Being part of several RIB operations from the South Pacific (VP6A, E51D, K8R, and N5J) gave me a unique view of propagation in that part of the world. Here in New England, we are accustomed to openings mid to late afternoon into the evening on the high bands and in the morning on 160-30—the long path on 20 in the afternoon.
From the Pacific, openings are curious, with a morning opening to Asia, some US, and a fair bit of EU. There are more Asians than anything, with NA coming in a close second.
We were using verticals, so there was no way to tell LP vs. SP from there. When I operated, I listened to the signal from here to see if I could hear it and check the direction. No LP.
Our incredible team of highly skilled operators made this worldwide operator system work. We each connected to the RIB using software that let us share connections. The path via the intent then went to low-orbiting satellites.
The beauty of this approach is that you can have any number of operators who do not have to travel and od not have to write a big check to do that. If an operator becomes unavailable, we can get a replacement quickly.
There are lots of environmental benefits as well. We had 3 to 5 people go ashore set up the stations and return to the ship (which always remained close to shore) to operate. There was no need to camp and daily short trips to maintain the stations and refuel the generators made for a minimally invasive operation.
The technology allowing this operation is still being developed and refined. One can only hope that DX-peditions to islands and countries with a seacoast can flourish in the future.
It was an absolute honor to be part of all three operations. I have been on a few DX-peditions where I traveled to the country (PJ5, FS, PJ9, VP9, G), but nothing as rare as these.
Pete Chamalian, W1RM