VP6DX, DUCIE ISLAND-2008:
Carsten, DL6LAU, Teamleader, reports that the team has been very busy "behind the scene" for the last weeks and some things have changed or happened. To ummarize, the team has agreed to extend the duration of the DXpedition (making hem grab even deeper into their pockets).

The team will depart from Gambier Island onboard Braveheart on Tuesday, February 5th, 2008, around 1500 local time. If there are normal weather conditions, the voyage to Pitcairn will take about 36 hours. They'll spend some hours on Pitcairn before they make another 36 hours trip to Ducie. They hope to arrive at Ducie at dawn on the 9th of February. If the weather is good, they hope to have all the equipment up and running in 24 hours. The plan is to be on the air for 19 days (until February 28th). Operators Pertti/OH2PM and Krassy/K1LZ can not make it this trip, but they have added some more operators since the announcement in Dayton.

Operators as of today includes: DJ8NK, DL3DXX, DL6LAU, DL8LAS, K3NA, OH2BH, SP3DOI, SP5XVY, UA3AB and WA6CDR. Three more operators will be announced very soon. Carsten states, "But the operating team can only be as good as the guys doing a lot of things behind the scenes at home and we are very thankful to have JA1BK as our advisor in the team ­ thank you so much Kan! DF6QV, DJ2YA and OH1JT form our Antenna Engineering Team, DL1MGB is our webmaster, GU4YOX is the Electrical Team Manager and VP6MW is the liaison on Pitcairn ­ more to be announced very soon too."

The team has decided to have seven stations up and running (all Elecraft K3 transceivers with ACOM amps). For 160m, they will have two phased verticals pointing towards Europe (and the U.S.), they will use one vertical for the other areas. On 80m, they will have two 4-Squares antennas. On 40/30m, they will also have 4-Squares, while 20-10m will have phased vertical dipoles. The team is still in need for donations since the budget for this operation is well over 200,000 USDs. For more details on how to donate and an unedited report by

Carsten, please visit the VP6DX Web page at: http://www.vp6dx.com

[OPDX]