Update November 7, 2024: All team members were safely back in Germany on late October 31. This DXpedition was not easy, but the team is happy to have made it. It is rather difficult to find a good ham radio QTH for a larger group on Nauru this time.

We were active from two different locations. The first group started at an AirBnB QTH in Anibare on the east side of the island with the beam only for the higher bands. When the rest of the team arrived, we managed to secure another site on the north shore near the Arubo Catholic Church with antennas for lowbands (160 to 30m) and one high band antenna for first 17, then 12m as well as a 6m loop. The RX situation on lowbands was not satisfactory, although we tried almost every night to find a solution for the atmospheric noise. However, it seems that we are not alone: other groups in the pacific are currently experiencing the same issues.

Our QSL Manager has checked the incoming log correction requests. Several dupes were removed and the online log now shows some 94 k QSOs. The design for the QSL is already finished and the QSL mailings should start still before end of November. LoTW upload for our supporters has already started (OQRS).

The team is grateful to the support of the whole ham radio community. Where do we go next?

Update October 29, 2024: Operation has finished with more than 95000 QSO in the log.

Update October 25, 2024: They report that the RX situation is extremely difficult right at the equator. All receiving antennas such as BOG, DHDL and loop on ground have S9 noise. CW is not possible on 160m, and extremely difficult aon 80m. They always try to use other transmitting antennas as RX antennas, sometimes with success, but the noise level is very high on low bands. They also say 40m / 30m signals are very weak, S0-S3, so better to call not with high speed as it’s mostly not possible to decode. Often there is also flutter sound on weak EU signals.

Update October 24, 2024:  Our DXpedition is coming to its end. Over 75000 QSOs are already in the log from 160m to 6m.

It was a rather wild adventure for all of us and it seems that Murphy was with us all the time. We had to check our antennas and guying lines daily and had to repair them often. Last but not least, we had to move our highband beam to slightly lower position. However, our large team is in a good spirit and we are quite satisfied with the results so far.
As always, we learned new things which will be used for further DXPeditions.

Remember that 99.9 % of all QSOs from Nauru have a minimum distance of 4,000 km. Europe and most of the US is more than 10,000 km away. We have good TX antennas for the lowbands but the RX situation was quite challenging. High atmospheric noise level as well as some man made noise heavily affected RX performance. Nearly every night, we tried to improve the low band receiving situation but it was difficult to eliminate the S9+ noise. The high bands performed generally quite well, but we are still waiting for a good 10 m opening to Europe. The last challenge will be the CQ WWDX SSB as M2.

Normally we hear rather well on higher bands. Please do not call us if you can’t hear us for sure. Also, please try to avoid dupes. Check the online log before calling again. We update our online log @ Club Log every day. Additionally, we offer a livestream where you can see your QSO immediately. If your QSOs does not appear there or in the online log, please call again. Log corrections will be checked and applied after the DXpedition.

Many thanks for all the serious, friendly and constructive comments.
However, some of the comments were a little off the mark.

We will start to dismantle the antennas and the stations on October 29, after local sunrise

Update October 18, 2024: The first team members have been on Nauru for a week, the rest of the crew arrived on October 15. More than 42,000 QSOs are already in the log and we became QRV on the low bands. We’re still waiting for a great high band opening in Europe.

Our first QTH, an Airbnb guesthouse close to the Anibare harbor and our hotel, works quite well with our two element wire beam for the five high bands. For the lowbands activity we arranged another QTH near the Arubo Catholic Church, right on the north coast with no obstructions to the north.

We erected two 22m Spiderbeam fiberglass poles for 160 and 80m verticals with one elevated radial. For 40m and 30m we use (rhombic) loops with 50 Ω impedance and on 60m we use another vertical with one elevated radial. DL8LAS and DL6KAC installed a DHDL receiving antenna. This helps against the very high atmospheric noise (up to S9). Fortunately, we do not have a lot of manmade noise at both QTHs. Regarding the lowbands, we are very satisfied with the antenna performance from 80m to 30m. On 160m we didn’t hear any station until now. 6m activity also takes place from the northern QTH. So far, we have logged nearly 500 QSOs on 6m – mainly with Japan. Expect regular activity on 6m from now on.

We all live in the Menen Hotel and the Nauruan people are friendly and helpful. The second QTH made it necessary to establish a transport service from the hotel in line with our shift operations. The ride takes about 15 minutes.

We have set up a live stream on Club Log for both QTHs. The Starlink satellite internet works really well and can be found in numerous houses on the island. Unfortunately, we lost our sixth (backup) station. Electricity is very expensive on the island and you have to buy prepaid “power ups”. Fortunately, we only had few smaller power outages.

So still no time for sightseeing. Hopefully, we can do that next week.

Update October 17, 2024: Antennas are set up at the second QTH.

Update October 15, 2024: They are not yet QRV on low bands. The recent cluster spot on 80m was fake. Club Log livestream is working on site #1. They plan to bring this also to site #2 once QRV from there.

Update October 13, 2024: first team members arrived Thursday on island.We booked Airbnb for station No.1.This QTH is for highbands and we made 19000 QSOs so far.The last team members will arrive Tuesday morning with the equipment for QTH No.2This is a perfect place direct on the beach with free view to EU, USA and JA.If all is fine our plan is to be on Lowbands from Wednesday.We will use two 22m spiderpoles for 80 und 160.Other verticals and loops for 60,40,30m.Please cross fingers for good condx and less QRM and QRN.For RX we will errect a DHDL.Please listen for us.First we will prefer CW.
73, Andy C21MM / DL8LAS 

Update October 12, 2024: With the rest of the C21MM crew now on their way from Singapore to Brisbane, then onto Nauru, and with the bands recovering a bit from the recent solar storm, approx 10K QSOs have been made so far.

Update October 11, 2024: After 24 hours of operation we have 5700 QSO’s in the log. Despite the poor conditions, we are very happy. From Monday we have a second location in the north of the island directly on the beach. When the rest of the team arrives we will set up 30m – 160m there. The location is perfect with clear views to the EU, USA and JA.

Update October 7, 2024: The advance team heading to Nauru is now at Zurich airport awaiting their first flight to Singapore 

Update October 1, 2024: The C21MM team is looking forward to its next adventure. This DXpedition to Nauru is already the most expensive and complicated expedition ever for us. Hopefully we won’t encounter any more nasty surprises.

In a few days, on October 7th, the first six team members will leave Germany and plan to arrive on Nauru on October 10th, after an overnight stay in Brisbane, Australia. After their arrival there are still some things to organise, so limited operation (high bands only) will take place. Full operation with 5 stations 24/7 can be expected starting October 15th in the evening (local time, UTC +12). We will pay special attention to our sunrise and sunset for low band openings.

The whole team is grateful for the generous donations from early supporters. Thank you! Our QSL manager has received the LoTW certificate for C21MM. QSLs and LoTW confirmations will be sent out after our return in November.

Further news and pictures will be published on our website. Please make sure to follow us on X: https://x.com/C21MM_2024.

We will also provide DX-World and Daily DX (and now the OPDX Mailing List) with updates during the DXpedition.

We are looking forward to working you! If you have any hints during the DXPedition, please drop us an email at c21mm.info@mydx.de. (Please note this email address is not for QSL queries).

Update September 11, 2024: Less than 4 weeks to go. Team members DG2RON, DJ5IW, DJ7TO, DJ9KH, DK3CG, DK5WL, DL1KWK, DL2RNS, DL4SVA, DL6KAC, DL6KVA, DL7JOM, DL7VEE and DL8LAS are ready. We follow our main principles being light weight and cost effective. As always, only transceivers from Elecraft will be used. All equipment including antennas will be transported by the team members using “traditional luggage” partly oversized.
However, this does not mean that we compromise on the antennas. For the high bands we are going to use our 2-element full size wire beam from LZ Antennas. That provides us with some dB more gain compared to a vertical. By using the LBS Pentaplexer we can operate 3 high bands together at the same time on this antenna.

As always, we follow our strategy to use resonant and full-size single band antennas on all bands (except 160 m). No grounded verticals will be used. Verticals with an elevated radial are even better for reception, also known as Up & Outer. This time we will carry two 22 m (72 feet) Spiderbeam fiberglass poles for 160 m & 80 m (compared to 18 m poles on our last DXpeditions). That is perfect for 80 m and an improvement for the top band as well. We will also bring the brand new 14-m-HD-fiberglass pole from Spiderbeam which gives us 2 m more height compared to the 12-m-HD-pole. This one is perfect for bands from 60 m and up. For low band receiving we plan BOGs. Jan, OK2ZAW (QRO.CZ), supported us with RX band filter boards for splitting one BOG to different receivers on different bands. For 40 & 30 m we try loops this time.

We always use small band pass filters for each band between transceiver and amplifier and additional bigger band pass filters to the antennas.

We will run our proven shift system with radio and free time slots 24/7, ensuring that our experienced operators will have full concentration in their shift. 5 stations between 160 and 6 m in CW, SSB, RTTY and FT8 are planned. Starting with a first group of 6 men from October 10th only on high bands for few days. Second part of the group will arrive October 15.

Update August 29, 2024: To operate ham radio from Nauru has become extremely difficult, especially for larger groups. Our first attempt going to C2 started already in 2018.

None of the mostly full booked hotels allow ham radio operation anymore.Additionally, it’s rather difficult to find a perfect ham radio location in the mountainous island.

Nauru is the least visited country in the world. The actual Most Wanted DXCC list on ClubLog shows Nauru worldwide on rank 77 Mixed, in Phone on rank 48. In North America it ranks 113 (Phone 67) and in Western Europe Nauru ranks 38 Mixed (Phone 32). Since more than a year, Phill, C21TS, is doing an excellent job in FT8. He provides LoTW and paper QSLs via his manager. We will therefore try to focus more on CW on all bands from 160m to 6m as well as SSB and RTTY on several bands. Nevertheless, getting to the island proves rather difficult. Out of nowhere, Nauru Airlines cancelled all our confirmed flights due to a change in their flight schedule!

As you can imagine, the last week was therefore rather stressful as the whole group with 14 OPs had to rearrange all flights incl. those from Europe to Australia as well as our accommodation. These rearrangements produced unexpected additional costs of around 8,000 USDs. C21MM has already become the most expensive “light weight DXpedition” ever for us.

We are grateful for the support we have received from individuals and foundations to date. However, these unexpected costs will put an additional burden on our pockets. We therefore hope to get special support from the DX Community to bring this rare DXCC country on the air. Apart from PayPal we also have other support options available. Please contact our QSL manager Georg, DL4SVA.

Despite this bad news we also have some positive things to share. We are in very productive negotiations with a promising QTH in the north of the island – with direct beach access and a clear take off to the north (Europe) as well as to the northeast (USA). Hopefully it will work. The new DXpedition period will be from October 10 to 29, 2024. That gives us the possibility to take part in the 2024 CQ WWDX SSB contest which takes place on October 26 & 27.

Update August 11, 2024: C21MM homepage has been online since October 28, 2024. In between we all got our visas for Nauru and Australia. On our way from Germany to Nauru there is an overnight stay in Brisbane.

A group of DL operators will be QRV on 160-6m (CW, SSB and Digital) as C21MM from Nauru on October 11-27, 2024.
 
Operators: DG2RON Ronny, DJ5IW Gerd, DJ7TO Olaf, DJ9KH Werner, DK3CG Rudolf, DK5WL Joe, DL1KWK Frank,DL2RNS Norbert, DL4SVA Georg, DL6KAC Christian, DL6KVA Axel, DL7JOM Olaf, DL7VEE Rolf, DL8LAS Andree.

Planned operating freqs:

QSL via DL4SVA, LOTW and ClubLog OQRS.