DXpedition to Pacific islands

It is a solo DX expedition to Fiji (3D2YY), Vanuatu (YJ0YY), and Tuvalu (T2M).

Dates

4-19.Sep.2024 – Fiji – 3D2YY – Fiji is a local hub. So, I am jumping to the neighboring countries from here
7-10.Sep.2024 – Vanuatu – YJ0YY
12-17.Sep.2024 – Tuvalu – T2M

QSO confirmations and QSL cards

Via QRZ.com – everything has been uploaded. If you miss a QSO, please send me an email
Via LoTW – I plan to obtain the certificates in the coming 1-2 weeks and synchronize QRZ.com with the LoTW
I didn’t plan to have paper QSL cards, but if there is a strong demand, that will be arranged via a QSL manager. Please let me know via email

Route

Almaty–Beijing–Shenzhen–Hong Kong–Sydney–Nadi–Part Vila–Nadi–Funafuti–Nadi–Hong Kong–Shenzhen-Hong-Kong-Beijing-Almaty.

Operating in the air only from Fiji, Vanuatu, and Tuvalu.

Rig and antennas

Icom 7300 barefoot (- without any PA due the luggage limitations)
A Moxon antenna for the 10-meter band on a 10-meter carbon mast
Verticals with elevated radials for the 6-10-12-15-20-meter bands
A wire dipole/vertical wire for the 40-meter band
Total weight of checked in luggage: 30.2 kg

Modes and operations

I operate SSB (mostly) and CW (but I am not sure I will be able handle the pile ups. I am very rusty after the 25 years of absence in the air :-).

It is portable operation from different locations.

20.Sep.2024 - not allowed back to China with my transceiver

I thought my DXpedition is over and I will fully focus on work now … Not so fast 🙂

Yesterday, during a routine border check, I wasn’t let to China where I planned to stay for work for a few days and then fly from Shenzhen to Almaty.

The customs was extremely enthusiastic about the content of my luggage: strange tubes – mast’s elements, wires, and most of all – Icom 7300. After a half an hour of discussion, they forced me back to Hong Kong, where I stuck.

After several hours trying different options: shipping the transceiver with SF Express (local courier service) to my hotel in SZ, shipping it with our logistics partner in China, storing it somewhere in HK and moving to work in China and then figuring out of what to do, I eventually booked a hotel in HK to have a fresh mind in the morning.

In the morning, I dropped a few emails to the local regulator in China, local radio amateur association, etc. Read some articles. The conclusion was that it is very unlikely to have any positive reply, particularly, in my very short time frame, i.e. hours. Thus, another solutions must be found.

So, after some studies, it turned out that a new one-way ticket from HK to Almaty is the best option. But then I have to drop a luggage somewhere because I still need to go to China for work and because I couldn’t go there with my radio.

Regular storage options, for example, at the airport or metro (MTR) station are 133-188 HKD pc/24 hours, i.e. for 4-5 days – an additional unexpected cost. Eventually, I booked with Nannybag:

https://www.nannybag.com – 260 HKD from Sep.20 till Sep.24 including tax
https://www.mtr.com.hk/en/customer/services/aestations_hk.html#1 – HK$133 per piece/24h
https://www.hongkongairport.com/en/passenger-guide/airport-facilities-services/baggage-storage – HK$165 per piece/24h

So, I was unlucky yesterday when I wasn’t allowed to enter to China with my transceiver and lost one day and some money for the new ticker. But I was extremely lucky that they customs didn’t reject in me in the beginning of the trip. Everything would go awry.

17.Sep.2024 - leaving Tuvalu

The last hours are always sentimental. On the one hand, not much time is left and there is an urge to achieve as much as possible in the remaining time. On the other hand, there is a strong desire not to rush anymore and finally enjoy the moment.

I did my last QSO in Tuvalu yesterday around 1 am when I realized that instead of Tuvalu, I called my QTH Palau … – it was time to start bring the equipment back to the bungalow and pack 🙂

About 20-30% of QSOs are in a separate mobile log that is not combined to the one below. But overall distribution is about the same. USA, Japan, Europe, Australia and New Sealand, Russia, Caribbeans/Mexico Korea, Pacific islands, rather few QSOs with South America and not a single QSO with Africa…

The water around pacific atolls are visibly different from other seas I have seen. It has that “postcard view“.

On the outer side of the atoll, there is a true ocean.

In the morning when I saw an antenna on a neighboring bungalow, I realized that one of the visitors to my improvised outdoor shack was a fellow ham radio who was operating CB actually.

I met a Kazakh from the UK, a Russian from Voronezh, and a group of Slovak country-hoppers who count the countries and plan to visit them all. It is a nice collection to have 🙂

And, of course, in my stopover in Suva, I finally met in person 3D2AG in person, and we had a very heart-warming chat 🙂 Tony, thank you one more time for all your help and advice.

I beat my own records in the accuracy of weight for the check-in luggage… accidentally 🙂

A disassembled 9.5-meter carbon mast on top of other luggage covered and protected with a hard foam.

It is very hard to get local coins. But I managed to get one (probably, the only remaining in the bank 😉 Tuvaluan dollar. Parking in front the bank.

The plane nicely landed and taxed in 50 meters from us. It is pretty unusual to be so close.

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16.Sep.2024 - it was a perfect weekend

On Monday, September 16, 2024, I received a clear confirmation that I had been fortunate during the weekend since I had no external noise. It had been a pleasure and a joy. But that time is over with the start of busy Monday 🙂

As before, around 9:30 a.m. local time, something turns on nearby, and I start receiving S8 to S5 noise, depending on the band. In practice, this means no operations at all until somebody switches off that something. No DXing, at least.

By the way, motorcycles, which everyone uses on the island, produce very distinct noise on all bands, including 6m up to the distance of 50 meters or so. Large construction trucks don’t produce noticeable noise.

Since there was no good propagation during the day on Sep.14th, I walked 3.5 km to the southern tip – the end of the world at the end of the world. Well, I didn’t plan to walk but all the motobikes were lent and the girl from the hotel, though rode me around to check the bikes availability was visibly relieved when I stopped bothering her nirvana with nonsense requests. So, I walked 🙂

Anti-typhoid vaccination leaflets are in many places … I need to read more and be aware …

I couldn’t fly my drone at all because it is everywhere the airport blocking zone.

Pigs are walking in the woods as well as on the airfield 🙂 I was site on the back of a motobike when I saw a pig on the airfield but it is something 🙂

The sea is very calm inside the atoll and rather rough on the outer side.

The weather is tropical: 26-31C all the time. Short showers for 5-20 minutes. Skies are generally blue but light clouds are often as well.

There are many foreign agencies of different sorts in Tuvalu. As far I understand, the whole economy of Tuvalu is largely sponsored by foreign nations for different reasons. Among the nations are Australia, Taiwan, China, New Zealand. If I remember right, even Russia provided some help that based on Tuvalu recognition of some other not recognized new countries. But then Tuvalu revoked the recognition … a pretty maneuvering small state 🙂

Solar-powered lamps are clearly marked as a gift from Taiwan. A park or a market was built by them as well. The airport – by Chinese, as I understood. Many buildings – by Australians. On so on.

There are all kinds of churches as well.

Starlink antennas are abundant and present on many buildings even looking very ruined… I wonder what the story behind that … Funny enough, even Tuvalu Telecom is apparently using Starling is a backbone to Fiji.

There are many dogs on the island. They are shy and friendly. Many of them are stray dogs.

On Saturday and Sunday, it was a paradise with no local QRM
A very nice pileup on 40 meters to Japan and partially to the US yesterday night. Thanks, Bob (W9KNI), who pushed me to build an Inverted V, though not high in the peak point. It worked very well
A similar nice pileup to the US and several other countries in the morning on 10 meters. The band is back. Very good
I have built and tuned a vertical dipole for 50.110 MHz. Trying to connect SSB or CW. I can’t hear anybody. But let’s try. SSB or CW. No FT8, unfortunately
On Sunday, everything was much calmer. Not serious pileup on 40 meters. But I enjoyed walking in to regular calls as T2M and hams are often couldn’t believe and asked for “a full callsign” :-)) It is cool to be a Santa Claus and just bring happiness without a need to fight a pileups 🙂

On Saturday night there was some sort of celebration in the hotel. The live band with local music was so loud and late evening that it was an acoustic QRM for me. I enjoyed no local QRM for DC-DC converters and alike but hit a local band … – it was difficult to expend fellow hams why I can’t clearly copy them when they are 59 🙂

It is not very populous overall but there was very few people visible on Sunday. It was a peaceful as it could be.

I don’t know where people eat in general. I haven’t seen any cafes or other public eating placed.

The food in the hotel is very basic and there are only three items in the menu. It is chicken with rice or rice with chicken. But it is tasty. Every day 🙂

The food is expensive: 22 AUD for the dish + 3 AUD for a can of orange. A 1.5 liter of water – 4 AUD. “A desert? – what is a desert?… How do you spell it?…” 🙂

A plastic bottle of 4 l of juicy drink – not a juice – 20 AUD.

In general, money and prices here are kind of disconnected from a normal economic reality. If they are parachuted by foreign nations but not earned, they lose the meaning in a normal economic sense. It distorts everything. On the one hand, there are pretty basic houses and everything is more than basic. On the other hand, a bottle of orange soda that is more expensive than in Finland, and Starlink antennas on the every forth-fifth building or so.

The price for the bungalow was 183 AUD/night. I wouldn’t pay it normally because even in expensive Finland, you would get a much nicer and higher quality room for this money. In Thailand – a very touristic destination – you would get a wonderful and high-quality villa for the money. But you don’t really have any choice here because other places either fully occupied or ask just slightly lower price but for much less quality and they 1-2 km from the center, which is hardly manageable without a bike that I ultimately couldn’t rent ad hoc.

Besides, as I understood, the vast majority of visitors are governmental workers or aid workers, etc. They don’t pay the bill. They are in the business trips. Thus, the costs are paid by somebody. Therefore, the price doesn’t really matter.

14.Sep.2024 - more experiences than there is time to absorb 😉

There are so many happenings and discoveries that it just takes too much time to them to the records 🙂

I moved my radio shack last night to the outside of the hotel because I fed up with the local noise. Something changed during the 24 hours and the noise jumped
I enjoyed a very nice pileup from all over the world yesterday after sunset on 20 meters when I moved from my noisy QTH at the hotel to a strange place right on the shore 5 meters from the sea. Here how it looks in the morning

There could be many suspects for the noise and the neighboring build next to the hotel and my current QTH is one of them:

Local Tuvalu Telecom is not very reliable. Thus, I lost a hotspot to my computer (presumably, due to changed APN settings in the network). Thus, I couldn’t log on my computer with automatic pulling QRZ.com anymore. It was bad. Thus, I had to switch to my mobile phone. It was good, actually, particularly for the fast-paced QSOs when you are a DX:

By the way, the APN settings here are the following now, Remember to set the same for hotspot (it didn’t fit into the screen)::

During the breakfast, I met other crazy people came to Tuvalu:

A couple from the Netherlands but not from Holland – they highlighted that 🙂 He is a traveler and collector: stamps, banknotes, etc. They have game of Geocaching – I like it and we all must play. I will do. Search on Google. He is also collecting rare destinations like Tuvalu. Another his passion is following the EURO banknote numbers. He said that the game/activity was started by a Finnish millionaire as the time when EURO was introduced to Finland. Some rare banknote number can fetch 1000 EUR for a 500 EUR banknote from Ireland, for example
I haven’t checked how it goes but there are a lot of crazy people with crazy hobbies turned out to be a lifestyle. If you are crazy into something, you are certainly not alone. Well, you may be lonely because there are no other crazy-like-you-people around but it doesn’t mean there are no not-like-you-crazy people around. They simply hide in their own caves which you are simply unaware 🙂

By the way, the space weather is not favoring yet. Slightly improving but not yet. Let’s hope. The time is running out quickly 🙂

13.Sep.2024 - continuing setting up and first QSOs

The weather is good and sunny. Yesterday evening, it was very windy and rainy on top

I thought that I spent enough time yesterday to set up everything. Not so quickly. Again, a few hours are spent today to exchange EUR to AUD, getting the SIM card, visiting Tuvalu Telecom again because the hotspot didn’t work because of wrong APN settings, extending the stay in the hotel. Everything is pretty slow and eats up time quickly

The propagation is next to nothing, which is very upsetting

Not only the propagation is bad but the local noise is bad. Since I have a directional Moxon with high Front/Back ratio, I found that from some directions, I can have the noise rejected to S2, whereas at the same time, the noise can be up to S7 in other directions … Average noise on 10 meters is S5, which a terrible noise for the 10-meter band … I still hesitate to install the 20/17/15/12-meter verticals, because, typically, with this level of noise, it is simply a waste of time to install the antenna since the noise will be on S7-S9 level depending on the band with no fun DXing at at all … I seriously think about moving to another place. But! These significant efforts and risks at the same time: if there is no propagation, it doesn’t really help; nobody says it won’t be noisy there; “to move” is easy in the outer world – you a car or ride a taxi … – here, you don’t have a taxi per se … Yesterday, I was lifted by good guys from the government – who issue me the local license. But now I simply have no clue to go the hotel from yesterday and install the antenna there …

Noise with the direction to Europe

Noise with the direction to New Zealand

Local noise is killing all fun!

I am forced to fight the noise more than anything else and direct the antenna not where the DX stations are but where the noise is more rejected… bad and sad.

Since the 10-meter band is virtually closed, I installed the 20-meter vertical. Surprisingly, the noise is not worse than on 10 meters.

I was very fed up with the local noise and moved everything to the shore. At night 🙂

I just went to the shore for the first time while in Tuvalu, found a strange construction site, and spotted an electricity socket. I prayed and hoped and the gods supporting ham radio didn’t fail me. I ran back to the hotel, took a charger with me as an electricity tester and it showed that there is electricity. I was unstappable by this moment and starting moving evering: my improvised desk, a chair, transceiver and its power supply, all cables, wires, tools, and, of course, the antennas

First I moved the 20-meter verticals and the noise was I OK – not perfect but OK. And then, in the morning the next day, right after the breakfast I move the Moxon for 10 meters as well

12.Sep.2024 - arriving to Tuvalu

I spent most of the day finding a hotel, setting up the mobile connection, find the bank, etc.
The hotels haven’t responded to me at all during the two weeks of trying.before the arrival. So, I didn’t have room for it when I entered the country. 3Ts turned out to be not available for short-term stay at all. Lagoon Hotel is OK, but T2C reported that the location is noisy, so I hesitated. Besides, they are pretty expensive overall, and all transactions are in AUD cash only, and I didn’t bring enough cash. They now charge 183 AUD/night for a bungalow. 3Ts 5 years ago was 50 AUD/night. So, I brought ~100 AUD/night for hotel expenses in cash. Payment with card wouldn’t be a problem… if they accepted cards 🙂
Eventually, after checking another hotel far from the center, which had potentially lower noise but less quality conditions and still had a pretty high price of 150 EUR/night, I returned to the Lagoon Hotel and set up the Moxon. As usual, it is already in the dark and with rain pouring – for more fun 🙂
I feared the noise, but it was bearable – S4-S5 or so on 10 meters. When I arrived in Vanuatu and before darkening out the whole hotel, the noise was S9 at 10 meters and even worse at 20 meters
By the way, the new customers’ SIM cards were unavailable. I begged very much and borrowed a SIM card but I need to return it tomorrow. Let’s see… life with the internet is unbearable for many reasons. WiFi in the hotel works only in the lobby, which 100 meters away from the bungalow

11.Sep.2024 - a stopover in Fiji

I arrived yesterday evening from Vanuatu (YJ0YY) and immediately erected the antennas (well, immediately means 2-3 hours to erect with a short break for dinner 🙂
The noise was too high, unfortunately. I nearly switched off. But then strong stations from Europe started popping and the pileup was huge again. I had to switch off closer to 2 am because it was a very long day with several hours of operations from both Vanuatu and Fiji, packing and unpacking, and a flight itself with the worries and hassle to fit into the 30 kg limit 🙂
The place where I stay is weird – it is a hotel, but it looks like a ship (a kind of 🙂 The host lady was very kind and let me installed the antennas on the roof of the hotel. The noise was, unfortunately, very high – S4-S5 even on 10 meters and even during the day. I very much hoped that it would die with the lights off. I guess some of them are not off, really. pity

I was doing some business related emailing, when a person popped up in front of me pretty unexpectedly, taking into account that I am sitting on the roof 🙂 He turned out to be an owner of the place … Of course, his accurate questions were related to my background check:

What is this?
Whom do you broadcast this?
What is the point of the whole thing?

Typical questions.

After 15-20 minutes and after I said that I had been away from the air for 25 years can catching up, he said his has been locked in prison for 24 years and is also catch up … What a twist! He said they overthrown the government and he was sentenced to death, which was later replaced with a lengthy sentence for treason…

He got my Fiji license paper and went out reading it 🙂
I am still waiting it back while writing these sentences.

The local noise is S4-S5 even on 10 meters with pre-amp1=on, which is way to high, especially, for the day tim. It is upsetting a lot and I am missing lower bands. The job not DXing but finding a reasonably quite local place. Sad. I don’t like being deaf.

Local noise from artificial sources is a huge pain. It was today on S5-S6 level in on 10 meters. On 20 meters – S9+10 – terrible and draining out all fun of DXing. I start worrying of how it will be in Tuvalu. It would be very disappointing and upsetting if the noise is so strong there as well
The largest hotel finally responded by email but then disappeared … I am flying to the country without having a hotel booked and without knowing how much it will cost. Since they don’t accept cards in Vanuatu, I may have pretty funny situations …

It is 10pm and time to pack the antennas. It typically takes 1.5-2h to pack everything, i.e. by midnight I shall be done … in all means of the word 🙂

Taxi to the airport is at 5am … – well, people call it a relaxing holiday … work emails, wechats and whatsapps are not counted 🙂

10.Sep.2024 - flying away from Vanuatu

The final morning. I asked for an extension with check out at 2 pm,, got it complementary – thanks for that! 🙂 – and worked in the air until noon. Then – two fast hours to disassemble and pack everything
By tonight I was in Fiji erecting the antennas at a new QTH
I made a terrible mistake and ran out of mobile internet connection right in the middle of a huge pileup with Europe. For an hour or so, I tried other options, like data roaming from my SIM cards, but Vanuatu was too special for that and had no practical options. I felt foolish and very tired, switched off everything and decided to sleep a bit
In the morning, I got a top-up…. but they brought me the top-up for Vodafone instead of Digicell. So, my troubles with my mobile connection were resolved only partially and temporarily with a borrowed SIM card. Conclusion: buy more. Buy even more data and stay always connected 🙂

09.Sep.2024 - RH42df

An easy-going morning. Again. It looks like all mornings in the paradise are easy going 🙂
It is sunny with no wind… well, it was some minutes ago 🙂
No real propagation to the US
I did some QSOs with South America, Japan, Australia, and some interesting conversation with New Zealand on 10 meters. Japan is strong most of the time: morning, evenings, late evenings. Australia and New Zealand are predictably strong even from the back or sides of the antenna. I still mostly operating the 10-meter band because the gain is notably higher and the noise is notably lower, though the noise after the sunrise is low anyway. This morning, I had a noise of less that S1 with the preamp1 on 10 meters, which is very-very nice. I copied 100% an operator with S1 level, which is very impressive
Midday is typically a time of poor propagation to anywhere here, which surprises me. The heat in the air starts in the evenings. In Fiji, however, I was lucky to have very strong openings to the US virtually all mornings

It is still a shameless paradise, after all 🙂

And being here alone 99% of the time with the resort virtually empty is virtually impossible to describe in words. It must be experienced in person.

It is still 3.5 days to go and I purchased a ticket to Tuvalu … Am I becoming too conservative and risk-averse to book so much in advance?…. 🙂
Tuvalu hotels are still not responding … it looks like I will have to knock the door in person to get an accommodation

08.Sep.2024 - 10 km south of Port Vila (Vanuatu) - RH42df

An easy-going morning

Shooting drone videos
Installed and tuned raised 1/4 verticals with resonating radials

Not much of a propagation at the moment – 15:45. A bit windy. Sunny but the next minute – cloudy. And nobody …. It is a very low low season :-))

Installed a 40-meter dipole. Tuned well. But the thread stuck in the palm because of the wind. Thus, I have now a 40-meter well-tuned dipole but I lost the coax cable for the verticals 🙂

I will have to down the Moxon to, cannibalize its cable, use it for the verticals, and then return to the Moxon depending on the propagation. With more weight allowance and more cables it would be much easier 🙂

07.Sep.2024 - arriving to Vanuatu

The propagation the last two days was overwhelming to both Europe and the US. I had to switch off cool down because pileup is so big
It takes about 1.5 hours of fast pace to disassemble and pack everything
I was quickly checked out and delivered to the airport. As usually, the biggest worry was to manage the luggage weight limitations. Again, my pockets were several kilos … temporarily 🙂

Colors of Vanuatu waters are extremely non-modest

Entering Vanuatu was quick and easy. However, the taxi driver waited for two more passengers for 10-15 minutes and started to search for another driver. However, my driver later helped me a lot because I forgot to stop by a grosser y store, which was crucial, since my hotel was about 10 km from the city centrer with nothing but other hotels around

The biggest drama was when I assembled the Moxon, tuned, erected, so it was pretty windy, turned on the transceiver and was stunned … – the noise on the 10 meter band – S9+! It is unbelievably high noise.

All plans crushed in the second. Money lost. Time lost. DXpedition to Vanuato lost. Everything was lost at once.

I walked around the antenna trying to detect what would be the source of such a terrible noise but there was no apparent source like a generator, or larger LED lamps, or similar. Everything looked nice and I even already preliminary agreed to put a dipole for 40-meter on a palm in my bungalow. But now – what 40 meter?! – The 10-meter was so loud in noise that ruined everything.

I walked around the whole area of the hotel and planned to install the antenna on the shore – right next to the water – as far from potential sources of electrical noise as possible. But since they were not identified, it could be that I just lost time and achieved nothing.

Eventually, I persuaded hotel guys to switch off all the lights – small lights for paths between the bungalows and the larger lights near the pool area … it was miracle! Instead of S9+ noise, I saw S1 noise. True miracle.

But the solution was too radical – to dark up the whole hotel just to have my radio?…

I talked to the hotel boss. Boss wasn’t particularly apologetic about my antennas, etc. But when I showed them the transceiver in my bungalow and then turned on the small lights for the paths and he saw a huge jump in noise, he was more moved. But still there was no practical solution. I explained that I don’t my bungalow at all and simply lose time and money if the noise is high as it is. He was completely against me moving to the restaurant area … eventually, we agreed that he will go sleeping and I will switch on the lights before I go sleeping. It was a perfect solution for me. Thank you, local manager! 🙂

After that, I enjoyed a crushing and exhausting pileup of 15-20 kHz from Europe.

05.Sep.2024 - Bekana Island (Fiji)

Celebrating my 50th birthday 🙂
Propagation to Americas was good. And the quickly faded away. Very interesting

Locator: RH82rj
The Moxon works very well. I am not sure whether I will deploy verticals on other bands since I will have to pack again, probably, tomorrow morning and head to Vanuatu
Everything is good 🙂
Waiting for the Europe and Russia to open on 10 meters
QRM is not as small as I hoped. LED lights are everywhere. When I am switching lights in my room, the noise on 10-meter jumps from S1 to S2-3 (pre-amp1 on on Icom 7300). On the same 10-meter Moxon, I have S5 noise on 20-meters all the time (pre-amp off). It is not affected by my light. It looks like it is coming from other sources

2am update 🙂

It was a good, relaxing, and successful birthday 🙂
I have got many wishes and congratulations and worked some wonderful QSOs
After midnight, when the propagation on 10 meters faded away completely, I erected an elevated 1/4-wave vertical with resonating radials for 20 meters.

Conclusions of the day:

100W is enough when you are a DX and don’t have to fight the pile-up – no need to bring an 18-kg amplifier
An elevated 1/4 vertical on 20 meters with resonating radials is also a fun because you don’t define who will respond to your call – the propagation will. It is a pure magic 🙂
More antennas are good, of course, to activate other bands, etc. but you physically don’t have enough time for everything… I must take it easier 🙂

04.Sep.2024 - sitting at the Sydney airport

Sep.2-3 in Shenzhen was spent to get the 10-meter carbon mast, disassemble it and pack so that it won’t be broken while transported. I will know more in 6 hours or so when will pick up my luggage in Nadi
A few other things, like fixing the drone and getting a 20-meter power cord, were arranged as well
The biggest problem, though, was that I couldn’t find a suitable hotel in Fiji. Everything was either hugely expensive, or well over-priced for the quality of the place, or simply unsuitable for the DXpedition because of lack of space for antennas or absence of internet connection. Without the internet, I cannot do my work, which I shouldn’t forget even in the far-far East 🙂
Until the last moment, I wasn’t sure the luggage would be accepted, but experience and luck helped me. The checked-in luggage was 30.2kg. Hand luggage – 7..4 kg, small and allowed drybag with a laptop, underwater camera, and laptop’s power supply… and pockets full of heavy stuff like several mobile phones, power bank, and perfume 🙂
Since the hotels in Fiji didn’t impress me, the same night as I spent several hours in fruitless searches, I applied for a Vanuatu ham license. In the morning, after a few emails, I got the license and a new callsign – YJ0YY. I liked the speed. I like that Vanuatu has hotels at Booking.com. I will fly to Vanuatu 🙂
Well, the Qantas flight from HK was delayed 2.5 hours. Thus, I missed my 1.5-hour transfer in Sydney by a large margin,,, they gave me Fiji instead but it will arrive after the sunset. Therefore, I am not entirely sure where I will sleep. The hotel is also very slow with responses and pretty automatic without reading the request. On top of that, instead of 20 FJD for the transfer, they ask for 65 FJD without much explanation. Waiting for their responses and answers, but they are, as Tony put it, in a Pacific mode – they will respond when they will be in the mood to do so 🙂

01.Sep.2024

The baggage stands at 27 kg now because I need to pick the 10-meter carbon mast in Shenzhen. The aim is to be exactly 29.9 kg. Fitting into the weight and suffering from the corresponding limitations is a highlight of the day
However, the hand luggage is not 8 kg anymore … but it is not typical 15-17 kg either when I was flying to diving trips either 🙂
The day spent to tune the verticals and pack the check-in bag. Thanks to XYL for the help 🙂

Many things had to be dropped out due to the weight constrains: the second tripod, i.e. if I can find a suitable pole, I will either have the 10-meter Moxom or the verticals for other bands
Many tools had, spares had to be left home. Sad 🙂

31.Aug.2024

It was a nice party with friends and building and tuning the Moxon at the same time. The Moxon is somehow tuned but the final tuning will be on a site anyway
Besides, I forgot that the barefoot transceiver has an embedded tuner. Thus, particularly low SWR is not as critical as with the 1kW PA that, if to forget the PA settings, can send the feeder 2kW and burn everything 🙂
T-shirts with callsigns and the sponsor name arranged at the last moment
I have being fighting with FedEx/EMEX to get my DXcommander in time, changed the tickets… and then eventually I don’t take it with me because of weight limitations… it light in principle but with my constrains – it is way to heavy. Besides, it is very difficult for me not to use elevated resonating radials because a radio/antenna engineer inside me strongly opposed the idea of the ground planes 🙂 We found a peace by dropping the whole antenna and the corresponding tripod completely 🙂
Instead of DXcommander, I will build my usual verticals, which are much lighter, but I lose the 40-meter band as verticals. But I still cherish a hope to have something between the carbon mast and a palm, perhaps… anyway, chances for the 40-meter remain

30.Aug.2024

Opet confirmed T2M callsign in Tavalu
I suddenly realize that only two days left before the first flight and I haven’t even tested the antennas yet
Also, since I have both callsigns known, it is time to order T-shirts … but do I have time for that? 🙂

28.Aug.2024

I managed to change the tickets from Almaty to Shenzhen and back. Finally. Well, a 2-minute online task became a 3-day quest thanks to China Sourthern
Since I have a new ticket on the ALA-SZ(HK)-ALA route, it unblocked the next jumps
I shall arrive to Nadi on Sep.4th and leave on Sep.19th
On Sep.5th, I will celebrate my 50th birthday – of course, DXing 🙂
Then, I will spend a few days around the island with the portable operations
Then, I will plan to jump Tuvalu (T2). The dates for Tuvalu are preliminary Sep.12-16th. 2024, but no tickets have yet been purchased. However, I have received a positive reply and hints from Opet from Tuvalu. Thus, Tuvalu is very probable if nothing goes terribly wrong 🙂

After fighting with the local customs clearance representative of FedEx, I got my verticals in time. But I haven’t yet had time to deploy, test, and tune them. Of course, I will be using elevated verticals. Thus, some design, tuning, and testing are ahead. Let’s see how much time I will have for that …

I am very busy with work. There are too many important things to complete before I will be less available for work.
Not less busy am I with building the Moxon for the 10-meter band. I still need 1-2 days to assemble, test, and tune it before disassembling and packing, but I have about 96 hours left before the flight 🙂

25.Aug.2024

The fact that I have ALA-HK-AL ticket now looks my like a liability than an asset… I was happy to purchase something finally and with a very comfortable price but:

I become very constrained with the flying dates. Initially, the idea that I arrive midday to Shenzhen and leave in the evening from HK, looked like a smart solution. Theoretically, I have 1-2 hours in Shenzhen and can pickup both my new 9.5m carbon mast and a new drone that suddenly stopped flying after crushing during our autonomous indoor flight testing. However, in practice, the last time when I was flying exactly the same route, my flight from Almaty was delayed. I missed the connecting flight in Bejing. And then I was late by 3 hours in Shenzhen. If this happens again, not only I won’t have time to pickup anything, I will have a very clear risk to miss the main flight from HK to Nadi. That would be a disastrous start … Now, I think I need to spend, at least, one night in SZ. But it means that I will be in the plane when my birthday arrives and when I finally land in Nadi, I will be dead after so many hours of flight, transfers, passport and luggage controls in the raw… Maybe, it is also cool but I am not sure
Another option is to manage to get my vertical antenna earlier, somehow, change the ticket and fly away earlier. But! China Southern is one of the least friendly in terms of website – impossible to change anything – contact the airport or something. And the change is always a loss of money. Besides, there is not guarantee I will have a reasobly-priced ticked by the time I know more about the flying in antenna. Damn DXengeering with FedEx. One week since the order, and the antenna just reached Germany from the US. Not cool at all. My plans and kept being ruined… perhaps, I should have forgotten the antenna right from the beginning and built my own verticals…
On top of that, as I see, the return flights HK-Nadi-HK, are also now instead of 15 hours – 27 hours. Not only I have to spend 10-12 hours in Australia, I miss my return flight HK … Or I need to purchase substantially more expensive tickets and fly away earlier …

So, still a lot of upsetting uncertainty, mainly, caused by the delayed antenna delivery that caused a bad shift in all flight schedules.

I want my PA with me …. but the main one is 18kg+ – too heavy for the luggage. But I have more own started but never finished 1/3-baked PA… I am afraid I am going to the office now to see what the status with it and whether I may use it… perhaps… but there are not protection against SWR, against high input power, temperature … I may easily kill it and it will useless dead weight… I need to think. But it is several kg lighter than the main PA… but, perhaps, it is time to be barefoot… or not … 🙂

23.Aug.2024

Time flies fast. I am starting to make decisions not because they are definetely optimal but because, otherwise, I will miss out on the deadlines, tickets, etc., and may be left with nothing.

Status and progress:

Tickets Almaty-Shenzhen-Almaty are bought. The price was very nice. I caught a right moment
I formally have got my new callsign in Fiji: 3D2YY. This is my new name that I will leave with for, at least, two weeks or so. Special feelings about that 🙂
No replies from Tuvalu at all

The biggest open question are the masts and antennas:

If I bring my existing 18-meter carbon masts, they are 2.2 meters when folded. I need to purchase so hugely expensive excess-size luggage fee then it is less expensive to drop them in Fiji and not return back. That is what many expeditions do to save costs
In parallel, I am still fighting EMEX – a local partner of FedEx. FedEx + EMEX are the biggest issue for me since they delayed the delivery of the parcel with the telescoping mast with vertical antenna in the first place. When I purchased, it should have been delivered on August 22-28th. The tracking shows now Sep.2nd 18:00. Currently, the hope is that I receive the parcel on 6pm and leave to the airport at 8pm. But the whole exercise is related to the customs, etc. I may easily miss the delivery by a day or two and the mast won’t be even needed by that time because I will fly away. Also, because of them I already had to shift my flight to the Sep.2nd and to risk all other connecting flights because everything may be slightly delayed and then I am in a huge trouble because the flights are with different airlines. Risks. Risks. Risks … 🙂
Even more in parallel, I am receiving help from Tony (3D2AG). I am fantasizing to buy plumbing pipes for the mast, construct something, and the leave it on the island … But this morning, the idea doesn’t look appealing to me any more: I plan portable operations from different parts of island and other Fiji islands. I am even hoping to jump to another country, like Tuvalu or Vanuatu. But I will be left without the mast and nothing is really solved with this approach …
While I am writing this, I am getting promising messages in WeChat from one of our potential supplies for a 9.5-meter telescopic carbon mast for my 10-meter Moxon. The nice thing about the mast is that each of its section will be not longer than 80cm. I may eventually just fit into my large suitcase and fly like a regular traveler 🙂

The second biggest open question – ticket to Nadi and back:

Ideally, I want a one-way ticket so that I have a freedom to jump to other countries and may be return from them directly to HK without looping to Fiji
However, there is a risk that I may difficulties to enter Fiji if I don’t have an outbound ticket. I sent a request to authorities but nobody replied. I asked the regulator who arranged the license but I haven’t heard from him either yet …
Another issue is the day of departure from HK. If I departure on the Sep.3rd. then I comfortably arrive on Sep.4th and will sleep and wake up rested on my birthday on Sep.5th. However, I may have only one 1 hour in SZ to pickup the mast, buy the drone that broke, and then leave to the HK airport. That trip is actually surprisingly long. Taking into account the border and the heavy luggage and, most of all, a very plausible risk of delay, I will have no time in SZ at all and even may miss the plane from HK entirely, which would be desasterous. Thus, it looks like I will start my birthday in the air while flying. Well, it also depends against which time zone to count… I met a New year in the plan towards Australia 13 years ago. Why not to enjoy the fun with my own birthday as well 🙂

21.Aug.2024

No replies from Tuvalu yet. Waiting.

I tried to pay for the license in Fiji, but even my very sophisticated Wise fintech bank can only transfer it to a private person in FJ$. I sent Eric a letter in Fiji and am impatiently awaiting his response. I want to finalize with Fiji and get the license and the callsign.

It is not yet clear whether I will fly via Fiji and enjoy a week there or fly directly to Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and similar destinations. Time flies, and I must buy the ticket now, or I will have to pay more or miss the whole thing.

Now, I tend to think that a one-way ticket would be a very nice, though slightly more expensive option, but it would give a lot of freedom. However, it also brings risks. I don’t need a visa to Fiji, but they may ask for the return ticket, which I won’t have at the time of entry because the route won’t be fixed yet. Let’s see.

I had a very interesting WhatsApp call with Tony (https://www.qrz.com/db/3D2AG). Tony was linked to me via email by John Mitton KK7L. And only later I realized that Tony had already helped me with the Fiji regulator’s contacts. Thank you, John and Tony!

Even later, I realized that I have read the blog by Tony: https://www.dx-world.net/3d2ag-p-rotuma/ without realizing that it was the SAME Tony 🙂

20.Aug.2024

I enjoy traveling a lot and have traveled for business and fun to 70+ countries to date. When traveled for fun, it was mostly for diving with South East Asia countries being my favorite destination: Underwater videos.

However, I have never reached so far as I plan in this trip. I am thrilled to see how it will go.

And this time I will travel by plane with my ham gear – not diving gear – which far more challenging because of size of antennas and the type of equipment to carry. Any plane and any customs is a potential problem that can ruin the whole trip.

I had to drop the idea of bringing 20+ kilos of dive equipment along despite being in beautiful diving locations because of cost and time. It is very problematic to be at the same time underwater and in the air 🙂 I love both states and the TDMA approach is possible but I try to focus. The trip seems to be excessively complicated even without the diving option 😉

I decided to write notes on the way – even before I bought a plane ticket – because plans change several times per day and the amount of information to process and weigh for the decision-making particularly under constrains of short available time is immense.

My trips are nearly always a mixture or business and fun. This time, it is sparked by my 50th birthday. On my birthday, I am typically far away. Since it is a 1/2-centure day, I must be unusually far-far away on the day 🙂

Uncertainty with destinations

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To the moment, I loosely believe the destination will be some Pacific islands. It is not entirely clear which ones and whether it will be one destination or more.

A half of fun of traveling is that I immensely deeply dive to the Wiki and Google about potential destinations and study, study, study. Of course, 90% of knowledge will evaporate after a few months, but taking into account that I typically know next to nothing about the potential destinations, my knowledge about them skyrockets anyway. If the theoretical study is later reinforced with a practical experience – if the trip finally happens – it becomes a life-lasting experience, which is the whole point of traveling in the first place.

Many interlinked factors dramatically affect on the decision of the destinations with permutations going to virtual infinity:

Since it is mostly a DX trip, it is desired to reach some of the higher locations in the Most wanted list
I am self-sponsored and need to be cash-aware 🙂
I hold a Russian passport. It wasn’t too easy to travel before and in 2024, it didn’t become easier. But luckily, the Pacific Ocean destinations are pretty open, which is nice
But! Many flights are done via Australia … That restricted the flight options a lot since I needed, at least, a transit visa. Yesterday morning I filled in documents for the transit visa. But it takes 3-15 days to get it according to the website. But it is an e-visa, which is good. A couple of days I could allocate for waiting but not more because, I must fly and be far-far away much sooner than 15 days from now. Right after submitting the visa application, I received an email that said they require a biometric data. I nearly instantly gave up with the idea of getting the visa taking into account the time. But I checked the nearest biometric center … it returned Serbia … It looked strange… I searched again. The returned address in Almaty was shockingly familiar … – it was my home address! I couldn’t lough at the coincidence, because I have been living in the same building and had no idea there is the center. So, I decided to proceed despite I already gave up on going via Australia because of risks of delays for visa, etc. made the time spent impractical for the trip. Besides, by that time I found a seemingly better route via Hong Kong. It was particularly good because I shouldn’t forget about work, after all, and we have production in Shenzhen, which is just next to HK
Today morning, I visited the biometric center and then impatiently waited for the visa. I was very lucky to get it in the same day. It is very probable that I won’t have to use it but the visa gives the much needed freedom of options. Plans change constantly and instantly and one less restriction was just in time

Depending on whether I fly one route or another, the plane tickets, which comprise the majority of the trip’s cost, differ dramatically. I was surprised to realize that kayak.com is not as unbelievably good as I thought … For example, it never offered me a stop-overs in HK, while the combination of Almaty-HK-Nadi is clearly more optimal cost-wise and time-wise than Kayak showed me before. I don’t know the reason for that but it is an important observation … either, there is a hidden agenda by kayak.com or their algorithms are not as good as I thought …

Anyway, I have multiple tabs open with kayak.com not counting many other webpages. Among them:

DX:

https://clublog.org/mostwanted.php – the most wanted
https://www.hamradiotimeline.com/timeline/dxw_timeline_1_1.php – I have to monitor the link as well because it would be strange to have two DX expeditions at the same in the same location … 🙂

Possible destinations:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_Islands – looks appealing but the story of Nauru is very sad
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Marshall_Islands
Hm… Marshall islands and Solomon Islands are not the same thing? – it is terrible to be ignorant and uneducated … – Latvia vs. Lithuania and Australia vs. Austria 🙂
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nauru_Airlines

Fiji looks like a point of entry after all. But not 100%. There are still options to fly directly – not via Fiji… nevertheless:

Tuvalu is still on the list:

https://www.timelesstuvalu.com/accommodation/
http://tuvalu.tradeportal.org/media//TelecommunicationsRadioRegulations_1.pdf
https://www.dx-world.net/t2c-tuvalu/
https://dx.to/dxpeditions/pacific/t2g/
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g294482-d312328-Reviews-Vaiaku_Lagi_Hotel-Funafuti.html – some very critically important insights: only AUD and in cash – no cards, hotels, not touristic as it can be, etc. 🙂

Kiribati:

https://cck.ki/index.php/amateur-radio-application.html – started filling the application in and stuck because it is impossible to select the dates after 2021 … – nobody updated the page for year… Contacting the corresponding department takes time and I don’t have it, especially, if the positive outcome is not certain at all and I must buy tickets now or will have none at all …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiribati#/media/File:Map_of_the_Exclusive_Economic_Zones_of_the_Pacific_Ocean.png

Every step defines a lot on the further tree of steps but every step is uncertainty. To make it more certain takes a lot of time. But the time is something I have less and less because of work and because the dates for flying are approaching very fast. I have to drop considering some destinations simply because it takes too much time. People spends months in preparation. Of course, for much larger expeditions, but still. I don’t have that time. A year ago I even didn’t have a license. A year ago, I lived in a different country. Several months ago, I built my first Yagi ever and now I have three major ones. Two months ago, I was not even thinking about a trip like this. A week ago, I didn’t have clue whether it will be a DX trip or diving trip, a solo trip and a trip with my wife. I don’t have a luxury of several months of preparation 🙂

At this stage, I have to assume:

At minimum, I will fly to Fiji, which is already exciting enough. Not as much as DX as I would love to but still is good enough as a far-far away destination for the trip
But even Fiji is not guaranteed… Yes, I proceed the farthest with it but I don’t have the license in hands yet and with Russian passport, temporary residence in Kazakhstan, and the Finnish license and call sign, it is a combination indeed
I don’t have much time but I have a lot of hope that I will get replies and within a trip to Fiji, I will have a trip to a more rare destination

Potential direct ports of entry:

Kiribati – Bonriki International Airport – in practice, only via Fiji
Marshall Islands – The Marshall Islands are served by the Marshall Islands International Airport in Majuro, the Bucholz Army Airfield in Kwajalein, and other small airports and airstrips.^[182]
Airlines include United Airlines, Nauru Airlines, Air Marshall Islands, and Asia Pacific Airlines.
Nauru – The island is solely served by Nauru International Airport. Passenger service is provided by Nauru Airlines. Flights operate four days a week to Brisbane, Australia, with limited service to other destinations including Nadi (Fiji) and Bonriki (Kiribati)
Tuvalu – Funafuti – only via Fiji: from Suva and Nadi
Vanuatu – Port Vila

Very late at night, I realized that not all destinations are visa-free or offer a visa on arrival with my passport even in this region, which is bad but also good – fewer options to consider and several browser tabs can be safely closed as irrelevant for the trip. As it turns out, I can’t easily entry – I need a visa, i.e. I won’t consider and won’t fly to the following destinations:

American Samoa
New Caledonia
Solomon Islands

Uncertainty with gear

Non-standard luggage is insanely expensive .. for example, it is less expensive for me to purchase a new 20-meter carbon mast (2.2m when assembled), pick it up in Shenzhen (Hong Kong) and through it away before the return trip than bring it along with me on the route Almaty-Hong Kong-Almaty. The cost on the route HK-Nadi-HK makes the cost of just another mast. If I bring less expensive and shorter 10-meter plastic masts (1.6 meter when assembled), the resulting luggage cost will be several times of the cost of the mast itself … a better solution is needed
A better solution of ordered on Aug.17th (Saturday) with the promise on the website to ship the same day internationally (DXengineering.com)… – well, it was a lie. Nothing was moving until late Monday Aug.19th. And today I learnt that the expected delivery day by FedEx is Sep.2nd!… Promised on the website: Aug.22-28. Well, we will discuss with the guys later. But they fail me significantly. I literally don’t need the mast anymore because I can’t use for the trip. For the future trips, I would use other options. I purchased simple because I lack time and wanted a guaranteed solution … – well, no guarantee and promises are not kept. Very bad, DXengineering, very bad!
I love my solid state 1 kW amplifier. But with the net weight of 18 kg, I have to leave it home
I love Moxons… let’s see whether I have time and luggage weight left to fit anything. Besides, if I don’t bring the high mast, I don’t see how and where to install it …
https://www.youtube.com/@ZL1BQDRoly/videos – I haven’t studied this deeply yet, but one of the videos already gave good hints for solo DX operations

At this stage, I have to assume that:

It is highly probable, I have to leave my carbon masts because 2.2m is too long and is not worth the costs
My shorter portable antenna bought specifically for the trip, won’t come in time
I have to build my one antennas and see what is fitting weight-wise and size-wise
Since the antennas are so critical for everything in this trip, it is very probable that I have to build a custom-made luggage that is optimally fit for antennas, strong enough, and still fit into the limits of airlines for regular check-in luggage. It is obvious what the dimensions are because they differ with airlines and it is not always clearly articulated. The weight limitations are published more clearly and measured easier
Since I have to build the antennas, I will have to build “package + antennas” so that everything is tightly arranged: antennas, transceiver, and other gear
https://upgradedpoints.com/travel/airlines/checked-luggage-size-chart-allowances/ – a very detailed list and it looks like I must fit into 158 cm because at least one of the most probable flight legs limits to 158 cm… well, I need to construct the luggage so that it would fit everything and not break anything … let’s see, let’s see …
https://www.emirates.com/english/before-you-fly/baggage/checked-baggage/ – 150 cm
https://safaribags.com/blogs/news/luggage-size-chart – typical 158 cm among airlines, but up to 200-300 cm with some airlines on some destinations …
https://www.fijiairways.com/en-us/manage/baggage-allowances/

Summary:

It looks like I must fit into 158 cm (length+width+height), which is not much but also into 30 kg, which is nicer than the typical 20/23 kg … 🙂
18.Sep.2024 update: yes, 30 kg for Fiji Airways and 7 kg hand luggage and a “small item as a laptop” in backpack. Thus, The 12 kg hand luggage was split as 7.5 kg – but not 8 kg hand luggage, laptop, charger, pretty heavy mike, and a couple of batteries to the backpack, and very heavy pockets in my shorts with a power bank, several phones, and similar high-density items

Hints

Don’t rely on the local WiFi. Purchase your data SIM card enjoy the connection. It is LTE in most of the places where I stayed or traveled
The power amplifier is not essential when you are a DX. Besides, with a good antenna lik Moxon, you S9 level in Europe, when there is propagation on 10 meters. When there is no propagation, the power amplifier doesn’t help
Pay the utmost attention to avoid the local noise from LED lamps and similar sources. They can reach S9 level even on 10 meters and ruin the whole trip. Choose QTHs accordingly and persuade the resorts to switch off the lights and similar sources and enjoy natural noise below S1
Overall, the prices (hotels, food, taxi) are much higher than wanted and much higher than in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and similar South East Asia destinations
Prices for plane tickets are also 2-4 times higher than prices in Europe for the same fly time
Many things are done in a “Pacific way” as Tony from Fiji formulated – easy going but don’t expect things to be done or done in time. Be very proactive with contacting, emailing, etc. or you may not get a reservation or something not because it is not available but because you were not determined enough 🙂

Remember to bring along Australian Mains Plug or junctions: Tuvalu, Fiji, Vanuatu – the same thing. You need them.

2take2DXtrip checklist

Laptop + its charger + mouse
External Type-C display – it could be left at home and less 0.5 kg in the luggage
Icom 7300
Icom 7300’s power supply + its AC cable + 12V DC wires to the transceiver
Microphone + TX pedal
Moxon antenna (tubes) + central part + plastic + wires
Vertical antennas + its wires + wires for the radials
9.5m carbon telescopic pole/mast
Tripod for for the mast + plastic holders to match with the mast’s inner pole’s diameter
Headlight – the majority of assembly/disassembly I did in the dark time
QRM filter for the generator – I didn’t rent a car or use the generator – it could be left home – -200 grams
A ferrite 1:1 symmetrical transformer with the HF cable/connector
LMR-400 cable 30 meters – it is much better to take 10+20m because thus, it would be three cables totally
RG-58 20-meter cable
Antenna analyzer + Type B USB cable + power bank
Soldering iron + solder + flux – I optimized so much that had no flux not solder eventually
Distance meter – not used and could be left – -100 gram
Sticky tape – 1 roll, at least. I took 3 but had to leave 2 at home. One full roll is enough. Consumable
Multimeter
Morse paddle
Ropes for guying. 2-3 mm turned out to be the best – very light, strong, not entangle easily – 60 meters+
Saw for metal – only the saw without the handle – didn’t use but the wait is 20 grams or so
Spare 1mm2 wires – not used. I preferred a thicker 2mm2 wire. 20 meters or so – up to 1 kg of less weight
Momentary glue – not used but a must have as the sticky tape – always
Metal pegs for guys
Copter + remote control + spare batteries + battery charger
Gloves for dirty work – not used but little weight
Dry bag