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The VP6R team wishes to thank everyone for all the contest QSOs. We hope you had as much fun as we did. Now we resume our regular DXpedition programming... “CQ de VP6R”
We had a very successful night on 160M with over 500 contacts using FT8 last night.
We have two more nights of operation on 160 & 80 meters before we must take down our antennas. We will have 24 more hours of operation on 40-10M from our base location on Pitcairn.
Tonight (starting 0100Z 30 Oct) we will be on 160 & 80M CW.
The last night (starting 0100Z 31 Oct) we will be using FT8 on 160 & 80M. We will be on 1.836 MHz (or 1.832 if busy) until 0800Z. At 0800Z we will be on 1.908 MHz until sunrise.
This morning we passed 80,000 contacts. Both the upper bands and the lower bands have had good propagation. The team spirits have been high as the pileups continue. Many all-time new ones are in the logs.
We were QRT for two hours this morning to completely dismantle and pack up the stations and antennas at the old Radio Site. The view from there is breath-taking, with a 360 degree view of the ocean from 900 feet above sea level! The propagation was also breath-taking from there! The DX Engineering team did an incredible job fabricating our 90-foot 160M antenna. It went up and came down easily. The DX Engineering falling derricks for the yagi masts made raising and lowering (and repairing) the yagis very easy. There will be pictures on our website:www.pitcairndx.com.
We are back on the air at our base camp 40-10 meters for another 24 hours before we must QRT to pack up for catching the Braveheart.
The VP6R DXpedition is now history with 82,700 Q’s in the log. We had excellent weather for dismantling our stations & antennas. We have just finished packing everything for the return trip home. The Braveheart is transporting us to Mangareva tomorrow. It will then go on to Punta Arenas, Chile, transporting some equipment we used for the South Orkney DXpedition.
The oldest Pitcairn resident passed away yesterday. We attended the funeral this morning. He was laid to rest right next to Tom Christian, VP6TC. It was a very moving experience.
We have helped two local hams get back on the air. Meralda Warren, VP6MW, has a new 40/30/15M vertical and is set up now to operate FT8. Mike Warren, VP6AZ, has a repaired vertical and new beam. They are both on the air again! VP6MW called CQ just once using FT8 on 15M. She had an instant pileup. I guess there is still a need for VP6 Pitcairn even after VP6R went QRT!
We still miss Ralph, K0IR, who did almost all of the organization and preparation for the VP6R DXpedition, but was unable to go at the last minute. I stepped in literally 5 days before leaving home. The success of VP6R is almost solely due to the details Ralph planned for. If there was ever a DXpedition on autopilot, VP6R was it. THANKS, Ralph!!!!
Thanks to everyone who worked us to make the VP6R DXpedition such a success at the bottom of the sunspot cycle.
Visit www.pitcairndx.com for QSLing details. It will be at least 7-10 days before most of the team gets home. OQRS will be activated then and is the best way to receive a QSL card. Eventually our entire log will be uploaded to LOTW. QSL via K9CT.
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