A35YZ
Tonga - March 2012
Operation
Our DXpedition to Tonga as A35YZ takes place between March 7 and 24, 2012. We are active with several stations on 160m through 6m on CW, SSB. One station will be exclusively dedicated to RTTY, PSK31 and SSTV. Please check our News Page.
Our equipment consists of 5 transceivers (4 x K2, 1 x FT875D), 2 x 18 m Lowband Vertical, a 2 elem vertical for 40, a 2 elem vertical for 30, 2 Spiderbeam for 20/17/15/12/10, a 5 elem. Yagi for 6m, some Beverage antennas as well as some laptop computers.
Team
Our experienced crew includes:
- DK1BT, Manfred
- DL4WK, Wolf
- DL5CW, Andy
- DL7KL, Reiner
- DL7DF, Sigi
- DL7UFN, Juergen
- DL7UFR, Frank
- SP3CYY, Jan
- SP3DOI, Leszek
Pilot for this DXpedition was Bernd, DF3CB.
Statistics
| A35YZ Continent Breakdown | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 160m | 80m | 40m | 30m | 20m | 17m | 15m | 12m | 10m | Total | |
| QSOs | 4 | 1607 | 4871 | 7223 | 7057 | 4816 | 5090 | 5468 | 5039 | 41175 |
| EU | 25.0% | 44.8% | 43.3% | 52.2% | 49.5% | 45.7% | 23.8% | 18.1% | 3.1% | 35.6% |
| AS | 50.0% | 39.1% | 36.8% | 31.3% | 26.8% | 33.3% | 28.6% | 31.8% | 33.4% | 31.7% |
| AF | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.5% | 0.7% | 0.3% | 0.5% | 0.3% | 0.5% | 0.4% |
| NA | 0.0% | 12.5% | 17.3% | 13.9% | 19.4% | 18.4% | 43.6% | 47.0% | 59.0% | 29.3% |
| SA | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.6% | 0.4% | 1.1% | 0.9% | 1.6% | 1.0% | 1.8% | 1.0% |
| OC | 25.0% | 3.4% | 1.8% | 1.7% | 2.5% | 1.5% | 1.8% | 1.7% | 2.2% | 2.0% |
Sponsors
We would like to express our sincere thanks to all our sponsors for this DXpedition:
Individual sponsors
| Bernd - DF3CB | Robert - AI0O | Scott - KG9Z | Jon - NQ4A | |||
| Igor - RA9CMO | Holger - DL7AU | Fred - W0PE | Simone - IZ5DKJ | |||
| Hugo - LA5YJ | Thomas - DK3DUA | John - ND0N | Neil - G0JHC | |||
| Juergen - DF3OL | Duncan - KF6ILA | Krishna - W4VKU | Fred - W0PE | |||
| Oskar - DL3OF | Robert - K3UI | TCSWAT | GITRAD |
About Tonga
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| Country name: | Kingdom of Tonga |
| National capital: | Nuku'alofay |
| Location: | Oceania, archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, about two-thirds of the way from Hawaii to New Zealand |
| Area: | total: 747 sq km land: 717 sq km water: 30 sq km |
| Land boundaries: | total: 0 km |
| Coastline: | 419 km |
| Climate: | tropical; modified by trade winds; warm season (December to May), cool season (May to December) |
| Terrain: | most islands have limestone base formed from uplifted coral formation; others have limestone overlying volcanic base |
| Natural resources: | fish, fertile soil |
| Population: | 105,916 (July 2011 est.) |
| Ethnic groups: | Polynesian, Europeans |
| Religions: | Christian (Free Wesleyan Church claims over 30,000 adherents) |
| Languages: | Tongan (official), English (official) |
| Independence: | 4 June 1970 (from UK protectorate) |
| Economy: | Tonga has a small, open, South Pacific island economy. It has a narrow export base in agricultural goods. Squash, vanilla beans, and yams are the main crops. Agricultural exports, including fish, make up two-thirds of total exports. The country must import a high proportion of its food, mainly from New Zealand. The country remains dependent on external aid and remittances from Tongan communities overseas to offset its trade deficit. Tourism is the second-largest source of hard currency earnings following remittances. Tonga had 39,000 visitors in 2006. The government is emphasizing the development of the private sector, especially the encouragement of investment, and is committing increased funds for health and education. Tonga has a reasonably sound basic infrastructure and well developed social services. High unemployment among the young, a continuing upturn in inflation, pressures for democratic reform, and rising civil service expenditures are major issues facing the government. |
| Reference: | CIA - The World Factbook -- Tonga |