DXCC Entity: East Kiribati (T32) IOTA: OC-024


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Between 1 and 24 October 2011, thirty eight radio amateurs from 11 countries activated the Island of Kiritimati (Christmas Island) in the Northern Line Islands, a part of the Republic of Kiribati. The DXpedition was organised by the Five Star DXers Association (FSDXA) and operated using the call sign T32C.

Although planning for the DXpedition started over two years previously, not everything went to plan. A standard 8ft by 8ft by 20ft sea container holding 16 Yaesu FT DX 5000 transceivers, 16 Yaesu VL-1000 linear amplifiers, two 11 KVA diesel generators, the antennas and much, much more shipped from the UK to Christmas Island in February 2011. Although the container landed in Suva (Fiji) in April 2011, it became clear just two weeks prior to the start of the DXpedition that, due to a set of very unfortunate circumstances, it would not make it onto Christmas Island in time.

What to do? The decision was made to hand carry as much equipment as possible onto the Island and proceed with the DXpedition. Thanks to a tremendous response from our sponsors, the team members and the amateur radio community, ten brand new Yaesu FT450D transceivers (courtesy of Yaesu), nine linear amplifiers, and sufficient fibreglass poles were rapidly shipped to Honolulu to await hand carrying to Christmas Island.

On 28th September we checked in with Air Pacific for the flight to Christmas Island with approximately 450Kg of excess, yes excess, baggage. Having boarded the plane we thought nothing else could go wrong. Not quite true, imagine our response when the captain announced a delay whilst they offloaded some of the cargo because the plane was overweight. Fortunately he chose to remove some commercial freight and not our equipment.

Despite the initial problems we encountered, the DXpedition was a major success making 213,169 QSOs and establishing at least ten new world records. Additionally we believe it conducted the first ever 6m Earth-Moon-Earth QSOs from T32, as well as the first ever terrestrial QSOs on 6m with Brazil, Paraguay and New Caledonia.

The QSO breakdown was as follows (new world records highlighted in red)

	Total QSOs	213,169
	Total Uniques	48,914
	CW QSOs	102,216
	SSB QSOs	88,416
	FM QSOs	1,765
	RTTY QSOs	19,225
	PSK31 QSOs	13
	PSK63 QSOs	1,506

	1.8 MHz QSOs	4,988
	3.5 MHz QSOs	9,679
	7.0 MHz QSOs	17,572
	10.1 MHz QSOs	16,398
	14.0 MHz QSOs	36,154
	18.0 MHz QSOs	30,402
	21.0 MHz QSOs	35,489
	24.9 MHz QSOs	25,265
	28.0 MHz QSOs	37,091
	50.0 MHz QSOs	110

	Africa QSOs	1,128
	Asia QSOs	35,081
	Europe QSOs	59,691
	North America QSOs	109,327
	Oceania QSOs	4,214
	South America QSOs	3,691

This page only describes briefly the story of the DXpedition; much more detail is contained on the T32C DVD which can be purchased through the website.

On 3rd February 2012, 49 weeks after leaving Southampton the container was received back from its world tour. The contents were unpacked, loaned equipment returned to its owners and everything else was cleaned, repacked and restored ready for the next FSDXA DXpedition .

All of the equipment inside the container was in perfect condition and despite being away for 49 weeks, we suffered no damage.

QSLing

Your QSL card may be in the post. As of 12 December 2012 cards have been mailed for 70k QSOs (32.8% of all contacts) including those for all donors and for all OQRS requests. 86% of the QSOs have been confirmed direct.

The first large batch of bureau cards weighing 11 lbs has just been received from the RSGB bureau. Images of the QSL card can be seen by clicking on the card.

Press Bulletin #10

The Online QSL Request Service (OQRS) is now operational - To apply for your QSLs please follow the advice given at 'QSL Routes'

If you have made a donation to the DXpedition then your QSL cards will be mailed to you but please follow the advice given at 'QSL Routes'

For Buro and direct QSLs please use the process described in 'QSL Routes'

To send an e-mail to the team or report busted QSOs in the log click the Email logo and complete the form.

The final log has been uploaded to Club Log. If any of your QSOs don't appear in the log then please send us an email and we will investigate the possibility of a busted call.