K5D Desecheo DXpedition 2009 is ON!

February 15, 2009

23:30Z: Operations are going well with 26,000 QSOs so far. We now have seven HF stations on the air plus one on 6M. All stations have dual antennas.
Still no internet capablility so no logs uploaded yet. The supply boat will be here tomorrow and we'll be sending the logs back to PR to be uploaded sometime tomorrow afternoon. The boat will be bringing gear to (hopefully) repair one or both of our internet links, so we hope to have internet capability again sometime tomorrow.

February 14, 2009

23:30Z: Because of higher-than-expected winds which delayed helicopter trips, we were unable to complete our full setup on Thursday. At this writing, those problems are behind us and the camp and all antennas are in place and working.
The QSO count is just under 10,000 in the first 24 hours with only two stations operable for most of that time. We now have five stations on the air hoping for two or three more tomorrow.

We have no internet connectivity as our satellite link and our 900Mhz terrestrial link both failed. We have a plan that should get them both working in a day or two. In the meantime, no logs have been uploaded and, of course, no photos. When the links are working you'll learn about it here.

The Team is in high spirits and the weather is good now, nice breeze, calm seas but hotter than expected.

Last night we were forced to move our 40M operation away from our planned frequency. This was because of the RTTY contest which wiped out most of the band for us below 7.1MHz. The contest ends tomorrow and we expect much better 40M performance especially to Europe. We're sensitive to the fact that some EU countries/amateurs cannot transmit above 7.1MHz; this problem will self-resolve when the RTTY contest ends late tomorrow.


Carlos R Rodriguez, KP3S
QSL Mgr KP4FRA, KP3VA, KP3XX

 

Have fun, be safe, manage the pileups, and hope for some decent propagation. Remember (stateside) the focus of this dx-pedition is to make KP5 available in places it is most needed. That is NOT the USA. If you've worked it before work it only on the bands you don't have confirmed. Frequency police PLEASE stay off the air. The K5D ops can do perfectly fine w/o your help...thank you very much

 

QRV delayed until 1600Z, high winds..

 

Fingers and toes crossed for good propagation.

(This part of the world is difficult for me here at this time...)

 

Good DXs People!!!

 

I worked FM5WD in Martinique a few nights ago on 40 CW with ease. I see plenty of hope for other Asian stations working K5D from this part of the world..........FM5WD is only using a dipole at a very low height, with the big antennas of K5D I hope many of us will get in the log.


Tom XU7XXX

 

If you've worked it before work it only on the bands you don't have confirmed.
This is a good idea as i have NEVER worked KP on ANY band and i ONLY want it on 1 band,so please,,ALL be considerate to those who need it..

Paul vk2hv

thank you

 

I've been away for a while, so I don't quite understand. If the place is uninhabited why would it not be needed in the US as anywhere else?

So all those stations dropping their call letters last night were calling blind? And here I thought it only I who couldn't hear them.

 

It will be neat to add this one to my list. I plan on waiting a few days in order to give others a chance who won't have the excellent propagation. I can always get in there with the beam later and grab it.

Best DX to everyone, and thanks to the team for putting this one on the air!

 

They're now QRV on 20 CW and 17 SSB.

And, I'll point out, the two guys that are running the first stations - W2GD (20 CW) and WB9Z (17 SSB).....They're both hard core contesters. So, the DXpedition decided to put their best ops - the two contesters - on first to handle the massive pileups.

That speaks volumes.

 

I am amazed as how many people don't know how to use their radios, so many stations TX in the K5D TX, People they are not listerning because you are TX in the wrong frequency, they are RX 5-15 kc up. That is called split operations, if you read the manual it tells you how to use this funtion.

 

What freq.?

Where do we listen? I have never worked Desecheo and work long hours with few days off. What times and freqs are best?

 

keep an eye on the dx clusters... they are being "spotted" at least once every minute with what freq they are transmitting on and what range they are listening.

I have almost zero chance of getting though all the people who have turned on their amps. I'm going to gamble and let the big guns get it and wait a few days and maybe they will hear my measly mobile signal.

 

They are going to listen for little pistols 100W or less every now and then. More info at their website http://kp5.us

 

there is hope then I just have to get the screwdriver installed tomorrow