News #9 - 23 April 2023
The team is on the way back home on three different flights from Singapore. Our QSL Manager Sven DJ4MX wants to point out that using OQRS through Club Log will automatically bring a LotW confirmation as well.
Looking back, everything went as expected, although some things took a little longer in the beginning. Nothing went broken, and everything we needed was there (based on a 250 lines long Excel sheet) following the PPPPPP principle ("Proper preparation prevents piss-poor performance"). The Excel sheet for the upcoming November activity will be somewhat longer, as we'll probably send a seafreight container in August.
73 de DL6FBL for the team
(DL6FBL, E77DX, SP5XVY)
News #8 - 22 April 2023
We shut down operation around 03:00z, which is local noon here. In a short while we'll begin to take down our antennas and clean up the outside space, which will not take long. Then we'll go out for some final negotiations in the prospected second location for the upcoming activity in November 2023. After dark we'll pack our suitcases with the stuff that goes back home, while some other stuff will be securely stored away onsite to wait for us coming back in November. When all is done, we'll have a nice fish dinner and finish up the rest of cans/bottles around. Flight back home starts tomorrow in the early local morning, with a stopover in Singapore.
Thanks for over 43.000 QSOs with 13.500 unique callsigns: 21.640 x CW, 19.760 x SSB and 1.870 x RTTY. We hope you've enjoyed our operation as much as we did. If you didn't make it in the log, watch out for us coming back in November.
OQRS service goes through Club Log, and - if you want - please consider a donation for the next activity.
73 de DL6FBL for the team
(DL6FBL, E77DX, SP5XVY)
News #7 - 20 April 2023
Internet connectivity over LTE doesn't get better. There is only one cell for the whole area, and the number of users in the network has dramatically increased over the past three years. Especially in the local evening hours we experience a packet loss of >50%, which is the cause for frequent upload errors in the Club Log Live Stream. We noted that once a QSO upload is busted for a callsign, subsequent QSOs with the same callsign are somehow ignored, too. This creates extra confusion, because the same guys try over and over again, although they are perfectly fine in our (local) log. The only way to get over it are full log uploads every few hours, which will make all the missing contacts show up in Club Log.
Still struggling to increase the number of North American and South American stations in the log. Signals are very low compared to all the Europeans booming in. We started to listen explicitly for North America and South America for a couple of minutes every now and then when the bands let also come Europe in. It's better in the hours when there is no propagation to Europe. Some guys are complaining that we were "always beaming to Europe". Please read our website again. We only have Vertical Dipoles. There is nothing to beam with... ;-)
Yesterday we had several meetings with the License Agency, the Customs Office, customs brokers, transport companies and the local airline to pre-arrange more things for the upcoming larger activity in November 2023.
Today we'll have a very special moment here: around local noon we'll have a full solar eclipse, and there is a big party going on here in the Beach Resort. Since DX propagation is down during the daylight hours anyway, we'll join the party and have some fun and relax.
We have also made up our schedule for dismantling the station. We'll stop operating on Saturday, 22-April-2023 around 06:00z.
73 de DL6FBL for the team
(DL6FBL, E77DX, SP5XVY)
News #6 - 17 April 2023
Internet connectivity at 4W1A is unstable at times. It appears that some contacts are lost in the permanent Live Log upload stream to Club Log. This can be fixed/synchronized by a later full upload of the ADIF file. If you wondered about missing contacts on Club Log, please check back again, and if necessary, send us a message through the Contact Form on our website.
Last night a thunderstorm and heavy rain came by, and we shut down operation for a while. Sorry for the abrupt disappearance. Same can happen, when public electricity or the on-site generator is lost, and doesn't come back for a while. After 5 days, our small "Three men and Dipoles only" team has made 23.600 QSOs in CW/SSB/RTTY, from 8.400 unique stations. We're still struggling to get more North and South America in the log. When the medium bands (20m, 17m, 15m) are open to America, there is also propagation to Europe. As we don't have directional antennas, and European signals are always stronger here, it is extra stressful to pull out the weaker signals from America. Please bear with us, when we try to work only America for a couple of minutes every now and then. On the lower bands (40m, 30m) and the higher bands (12m, 10m) it's getting easier now as the loud Asian stations have already made it in the log.
Please note that we concentrated on operating so far. Now, after the weekend, we'll take more care about preparations for the larger 4W Timor-Leste DXpedition coming up in November 2023. It means that we'll be operating less hours per day as in the past days. If you don't make it in our log now in April, stay tuned for November.
73 de DL6FBL for the team
(DL6FBL, E77DX, SP5XVY)
News #5 - 14 April 2023
After two days of operating (we'd better say "two nights of operating") there are over 8.800 QSOs in the log. You can always see the current statistics here: https://clublog.org/charts/?c=4W1A#r. We have touched all bands from 40-10m, but haven't spent equal time for SSB/CW there yet. Also the coverage on continents is not yet equal. Working Europe is easy on all bands, and also Asia, of course, but North and South America is still under-represented. We are aware of that and try to focus on those regions in the coming days. As we are only using omni-directional antennas here, it's not a matter of (our) antenna direction, but rather a matter of selecting the right bands for the Americas, which may offer the best propagation. You may also want to check out K6TU's propagation tool on our website to find the best times for each band. We'll use the same charts to identify and select the bands on our side.
You may also want to follow us on Facebook.
73 de DL6FBL for the team
(DL6FBL, E77DX, SP5XVY)
News #4 - 13 April 2023
First hours of operation went fine. We started on 10/SSB, 12/CW and 20/RTTY, moving to some lower bands later. More than 3.300 QSOs in the log already. You can use Club Log logsearch here: https://clublog.org/logsearch/4W1A. We had some upload issues in the beginning, which caused quite some dupes, however it should be working stable now. Club Log is providing some really exciting statistics, and you should really check out the 4W1A page there: https://clublog.org/charts/?c=4W1A. You can also follow us on the Log Live Stream: https://clublog.org/livestream/4W1A.
Daylight hours down here are not very productive. That’s the time we use for sleeping, relaxing and doing other things. In the late afternoon propagation will pick up again.
There are some first pictures in the gallery: http://www.timor-leste-dx.de/gallery/gallery.php
73 de DL6FBL for the team
(DL6FBL, E77DX, SP5XVY)
News #3 - 12 April 2023
We have a valid license! Our callsign is 4W1A. We're on the way back to our location and start operating soon. We'll try to have three signals on three bands at the same time, however we may run into some initial RFI phenomena which eventually must be solved, while one or two stations may still keep on operating.
See you all in the pile-ups!
P.S.: We'll also have to set up Club Log and Live Streaming when back. We couldn't prepare that, because you must know your callsign first... Be a little patient on that. This service might only start tomorrow... ;-)
73 de DL6FBL for the team
(DL6FBL, E77DX, SP5XVY)
News #2 - 11 April 2023
We are on-site, antennas are up. We are ready to go, but we still have to wait for the license. We were told that we may pick it up tomorrow.
So far our location sounds to have low noise, and signals on 10m and 12m coming in at 11 p.m. local time (14:00z) are 59+, and on 50 MHz we decode FT8 signals from "easy" spots like JA, BY, HL, HS, YB, 9M...
It's very hard to listen and still have to be "stand-by"... ;-)"
73 de DL6FBL for the team
(DL6FBL, E77DX, SP5XVY)
News #1 - 31 March 2023
4W - Timor-Leste
DL6FBL Ben, E77DX Braco and SP5XVY Robert will be active from Timor-Leste, Monday, 10-Apr-2023 through Saturday, 22-Apr-2023. The callsign is still unknown.
Ben writes: "This activity is meant as a Scouting Trip for a larger activity by Lagunaria DX group in November 2023. Now in April we'll have two or three radios/amps and wire antennas only, but we'll use the same beachfront location planned for November. We'll try to be on the air as much as possible, but we'll also need time for on-site negotiations etc. Now in April: CW, SSB and classic RTTY on 40m-10m only. We'll reserve all other bands and modes for the November activity. However we’ll keep an eye on 6m. When local Internet access is working well, we'll use Club Log‘s Live Stream logging as well as their OQRS services."
For more information check out http://timor-leste-dx.de/, which has propagation prediction charts and other details in the "Operating" section.
QRZ.COM and Facebook page will be published after our callsign has been issued.
Learn more about the Lagunaria DX Group and visit our website http://lagunaria-dx-group.org/.
73 de DL6FBL for the team
(DL6FBL, E77DX, SP5XVY)