ZK2V  2011  -  Latest news

Sunday 8th January 2012     Firstly some more 'thanks' to everyone who helped ZK2V 2011 :
Thanks to Max IK8LOV for his hard work on the Logsearch, Statistics and Propagation pages.
Thanks to Pete G4CLA for developing the exciting new 'real-time' logging software.
Thanks to Ken ZL4KF for hosting this website.
Thanks to Michael G7VJR at ClubLog which linked to my real-time log.
Thanks to Steve N3SL and his daughter Kim for handling all the QSL tasks.
Thanks to Ken ZL4NR and David ZL4DK for their logistical support during the DXpedition.
Thanks to Gary ZL2iFB for storing antennas for us after the DXpedition.
Thanks to our friends Metusela and his wife Vanessa, who live in Tuapa on Niue,
for their local support during the DXpedition

Report on ZK2V 2011
Hello everyone - if you are reading this I admire your patience - it has taken me much longer than
expected to write this report about ZK2V 2011.  This is just a brief report - more detailed articles will
appear in various publications over the next few months.
I did very little operating during the first 2 weeks of the DXpedition - my good friend Keith had only
these 2 weeks to experience his first major DXpedition (Keith has been on many contest DXpeditions
and also several 9M2/GM4YXI IOTA DXpeditions but this was his first to a rare DXCC entity)  We also
only had one good radio + amp - our spare FT-840 is a great little radio but not really up to handling
big pile-ups. As it happens, I was laid low for several days during this first 2 weeks - I suffered dozens
of mosquito bites and my immune system went into overdrive. Luckily the mozzies on Niue do not
carry any Dengue fever or Malaria, but the sheer number of bites (which I tried hard to avoid) was
the problem. Another problem was the temperature in the Coconut Inn - this small concrete house
was very warm during the day and all night, which made sleeping difficult. We were sharing this
little house with many of God's creatures - cockroaches, small crabs, mice, mosquitoes, hornets, etc.

Radio conditions were excellent for the first 4 weeks or so. We were using an untried new design of
Spiderbeam, which covered 15m, 12m and 10m only - this took us about 3 days to install and adjust -
much longer than expected given we were working in the blistering strength-sapping heat. It's easy
to say 'you should have constructed and tested this at home' (one of my golden rules for DXpeditioning)
but this was impossible logistically - we had to ship the antenna directly from Germany to Niue.
While we were sorting out the Spiderbeam, we installed other antennas including the 40m vertical which
Keith used to work loads of stations on 15m as well.
One morning early in the DXpedition I was listening on 10m with the Spiderbeam only at 10 feet above
ground, when I was amazed to hear some European stations - I worked about 60 stations including
several friends in the UK - this got the DXpedition off to a great start for me.

When Keith's ZK2X operation finished after 2 weeks (which included a very successful entry in CQ WW SSB)
I was able to configure the 'real-time' logging for ZK2V.  'Real-time' logging has many advantages (fewer
dupes, etc) but some unexpected disadvantages - for example I received several e-mails saying I had
logged a callsign wrongly as seen on the real-time logging, where in fact the callsign was correct in the
actual logfile. This was because the 'real-time' logging gives you 15s to correct a callsign before logging it -
this meant that some callsigns were logged before corrections could be made. On balance I think this
'real-time' logging is the way forward for all DXpeditions that have internet access.

An operating pattern develops over time - early morning and evenings = Europe (+ Africa, SA) then mornings
and afternoons = USA, JA.  It would have been easy to sit and work USA and JA all day just to boost my QSO
totals, but I like a challenge and there was plenty of challenge trying to work Eu on 40m and 30m !
After 4 weeks, we moved to a new location, which was cooler, had fewer mosquitoes and most importantly
had a lower noise level on 160m and 80m. I really liked this second QTH, which I was told about by Steven
ZK2AB. Its one (severe) disadvantage was that it had no internet access, but that will change in future.

Here is a brief summary of the different bands at ZK2V 2011 :
160m - a real disappointment. I knew in advance that many many stations worldwide need ZK2 on 160m, but
I was unable to work anything.  Reasons : Wrong time in sunspot cycle, not enough power, antenna not good
enough, impossible to have an antenna on a beach, coral is a very poor earth, operator tired.
80m - overall a bit disappointing. A one-man DXpedition has to sleep sometime, so I chose to sleep between 2200
and 0500 local times - when 80m is open to the USA - this let me concentrate on sunrise and sunset. Conditions were
 patchy, with no signals at all some days, but improved as we moved in December.
60m - Sorry but I don't like 60m. I don't like it being channelised and SSB only - this fills it with waffling ragchewers
who are an anathema to any DXpedition. I'm glad to see that Joe W8GEX and San K5YY are taking steps to change
the mindset of 60m users to include more DX working. Lots of radar QRM and QRN made making QSOs difficult.
40m - a bit of a struggle. I think this band suffered most from DQRM cos everyone in Europe can (mostly) hear
each other. Pile-ups were often weak and there was lots of tropical storm QRN. OTH radar QRM blocked the band
completely some days.
30m - exactly the same as 40m, except 30m is very narrow in the Pacific - data transmissions and other DXpeditions
sometimes made it difficult to find a suitable frequency to call CQ, bearing in mind you need 2 or 3 kHz above to
accommodate the pile-up.  I found my short Beverage very useful on 30m.
20m - a reliable band for DX - I did not spend as much time on 20m as I would have liked, but generally it was in
good shape and QSOs were easy to make. I fried the SO239 socket on the Moxon about 3 days before the end of
the DXpedition, so was not able to use 20m from then on.
17m - excellent band - as I mentioned before, I would have constructed a directional antenna for this band if I
had more time, cos often the signals were almost unreadable due to multipath/echo - a great DX sound !
17m results improved when I replaced the half-square antenna (which was mounted amongst thick vegetation)
with a simpler vertical + single radial. Openings to the USA on 17m were not as easy to find as I thought they would be.
15m - excellent conditions worldwide - exciting to be called by 5R8 etc when working Eu - 15m was open to all
continents simultaneously at times.
12m - excellent conditions worldwide
10m - excellent conditions worldwide
6m - I spent 1 day trying (but failing) to work Lance W7GJ on 6m EME. I also tried to work Remi FK8CP - sorry I missed you
both.

Overall ZK2V 2011 experienced much better propagation than ZK2V 2009 and I really enjoyed the pile-ups. I used a
few tricks to (mostly) outwit the DQRMers and I don't think I was pirated too often (once on 30m CW I think)

I hope you enjoyed chasing ZK2V on the bands as much as I enjoyed operating ZK2V !
73   Chris   GM3WOJ / ZL1CT / GM2V / ZK2V

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Sunday 1st January 2012    Happy New Year - I hope 2012 is a good year for you.
ZK2V baffles IT9RYH !!
In September 2003 I had a long QSO with Nino (after I moved him to 14.188) and he
agreed that 14.195 was not a good frequency to occupy.
Sadly he seems to have forgotten our QSO in the years since ...
As ZK2V, I did not get many opportunities to work 20m SSB, but one evening I went on 14.189
listening up 5 i.e. listening on 14.194 - about 5 minutes after the start of the big Eu pile-up, sure
enough IT9RYH calls - I work him. 3 minutes later he calls again - I work him again.
This baffled Nino - 194 is not 'his frequency' so should he try to occupy 194 as well ?
Over the next 25 minutes or so I heard a couple of forlorn 'Romeo Yankee Hotels' -
weakly among the other much stronger European callers. Nino outwitted !

Many thanks to the following individuals who supported ZK2V 2011 financially :
Alex Gartshore GD6IA
Jan Harders DJ8NK
Ladislav Prajsner OK2PAY
Vic Lindgren G4BYG
Peter Sundberg SM2CEW
 John Dunnington G3LZQ 
Alasdair Hutchison
Patrick Marteville F-59706
Donald Havlicek N8DE
Neil Carr G0JHC
Preston Estep KT0NY
 Renzo Persoglia IV3JNH
Stephen Moles N5MX
Jack White G8DX
Luciano Melo CT1HHP
Jorge Azevedo CT1DOF
David Lee W6ZL / A35KL
Robert Ladden
Steve Jones WS5W
David Witucki N8OC		 Wes Printz W3SE/ZL3TE
Stewart Cooper GM4AFF
Sid Shusterman K3SX
Masamichi Kumakura DV1/JO7KMB
Victor Bravo CT4GO
Cliff Power K1CP
Frederick Holmes W1SKU
Mark Schiefelbein K0ABC
Thomas Shykula K5JK
Michael Micu-Budisteanu OE6IMD
Charles Hornsburg K5IX
Russell Young Jnr. WA2VQV
David Tessitore K1DT
Fred Covell WA1ZIC
Ronald Brodeur W1KDA
Andrez Makowski SP5DIR
Jerzy Baluk SP5LM
Andy Hewitt G3SVD
Bill Rohde K3XA
Francesco D'Alo IK0FUX
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ZK2V Quiz #2 -             ZK2V  versus  IT9RYH
Well there was always only going to be one winner in this encounter !
Who 'won' and why ?
Please e-mail your answer to    chris@zk2v.com
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Monday 26th December 2011    Merry Xmas !  It's taken me 4 days to be able to update this webpage, which has been a bit frustrating. We are now safely back in the U.K.
Thanks to everyone who worked ZK2V 2011.  Thanks to everyone who has supported ZK2V 2011 financially - much appreciated.
Thanks to my friend Keith GM4YXI / ZK2X who joined me for the first 2 weeks of our 8-week trip and provided many vital resources for the DXpedition.
A special thanks to my wonderful XYL Pippa who supported me with cups of tea through many hours of pile-ups, never complaining when I started cursing at some of the stations calling !   (not you of course ....)

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Monday 19th December 2011     ZK2V 2011 is now QRT !  
First QSO = OK2PAY at 1751z on 22nd October, 15m CW, Last QSO = LA3ANA at 1841z on 19th December, 17m CW.

ZK2V QSO total =  35686 QSOs (+16 QSOs in WAE RTTY), ZK2X QSO total = 12297 QSOs  
=>    DXpedition total =  47999 (!) QSOs.

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