As you may remember, our #1 Goal for this DXpedition is give as many ATNO’s out as possible. We believe we are on track for that. We also are very interested in giving out all band slots from 160 – 10M when conditions permit. We ran a poll earlier in the planning phase and have the log and data from VK0IR – when the SSN was ZERO and 12 and 10M was not at all productive. Visit Clublog to see the stats – Uniques is one we are watching especially. As our total goes up, the Uniques statistic will drop:
Uniques and ATNO’s – its hard to tell if they actually correlate, but Clublog does have this “new DXCC” statistic – which is at least a stat as good as the representative sample for all of those who have actually uploaded to Clublog (and we hope everyone does!):
We are analyzing the difference between Uniques and “New DXCC” – in hopes that these numbers mean ATNO’s are happening – the great feedback and “thank you’s” seem to indicate this is the case.
We are very pleased at so many who have made Honor Roll or #1 Honor Roll or made an ATNO – this is what drives us and keeps us motivated – thank you so very much for your support and kind words. That means a lot to the team.
We have received lots of praise for the low bands – and have received some excellent words of thanks for 160 and 80M especially. However, look at 30M – one thing you might be very interested in is that 30M stays open until 12 Noon on Heard Island! No wonder it is emerging as the “money band”. This is also why we planned a 4 square for that band and also 40M!
The sun hasn’t helped – its about half as active sun spot wise as when the team were /MM. Please get the Palos Verdes Sun Dancers out!
Latest Team Update:
2016-03-28 09:51:45Z: This afternoon we have a full complement of stations on the air, and have put up beverage antennas and a vertical dipole array for 15 m pointed towards the central US. It’s very windy today, and walking into the wind can be very difficult. There are occasional squalls with graupel, and other gusts blow volcanic dust everywhere. The temperature is around 3 C (38 F).
One last thing – I work full time in San Francisco and simply cannot keep up with the email to my personal email address. PLEASE use the “Contact Us” so that the 10 very dedicated and hard working DXer / Support agents can help you resolve your issue or answer your questions.
73, Rich KY6R
vk0ek.org 
Propagation to East coast of NA is poor. Do you plan to specify NA only on SSB and operate by call areas sequentially when a window is open to States ??
Thank you for your efforts in our behalf .
Well done, dear friends! Well done!
While I am neither allowed antennas in this housing complex, and heaven forbid, to transmit, I did give it a try! Sadly without making contact with VK0Ek… Not to worry – I did have a ‘field day’ just listening!
By now I have heard virtually every member of the VK0EK Team on either voice or CW on most of the bands. The following are some of my observations:
1. Every single operator at VK0EK deserves a medal for: Patience, politeness and overall professionalism!
2. Please, please shoot all those IDIOTS that have called on the VK0EK frequencies!
3. What to do with those that kept on calling in the time that VK0EK has worked one or more stations? Even with my 35 year old equipment I could monitor both frequencies…
4. Publicity and support for the VK0EK operation was unmatched by anything that I have seen to date.
5. DXA! Fantastic! I can follow everything in as good as ‘real time’! What a pleasure it is too see my friends securing yet another spot!
6. While this may sound like my swan song, hopefully it is not! I had to thank the trustees and had to switch on the security lights in the housing complex again. Thanks to their cooperation it was possible to follow the VK0EK activities day and night up to now.
7. SWLs usually are way in the background during events like these, but as keen listener I do do think that I have enough evidence to claim a very special card from both the ZL/ZS9HI/MM and VK0EK operations. If not, I and my family have had a great time following all the updates on your great mission!
Very special thanks to Rich, KY6R, who has been giving us updates all the time in spite of his own heavy personal workload!
Thank you all!
73 de Jan, ZS6BMN
When will the West Coast operation begin? Only the “super” stations are the lucky ones so far. City lot stations (like mine) have heard nothing. I hope a hex beam at 60′ will be enough but seven days may not be enough time to get through the pecking order. Probably won’t be around for the next one.
For me, it’s for sport. For others, it’s more serious. Hope to see the West Coast end on the air soon. Your doing your best and have no control over El Sol.
Rick
N6DQ
Hey Rick, I did manage to work them on 30 CW from my tiny lot in Palo Alto, using a dipole at 35′. If you have 30 meter capability, it may be the best bet until Spit comes on.
Not a chance for us (small gunners),
How can we get ATNO, with so many unique and BIG GUNS.. Its ridiculous..
Maybe, set a Freq on Band for ATNO, if someone is already in log, Do not log him…
Give us a chance, not only vk0ek but future dxpeditions…. 3/4 million dollars on these projects and its pretty much for Antenna Farms fellows…
Just thinking out loud,
Uniques quantity
OR
ATNO Quality
Bedt 73’s
Worked them with a 30m dipole on the 3rd day as have many others. No super station required.
ATNO for me! I listened and listened 19 years ago for VK0IR and heard nothing but a whisper. 12800+ miles from my QTH to Heard! And to have worked you guys on 160 with my humble inverted Vee was magical! Can’t say enough good things about VK0EK!
It seems to me that if 30m is your money band, you’d have a station there all the time. Currently it’s not being used – just about 0000 UTC on 29 March.
So far I’ve listened several hours every day since Thursday and have yet to hear anything I could be reasonably sure was the operation and have never heard the call once. While not a big gun, I have a decent station, VK0 will be my #310, but we need to rent some sunspots. One thing I’m sure of is that the predictions on DXSummit from VOACAP are useless.
Thanks to the team for their efforts!
It is painful to see that some are struggling for their ATNO. I sincerely want everyone to make it! I can’t speculate on why some are having difficulty while for others it is easy but I can offer some comments from personal observation. Following along on DXA (which is very addictive in case you didn’t know), DX chat rooms, spots, and other sources I can tell you that a lot of small stations are getting in the log.
Here in Maine, propagation peaks have been short on 160 through 15 meters, but with spectacular signals at peak on the better days. It has been necessary to be there at the peak times. Propagation knowledge and tools have been invaluable. 12 meters was weaker and nothing on 10 but this was expected due to low solar activity. There is great day to day variation. One day the 80 meter station peaked S9+15 dB (absolutely amazing!) while the next day it never got above S5 and the next it was S9 at peak. One morning 15 meters opened well before my sunrise and the signal peaked over S9 for about an hour while the following day nothing until an hour after sunrise and peaked S2, the day after that back to being in before sunrise with S9 peak or better. There has been magic to be had, but one must catch the right times.
There is a lot of time left. I hope everyone catches a good propagation peak and gets their ATNO!