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T2C - Tuvalu

Updated: Nov 8, 2023


T2C Update (Nov 08)


As of November 2nd, all team members are back in Germany.

Our QSL manager DL4SVA is still busy checking carefully all log related comments. A lot of people who are not listed in our online log – especially in FT8 – have contacted us to get a QSO confirmed. We are checking all requests against the MSHV ALL.TXT file. This is a very time intensive process. Thank you for your patience.

DL4SVA also removed a significant amount of dupe FT8-QSOs within 3-minute time window. His decision is final. A corrected log will be uploaded to Club Log later today.

Once the log correction is finished, all new sponsors will be listed on our homepage and they will immediately receive their LoTW confirmations. Early December, we should receive the printed QSL cards and will start mailing them out.



T2C Update (Oct 25)


The remaining six men on the team exceeded the 100,000 QSO mark. They are QRV from 60 to 6 m with three stations 24 hours a day and will take part in the CQ WWDX Contest. One broken Expert amplifier started to work again. We paid several 100 AUD for internet access.

On Monday, we met the director of the Nauti primary school and made a donation for a new drinking water filter. We also met T2AM, a local busy man without ham radio equipment. Another ham from Tuvalu T2AT is very sick and not QRV anymore.


The last QRV day is Monday, October 30. Return flights begin locally at midday on October 31.



T2C Update (Oct 19)


After 9 days on Funafuti Island, we conclude that the Funafuti Lagoon Hotel is not the best QTH for a ham radio operation but maybe the only one for a bigger group. Space for antennas is heavily limited with currently no way for an installation directly on the beach. We experienced a lot of noise on the lowbands originating from the hotel buildings. We installed two BOGs overnight in the construction area away from the hotel. These antennas help a lot to improve the receiving situation from 40 to 160 m. During the day, the BOGs must be dismantled due the work of the construction machines on this area. Conditions are generally poor on the lowbands, but fine above five MHz. 10 and 12 m show excellent signals over many hours. A surprise was 6 m. Contacts on 6 m were made with 5W, 3D2, BV, JA, VK, BA, PY, CE, YB, VR2, KH2, KH6. As an absolute highlight, we had an unexpected short opening to Italy and Sardinia on this band.


Despite these challenging conditions, the team is quite happy with the achieved QSOs. Up to now, we made over 70.000 contacts. Fortunately, we had no power outages so far. Most of the air conditioners are running day and night. The LTE internet is slow and expensive. The hotel WiFi is mostly close to unusable.


Yesterday Fred, DH5FS, and Christian, DL6KAC, gave a 30-minute interview, which will be broadcasted on the local AM radio station.


Bad News: Two Expert amplifiers died. We will see how to continue with this challenging situation. It probably means more FT8 operation (100 W) on some bands. Rest assured that we also will be active on CW and SSB.


Log correction hints ONLY to our QSL manager DL4SVA@darc.de please!



T2C Update (Oct 18)


No good news from the night shift. While being on 160m another amplifier died. The repaired one worked for more than a day but showed again issues. We decided to put it out of service to prevent further damage.



T2C Update (Oct 14)


After just under 3 days, all of the planned antennas were set up. Since everything was organized from Germany, we weren't sure if we could achieve this. Up to date information about the island is very scarce. The temperature is around 31°C and it is often cloudy with heavy squalls and rain showers throughout the day. Humidity is very high, which makes working on antennas strenuous.


Our air-conditioned bungalows are fine, but we don't have much space for the antennas. Large construction machines had been in use all day long and cross the street in front of our bungalows. Therefore, we can only use the area adjacent to the bungalows so that we are not disturbing other guests. As the front part of the hotel area has been claimed from the sea, there is no beach (just rocks), which means we can’t install antennas there.


Our experienced team is in a good shape. We enjoy the excellent high band conditions to central Europe (> 15.000 km). This is only possible in the sunspot maximum. We are using simple but effective antennas and are very happy with 30.000 QSOs in 72 hours. All four stations are in operation 24/7 using a shift system. A fifth station is calling CQ on 50.313 kHz during daytime (FT8), at night we switch to 60 m.


Our two-element wire beam works very well from 20 to 10 m and produces large signals from the Europe until midnight on the high bands. The noise level is mostly S3-4, which is fine. However, sometimes we experience some type of broadband noise, which makes copying really difficult. Below 20 m we use isolated verticals with one elevated radial. On 160 m and 80 m the noise level is usually S9+, so we can only copy large stations on these bands. 60 m is a little better. Yesterday we installed a BOG-RX-antenna (Beverage on ground) at some distance from the hotel. The BOG improved the receiving situation and we are currently installing a second one. Remember that our goal is to work especially on the high bands with maximum sunspot levels.


A CQ FT8 “beacon” runs at 6 m throughout the day. We have been working VK8AW and some JA’s. Our CQ call had also been heard in South America. We are still hoping for a great opening.


The performance is stable and we can run each band at around 500 watts. The people are very nice and streets are pretty crowded with motorcycles and cars. Sometimes it feels like rush hour in a big city. The hotel WiFi is not realiable. We therefore obtained a local SIM card, which provides access via a LTE. LTE internet access is something more stable but slow and expensive as the uplink is provided via satellite.


We get a lot of messages like “Is my QSO on 40 m in the log?” or “mistake in the call” via our general email address. Please note, that we can’t answer this type of emails individually. Our QSL manager has an own email. Please check our daily log update on Clublog and if in doubt, work us again. Information about band openings are always very welcomed.



T2C Update (Oct 10)


The exhausted team-members built up the first antennas in the early afternoon. The space for antennas is very restricted because the construction-works at the beach are still going on. We have to use the small space between the bungalows.

Late afternoon the verticals for 40 and 30m and the LZ-BEAM for 10 to 20m were completed.

The first shifts began early evening. First results are positiv, good pileups on 15-17 and 20m.

QRM-SITUATION during day-time is not that bad. Operators are in a good mood.


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After 5 flights from Germany via Los Angeles and Fiji we landed around noon safe in Tuvalu.

Weather: 32° C , rain and very high humidity.

We are beginning to equip the station-bungalow with the 4 stations. Heavy machines are still busy around the hotel-complex.

Hopefully they will finish their job soon, because the space for antennas is very restricted.

Let's keep the fingers crossed, that the qrm-situation will improve the next days.



T2C (Oct 04)


Ops: DG2RON, DH5FS, DJ7TO, DJ9KH, DK5WL, DL1KWK, DL4SVA, DL6KAC, DL6KVA, DL7JOM, DL7VEE & DL8LAS


Bands: 6M - 160M


Modes: CW, SSB, RTTY & FT8


Qsl Info: Qsl via DL4SVA (direct or buro), LoTW or OQRS


Start Date - End Date: Oct. 10 - Oct. 30




 
 
 

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