• [NEWS] 

T2C has been voted best DXpedition of 2023 by GDXF (German DX Foundation). You can see a complete list of results here.  

  • [VIDEO]

A short recap of our Ham Radio DXpedition to Funafuti Island, Tuvalu in October 2023. T2C achieved more than 110,000 QSOs.

  • [QSL NEWS] – 

The T2C team wishes everyone in the DX world a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Our QSL manager does hard work. So far, he has received over 4000 direct inquiries and has already sent over 1200 letters to date. All direct applicants receive a quick LoTW confirmation. Direct shipping continues, bureau QSLs will follow in a few months. The full log will be uploaded to LoTW in April 2024, 6 months after the end of the DXpedition. And.. where do we go next?

  • [NOVEMBER 8] –

As of November 2nd, all team members are back in Germany. Our QSL manager DL4SVA is still busy checking carefully all log related comments. A lot of people who are not listed in our online log – especially in FT8 – have contacted us to get a QSO confirmed. We are checking all requests against the MSHV ALL.TXT file. This is a very time intensive process. Thank you for your patience. DL4SVA also removed a significant amount of dupe FT8-QSOs within 3-minute time window. His decision is final. A corrected log will be uploaded to Club Log later today. Once the log correction is finished, all new sponsors will be listed on our homepage and they will immediately receive their LoTW confirmations. Early December, we should receive the printed QSL cards and will start mailing them out.

  • [OCTOBER 30] – 

Our adventurous and lightweight DXpedition T2C is coming to an end. The climate on the island is challenging: temperatures never fell below 27°C with very high humidity. We even had three days without any rainfall and others with heavy rain.

The people on the island are very friendly, but after three weeks we have covered more or less the whole ground. All operators are very satisfied with the result given the simple antennas and significant space restrictions. We had lots of fun. The last station will be QRT around 10 UTC October 30. We have reached more than 110 k QSO plus roughly 4,000 QSOS from CQ WWDX SSB.

Our QSL manager DL4SVA will check the logbook for errors after our return to Germany. Additionally, several completed FT8 QSOs within a 3-minute window will be consolidated into one. If you have any questions about the log, please send an email to dl4sva@darc.de or T2C.QSL@mydx.de. QSLs should be available in December 2023. Please note: If T2C did not send RR73 or 73, it is not a QSO.

Tomorrow we leave Tuvalu. A short meeting with Antoine, 3D2AG, is planned in Suva.

Credit DL8LAS

Credit DL8LAS

  • [OCTOBER 25] –

The remaining six men on the team exceeded the 100,000 QSO mark. They are QRV from 60 to 6m with three stations 24 hours a day and will take part in the CQWW SSB Contest. One broken Expert amplifier started to work again. We paid several 100 AUD for internet access. On Monday, we met the director of the Nauti primary school and made a donation for a new drinking water filter. We also met T2AM, a local busy man without ham radio equipment. Another ham from Tuvalu T2AT is very sick and not QRV anymore. The last QRV day is Monday, October 30. Return flights begin locally at midday on October 31.

  • [OCTOBER 25 @ 0600Z] – Team member Andree DL8LAS gives a quick update:

We built a 30m and 40m upper outer antenna today because the vertical spiderbeam poles are on the way back to Germany [with half of the team]. QRM on 60m yesterday was extremely strong, sounds like a radar. We are approaching 100K QSOs. 

Credit: DL8LAS

  • [OCTOBER 22] –

We had an unexpected long power-cut. Sorry guys, we lost a low band shift because of this. The BOGs are working quite well from our site but sometimes we experience one-way conditions to EU.

On local Monday and Tuesday we have to pack and not all stations will be manned anymore. Tuesday, half of the team return to Germany with half of the equipment. That means no more 80 and 160m. Starting Tuesday we will operate with three stations. Two of them with amp. It seems the K3 for 6m had a receiving problem last days. It was swapped over. From Tuesday we will work on 20 to 6m and additional one band 30 or 40 or 60m on a daily change in CW, SSB, FT8 and RTTY.

  • [OCTOBER 21] –

Conditions in the higher bands are not as good as a few days ago. 160m wasn’t too bad last night, but the noise level is very high on 80m and 60m. The team is in good spirits and is preparing for a partial exit on Tuesday. All antennas are still up and will remain that way throughout the weekend. Even though the air conditioning failed yesterday (fixed after several hours but still doesn’t work properly). One amp is dead and the 6m TRX has some sensitivity issues. The latter will change when part of the team leaves. Current temperature: between 34 and 35 degrees.

Credit: DL8LAS

  • [OCTOBER 19] –

After 9 days on Funafuti Island, we conclude that the Funafuti Lagoon Hotel is not the best QTH for a ham radio operation but maybe the only one for a bigger group. Space for antennas is heavily limited with currently no way for an installation directly on the beach. We experienced a lot of noise on the lowbands originating from the hotel buildings. We installed two BOGs overnight in the construction area away from the hotel. These antennas help a lot to improve the receiving situation from 40 to 160 m. During the day, the BOGs must be dismantled due the work of the constructionmachines on this area. Conditions are generally poor on the lowbands, but fine above five MHz. 10 and 12 m show excellent signals over many hours. A surprise was 6m. Contacts on 6m were made with 5W, 3D2, BV, JA, VK, BA, PY, CE, YB, VR2, KH2, KH6. As an absolute highlight, we had an unexpected short opening to Italy and Sardinia on this band.

Despite these challenging conditions, the team is quite happy with the achieved QSOs. Up to now, we made over 70000 contacts. Fortunately, we had no power outages so far. Most of the air conditioners are running day and night. The LTE internet is slow and expensive. The hotel WiFi is mostly close to unusable.

Yesterday Fred, DH5FS, and Christian, DL6KAC, gave a 30-minute interview, which will be broadcast on the local AM radio station.

Bad News: Two Expert amplifiers died. We will see how to continue with this challenging situation. It probably means more FT8 operation (100W) on some bands. Rest assured that we also will be active on CW and SSB.

Log correction – ONLY to our QSL manager DL4SVA@darc.de please!

  • [OCTOBER 19 @ 0700z] –

Here’s the entire T2C team posing for the camera! Thanks again to Andree for all the pictures.

  • [OCTOBER 18] –

Following on from the broken / repaired amplifier – see below – we got word tonight (1930z) that while being on 160m another amplifier has died. The repaired one had worked for more than a day but also showed again some issues so the team decided to put it out of service to prevent further damage. They say all still in good mood and try to hand out as many contacts as possible.

  • [OCTOBER 17] –

One of the Expert amplifiers was broken this morning, but thanks to the technical service team (DL7JOM and DL1KWK) it was fixed. See picture of DL6KVA operating with his freshly repaired amp! The team also erected a second 12m upper outer, because they use the same beam and have some RFI problems if two stations operate at the same time.

(credit: DL8LAS for DX-World)

(credit: DL8LAS for DX-World)

(credit: DL8LAS for DX-World)

(credit: DL8LAS for DX-World)

(credit: DL8LAS for DX-World)

(credit: DL8LAS for DX-World)

DL8LAS

QTH

  • [OCTOBER 15] –

Many thanks to the T2C team for flying the flag on Tuvalu ! This particular flag is very well travelled – it was last flown on Bouvet by team member Axel DL6KVA !

  • [OCTOBER 14] –

After just under 3 days, all of the planned antennas were set up. Since everything was organized from Germany, we weren’t sure if we could achieve this. Up to date information about the island is very scarce. The temperature is around 31°C and it is often cloudy with heavy squalls and rain showers throughout the day. Humidity is very high, which makes working on antennas strenuous.

Our air-conditioned bungalows are fine, but we don’t have much space for the antennas. Large construction machines had been in use all day long and cross the street in front of our bungalows. Therefore, we can only use the area adjacent to the bungalows so that we are not disturbing other guests. As the front part of the hotel area has been claimed from the sea, there is no beach(just rocks), which means we can’t install antennas there.

Our experienced team is in a good shape. We enjoy the excellent high band conditions to central Europe (> 15.000 km). This is only possible in the sunspot maximum. We are using simple but effective antennas and are very happy with 30.000 QSOs in 72 hours. All four stations are in operation 24/7 using a shift system. A fifth station is calling CQ on 50.313 kHz during daytime(FT8), at night we switch to 60 m.

Our two-element wire beam works very well from 20 to 10 m and produces large signals from the Europe until midnight on the high bands. The noise level is mostly S3-4, which is fine. However, sometimes we experience some type of broadband noise, which makes copying really difficult. Below 20 m we use isolated verticals with one elevated radial. On 160 m and 80 m the noise level is usually S9+, so we can only copy large stations on these bands. 60 m is a little better. Yesterday we installed a BOG-RX-antenna (Beverage on ground) atsome distance from the hotel. The BOG improved the receiving situation and we are currently installing a second one. Remember that our goal is to work especially on the high bands with maximum sunspot levels.

A CQ FT8 “beacon” runs at 6 m throughout the day. We have been working VK8AW and some JA’s. Our CQ call had also been heard in South America. We are still hoping for a great opening.

The performance is stable and we can run each band at around 500 watts. The people are very nice and streets are pretty crowded with motorcycles and cars. Sometimes it feels like rush hour in a big city. The hotel WiFi is not realiable. We therefore obtained a local SIM card, which provides access via a LTE. LTE internet access is stable but slow and expensive as the uplink is provided via satellite.

We get a lot of messages like “Is my QSO on 40 m in the log?” or “mistake in the call” via our general emailaddress. Please note, that we can’t answer this type ofemails individually. Our QSl manager has an own email. Please check our daily log update on Clublog and if in doubt, work us again. Information about band openings are always very welcomed.

  • [OCTOBER 13 @ 2200z] –

Last night T2C made 150 QSOs on 160m and 130 QSOs on 80m. Today (local time) they will erect a second RX antenna for 60 and 80, so they have two and can operate on both bands with RX antenna at the same time. Few more scenic pictures courtesy Andree, DL8LAS:

@dx-world

  • [OCTOBER 13 @ 0700z] –

Team have approx ~30K QSos in the log. QRM is an issue on the low bands, however they have now deployed a BOG to improve the receiving situation there. Results on 60m are encouraging so far. Some beautiful scenic pictures from DL8LAS below:

  • [OCTOBER 12] – 

Approaching 20K QSOs, the team have now erected the 80 & 160m verticals. Both are at 18m height and they will be QRV on these bands tonight (local time).

80m vertical (credit: DL8LAS for DX-World)

160m vertical (credit: DL8LAS for DX-World)

Top view @ T2C (@T2C_2023)

  • [OCTOBER 11] –

The team will erect the 80 & 160 antennas later today. Yesterday they operated on 60m using a vertical with one elevated radial, making almost 100 QSOs mainly with EU. Best time for this band is 1 hour before their sunrise (5am local or 18:00z). As shown in the picture there is also a small rhombic for 6m. Pileups on 10 & 12m have been big, says Andree DL8LAS. Online log here.

(credit: DL8LAS for DX-World)

(credit: DL8LAS for DX-World)

(credit: DL8LAS for DX-World)

  • [OCTOBER 10] –

A new selection of pictures direct from T2C. Again, big thanks to DL8LAS for sending them and thinking of DX-WORLD readership. Team have made 5K QSOs so far – log is here.

2el. wire beam (credit: DL8LAS for DX-World)

Filters amongst other things! (credit: DL8LAS for DX-World)

Enjoying the pileups! (credit: DL8LAS for DX-World)

Building up energy! (credit: DL8LAS for DX-World)

30m vertical triple leg (credit: DL8LAS for DX-World)

Funafuti Lagoon Hotel (credit: DL8LAS for DX-World)

Accommodation and wire beam (credit: DL8LAS for DX-World)

(credit: DL8LAS for DX-World)

40m vertical, 1 elev. Radial (credit: DL8LAS for DX-World)

  • [OCTOBER 10 @ 1215Z] –

The 30 & 40m verticals have now been assembled. QRM is ok and the 40-10m bands are workable. Pileups are big, says team member DL8LAS.  Three stations will run today (Oct 10th) with four running 24/7 from tomorrow. Also tomorrow the 80m and 160m vertical will be built, and receiving antenna BOG. Many thanks to DL8LAS for pictures for DX-WORLD readers.

After 5 flights from Germany via Los Angeles and Fiji we landed around noon safe in Tuvalu. Weather: 32° C, rain and very high humidity. We are beginning to equip the station-bungalow with the 4 stations. Heavy machines are still busy around the hotel-complex. Hopefully they will finish their job soon, because the space for antennas is very restricted. Let’s keep the fingers crossed, that the qrm-situation will improve the next days.

  • [OCTOBER 10 @ 0750z] –

T2C is now QRV. Activity started on SSB 17m. Other modes and bands will follow shortly, As expected QRM and noise level is challenging. 

Credit: DL8LAS

@dx-world

@dx-world

[OCTOBER 9 @ 1830z] – After long flights from EU to NA, the T2C team has arrived Nadi, Fiji. Next stop Tuvalu. They were met at the airport by Dom, 3D2USU who you will recall was QRV as T22T just last week. 

When T2C met T22T !

[OCTOBER 1] – One more week until we leave – everything is prepared. We are in contact with Dom T22T, who is currently staying at our planned QTH, the Funafuti Lagoon Hotel. There is a lot of unexpected traffic around the hotel as well as electrical and acoustic noise due to large land claim activities including heavy construction machinery and workers from overseas. Due to T22T’s current experience with high noise and limited space due to the construction work, we will carefully check viable solutions and possibly look for a second QTH (probably with only a part of the team and material). It is difficult and expensive as we have arranged everything at the Funafuti Lagoon Hotel for the entire period. Remember that our focus is on higher bands, including 6m. Rest assured we will do our best. At this point a big THANK YOU to all of our donors!

On October 23rd the low band antennas for 160 & 80m will be dismantled and on October 24th half of the team will fly back with half of the material. The rest of the team will operate three stations from 40 to 6m until the end of the expedition. Of course, there will be news and pictures on our homepage.

This time we will also cover social media: DL6KAC will inform the DX community at https://twitter.com/T2C_2023 and DH5FS will spread information at
https://mastodon.radio/@dh5fs.

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