DXpeditions are funded in many different ways.
- Sometimes the operators will fund themselves entirely bearing all personal travel and equipment transportation costs.
- Sometimes a DXpedition will be funded by a group or organisation who’s members have an interest in that DXCC entity being activated.
- Some DXpeditions might be sponsored by equipment manufacturers.
- Some DXpeditions may be sponsored by the individual donations of many hams around the world in support of a rare entity being activated (often one that they personally need).
- DXpeditions can also be funded by any combination of the above methods and of course other methods not listed here.
The crux of all of this is that there is often a degree of ‘obligation’ to make sure that those sponsoring the DXpedition get a fair chance at working them. This is where it can get a bit tricky.
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Dean Amateur Radio, Life... 3C0C, ARRL, DXCC, dxpedition
Approaching 75,000 QSO’s in their log and less than 12 hours before they go QRT. The E4X operation will soon be a thing of the past.
Pushing 80 watts into my bit of wet string I managed to snag them twice - 20m RTTY and 30m CW on two separate evenings. The RTTY contact was plain sailing but the CW contact was a bit hairy.
Conditions were never really great and there was some fading (QSB) on 30m on the night of my QSO. I’d been calling in the pile for a while before operator Bernard (F9IE) came back to me with ‘RIF?” to which I replied ‘G0RIF”, hoping he’d confirm my call, give me my report and I’d just send the usual ‘599 tu‘ and log him. As luck would have it though the fading coincided with his confirming my call and although I thought he’d got it right I wasn’t 100% sure of the last character. Had I heard an F‘…or a U‘, an R…or something else?
I erred on the side of caution, just in case he still didn’t have the call entirely correct, and sent ‘de G0RIF 599 tu‘ only to hear the back end of his ‘tu‘ call as my TX dropped out. Did he have my call correct or not? A slightly nervy wait to see if I was in the log but it was all okay in the end.
The E4X ops seem to have done a good job of working band/mode combinations. I see that some stations have as many as 23 band/mode contacts logged, quite an achievement!
I’m pleased with my 2 contacts though, so much so I didn’t even bother chasing a 20m CW contact when they were loud with me on Saturday, having worked them on 20m previously for my RTTY contact and with CW in the bag by virtue of my 30m contact.
Dean Amateur Radio CW, dxpedition, E4X, RTTY
I like chasing DX and I’m always interested to see what DXpeditions are planned for the months ahead. A good resource for this information is provided by Bill Feidt, NG3K, on his website. The ‘Announced DX Operations’ page lists most of the scheduled DXpeditions.
I regularly scan the listed operations to see if there are any scheduled to DXCC entities I need. There usually are! I then break this down into those I ‘expect’ to be able to work and those I don’t expect to be able to work, based on my setup and my experience of relative strength (or absence of) signals heard from those parts of the world.
I then also consider which modes the respective operations prefer because I know I’m unlikely to work many on SSB, due in large part to my operating mostly at night when the rest of the house is asleep, but also due to my relatively poor signal. I find that CW really is my best option most of the time!
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Dean Amateur Radio DX, DXCC, dxpedition
Finally got them. Peaking S7 with me and still working a big pile up I tried a few spots between 2 and 4 up from his frequency of 7.004MHz but eventually got him 4.5 up in a relative quiet spot.
Update (14:30 on the 9th): I’m in their online log which has been updated this morning.
Update (18:13 on the 11th): Just got them on 20m CW too! 
* CW and about 90 watts of RF into my wet bit of string!
Dean Amateur Radio CW, dxpedition, YI9PSE
Sorry folks but this is yet another YI9PSE post. But, unless I work them before they leave Iraq, this will be the last YI9PSE post. Honest.
I’m writing this blog entry in response to a number of discussion threads I’m seeing, DX cluster comments, and my own experiences around the YI9PSE DXpedition, still active from Iraq and scheduled to be on the bands from Kurdistan in the north of the country until the 12th of April.
I think many people are surprised by how difficult it’s proving to be getting a QSO with YI9PSE. Their website may have led many (me included) to assume that they’d be loud on many bands to most parts of the amateur radio world (the website says that they have ‘amplifiers’ and ‘gain antennas’). This isn’t the case (based on my own experience and that of many others). It seems that they have been subjected to circumstances in Iraq they weren’t expecting and poor band conditions (partly due to the recent solar storm we’ve all been subjected to). This has led to widespread frustration with many bemoaning the lack of those anticipated big signals from YI9PSE.
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Dean Amateur Radio, Life..., Totally random dxpedition, Journey (The band), K5M, VP6DX, YI9PSE
Operating as E4X the Palestine 2010 DXpedition (by the Tifariti Gang) should be on the air from May 28th to June 6th.
They plan to be active from 6 to 160 meters (include WARC bands) on CW, SSB and RTTY modes with at least 3 stations on the air at any time on different bands and modes.
For full details and regular updates on plans and progress visit their website at http://www.dxfriends.com/e4x/plans.php
Dean Amateur Radio dxpedition, E4X, Palestine
The IRAQ 2010 DXpedition has been issued the call sign of YI9PSE by the Iraqi Ministry of Telecom and is planning a multi-national operation to Northern Iraq (Kurdistan) in April of 2010.
Plans are for an impressive 5 stations on air concurrently (CW x2, SSB x2 and digimodes (RTTY) x1) from 10 to 160 meters (include WARC bands).
From the YI9PSE website - “The YI9PSE team has received the approval and blessing of the Kurdistan Regional Government to conduct the first DXpedition from Kurdistan. The YI9PSE team has been invited to demonstrate amateur radio to the Kurdistan Regional Government Ministry of Interior officials, who will visit and observe the YI9PSE DXpedition team in action.”
For full details and regular updates visit their website at http://www.yi9pse.com/index.html.
Dean Amateur Radio dxpedition, Iraq, YI9PSE
Surprise, surprise. Tonight on 17m (18.141 MHz) YS1G work a clutch of mostly NA stations simplex SSB. Those EU stations who did work them (no doubt with far better antennas than I have here) were reporting them ‘weak but workable’.
A welcome break form long hours of CW or just looking to chat a bit before they settle in for another long day at the key/paddle? Whatever their thinking they were inaudible here which is in line with every other day this week when they only really start to peak into Europe on 17m after 11pm my time.
Dean Amateur Radio, Life... dxpedition, SSB, YS1G
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The QSL card arrived today and a very nice card it is, befitting the dxpedition itself which was a slick, well run affair.
I was very pleased with my 30m CW contact because prior to the night I made the contact I’d struggled to hear them at all. Add to that the huge pile-ups I was convinced I’d never get through. But, on the night of the 22nd February 2009, they were much louder so I set about making a few calls, trying to find my way through the pile-up. Half an hour later they were in the log.
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The very smart K5D QSL card
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I’ve had some good successes on morse code over the past year or two with VP6DX and K5D as two contacts of note. I next hope to work El Salvador for an all time new one later this month when a British team will be operating exclusively on CW as YS1G. Fingers crossed there is some decent propagation come the time.
Dean Amateur Radio, Pictures dxpedition, K5D, morse code, propagation, QSL