It is rare when DXpedition teams include youthful operators, say, age 25 and younger. Most ventures to remote locales are made up of a mix of seasoned operators who have many years of experience working the other side of a pileup. It is exceedingly rare, however, when the entire team of operators are members of Generation Z, as is the case with the upcoming February 2024 DXpedition to Guyana.
The 8R DXpedition is scheduled to run from February 14-24 from a small farm southeast of Guyana’s capital city of Georgetown. Four operators will each work CW, SSB, and digital modes: co-lead Jamie Williams, M0SDV (age 23); co-lead Philipp Springer, DK6SP (age 25); Sven Lovric, DJ4MX (age 21); and Tomi Varro, HA8RT (age 25). You might recall that HA8RT was part of the Team Exuberance contesting squad that operated at the K3LR Super Station during the 2019 CQ WPX SSB and 2020 CQ WPX CW contests.
Per the DXpedition’s website, the operators are shooting for 30,000 QSOs in CW, SSB, RTTY, and FT8, with a target of 2,000 RTTY contacts. “Focus is being laid upon the latest Clublog Most Wanted Ranking. Various parts of the world will profit from the operation.” The team hopes that their rural QTH and resulting lower noise levels will be a boon for low-band operation. They also plan to enter the ARRL CW 2024 Contest, February 17-18, as an M/x entry.
Please check the Guyana DXpedition website for updates.
DX Engineering is pleased to join ICOM USA and other providers in supporting this unique effort. From the DXpedition’s Facebook page, the photo below shows team members standing behind boxes of DX Engineering equipment delivered in November.
The shipment included three Icom IC-7610 HF/50MHz All Mode Transceivers that were provided thanks to ICOM USA and DX Engineering.
From the DXpedition website, “Thanks to our sponsors ICOM USA and DX Engineering for their fast delivery of needed goods. It is our big pleasure to have such well-known companies aboard our project.” Find all the team’s valued supporters here.
In addition to the transceivers, DX Engineering provided the DXpedition with the following equipment:
The OSL Calibration Set allows the measurement reference plane of advanced RigExpert analyzers to be moved to the far end of a transmission line for accurate measurement of any antenna in its proper operating location.
Advanced RigExpert analyzer models allow “recalibration” to be toggled on to use these Open-Short-Load calibration standards to reset the reference plane. Calibrating with these standards at the far end of any 50-ohm coaxial cable assembly subtracts the electrical parameters of that coaxial cable and its specific length, a process referred to as “nulling” the cable.
After selecting your analyzer’s “Calibrate” function and attaching the Open, Short and Load calibration standards to the end of a coaxial cable as directed, you can view the “true” characteristics of the antenna under test, as if the analyzer were connected directly to the antenna feedpoint.
Check in with OnAllBands for DXpedition updates as the date nears!
