QRT QRT QRT
Another DXpedition is behind us.
With more than 61,000 QSOs, we believe we achieved a solid result during the 10.5 days we were active.
Tomorrow morning, we will start dismantling and packing our equipment. At 16:45, flight QF358 will take us from Honiara to Brisbane. After an overnight layover in Brisbane, we will continue our journey to Croatia and Germany.
A big thank you to everyone for your support, help, and, of course, all the QSOs!
We would also like to express our special thanks to our sponsors and supporters, because without their support, this activity would not have been possible.
October 19th, 2026
Greetings from the H49A Team!
Our activation is slowly coming to an end. With nearly 56,000 QSOs in the log so far, we can say that we have done a solid job!
Club Log issue: Just to reiterate, our Starlink connection occasionally drops out for a few seconds, meaning that not all QSOs appear immediately on the livestream. The MSHV logs are uploaded to Club Log several times a day, so we kindly ask for your patience. There is no need to flood our team with messages about missing QSOs.
MSHV issue: If you received an RR73 but your QSO is not in the log, please contact us after the DXpedition with the date and time of your QSO. Our team will check the MSHV text files AFTER the end of our adventure.
- 80m GP: Our 80m GP was damaged again, but we have repaired it. We plan to be QRV on 80m tonight.
- 160m: Activity on 160m has been excellent! Although we have some minor interference on CW, we will try to work stations around the SM/OH sunrise tonight, followed by another session for Europe a little later.
- Antennas: Tomorrow afternoon, local time, we will begin taking down some of our antennas.
Health bulletin: Things are looking much better now, so we will do our best to keep the stations running at full capacity until the very end.
Epic battle: Ocean vs. VDA antenna — 3:5! 🙂
October 18th, 2026
Greetings from Guadalcanal Island!
Our team has passed the 50,000 QSO milestone! A big thank you to everyone who helped us reach this goal ahead of schedule.
Health bulletin: Some team members who have been battling a cold are feeling much better. However, this is still having an impact on our human-mode operations, with the operators who are fit doing their very best to keep CW and SSB well represented.
The 160m antenna is performing excellently, and we have made a large number of QSOs with Europe and the eastern USA. The 80m and 40m bands are also performing very well.
10m is working reasonably well towards the USA, although QSB is very strong.
Unfortunately, we have not yet seen any openings on 50 MHz, despite regularly transmitting and listening for activity.
For the remainder of the DXpedition, we will do our best to be active on bands where we have been less active so far, including 60m.
Thank you all for your continued support and for being part of the H49A adventure!
October 16th, 2026
Greetings from Guadalcanal Island!
Our team is still in good shape, although fatigue is slowly catching up with us. Propagation during the day, as well as towards the USA/VE, has been quite unusual. We are doing our best to maximize the number of QSOs in that direction.
Last night, we operated on 80m and 160m simultaneously, and both bands performed exceptionally well. During our first night on 160m, we logged more than 500 QSOs, including over 120 stations from Europe. Over the following nights, our location at Dolphin View Beach has continued to prove excellent, with a remarkably quiet noise level. Human mode 160m lovers – more to come 🙂
Our hosts have been incredibly welcoming and helpful. Mr. Alister has given us valuable advice on several occasions, and we really appreciate his support.
We are getting closer to the 40,000 QSO milestone!
Some of the team members also visited the War Museum, located very close to our QTH. It offers a fascinating insight into the history of WWII in the Solomon Islands. The open-air museum, brought to life through one man’s vision to create something truly special on Guadalcanal Island, left a strong impression on everyone who visited.
Our VDA on 20/15m is putting up a great fight against Ocean, narrowing the score to 3:2. 🙂
CU in the pileups!
H49A Team
Oct 13th, 2026
Greetings from the H49A team!
We have now entered our fourth active operating day. Here are a few updates.
The 15/20m VDA antenna has been put back up, and this morning we operated CW on all three stations simultaneously, as we mentioned that we also wanted to make some human-mode QSOs. The VDA has survived another fall without any problems. The current score is Ocean – VDA 3:0. 🙂
Unfortunately, our 80m antenna is causing problems when used with the power amplifier, so we expect to be active on 80m tomorrow.
Today, we operated on 40m SSB towards the East Coast. Propagation to the East Coast is not particularly good, but we will do our best to remain as active as possible.
Club Log issue: Starlink occasionally causes us some problems, and some QSOs are not uploaded directly to Club Log. There is nothing we can do about this. We are simply happy to have access to a fast internet connection at all! All logs are re-uploaded within 24 hours of the QSO at the latest, so we kindly ask you to check your QSOs again after that time.
Other than that, we have no further problems, and the team is in good spirits!
October 12th, 2026
Greetings from Dolphin View Beach!The H49A team is working hard, and in our first 48 hours of operation, we have already passed **10,000 QSOs!**
We still have a few minor antenna adjustments to take care of. Since our antennas are installed right on the coast, we need to check the guy ropes every few hours to make sure everything stays secure.Last Saturday, we purchased a generator, so we now have two generators at our disposal.
We are doing our best to be QRV on the human modes as much as possible. Last night, we had some fantastic pileups towards Europe on both CW and SSB. This morning, we were active on 60 meters.**Livestream:** Some QSOs may not appear immediately on the Club Log livestream, but all logs are uploaded again every 24 hours. Please be patient!
The weather is hot and humid, just as we expected.The team is in great spirits, everyone is doing well, and we are enjoying the pileups!**73 from the H49A team!**
October 5th, 2026
The team is very excited, and the final preparations are currently underway. The team leader has collected all equipment from the other members, and the final packing into the checked luggage is now in progress.
Bernhard, H44MS, has already arrived in Honiara and is helping us with various logistical matters. Thank you, Bernhard, for your selfless support and assistance!
Our first leg is on Wednesday morning from Zagreb (ZAG) to Istanbul, where we have a 12-hour layover before boarding TK60, our onward flight to Kuala Lumpur.
We are ready for any challenges ahead, and hopefully Murphy’s Law will stay away from us this time.
We would also like to thank Mate, 9A4M, Mirko, 9A6KX, and Robert, S58Y, for their generous donations in support of our DXpedition. Their support is greatly appreciated and helps make this project possible.
September 30th, 2026
Part of the team is ready to depart. Final preparations are underway, and the equipment checklist is being reviewed once again, as we are aware that we are limited to just six suitcases.
We would also like to thank Bernhard, H44MS, who generously shared a lot of valuable advice with us regarding the activation in the Solomon Islands.
The latest news is that the Solomon Islands have introduced electronic tourist visas, so we have all submitted our visa applications. So far, five out of six visas have been approved, and we hope that the sixth visa will also be approved sometime today.
Mirko, S51RE will bring some of the equipment shown in the picture to the Istra Contest Conference and hand it over to our team leader. If you happen to be in Poreč this weekend, several members of our DXpedition team will be there, and you can talk to them about our journey. It is worth mentioning that the ICC is growing into an interregional gathering of radio amateurs.
Although this is not directly a foundation or corporate sponsor, the Mainz Radio Club (OV K07 DL0MZ) organized a fundraising campaign for our H49A expedition. By doing so, they are not only supporting their club member DK8ZZ, but they also know that part of the money raised will be donated to the Catholic Mission in Boma. Thank you very much, Meenzer! Mainz bleibt Mainz <3
We would like to thank all individual sponsors who supported our DXpedition:
Stephan DF6PA, Torsten DL8TV, Bill AJ8B, Janko S57L, Karlheinz DK8KK, Simon & XYL Sinja DO1SRM, Thomas DL7FBT, Karlheinz DK8KK, Hans SM6VZX, Dragan E77EA, Val 9A2V, Rudi DF9PM, Simon S53ZO, Holger DL1MTK, Zimba 4O4A, Drago S59A, Chris DK2CL, Mario DJ2MX, Sven DJ4MX, Hans SM6CZX, Andreas DL1IAY, Rado S59ZZ, and Sven DA6SF.
Thank you all for your support!
73,
The H49A Team
August 26th, 2026
Preparations are continuing as planned. Last week, the ACOM power amplifiers that will be used for our DXpedition arrived in Croatia. The final arrangements and all the small details are also progressing as planned.
We should not forget that we are a low-profile DXpedition team that carries everything with us as airline luggage. This means we have to optimize the luggage, antennas, and the overall setup as much as possible for the three stations that are planned to be QRV.
We would like to thank Dez, 9A5TW, for his individual donation.
July 25th, 2026
Just a little over two months remain until our H49A adventure begins.
Although we haven’t posted many updates recently, that doesn’t mean we haven’t been busy behind the scenes. Part of the team (9A3MR and DK8ZZ) recently tested two multiband VDA antennas on the Adriatic coast in Bilice, Croatia. The objective was to optimize their performance and make the final decision regarding our antenna setup. We have now confirmed that we will take two VDA antennas covering the 20 to 10-meter bands.
Our QTH has now been finalized: Dolphin View Beach, located on the northeastern coast of Guadalcanal Island. We will have three bungalows at our disposal, one of which will serve as the radio shack. In addition, we have approximately 100 meters of beachfront available for antenna installation directly along the shoreline. Our QTH locator is QI90VQ. The location was chosen for one simple reason—it offers an excellent takeoff toward North America, Europe, and Japan.
As for the power generator, which is essential for the success of the DXpedition, the final agreement is currently being completed. We are confident that it will provide reliable electrical power, allowing us to operate three stations simultaneously.
The H49A team would like to express its sincere appreciation to INDEXA, GMDX Group, and Mediterraneo DX Club for their generous support. We are especially pleased that our DXpedition has been recognized not only for its amateur radio objectives but also for its humanitarian aspect, as part of the funds raised will be donated to the Catholic Mission in Boma. During the HAM RADIO exhibition in Friedrichshafen, DK8ZZ had several productive meetings with representatives of DX clubs and DX foundations, many of whom have already confirmed their support for our expedition.
The ACOM power amplifiers are scheduled to be delivered at the beginning of September.
Our QSL policy remains unchanged from TX9A:
- Bureau QSL cards are completely free.
- LoTW confirmations will be uploaded free of charge six months after the end of the DXpedition.
- Direct QSL cards with immediate LoTW confirmation are available for EUR 5.
Our youngest team member, Frane (9A3CJY), has a great passion for history. He has promised to find some time during the DXpedition to give us a short presentation about World War II and the Guadalcanal Campaign.
May 27th, 2026
Our plans are underway. The team is in daily contact, and each point of the plan is being carried out accordingly. While some things are still being arranged, things that have definitely been agreed upon are:
– The QSL cards will be printed by Tony LZ1JZ
– we are planning to use the livestream on Club Log
– we will be active on all HF bands (including 160m and 60m), as well as 50 MHz
We would like to thank the first individual donors, Mike S58N and Borut S50B. Thank you, guys!
May 17th, 2026
Preparations for our new DXpedition are in full swing. Every member of the team is handling their part of the work; we are a well-coordinated and experienced team, and thanks to the experience we gained from previous expeditions, we can complete all the necessary preparations more easily. We are in the final stages of arranging the QTH, as well as the solution for the electrical power supply.
We would like to thank ACOM Bulgaria for once again supporting our expedition with three power amplifiers: 1× ACOM 1200S and 2× ACOM 500S. We decided to use two smaller power amplifiers because of the easier operation of the power generator, as well as reduced baggage costs.
We would also like to thank the 4O3A Signature Team, whose HP bandpass filters we will be using during this DXpedition.
A big thank you also goes to German DX Foundation GDXF,Swiss DX Foundation (SDXF), The UK DX Foundation as well as European DX foundation(EUDXF), all of whom have confirmed their support for our project.