6m EME DXpedition by W7GJ to South Cook Islands
E51SIX in BG08dr
In March 2009, W7GJ operated on 6m EME from Rarotonga in ths South Cook Islands.

INTRODUCTION

You very well might wonder, “Why in the world would anybody go the opposite side of the world on a 6m DXpedition at a time of year with no Es and at a time of the solar cycle with no chance of F2 propagation?”  The answer, of course, is to take advantage of the superb EME conditions afforded at this point in the solar cycle!  If you are thinking about a trip, you might as well go someplace VERY rare so you can hand out a new DXCC in virtually every contact.  I was very pleased to complete 28 JT65A contacts with 26 stations in 8 countries and 10 states (14 contacts in Europe and 12 in the USA), and to copy additional stations in 3 more countries and one more state.  I only had EME propagation and the antenna was elevated for most contacts, so there was usually no ground gain on my end.

If you have a broadband connection, you can download the entire 20 page, 60 MB pdf trip report HERE.
More information about the 12.17 dBD gain 6M8GJ pictured above can be found here.  Details of the portable mast can be found here.   Details of the antenna assembly and elevation mount construction can be found here.


This page last revised on 13 January, 2010