This HAM-ADVENTURERS group includes the four of us.
Agreed. Antennae choices are important to success. Seasonality choice is probably the first decision to be made.
I¡¯ll see what I can turn up on the QTH¡likely will find it.
Band and mode choices are a pragmatic matter. If our goal is lots of contacts¡FT8 and FT4 alone works. ?We¡¯re mostly SSB ops. That¡¯ll be our bread-and-butter, but I like the digital modes and they give seekers their ATNO. My CW can work for DX operations if need be.
We¡¯ll be at the top of Sun Cycle ?#25 if we go in the next four years!
Ev
From Joe:
Thanks for sending me the report on the September 2022 Chatham Island DXPEDITION. Several thoughts and opinions.?
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1. The weather can be brutal. Peter and I have discussed it with emphasis on time of year and antennas vs heavy rain and wind. ?
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2. The Crank-IR antenna is not a good option. I still recall the JA team on Norfolk saying that it was too much trouble. It broke several times. In strong winds it can fail often. Plus one has to run out into the elements to change bands.??
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3. It was good to know that a QTH house can be rented, and it includes a 4WD vehicle. Although no price is given.?
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4. The father-son team seemed to be poorly prepared. Ev Curry had everything covered on our PEI trip. There were no surprises. Our team prepared well for Norfolk and I did well on NIUE.?
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5. Despite their choice of antennas and their lack of preparation, they bagged 18,305 QSOS in 13 days. However 66% of the QSOs came via FT8. CW bagged over 5,000 QSOs. My favorite mode of SSB only got a total of 323 QSOs. ?. Disappointing to me.
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6. It was noteworthy that 84.5% of all contacts came 15M to 40M. The low bands were not favorable.?
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7. I think that we could do better with Peter's knowledge of weather and the island, and our teams preparedness.?
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Joe Kelly?
Ev W6ABM McMinnville Oregon