIPMENT & SERVICE SPONSORS
Equipment loans: FM5CD/F6AGM, F4ERS, F5VHJ, F5ROP Pilots: F5UKW, JJ3PRT, ON9CFG, W0MM
THANK YOU !
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CLUBS & FOUNDATIONS SPONSORS
THANK YOU !
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CLUBS & FOUNDATIONS SPONSORS
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MANY INDIVIDUAL SPONSORS AND SUPPORTERS
THANK YOU ! 35
Please ask questions !
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VIDEO
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