TX9W
Hiva Oa, Marquesas Islands
DXpedition
April 2026
The Team: Jeff Martin – K5WE, Craig Boyer – W5CCP, Dave Jorgensen – WD5COV, Jeremy Conkling – N5TEA, Bob Hensey – K4VBM, Didier Cadot – F6BCW
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The DXpedition
A team of 6 operators, four from the Oklahoma DX Assn (OKDXA), one from New Mexico and one from France, K5WE, W5CCP, N5TEA, K4VBM, WD5COV, and F6BCW will be active as TX9W from the village of Atuona on the island of Hiva Oa, Marquesas Islands beginning 19 April through 30 April, 2026. They will operate all bands 160 through 6 meters using the CW, FT8, FT4, SSB, and RTTY modes. The Grid Square is CI00LE, IOTA # is OC-027, CQ Zone is 31, and the ITU Zone is 63. Depending upon a reliable internet connection, logs will be uploaded to Clublog daily and Clublog Livestream will be active. Logs will be uploaded to LoTW upon returning home. Periodic updates will occur on this webpage. Currently, the Marquesas Islands entity is number 63 world-wide and number 43 in Europe on the Clublog most wanted list…
News & Updates
23Apr26 – 1345Z – Dave reports improved condx on 160 last night. Made about 35 QSOs. TNX everyone for your patience & the QSOs. Will be on 160 again tonight. Also plans to install the 60 meter vertical today and be QRV on 60 meters tonight.
22Apr2026 – 2140Z – TX9W logs uploaded to Clublog…
22Apr2026 – 1815Z – Dave advises that the BOG has been installed. They will see if it helps on 160 tonight after sunset, which is about 0320Z. They have also installed the 3 element 6 meter yagi.
22Apr2026 – 1315Z – Team attempted 160 yesterday evening. Total of 3 QSOs. They are being heard, but receiving poorly. The flag receive antenna is ineffective. The vertical has a lot of noise on receive. Dave doesn’t think there is enough room to lay out the BOG receive antenna. They may try one more night on 160, then switch over to 80 meters. It’s a difficult QTH, on a mountainside in an old volcanic caldera on the south side of the island with mountains to the north. There are no good QTHs in the Marquesas… The plan is to install the 6 meter antenna today…
22Apr2026 – 1030Z – TX9W logs have been uploaded to Clublog…
21Apr2026 – 2200Z – A manual upload of the TX9W logs has been done to Clublog…
21April2026 – 1800Z – Update from the Team Leader – The team is working diligently under trying conditions to resolve the logging issues. The team leader, who happens to have most of the IT experience, is not onsite, due to an emergency medical problem. We have implemented some software and config changes to simplify the environment. An earlier version of software has been loaded, we are eliminating the connection via StarLink to Livestream. A manual update of log data was done as of approximately 1630Z today. Approximately 2000 QSOs were added to the count that apparently did not make it through the path via livestream. A once or twice daily manual upload of log data will be taken from each laptop and uploaded to Clublog from here on. I will note on this webpage when the daily upload has been completed. Thanks for your patience. Jeff – K5WE
21Apr2026 1330Z – We are aware of some logging issues to Clublog. A resolution is being worked on…
21Apr2026 0325Z – A full log upload has been done to Clublog…
The Raising of the Top Band Express:
20April2026 19:20Z -Update from Team Leader – I just returned from a follow up visit to the Doctor. He quite adamantly stated that I should NOT travel and I should give this condition time to heal and stabilize. I’m very disappointed. I will not be joining the TX9W team on Hiva Oa. I’ll be available as a pilot station to pass information from you to the team. Email me at the address on the Contact Page. Tnx… 73, Jeff – K5WE
20April2026 1420Z – Logging to Clublog is not working correctly from some of the computers. The team is still setting things up and the Team Leader is not there. Check clublog again in a day or so after we have done a full log upload to Clublog. We will announce here when a full log upload has been done. Patience please, the team is working hard to get everything running. TNX… Jeff – K5WE
19April2026 – 2020Z – Team Marquesas has touched down on Hiva Oa. Will disembark, make their way to the QTH and begin setup. Team Leader Jeff – K5WE had a medical emergency the night before the team left early Saturday morning. He spent the night and next day in the ER and hospital. Will decide tomorrow if/when he can join the team. After unloading, team will begin installing antennas. Should be QRV soon.
Jeff – K5WE…
7Apr2026 – Eleven days until departure. We estimate extra baggage charges for the two airlines in excess of $13,000 USD. Any help from the DX community is appreciated. https://k5we.com/tx9w/ . Hope to be QRV from Hiva Oa, Marquesas Islands on 19 April. Team Marquesas – TX9W…
6Mar2026 – I am happy to announce that the TX9W DXpedition has acquired a Starlink Mini system. This should significantly enhance our internet connectivity. We have configured software on all our laptops for near real time uploading of log data to Clublog Livestream… CU soon from Hiva Oa, Marquesas Islands – Jeff, K5WE
20Feb2026 Update
Preparations are moving along toward our April 18th departure date. A new Buddihex hexbeam has been acquired. We have also purchased an additional amplifier, an Acom 700s, bringing our total number of amps to 6, three kilowatt plus and three more 500 watt plus. Antennas have been prepared and tested. Dave is bringing his Top Band Express antenna for 160 and 80. We hope to make a good number of QSOs on 160 & 80. We are planning a system of triplexer and band pass filters to minimize inter-station interference.
Our priority will be putting QSOs in the log, with a good mix of digi, cw, and ssb. We will look for Europe when propagation permits as the need for Marquesas is greatest in Europe.
Our additional baggage expense will be excessive. Any donations to help with that expense will be welcomed and appreciated. https://k5we.com/tx9w/
Hope to CU soon from TX9W… Team Marquesas…
7Jan2026 – Our thanks to Jari – OH6BG for adding TX9W to the VOACAP DX Charts listings and creating a dedicated propagation prediction page. Try it out by clicking the VOACAP Prop Prediction button…
15Dec2025 – The TX9W team would like to announce that DX Engineering has made a generous donation of Antenna and Coax hardware to the Marquesas DXpedition. We greatly appreciate the help. Thanks Tim…
1Oct2025 – Website online. TX9W – Marquesas Islands DXpedition announced.
24Sept2025 – TX9W license granted by the French Polynesian licensing authority, the ANFR…
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