Are you ready for the W8S October 2023 Swains Island DXpedition?
DX Engineering CEO Tim, K3LR, had the opportunity to talk with three members of the 10-operator international team of experienced amateurs who will be making this rare activation possible: Adrian, KO8SCA; Gerben, PG5M; and Johannes, PA5X. They and their colleagues will be operating six stations around the clock from this privately owned island in the South Pacific Ocean. The DXpedition is scheduled to run from October 4-17. Check the W8S website and Facebook page for up-to-date information.
Team members talked about the long process to activate Swains Island and the snags along the way, what it takes to prepare for a DXpedition of this complexity, the possibility of transmitting the first-ever live images from this remote and uninhabited island via Starlink connection, and the anticipated number of QSOs.
In addition to HF operation on CW, SSB, RTTY, and FT8, the team will employ an additional dedicated station set up for 6M with EME capabilities—the first time EME will be available from Swains Island. As of September, Swains Island ranked as the 27th Most Wanted DXCC Entity per Clublog.
DX Engineering is a proud equipment sponsor of Swains Island W8S, providing the following gear:
“First of all, we want to thank DX Engineering for supporting our DXpedition,” Johannes said. “Thank you very much for the support and your ongoing support of many DXpeditions. We coordinated with Teri, K8MNJ, to get our equipment and everything was perfect and very well organized. We’re very excited to go to Swains.” Teri is DX Engineering’s special projects and promotions Hamfest/DXpedition coordinator.
Watch the Swains Island interview here.
