Wednesday, March 30, 2011

DXpedition on track for April 17-20

Everything is still on track for the DXpedition to occur on April 17 to 20. If I can erect the Spiderbeam at 10m without any problems, then I'll focus on the higher bands. Judging from conditions recently during CQWW WPX SSB 10m, 15m and 20m are in good shape.

Based on past IOTA trips and recent conditions, here's a good idea of where I'll be:

0000-0200 UTC 10m and 15m short path to North, Central and South America

0200-0330 UTC lunch break and shower

0330-0600 UTC 10m and 15m short path to JA (will also check short path America's on 20m)

0600-0830 UTC 10m short path and 20m long path to Europe

0830-1200 UTC 15m short path to Europe

1200-1600 UTC 20m short path to Europe


1600-2000 UTC sleep once 20m closes to Europe

2000-0000 UTC 10m and 15m short path to North, Central and South America

For 99% of the time I'll be doing SSB, I'll only revert to PSK31 if I can't get my signal through at various times. I'll spot on the DX cluster every time I do a band change. In the 2000-0200 UTC period where I'm looking for North America, I'll also take time out to go outside and change the beam heading on the Spiderbeam down to South America and announce it on the cluster.