1. After 2 full days of setting up equipment – 5 stations opened for business at 2:40PM local time, March 30th.
2. The boat is at anchor 500 meters from the reef.
3. Because of the coral heads that surround the island we can only transit to Mellish Reef during daylight hours, 5:30AM first trip and last trip of the day at 5:30PM.
4. Teams will alternate operating through the night.
5. We opened on 10, 15, 20 on CW and 12, 20 on SSB, working energetic but courteous pileups from Japan, Korea, Europe, South Africa, and the USA.
6. The temperature is in the 30s(C) during the day, with continuous 20 – 30 knot winds that required us to reset the tents and guys first thing this morning. There are no trees on the reef, no shade.
7. No antennas were damaged during the high winds.
8. Only the 160 meter antenna and low band receive antenna remain to be installed.
9. The team is in good spirits and happy to finally be on the air.
10. There are many sea birds nesting on the reef, they don’t seem to be bothered by our presence. We are not bothered by any other local wildlife.
11. As with their other DX-peditions, the crew of Evohe is very helpful, bringing over all the equipment, doing all the heavy lifting, and keeping the team well fed.
12. We do have a problem with the computer used for the satellite terminal, we’re working on a solution. We will start log uploads as soon as possible.
We are NOT monitoring personal e-mail accounts.
Next update in a few days.
Ed: Logging issues should be directed to M0URX. Please do not email pilots with logging issues. Either work the slot again or ask Tim, M0URX to check log.
