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W8S Swains Island
IOTA OC-200
17th of May 2023
 
Although it was silent for quite some time, we were still working on the project and are happy that we can now announce that the contract with Alex Jennings is in our hands. Alex Jennings is the proprietor of Swains Island and providing the logistic support for the DXpedition.
 
The DXpedition to Swains Island will take place in the autumn of 2023. The governmental ship Manu’atela is booked for our trip. We will arrive on Swains Island the 4th of October and will depart the 17th of October 2023.
Four new members are in our team because some couldn’t join due circumstances. The team still consist of 10 international operators. The operators are: DJ9RR (Heye), DL2AMD (Rainer), DL6JGN (Hans), KO8SCA (Adrian), NG7M (Max), PA2KW (Evert), PA3EWP (Ronald), PA4WM (Martin), PA5X (Johannes) and PG5M (Gerben).
 
Due to Covid and the global economic situation, our costs have increased considerably compared to 2020. The total cost has increased to 125.000 Euro and we therefore ask you to increasing your donation as well! In the meantime, we have been working on another antenna setup, focusing on the higher bands. We are preparing VDA’s for 10, 12, 15, 17 and 20 meters. We will have 2 additional radio’s active. With 6 stations running we can make more QSO’s and give more DXers an All Time New One. Our camps are separated by approx. 500 meters, which will allow us to operate on some bands with 2 stations simultaneously.
 
We will keep you informed of the status via our website http://swains2023.com, Twitter @swains2020 and Facebook (Swains 2020).
Regards,
On behalf of the Swains 2023 team,
 
Ronald Stuy, PA3EWP
Talmaweg 138
2992AK Barendrecht
The Netherlands
Email: rstuy1@chello.nl