Update June 10, 2025: QSL cards for HD8G DXpedition from Galapagos Islands are ready for dispatch on Tuesday 10th June. So look out for these arriving very soon. 
If you would like the HD8G QSL on the this mailing please M0URX.com/oqrs/logsearch.php?dxcallsign=HD8G" target="_blank">go to OQRS NOW! 

Update May 2, 2025: "*FAO of OQRS" users in BRAZIL. PayPal Brazil have informed us that they do not permit payment in US dollars or €uros in a Brazilian PayPal account from a Brazil account or card users.
In agreement with the HD8G team I will accept HD8G payment to tim@M0URX.com instead.
You must also email me with your QSO details and your Postal address please.
HD8G Express Direct QSL card + LoTW: US$ 6.50
Express LoTW : US$ 5.00 
Monies will be set aside towards final HD8G postage. Thank you for understanding.
* "FAOs" in the context of PayPal
refers to "Friends and Family" options, specifically the "Friends and Family" payment method offered by PayPal.

Update April 29, 2025: On April 27, 2025 (Sunday), after the operation ended at 11:00 p.m. (UTC) on April 26, 2025 (Saturday), most of the participants began returning to their countries. This expedition demonstrated how the spirit of amateur radio can unite different races and cultures for a single goal. The friendship, planning and commitment of everyone resulted in a total of 51,775 QSOs, reaching our goal of 50,000 QSOs in 8 days.

Dividing this number by the 8 days (considering the hours added together on the 18th and 26th, since there were not 24 hours in a row on both days), we have a total of 6,472 QSOs per day. Despite our goal, we never stopped trying CW and SSB, including on low bands, but the propagation was not the most favorable. Our rating could be higher, but in order to try to provide CW and SSB to our colleagues, there were hours on end, with 2 to 10 contacts being made by some stations, which continually tried CW and SSB, without any help for the propagation.

Two products from our sponsors proved to be spectacular: 1) the ACOM 500S linear amplifier from ACOM and 2) the 10m J-Pole antenna from Antena Kit. Differentiated and above average performances, when compared to similar products.

Here is a list of what we learned from this expedition, with 25 operators from 7 different countries:

1) The greater the number of operators, the more difficult it is to organize all the detailsof the expedition.

2) Different languages are always an obstacle, but applications like Translator on your cell phone make communication much easier.

3) Choosing two different sites has the advantage of stations from one site and another being able to operate on the same band, in different modes. But the price to pay is high, since if the internet connection is not appropriate, it is not possible to integrate all the stations from one site and the other properly in a VPN. Without this integration, the stations from one site could not have visibility of where the stations in the other site were operating and this check often ended up being done manually via WhatsApp, taking up precious time.

4) Due to the instability of the internet, it was not possible to stay online, via VPN, when trying to do CW, since the lag between clicking the laptop key and the CW message being sent was very high.

5) Due to the instability of the internet and the need to leave the network when doing CW, it was not possible to send real-time data to the leaderboard and the ClubLog livestream. We had to get around this situation manually again, thanks to the valuable efforts of PS8RV and PY5KD. However, this cost us an excess of dupes, as many operators made contact and did not see it being updated immediately on ClubLog.

6) We lost 3 linear amplifiers (Tokyo Hy-Power, RM Italy and Ameritron) and had our Spiderbeam mast broken, which would support the inverted L for 160 meters. The other linear amplifiers from our sponsor ACOM and those from the companies Elecraft and SPE Expert behaved well, although the ACOM one stands out not only for its reliability, but also for its quiet operation.

7) Even with the broken mast, we assembled an inverted L for 160m and a sloper for 60m and the performance of both antennas was very pleasing. It was essential at this point to have an antenna analyzer on site to check if the antenna with effect resonates in the band for which it was designed and to identify what needs to be done to correct its operation.

8) Our satellite and EME operations were in great demand and our operators PV8DX and PY2BS are to be congratulated, respectively.

9) What to say about our CW experts PR7AB, YL1ZF, YL2KL, YT1AD, R7KW and E70A… genius! Our SSB experts PY2PT and PY5EG gave a lesson on how to operate in voice. The only disappointment was that PY6RT did not have a linear capable of providing him with the same performance in voice as the others, since his linear was one of the ones affected.

10) Our American colleagues K3NQ, N6JRL, N6PSE and WD5COV showed their skills in all modes and especially in the spirit of ham radio, demonstrating their ability to work as a team.

11) Our colleagues from Ecuador were incredible. Their ability to integrate and the way they helped us achieve these results was impressive.

12) Without our co-leaders PY2PT, PY5EG and YT1AD we would not have achieved the feat of getting where we are.

13) We tried to operate fairly, not favoring some over others and trying to give everyone the chance we could.

Many thanks to E70A, HC5F, HC5RF, HC5VF, K3NQ, N6JRL, N6PSE, PY2BS, PY2DV, PY2MC, PY2PT, PY2WAS, PY5EG, PY5HSD, PY5KD, PY6HD, PY6RT, PR7AB, PS8RV, PV8DX, R7KW, WD5COV, YL1ZF, YL2KL and YT1AD. Without the personal effort and commitment of each and every one of you we would not have been able to reach our goal. Fantastic!!!

73, 2025 Galapagos Dx-pedition Team.

Update April 26, 2025:  Today is our last day in Galapagos. It looks like that it started yesterday and is already over… We miss the notion of time, as it passes by
very quickly.

The 160m and 60m antennas have been unassembled this morning at Sol y Mar Hotel. We will unassemble the A3S at 7pm UTC and the verticals will be unassembled from 7pm UTC to 11pm UTC at Sol y Mar Hotel (site 1). As regards Steve’s Chalets (site 2), the antennas will be unassembled from 7pm UTC on.

There is not the final number of QSOs yet, but it should be between 40,000 and 50,000. Our target was 50,000 with 6 stations running HF and 2 running satellites and EME, respectively. Some reasons may explain our obstacles to reach our target: (i) configuration problems of DXlog and WSTJ-X making us to lose precious time trying to fix it, (ii) unstable internet making
us blind as regards where the stations in 2 sites would be operating, (iii) our wish to provide the maximum QSOs in lower bands as possible, which caused our QSO rating to lose efficiency.

On the other hand, we were capable of solving many challenges by taking into consideration all plans discussed along 1 year.

We thank all our sponsors, but we can recommend two products that we tested here and the performance was the best possible: the linear amplifier ACOM 500S from ACOM and the J-Pole Antenna for 10m from Antena Kit. Amazing performance that made the difference in our QSOs. While the linear amplifier ACOM 500S has been silent and reliable, J-Pole Antenna showed what a differentiated vertical antenna is capable of, tuning no only in 10m, but in 6m and 12m.

It is hard to say good-by of this magical place named Galapagos. In addition to the radio, Galapagos provides a great lesson the entire world. A place in which men respect animals and where animals do not fear men. Both co-exist in the same environment without violent behaviors. That is why is amazing to be near wild animals and they stare at you as if you were only one else as part of the scenario. They simply do not run or try to hurt you.

We thank all ham radio community who chased us and made this dx-pedition come true, we thank all our sponsors (companies and individuals) that enabled us to be here, we thank Araucaria DX Group, Labre (Brazilian Ham Association) and Mediterraneo DX Club for supporting us, we thank our official advisors NE8Z – Rick and OK1BOA – Petr for all the valuable support, we thank Steve and Yenny Devine of Steve’s Chalets for their valuable support and generosity, we thank the Sol y Mar hotel staff for permitting us to use the roof and hang ropes and antennas accross the common area of the hotel and we thank God for being part of this great team, good people from different countries and cultures, joined for a single reason: ham radio!

Bye, bye, Galapagos! Thanks for this fantastic adventure!!!

Update April 24, 2025: Wednesday was a very good day, since it was the first day we had antennas for all bands. Internet continued to be a problem, which was only overcome by manually uploading files coordinated by PS8RV, with the support of PY5KD, to ClubLog and to our manager Tim – M0URX. We have made progress in our contacts on the low bands, especially on 60m, 80m and 160m. We are quite pleased with the results, since our expectations based on our propagation studies were not satisfactory.

We would, however, like to highlight the spectacle of operating with the ACOM 500S linear amplifier. It provides 500W linearly, has an incredible tuner capable of coupling high SWRs, is extremely quiet, reliable and error-proof for operators. It certainly becomes the dream of anyone who has the pleasure of knowing it. Our many thanks to ACOM for giving us the chance to use such good equipment!

Update April 23, 2025: On this fourth day, we have already drawn some conclusions about what works and what doesn’t; what can be improved and what can’t be improved. Unfortunately, the internet problem is beyond our reach and we can’t solve it. We can only look at the glass half full and be thankful that we can still send our ADIF logs twice a day to ClubLog. Hopefully this can motivate those who consult the leaderboard.

Finally, today, we managed to set up the inverted L antenna for 160 meters and the sloper antenna for 60 meters. We couldn’t have had a better surprise. On the first night with these antennas, many contacts on 60 meters in FT8 and the first contacts on 160 meters, especially with North America.

We hope to increase our contacts in the coming days on the lower bands, especially 60m, 80m and 160m, considering the number of operators who ask us to operate on these bands.

Update April 20, 2025: Due to internet problems, we will be deciding by tonight whether we will update ClubLog once a day or whether we will be able to update it online, including using leaderboards and livestreams, according to our initial intention.

On the second day of operations in Galapagos, we have different situations at the two operating sites. At Steve’s chalets, of the 4 stations, 2 are active 24 hours a day at full HF + 6m. One of the stations is facing problems that they are trying to correct in time to take advantage of the remaining days. And finally, the fourth station is operating only satellites and doing a great job by PV8DX. Another problem they are trying to solve is that when the four stations are connected, there is a voltage drop, which affects the entire operation.

Update April 14, 2025: That is our last press release before the start up of our dx-pedition on Apr 18, 2025. It goes from Apr 18, 2025 to Apr 26, 2025.

We took more than 1 year planning this dx-pedition. We had meetings every 2 weeks. Many colleagues had to cancel their participation for different reasons and new colleagues joined us. Now, we will be 25 passioned ops from 7 different countries, getting by language and culture differences aiming a single objective: one great dx-pedition, unforgettable for all of us and unforgettable for all the ham community. Here, Ecuador, Brazil, USA, Russia, Latvia, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Serbia will be together, helping each other to do their best.

It is not easy at all to organize a big dx-pedition with so many ops like this one. Some ops are more active than others, language is also an obstacle to live discussions, but the feeling is common to all of us and the chance to meet so distant colleagues that we would never have a chance to interact with make this an unique event to all of us. We have very experienced dxers and dx-peditioners in the team, but we also have brand new ones. That mixture reinforces the beauty of our hobby… an ever-lasting friendship!

We need to thank Araucaria DX Group, LABRE (Brazilian Ham Association), CT1FCX, W9MDB, N4LZ, N9PN, K6FG, K0MD, N5DD, W6JT, NR5R, K6VWE, WB9HBH, K3SX, AJ8B, N7WS, K8DP, PY2KP, WA1SXK, KD5R, NI0K, K7CMI, WA7CPA, K1CP, DD1SB, WA5MD, NU1B and ON4MGY. Their finance support was instrumental to enable us to take hundreds of kgs of equipment. Thank you very much, each of you!!! You made it possible!

We will be operating with 8 stations full time and one extra station will be activated during the nights. If your call sign is not in the above list, please, feel free to access our website [hd8g.com]hd8g.com and check the tabs “QSL” or “Donations and Sponsorships” and guarantee your paper QSL and LoTW in the first 2 weeks as soon as the dx-pedition ends.

We also need to thank our sponsors ACOM, Diex, DS Antenas, Antenas Hertz, Radiohaus, Hamplus, KV Antenas, Antena Kit, Antenas MHZ, Torres Ouro Fino, RadioEnge and Titanex. These great companies continue supporting ham radio with high quality products. We call your attention to these companies. Please, if you need high quality products for our hobby, try some of these companies and retribute their great affordable products with your trust and support to their business.

Finally, thanks to HC5EF, PY8WW, PY5CC, PY4RGS, PY2EL, PY7XC and VU2RS. It would have been really good to have you with us. We are sure that we will not please everyone, but we will do our best to offer a great dx-pedition to the ham community.

See all of you from Galapagos. Check our daily news in our website: [hd8g.com]hd8g.com.

73,

2025 Galapagos Dx-pedition Team

Update April 14, 2025: We are setting up my SAT participation on the Galapagos Islands. Apr 18th to 26th I will also be at HF station 5 with some CW time slots.
We will be happy to have you on the LOG
See on this page where I have posted some passages.
LAPAN SAT will be ON for several days. Footprint can also be even in Florida.
RS44 will be in our target. AO7 when ON.
Darko E70A should also participate in SAT

Thanks
73 Paulo PV8DX

Update March 27, 2025:  It is with great sadness that we announce the departure of Sara/VU2RS, who will not be able to join us because of personal issues. We thank Sara for his participation so far and wish him all the best.

2025 Galapagos Dx-pedition Team

Update February 10 2025: It is with great sadness that we announce the departure of HC5EP – Esteban, PY5CC – Peter and PY7XC – Jim, for different reasons. We thank them for being with us until this point during this journey and wish them all the best in their future endeavors.

On the other hand, we welcome YL1ZF – Kaspars Uztics, N6JRL – Don Dubon and E70A – Darko Rusman who will certainly add significant value to the HD8G team.

Said that, we confirm that HD8G will be in the air from April 18 to 26, 2025. There will be 26 amateur radio operators from Ecuador, Brazil, Bosnia & Herzegovina, India, Serbia, USA and Russia managing 8 stations in two locations on Santa Cruz Island, with 1 station dedicated to satellites, 1 station dedicated to EME and 1 station dedicated to 6m. Our bootcamp for checking systems and equipment is scheduled for February 22nd and 23rd, 2025.

We have received great support from ACOM – one of the world’s largest manufacturers of linear RF amplifiers and other great manufacturers such as Diex Antennas, DS Antennas, Hamplus, MHZ Antennas, KV Antennas, RadioHaus, Antenna Kit, Hertz Antennas, Torres Ouro Fino, RadioEnge and Titanex.

Our challenges are increasingly greater to cover the costs of extra baggage, to be able to provide 5 stations operating 24 hours a day in the HF bands and 3 dedicated stations (6m, satellites and EME).

Therefore, we kindly encourage fellow radio amateurs to help us with one of these alternatives: (i) become an individual sponsor of this DXpedition with US$ 10.00 paying through our website hd8g.com, and you will have immediate confirmation of the LoTW and QSL on paper addressed to you on the first shipment or (ii) order one of our HD8G souvenirs (t-shirts, caps and mugs) posted on our website hd8g.com, but checking the shipping costs in advance or (iii) visit our sponsors’ websites by clicking on their logo on our website hd8g.com.

In addition to quickly securing your QSOs on LoTW and your QSL on paper, your US$10.00 will enable 9 days of great fun, hunting HD8G on all bands and in the most diverse modes.

73, Galapagos DXpedition Team 2025.

Update January 27, 2025: We proudly confirm that HD8G team was empowered by arrival of 4 great colleagues, ham radio giants: Girts – YL2KL, Paul – N6PSE, Bruce – K3NQ and Dave – WD5COV. We are increasingly confident that it will be an unforgettable experience to all ham radio community. 73, 2025 Galapagos DX-pedition Team.

Update January 22, 2025:  Press Release #9

Dear colleagues,

We proudly confirm a robust international DX-pedition to Galapagos Islands in 2025. HD8G will be on the air from Apr 18th, 2025 to Apr 26th, 2025. There will be 22 ham ops from Ecuador, Brazil, India, Serbia and Russia managing 8 stations in two sites at Santa Cruz island with 1 station dedicated to satellites, 1 station dedicated to EME and 1 station dedicated to 6m. Our official advisors are NE8Z – Rick and OK1BOA – Petr. This project was launched 1 year ago.

We received a great support from ACOM – one of the world’s leading manufacturers of RF linear amplifiers and other manufacturers from Brazil, such as Diex Antennas, DS Antenas, Hamplus, MHZ Antennas, KV Antenas, RadioHaus, Antena Kit and Hertz Antenas.

Our challenges are higher everyday to burden costs. The air companies increased prices in around 100% if considering prices charged last year, including extra-baggages.

Therefore, we kindly ask the ham radio colleagues to help us with one of this alternatives: (i) to be an individual sponsor of this DX-pedition with US$ 10.00 by paying it through our website hd8g.com, and you will have immediate LoTW confirmation and paper QSL addressed to you in the first shipping or (ii) to order one of our HD8G souvenirs (shirts, caps and mugs) posted in our website hd8g.com, but checking shipping costs in advance or (iii) to visit the websites of our sponsors by clicking their logo at our website hd8g.com. By doing it, you will help us a lot to retribute with a great DX-pedition, many contacts in different bands and modes and quick confirmation at LoTW and paper QSL card.

Ham radio associations and companies are invited to visit our HD8G website and if you may contribute with any donation or material support to this team to perform a great dx-pedition, we thank you in advance for making it come true.

73, 2025 Galapagos Dx-pedition Team

Update October 27, 2024: We regret to announce that 2 colleagues – PY2EL – Ricardo and PY4RGS – Rafael, were forced to leave the team because of business and family reasons, respectively. We thank Ricardo and Rafael for all the support so far and wish them all the best. From now on, the team will move forward with 22 ops and 8 stations, shared in 2 sites located at Santa Cruz Island: 1) Hotel Sol y Mar and 2) Steve Devine’s Challets.

73, 2025 Galapagos DXpedition Team.

Update September 25, 2024: Press Release # 7

We are pleased to announce that our callsign license was issued by Arcotel (Ecuador Telecommunications Authority) through the excellent advocacy efforts of HC5VF – Fausto. In addition, another great news is related to the number of stations. Although the team did not consider remote stations, there will be 10 stations running and granting more QSO chances to colleagues all over the world.

73, 2025 Galapagos Dx-pedition Team

Update July 19, 2024: Press Release #6 (July, 15th, 2024)

We are pleased to announce that one of the most prestigious EME ops worldwide joined the team: PY2BS – Bruce Halasz. Bruce is an electric and electronic engineer, a very friendly colleague and will add significant value to the entire team. Bruce has already informed that the week is not the best one for EME and we are now discussing the alternatives we have to compensate it. Therefore, the team has now 24 operators. In addition, the team decided to be split in 2 sites: Steve Devine’s chalets and Hotel Sol y Mar, both of them located at Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos. While 10 ops will be hosted at Steve Devine’s chalets, other 10 ops will be hosted at Hotel Sol y Mar. The other 4 ops will be hosted at Hotel Seymour, although 8 work stations and antennas will be split between Steve Devine’s chalets and Hotel Sol y Mar.

Update July 5, 2024: Unfortuntely, PY3MM – Miguel and PY8WW – Renato left the team for professional reasons. On the other hand, we are pleased to announce that R7KW – Serge joined the team and he will be especially fostering the CW skills of the team.

Update July 1, 2024: We are pleased to announce that PY5EG – Atilano Oms joined the team. He is the 24th member and will be a co-leader contributing with his solid experience with the entire team. He will definitely add value to this dxpedition and renew our energy and enthusiasm towards our targets in Galapagos. 

Update June 17, 2024: We have 2 reasons to be happy today. First of all, our colleague PY8WW – Renato was able to negotiate in his company the conflict of dates and rejoined the team as an active member to launch HD8G in Apr/2025. In addition, we announce 3 new members from Ecuador: HC5EP – Esteban, HC5F – Francisco and HC5RF – Ruben. We welcome all of them and they will certainly add value to the team. Finally, our member PS8RV is the WWFF representative in Brazil, and he reminds all of us that QSOs with HD8G will count for the WWFF awards as HCFF-0004.

A large group of operators will be QRV on HF bands as HD8G from Galapagos Islands on April 18-25, 2025.
Operators: HC5VF, PY2DV, PY2EL, PY2MC, PY2PT, PY2WAS, PY3MM, PY4RGS, PY5CC, PY5HSD, PY5KD, PY6HD, PY6RT, PR7AB, PY7XC, PS8RV, PV8DX, VU2RS, YT1AD.

QSL via M0URX.