Update December 4, 2024: As there are many complaints about our log from live streaming (“DATA” vs. “FT8” mode among others), it looks necessary to remind that we regularly update manually our log by overwriting the one coming from the live streaming. Some QSOs do not appear live but will be there after the next manual update which is now daily. So no need to send a multitude of messages that we don’t have time to process while we’re on an expedition.

Apart from that, the days follow one another with more than 10,000 QSOs per day with an almost perfect balance between CW, SSB and FT8. It looks so surprising compared to other expeditions that some criticize us for doing too much CW and SSB; this is a shame! We had announced for a long time that we would prioritize “human” modes, otherwise we would not have planned 15 operators. It would for sure be much easier to leave 6 stations running in FT8 and enjoy long nights of sleep, the beach and 31° water, we would already have exceeded 100,000 QSOs. But this is not the vision we have of radio in general and especially an expedition. Given the size of the pileups, there is obviously (and fortunately) a large majority who must think like us.

Update December 2, 2024:  "As our hotel does not have internet and we only use the 4G network, we preferred to be cautious before announcing that we wanted to use Live Streaming because it was necessary to do some testing first.

We had a problem at first because FT8 was not present. Since, it worked quite well even if we are not immune to outages due to the instability of the 4G connection.

On the other hand, you may have noticed that FT8 QSOs appeared under “DATA”. This is a problem coming from the Club Log interface as on our side they are recorded in FT8. As Live Streaming also feeds our online log, it is not surprising that you will find “FT8” QSOs (those we have uploaded manually) but also QSOs in “DATA” mode (those coming from Live Streaming). Don't worry, however, we regularly upload the entire log, overwriting the previous one, and everything then backs to normal."

Update November 26, 2024: It’s D-Day! Our team spends a last night near Charles-de-Gaulle airport (Paris) for a takeoff tomorrow at 10:15 a.m. towards Brussels. We will then take another flight to Freetown with a stopover in Monrovia (Liberia). The arrival in Sierra Leone is scheduled at 8:15 p.m. where it will still take at least 3 hours of driving to reach our QTH.

Update November 23, 2024:   For each of our six 9L5A stations, we have created a sheet with a global view of the propagation forecasts for all continents and all bands.
Europe will be very easy to contact. The objective is also to favor other continents when the forecast is suitable. Please follow the operators’ instructions when they ask for « NA only », « SA only », « OC only », « JA only » etc. because our goal is to satisfy as many people as possible and not just Europe. In VK/ZL for example 9L is ranked #24, and #36 in Japan.

Update November 20, 2024:  To benefit from a fast LoTW confirmation it has become more and more common to have to pay or, otherwise, to wait 6 months (or even more).

F6KOP does not support this practice. 9L5A log will be on LoTW as soon as we return from the expedition (subject to a short delay for the usual corrections). LoTW will therefore be free and immediate for everyone.

However if you want to help us, everyone is free to make a donation (without any obligation). Donors via Clublog (https://clublog.org/make_donation.php?call=9L5A) of an amount equal or greater than $7 will automatically benefit from free OQRS request for their direct QSL. You can also help us via PayPal (https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=P49Y448YR63YQ) without asking for the QSL and you will thus appear on the list of donors on our website (https://9l5a.wordpress.com/sponsors/).

Update November 11, 2024: The preparation of the equipments for 9L5A continued this weekend at Radio Club de Provins F6KOP. Most of our equipment is now tested, packed, weighed, labeled and listed. Our laptops have been pdated with the latest software versions.

Update November 11, 2024: Band plan:

BAND  CW    SSB          RTTY  FT8
6     50095 50115              50313/50323
10    28015 28440       28100 28095
12    24891 24965       24918 24920
15    21019 21255       21085 21080
17    18071 18152       18102 18100
20    14015 14240       14088 14090
30    10110             10144 10133
40    7012  7120/7075   7044  7071
60    5351.5                    5357
80    3520  3785        3585  3567
160   1823.5                   1843
QO-100      10489.900         

We are working SPLIT only! Please pay attention to the SPLIT MODE on your transceiver before calling, and listen also to the operators instructions.

CW : up 1-5
SSB : up 5-15
RTTY : up 3-10

FT8 : MSHV program (2 to 6 slots) is used for FT8 on the announced frequencies. As DXpedition (fox) we will not use F/M mode. All hunters can call us in normal mode (with locator or report) and stay on their frequency even for answering. Please do not call us on our transmission frequencies! The QSO will be logged on our side once we send RR73 or 73.

NOTE: Our band plan has been established taking into account that of 3D2Y (Rotuma) whose DXpedition is at the same time.

Update November 2, 2024: Dates set from November 27 to December 8, 2024.

Operators will be F2DX (leader), HB9GWJ (leader), F1ULQ (co-leader), F4AZF, F8AAN, F5NTZ, F8EFU, F4FET, F8GGV, ON7RN, F5AGB, F4HHL, F4HAU, F1DHX, and F4HRG.

Operation planned from 160m to 6m with 6 stations + 1 satellite station  (QO-100) all powered by generator. Human modes (CW and SSB) will have an important place in traffic. For more information, visit our website and our Facebook page.

Patrick, F2DX, (Communication Manager) reports: After announcing our 2024 expedition to Guinea (3X), we learned that others had planned to go just before us (without announcing it). So we cancelled this destination and worked very hard to start over a new project. F6KOP can now inform the DX community that its next expedition will be by the end of 2024 in SIERRA LEONE (9L).

This DXCC country had already been activated by F6KOP in 2019 (9LY1JM) but still ranks 80th on the list of most searched countries. 14 operators are planned and "human" modes (CW and SSB) will have an important place in traffic. More info later...