• [NEWS / SUMMARY] –

All team members were safely back in Germany on late October 31. This DXpedition was not easy, but the team is happy to have made it. It is rather difficult to find a good ham radio QTH for a larger group on Nauru this time.

We were active from two different locations. The first group started at an AirBnB QTH in Anibare on the east side of the island with the beam only for the higher bands. When the rest of the team arrived, we managed to secure another site on the north shore near the Arubo Catholic Church with antennas for lowbands (160 to 30m) and one high band antenna for first 17, then 12m as well as a 6m loop. The RX situation on lowbands was not satisfactory, although we tried almost every night to find a solution for the atmospheric noise. However, it seems that we are not alone: other groups in the pacific are currently experiencing the same issues.

Our QSL Manager has checked the incoming log correction requests. Several dupes were removed and the online log now shows some 94 k QSOs. The design for the QSL is already finished and the QSL mailings should start still before end of November. LoTW upload for our supporters has already started (OQRS).

The team is grateful to the support of the whole ham radio community. Where do we go next?

  • [QRT, OCTOBER 29] –

Another excellent DXpedition by this super group has come to an end. They made just over 95K QSOs. Thanks a lot guys for flying the flag! 

  • [OCTOBER 28] –

As the DXpedition draws to a close – check the log – here’s some beautiful sunset pictures and video by team member DL8LAS.

  • [OCTOBER 26] – 

For info, dismantling of stations will start on Tuesday, October 29 after local sunrise. Until then C21MM remains active, including participation in the CQWW SSB contest.

  • [OCTOBER 25 @ 0600z] – 

Team report their RX situation is extremely difficult right at the equator. All receiving antennas such as BOG, DHDL and loop on ground have S9 noise. CW is not possible on 160m, and extremely difficult aon 80m. They always try to use other transmitting antennas as RX antennas, sometimes with success, but the noise level is very high on low bands. They also say 40m / 30m signals are very weak, S0-S3, so better to call not with high speed as it’s mostly not possible to decode. Often there is also flutter sound on weak EU signals.

30m antenna @ C21MM (DL8LAS)

  • [VIDEOS] – 

Special thanks to Andree DL8LAS who has been really superb in sending pictures and now videos of the C21MM DXpedition. Great to see and share ! (The videos are embedded via the X platform but still playable without the need for an account there). 

  • [OCTOBER 24] –

Our DXpedition is coming to its end. Over 75000 QSOs are already in the log from 160m to 6m.

It was a rather wild adventure for all of us and it seems that Murphy was with us all the time. We had to check our antennas and guying lines daily and had to repair them often. Last but not least, we had to move our highband beam to slightly lower position. However, our large team is in a good spirit and we are quite satisfied with the results so far. As always, we learned new things which will be used for further DXPeditions.

Remember that 99.9 % of all QSOs from Nauru have a minimum distance of 4,000 km. Europe and most of the US is more than 10,000 km away. We have good TX antennas for the lowbands but the RX situation was quite challenging. High atmospheric noise level as well as some man made noise heavily affected RX performance. Nearly every night, we tried to improve the low band receiving situation but it was difficult to eliminate the S9+ noise. The high bands performed generally quite well, but we are still waiting for a good 10 m opening to Europe. The last challenge will be the CQ WWDX SSB as M2.
Normally we hear rather well on higher bands. Please do not call us if you can’t hear us for sure. Also, please try to avoid dupes. Check the online log before calling again. We update our online log @ Club Log every day. Additionally, we offer a livestream where you can see your QSO immediately. If your QSOs does not appear there or in the online log, please call again. Log corrections will be checked and applied after the DXpedition.

Many thanks for all the serious, friendly and constructive comments. However, some of the comments were a little off the mark.

We will start to dismantle the antennas and the stations on October 29, after local sunrise.

  • [NEWS / VIDEO] –

Nauru Media News – NTV recently interviewed C21MM team members DG2RON and DJ9KH who gave an insight into their DXpedition. You can watch the interview (Facebook login required) by clicking picture below or via this link:

  • [OCTOBER 22 @ 0500z] –

Team just had some unplanned downtime. The coax cable got cut and the mast carrying the beam was thrown over. Fortunately, worse things could be prevented. High bands are up and running again.

  • [OCTOBER 18] – 

The first team members have been on Nauru for a week, the rest of the crew arrived on October 15. More than 42,000 QSOs are already in the log and we became QRV on the low bands. We’re still waiting for a great high band opening in Europe.

Our first QTH, an Airbnb guesthouse close to the Anibare harbor and our hotel, works quite well with our two element wire beam for the five high bands. For the lowbands activity we arranged another QTH near the Arubo Catholic Church, right on the north coast with no obstructions to the north.

We erected two 22m Spiderbeam fiberglass poles for 160 and 80m verticals with one elevated radial. For 40m and 30m we use (rhombic) loops with 50 Ω impedance and on 60m we use another vertical with one elevated radial. DL8LAS and DL6KAC installed a DHDL receiving antenna. This helps against the very high atmospheric noise (up to S9). Fortunately, we do not have a lot of manmade noise at both QTHs. Regarding the lowbands, we are very satisfied with the antenna performance from 80m to 30m. On 160m we didn’t hear any station until now. 6m activity also takes place from the northern QTH. So far, we have logged nearly 500 QSOs on 6m – mainly with Japan. Expect regular activity on 6m from now on.

We all live in the Menen Hotel and the Nauruan people are friendly and helpful. The second QTH made it necessary to establish a transport service from the hotel in line with our shift operations. The ride takes about 15 minutes.

We have set up a live stream on Club Log for both QTHs. The Starlink satellite internet works really well and can be found in numerous houses on the island. Unfortunately, we lost our sixth (backup) station. Electricity is very expensive on the island and you have to buy prepaid “power ups”. Fortunately, we only had few smaller power outages.

So still no time for sightseeing. Hopefully, we can do that next week.

DJ5IW & DL6KVA shuttlebus to QTH no.2 🙂

PSK reporter (160m)

80m antenna with 2 elevated radials

Professional radial isolator

Moonset C21MM @ DL8LAS

  • [OCTOBER 17 @ 0300z] –

Today, team C21MM finished the building of antennas at the second QTH:

  • [OCTOBER 16 @ 2055z] –

Today (Oct 16th) was the first night on 80, 60 & 40m from QTH #2. EUs stations were logged. The team also erected the DHDL for receiving earlier. New picture gallery courtesy DL8LAS:

  • [OCTOBER 16 @ 0800z] –

Today (local evening) C21MM started low band activity, initially working 80m FT8. 

Nice cap! C21MM team member DL8LAS taking time out from operating.

  • [OCTOBER 15 @ 1215z] – 

Team are not yet QRV on low bands. The recent cluster spot on 80m was fake. Club Log livestream is working on site #1. They plan to bring this also to site #2 once QRV from there.

Ronny DG2RON running 20m SSB.

  • [OCTOBER 15 @ 0010z] –

After some scouting activities and re-evaluating the situation, we plan to bring up the low band antennas tonight (local). We are also evaluating to set up high band antennas at the second QTH. This would enable us to be active in two modes on the same band.

  • [OCTOBER 13] –

The first group of six team members arrived on Nauru very early in the morning on October 10th. Our luggage also arrived without any problems. The pickup from the Menen Hotel went perfectly and we were able to move into our rooms early. However, we were all pretty tired. The temperature shows a hot 30 degrees Celsius and not much lower at night. Since the Menen Hotel doesn’t allow amateur radio in its area, we booked an AirBNB tiny house about 1km north. That was fine with electricity, air conditioning and internet. Phill C21TS visited us on the first day. This area does not offer a clear view to the north-northwest for Europe and Japan, but a good view to the northeast for the USA.

On the first day we assembled the wire beam and started the expedition with up to three stations. The ground noise was and is low here and we were QRV on CW, SSB and FT8 from 20 to 10 m. Almost all the higher bands were open on the first evening. This allowed us to work a lot of Europeans.

Then the conditions were disturbed and it was not possible to work any EU for many hours. We found poor conditions with K = 8 on shortwave. In the first few days we still had and have a lot to organize, so sometimes not all stations were present. We are quite satisfied with 18,000 QSOs in three days.

Today we installed a small 6-m-loop and were able to work some JAs and BA4SI. The second group of our team will arrive in Nauru early Tuesday morning with lots more equipment. In the afternoon we plan to start erecting all low band antennas 160 to 30 and 6 m on our newly and additional ordered second QTH in the north of the island. We plan to be QRV on low bands starting Wednesday.

  • [OCTOBER 13 @ 0630Z]

The first team members arrived last Thursday on island. We booked an Airbnb for station No.1. This QTH is for high bands and we have made 19000 QSOs so far.

The last team members will arrive on Tuesday morning with the equipment for QTH No.2. This is a perfect place direct at the beach with free view to EU, USA and JA. If all is fine our plan is to be on Low bands from Wednesday. We will use two 22m Spiderpoles for 80 and 160. Other verticals and loops for 60, 40, 30m.

Please cross fingers for good condx and less QRM and QRN. For RX we will erect a DHDL. Please listen for us. First we will prefer CW.

@ DL8LAS

@ DL8LAS

  • [OCTOBER 12 @ 0900Z] 

With the rest of the C21MM crew now on their way from Singapore to Brisbane, then onto Nauru, and with the bands recovering a bit from the recent solar storm, approx 10K QSOs have been made so far – check the log here. 

@ DL8LAS

  • [OCTOBER 11 @ 0845z] – 

After 24 hours of operation we have 5700 QSO’s in the log. Despite the poor conditions, we are very happy. From Monday we have a second location in the north of the island directly on the beach. When the rest of the team arrives we will set up 30m – 160m there. The location is perfect with clear views to the EU, USA and JA.

C21MM WEBSITE

ALL PICTURES BY DL8LAS FOR DX-WORLD

  • [OCTOBER 10 / 11] –

As promised, here’s the first pics and videos of the advance team in action:

Andree, DL8LAS — (for DX-World)

DL6KVA & DL7VEE — (for DX-World)

Antenna assembly — (for DX-World)

Antenna ready for use! — (for DX-World)

Nice cap, Andree DL8LAS !

DL7VEE & DL6KVA — (for DX-World)

LZ antenna — (for DX-World)

LZ antenna — (for DX-World)

  • [QRV] – 

Shortly after 0800z today, C21MM started activity from Nauru on 20 CW using an LZ beam antenna – recording below by DX-WORLD.  Apparently, the team had a very hard day after arriving at 0500 local time with just two hours sleep, difficult logistics and 30C heat with very high humidity making antenna work difficult. Here’s the shack prior to the first CQ – nice cap 🙂

  • [OCTOBER 9 @ 1815z]

C21MM team arrived Nauru as did all luggage. Pictures are of their sunrise scene, by Andree, DL8LAS, who has also dedicated himself to being DX-World’s photographer from the island! Standby for more great pics and videos in the coming days! 

  • [OCTOBER 9 @ 1050z] – 

C21MM team part 1 is currently waiting at the gate @ Brisbane airport. Arrival is scheduled tomorrow morning (local time). Reminder: Limited radio activity will occur during the next days as still some things need to be addressed once there. 

Credit: DL8LAS

  • [OCTOBER 8 @ 1100z] –

First part of the team arrived in Brisbane. Their luggage also arrived without issues. Connecting flight to Nauru is scheduled for tomorrow evening (local time).

Credit: DL8LAS

  • [OCTOBER 07 @ 0830z] – 

The advance team heading to Nauru is now at Zurich airport awaiting their first flight to Singapore then onto Brisbane. 

Left to right: DL8LAS, DL4SVA, DL1KWK, DL2RNS, DL6KVA and DL7VEE. Picture credit DL8LAS who is going to send exclusive images of their DXpedition for DX-World readers.

  • [OCTOBER 1]

The C21MM team is looking forward to its next adventure. This DXpedition to Nauru is already the most expensive and complicated expedition ever for us. Hopefully we won’t encounter any more nasty surprises.

In a few days, on October 7, the first six team members will leave Germany and plan to arrive on Nauru on October 10, after an overnight stay in Brisbane, Australia. After their arrival there are still some things to organise, so limited operation (high bands only) will take place. Full operation with 5 stations 24/7 can be expected starting October 15 in the evening (local time, UTC +12). We will pay special attention to our sunrise and sunset for low band openings.

The whole team is grateful for the generous donations from early supporters. Thank you! Our QSL manager has received the LoTW certificate for C21MM. QSLs and LoTW confirmations will be sent out after our return in November.

Further news and pictures will be published on our website. Please make sure to follow us on X: https://x.com/C21MM_2024.

We will also provide DX-World and Daily DX with updates during the DXpedition.

We are looking forward to working you! If you have any hints during the DXPedition, please drop us an email at c21mm.info@mydx.de. (Please note this email address is not for QSL queries).

  • [SEPTEMBER 30]

A recent post over on X mentioning that the first team members of the C21MM DXpedition are on the way to Nauru in a few days time. Similar to their T2C Dxpedition last year, DX-World will also be publishing exclusive pictures of the activity. 

FULL INFO HERE (or click banner below)