Latest News:

Update: 1st January 2012

All direct QSL's received before 31/12/2011 have been processed and will be in the mail on January 3rd 2012.  The live QSL status (showing Sent/Rec) is also now available at:

http://www.vkham.com/Info/qsolog.html

All QSL's that were requested and available in the logs were confirmed.  If you find that one of your QSO's is not verified then I am sorry but you did not make it into the log.

Update: 20th December

QSL cards have arrived!  We will be mailing out the direct cards in the first week in January 2012 - this is to avoid the Xmas confusion.  Merry Xmas and Happy New Year to all.

Update: 9th November

Log Book of the World (LotW) has been uploaded as of 0800 UTC!

Update: 4th November

QSL cards have been ordered and we hope to be mailing out the direct cards early in December.  More photos have also been added to our Gallery - enjoy :-)

Update: 17th October

The team members are safely back at home and we thank everybody for the contacts and for being patient with us - some of the pileups were quite over-whelming.  Conditions on the higher bands were great, as evidenced by the statistics.  12 metres was our busiest band with just over 3,000 QSOs.

On return home I see we received some requests for the lower bands. We simply did not make many contacts on 160 or 80 mainly for 2 reasons; firstly, the noise levels were quite high most evenings due to local storms and QRN and secondly, the higher bands were so active it made more sense to spend our time making contacts there.

Sixty Metres. Most evenings we were on 60 metres at our announced times.  Local conditions were very poor on this band with high QRN and QRM from the radar. We managed about 18 QSOs into NA but were unable to work EU or other continents - but thanks to all the stations who I know listened for us.

On behalf of the team, I thank everyone for what was another memorable trip to Vanuatu; especially our hosts at Nirvana Resort. The staff were very welcoming and understanding and I highly recommend Nirvana Resort for anyone wanting to combine some radio activity with a holiday on this beautiful island.

 

Thanks also once again to our supporters and sponsors who helped with equipment and financial donations to offset some of the costs; especially ODXG.

 

QSLing will commence shortly - direct and buro via VK2CA please. LoTW will be uploaded in about 4 weeks.

 

Very 73 everyone, and we look forward to the next Dx-pedition.

Chris VK3QB

YJ0VK Team Leader and President, ODXG Inc Http://www.ODXG.org

Number of QSOs

First QSO: 2011-09-30 03:26:14
Last QSO: 2011-10-12 00:07:27Total QSOs: 14245
Unique Calls: 7446

Band/Mode breakdown

Band	PH	CW	RTTY	PSK	FM	Total
160	4	2	0	0	0	6
80	48	11	0	0	0	59
60	18	0	0	0	0	18
40	883	748	252	0	0	1883
30	0	902	42	1	0	945
20	1377	967	527	0	0	2871
17	307	1441	122	0	0	1870
15	35	1494	0	46	0	1575
12	111	2704	107	79	0	3001
10	697	1317	0	0	3	2017
Totals	3480	9586	1050	126	3	14245

Update: 10th October

For our last 2 nights we'll look on 60 as follows:
11, 12 and 13z top of the hour for 10 mins on 60m
17, 18z top of the hour for 10 mins on 60m for EU.  Pls understand our local QRM is bad
 
Tonight will be the last night for 160.  The low band ant comes down tomorrow.
11,12z at the bottom of the hour on 160 cw for 10 mins
Local SR and SS on 160.
 
Hope to hear you.  73,  YJ0VK Team

Update: 6th October

Conditions are fantastic on the higher bands.  56% of all QSOs to date have been on the WARC Bands with nearly 25% on 12m.  The team will start to place a greater focus on RTTY this week, as well as SSB.  We have been trying 60m with limited success due to local QRM from the radar...  S9+10 wipes out any chance to hear EU, but we'll keep trying - last night we managed 14 QSOs on 60m into NA.  We are also calling on 160m at our local SR/SS, so pls listen for us there.

 

If you have any feedback pls visit our guestbook page.

73 es c u on-air...  YJ0VK Team

Update: 2nd October

The team is now set-up with 4 stations and had a great time during the Oceania DX Contest.  Many thanks to all the stations who gave us a contact.  Now we have the week to relax and work some of the WARC Bands, RTTY and EU.  Internet connectivity is very limited but we do get to send email every couple of days.  The vertical antennas are set at the high water mark and are doing a great job.

We look forward to working you.

Update: 26th September

The team have received a number of requests for certain bands/modes.  Please refer other news items for our plans on 60m.  The higher bands (esp 17 and 12m) will receive considerable attention, especially if conditions are as good as we hope they will be!  We have received a number of requests for Top Band.  Our equipment is not ideal for Top Band – we don’t have amplifiers and our antenna will be a compromise – but we’ll do what we can and be extra diligent at our sun-rise and sun-set on CW.  We know that many EU stations need YJ on 160 but it will be a difficult path – we’ll be doing our best.

We hope to hear and work you – starting this Friday.  Vry 73,  YJ0VK Team. 

Update: 22nd September

The VK3 team members met last weekend and plans are progressing well – all equipment appears ready and operational.  Final packing will take place this weekend in preparation for the flight next Thursday.  One week to go!  We will have up to 4 stations operating SSB, CW and RTTY.  All bands 160m through 10m including 60m.  We look forward to hearing you from YJ0VK.  Any questions please send us an email or visit our Guest Book. 

Update: 6th September

60 metres.  The team has now confirmed plans for 60 metre operation.  Each day at local sunset (approx 0700 UTC) we will call CQ and listen on 60 metres.  If there is limited/no propagation we will limit our operation to 15 mins from the top of each hour from 0700UTC until 1300UTC.  This time slot should provide coverage from EU through to NA, but liaison with San K5YY via email should assist in providing feedback and fine tuning our operation.  Closer to the date we’ll liaise with San and update these plans.  Please email vk3qb@hotmail.com with any feedback or leave a message on our Guestbook – we are still uncertain on internet connectivity from the operating location.

If you are able to help support the costs for additional freight charges, even with a small donation, the team would be most appreciative.  Please visit our Support page.  http://yj0vk.odxg.org/yj0vk2011/support/default.html

Update: 4th September

Chris VK3QB and Ian VK3BUF have constructed and tested the vertical antennas.  Both appear to operate well and are mechanically robust to deal with the local conditions on the island of Efate.  The team is not into the final phases of confirming the equipment list and packing schedules.  YJ0VK also welcome a new operator to the teaam, Michael VK3GHM.

Update: 31st July

YJ0VK obtains authorisation to operate 60m.  Last week the team received official notification that we can operate 60m.  Over the coming weeks we’ll confirm our plans and schedules so please check back here for updates.

Update: 5th July

Flights and accommodation booked. The team is now into detailed planning. At this time we plan to operate 3 stations on bands from 160m through 10m, SSB, CW and RTTY/PSK31. We do not have plans to activate 6m.