Update February 26, 2024: A31DL is winding down. Last night was our last night on 160. Today we took down the 160 inverted L and pennant receive loop.

We will operate throughout the night and tomorrow morning on HF. Then we will take down the DX Commander and Butternut antennas and prepare to head home.

We have roughly 10K QSOs in the log which I think is a respectable effort. We also had a chance to have a lovely dinner with Anatoly, RC9O and his XYL Olga. They are operating as A35RC, a mile or so down the road from us. We will all be on the same flight to Nadi, Fiji tomorrow.

We will enable OQRS shortly.

Update February 21, 2024: As you know we have had issues and challenges at A31DL. After 5 days of looking at these issues and looking at ways to resolve them, we can say all issues that we know of have been resolved. We now have two fully functional stations with KPA500 Amps. Here's more detail for those interested.

AC Mains Voltage
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When we arrived we just plugged in our equipment and expected the equipment to work. Well with AC Mains varying up to and over 300 volts this damaged equipment. Bob asked the local power company to look into this problem, and they were quite responsive. They replaced hardware on a nearby power pole, and the Mains voltage is now a consistent 234V.

12V Power Supplies
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We both carry Power Werx SS-30DV 12 volt power supplies. Both supplies were damaged as a result of excessive AC input. We were incredibly lucky to find an electronics repair shop in downtown Nuku'Alofa that said they could repair the 12V supplies. One supply was repaired by replacing a bridge rectifier, large electrolytic cap, and a few smaller caps that exploded. The shop didn't have the parts on hand to fix the other supply. But they said we could buy a new 12V supply from them which we did. So now have two working 12V supplies.

KPA500 Amplifiers
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Both KPA500 amplifiers displayed error fault codes and blew fuses when plugged in. Luckily the fuses prevented any additional damage to the amps. Both seem to be working normally now with the correct AC input voltage.

Interstation Interference
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Having two 500W stations within a hundred feet of each other has proven difficult on every expedition we go on, and this one is no exception. When both stations run in FT8 Fox mode there is no issue as we transmit and receive on the same 15 second cycle. But if one or both stations want to run CW we have issues. It's an ongoing discussion on ways to resolve this.

Putting up a 160 antenna took a back seat to other issues. We will try tomorrow to get the 160 inverted L and pennant loop on the air.

We'll be here until Feb 27 please look for us on the air, 73, Al, K7AR and Bob, W7YAQ
A31DK A31DL

Update February 16, 2024: Today started out very pleasant, our QTH is 1/4 mile from the ocean on the North side of the island with nice ocean breezes. We had a large (free) breakfast at the cafe owned by the owner of our QTH. And it was right across the street from the government facility where we picked up our license. We had a nice chat with the telecom official and received our licenses, laminated in plastic.

We returned to the QTH and proceeded to get antennas setup. That's when Murphy came to visit. Many times. We knew something was wrong when I received an electrical shock from the ground plate of the DX Commander antenna. We suspected the AC Mains were ungrounded.

My KPA500 displayed a 60V HIGH fault, something it has never done before. We measured the AC Line voltage and found it was variable, anywhere from 230 to 290 VAC or higher. The KPA500 then proceeded to blow a fuse. Bob and I then decided we didn't want to risk the amps getting further damage, and have disconnected them from the stations. This means we are running the K3 at 100 watts output.

Murphy then visited Bob's station. His Power Werx SS-30DV power supply didn't put out any voltage. He thinks this may be due to a thermal protection circuit but the power supply has not come yet come back to life. Bob is attempting to rush ship a new 12V power supply here. Meanwhile we're down to one 100 watt station.

Anyway unless Bob can get a new power supply we'll only use one station.
A31DL A31DK.

Al, K7AR and Bob, W7YAQ will be QRV on HF bands as A31DL and A31DK from Nukualofa, Tongatapu Island, Tonga, on February 15-27, 2024.

They will participate in the ARRL DX CW Contest.

QSL for A31DL via K7AR direct, LOTW, ClubLog OQRS.
QSL for A31DK via W7YAQ, LOTW.