Welcome to my personal website which is dedicated to amateur radio. This site contains information about my activities related to traveling and operating amateur radio from rare places or of special interest but also about my small radio projects and amateur radio in general. For your reaction, suggestions or comments please contact me directly via e-mail pg5m(at)dx.to.
Gerben – PG5M
DXpedition W8S to Swains Island rescheduled
In close cooperation with Alex Jennings, the representative of Swains Island, the team has decided to postpone the W8S DXpedition to Swains Island to autumn of 2020.
The reason behind this postponement is the travel restrictions when entering American Samoa, restrictions imposed by the Department of Health of American Samoa as a result of the Corona virus outbreak. The Department of Health allows non-residents to enter American Samoa only via Hawaii, after a 14 days mandatory quarantine in Hawaii.
For the team this is not a workable situation. It would require extending the holiday time by an additional 2 weeks, re-routing of the flights and purchasing new tickets etc. Everything is prepared for our DXpedition, and we are eager to go, but unfortunately the Corona virus outbreak is out of our control.
Although this is a disappointment for everyone, the W8S DXpedition is not cancelled, but just postponed for later this year! You and/or your DX-club made a donation to the Swains DXpedition, which is very much appreciated by the whole team as that helps the team to cover some part of the investment the team already made. However if you are considering withdrawing your donation, please just let us know.
As soon as we have the new firm date for the DXpedition we will update you and the whole DX-community.
The international team of 10 operators will be active from Swains Island as W8S. We will be QRV on all HF bands in CW, SSB, FT8 and RTTY. Operation is from two separate camps on the island and each camp has two stations. We will run the 4 stations simultaneously, 24 hours a day.
After the operators fly in from Europe and the US, there is a 365 km long voyage by vessel that may take up to a full day and landing can only take place during high tide.
Operators
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DL6JGN
PA3EWP
DJ9HX
DJ9ON
DL2AMD
DL6KVA
AG4W
KO8SCA
PA4WM
PG5MStations and antennas
| Radio | Amplifier |
| Elecraft K3 | Expert 1.3K-FA |
| Elecraft K3 | Expert 1.3K-FA |
| Elecraft K3 | Expert 1.3K-FA |
| Elecraft K3S | Expert 1.5K-FA |
| Band | Red Camp |
Blue Camp |
| 160m | T-antenne | |
| 80m | 80m Vertical | |
| 60m | Vertical + elevated radials | |
| 40m | Vertical + elevated radials | Phased vertical |
| 30m | Phased vertical | VDA |
| 20m | Hexbeam | VDA |
| 17m | VDA | VDA |
| 15m | Hexbeam | Vertical |
| 12m | Hexbeam | Vertical |
| 10m | Hexbeam | Vertical |
| Receive | K9AY | K9AY |
Camp layout
QSL manager: PG5M
Official web site: Swains2020