20260625 Yesterday arrived QSL : )
Cheak QRZ ... Oh LoTW & QRZ Confirm!!
Many many thanks J51A team.
I congratulate you on your great success.
J51A  Guinea-BissauDXpedition February/March 2026 QSL: DJ4MX, Club Log OQRS, NOQSOCC Email: Use mouse to view.. Page managed by DA1DX Lookups: 966342 | |  |
J51A was on the air from 23-Feb-2026 thru 15-Mar-2026.
Many Thanks for more than 256.000 contacts in 20 days!
Ben ( DA1DX, ex-DL6FBL ), Win ( DK9IP ), Andree ( DL8LAS ), Uli ( DM5EE ) and Lutz ( DM6EE ) -
all active members of Bavarian Contest Club - were operating from Bij Club, Bubaque Island,
Bijagos Archipelago, Guinea-Bissau (AF-020) in February/March 2026.
- QSL cards / LotW confirmations
(Scroll down for instructions)
[Status Update: 16-Jun-2026]
- The first 7.000 (direct) paper QSL cards have been processed on 13-14 June 2026.
- All the letters were mailed out by "Deutsche Post" the day after.
You should receive them as soon as your local mail company will deliver it... - All OQRS requests and donations that were received before 06-Jun-2026 were
handled in that first batch. - Consequently, in the following months, more batches of cards will be processed.
- LotW uploads for the OQRS requests have been done every two or three days.
- Please note: You can also request Bureau QSL cards over ClubLog.
Claim your LotW confirmations and printed QSL card through Club Log OQRS here:
(Using Club Log OQRS together with PayPal, you will automatically receive a LotW
confirmation within 1-2 weeks, as well as a printed paper QSL card by regular mail
a few weeks/months later).
Quick Links:
Livestream | Log Search + OQRS | Statistics | News | Pictures | Guestbook | Donations
Find and follow us:
Tibi's tool ( HA8TKS ) will help you to find us on the bands: [no longer active]
For news, updates, pictures etc. please remember to come back to our J51A QRZ.com page.
We use our own Starlink satellite equipment and hope to achieve good Internet connectivity for:
- Club Log Livestream => [no longer active]
- Club Log Expedition Statistics => https://clublog.org/charts/?c=J51A#r
- Donations via Club Log welcome => https://clublog.org/make_donation.php?call=J51A
日本からJ51Aにご寄付いただく際は，PayPalで bernd.fd@gmx.de 宛に直接ご送金いただけます．
その際，（ローマ字で）お名前>とコールサイン を添えていただくようお願い致します．
皆様 からのご支援に深く感謝申し上げます．
Many Thanks for donations of 50+ EUR/USD go to:
AA3LX, AA6AA, AC8CE, DF2IY, DH8BQA, DJ5FI, DJ5NN, DK2JW, DK3HV, DL1ALN,
DL2AMD, DL2JRM, DL5RDP, DL6MRM, DL7ON, DL9OBU, DM2HK, EA3HSO, HB9BAS, JA8UIV,
JE2HCJ, JH1RVQ, JN4MMO, JR7HAN, K1FIE, K3DFL, K6JJ, K6NR, K7EDX, K8AZ,
K8EME, KD4CXQ, KD5M, KH6P, KI8JP, KM3T, N2AJ, N6PSE, N6XI, N8RAT,
N9PGG, NF6S, OE3WWB, PH7PCF, PJ2/W2APF, SM7NKK, SP5EXA, VE7KW, VK3IU, VK5MAV,
W6WF, W8WWV
- QSL cards / LotW => Please use the Club Log OQRS system
See above on this page for the online form or go to https://clublog.org/logsearch/J51A .
(Using Club Log OQRS together with PayPal, you will automatically receive a LotW
confirmation within 1-2 weeks, as well as a printed paper QSL card by regular mail
in June/July 2026.)
Our recent DXpedition history:
Have we worked before? :-)
All contacts are on LotW, but you can still request a paper QSL, if you want...
 |  |  |
| 3G0YA April/May 2024 140.000 contacts | PX0FF October 2024 159.000 contacts | VP2VI April 2025 173.000 contacts |
Radio and Antenna Setup:
Radio Setup:
- 5 x Yaesu FT-DX10
- 5 x RF-POWER RF2K-S amplifier
Antennas:
- 5-band Spiderbeam (10/12/15/17/20m) @10mH
- 3-band WARC Spiderbeam (12/17/30m) @10mH
- DXCommander Vertical 12.4 from 10-40m
- Inverted-V for 60m
- Vertical for 80m / Inverted-L for 160m
- Two "Loop on Ground" RX antennas for 80/160m (by DL8LAS)
- 4-ele 50 MHz Yagi for terrestrial operation
- VA6AM Triplexers + VA6AM/4O3A High Power Bandpass Filters
DXLog software in a wired Gigabit-Network (no WiFi!) - using TCP and a dedicated DXLog server
FT8 by MSHV software => stay above 1000Hz when calling/working us!
The total weight of our equipment is ~600 kg.
Everything is transported as (paid) excess baggage on the aircraft.
Location and Takeoff:
- Our location (IK21BH) is right on the northern shore of the island,
with an unobstructable clear shot over water to all activity centers worldwide.
(The profile picture on the top of this page shows the view to our QTH from North.) - There is no public electricity on site. We will be running on generator most of the time.
(If we ever disappear from one second to the other, probably there is an issue
with the generator (refueling, oil service, cooling down, defects...)). - There is also a solar power system on the property.
- We hope that the local noise situation will be OK.
(At least there aren't any public (LED) streetlamps... :-)
Our goals:
On Club Log, Guinea-Bissau is ranking as #84 Most Wanted country worldwide;
#53 from Asia; #99 from North America and #102 from Europe.
According to Club Log the demand is highest on Data, then CW and then Phone.
All of us can manage pile-ups in any mode, however we will only use SSB, CW and FT8.
- The highest demand is in Asia. Direction-wise, Asia lies "behind Europe".
We will try to pull out Asian stations whenever there is some propagation on a specific band. - Contacts with Europe, North America and South America will be easy on all bands.
- We will not forget about our friends in Africa and the VK/ZL area.
Thank you!
A big, big THANK YOU to the Club Log people for providing the best DXpedition support tools!
A big, big THANK YOU to the DXLog people for providing the best DX and Contest logging software!
A big, big THANK YOU also to ARN and the local people (Jean, Manu, Isabel and their team) who are
doing a great job to make our activity so much enjoyable.
Guestbook:
You are welcome to leave a message (scroll down). If you fill in your E-Mail address, we can reply.
News Section: (newest one on top)
- [20-Mar-2026 1830z]:
All of the team have returned home well, and so did all material. After some badly needed
Jägerschnitzel :-) last night, today we have worked on all "Busted Calls" and "Missing Data"
E-Mails and Guestbook entries. We evaluated all inquires and were able to approve most
of them. However, we had to refuse a few requests where we couldn't find any similar
callsigns in a "+/- 10 minutes window" from the given timestamp – or some FT8 contacts
for which we checked our "full text files", but couldn't find a valid sequence of reports
and RR73 messages.
Before that, we merged all the DXLog files from our five station computers as well as
our dedicated DXLog / Club Log Livestream Update Server. Based on a final, overall
total of 255,002 QSOs in the DXLog TCP network, only 13 contacts had NOT been
received on our local server (= 0,005% !!!). That means that the DXLog TCP network
was running almost 100% perfect!!!
On the next step (from our DXLog Server over Starlink satellites down to Club Log)
about 500 QSOs were lost (only 0,2% !!!), which have been added to the Club Log
database during the latest synchronization. We are grateful to Starlink for their reliable
service which helped a lot to keep the DX community informed about our progress.
On top of those numbers are the "QO-100 satellite" contacts: They were logged on a
separated DXLog computer, which was not part of our regular DXLog network.
That other computer had a special intermediate software installed (created by DG8MG,
with thanks to DK6SP), which added the additional ADIF fields for satellite operation
to the QSOs before sending them over ClubLog Livestream.
Therefore, we would now call the J51A log "final".
The numbers visible on the Club Log Statistics should be regarded "final", too.
J51A finally claims 256,183 QSOs with 49,878 different callsigns!
THANKS AGAIN to everybody who worked J51A and helped making our activity a great success.
If you want quick LotW confirmation and a Paper QSL card by regular mail, please use the
"Club Log OQRS system" on our J51A QRZ.com page. - [15-Mar-2026 1200z]:
J51A is now QRT.
In just under 20 days of operation we have logged 255,640 QSOs and 49,700 different callsigns.
We want to say THANK YOU to everybody who helped making our trip such a great experience.
First of all, the team around Jean and his wife Isabel from Bij Club - our location on Bubaque
Island, Bijagos Archipelago, Guinea-Bissau. They perfectly understood our needs and were always
willing to help and support us. The pile-ups were still going strong on the last day, so you may
consider coming to this wonderful place for another DXpedition or maybe a Contest participation?
On their website you'll find all the details and a lot of nice pictures around other activities
like ornithology or fishing.
QSL cards and LotW confirmations:
You are invited to use the "Club Log OQRS system", as shown on the J51A QRZ.com page.
Our QSL Manager Sven, DJ4MX, has been very quick uploading OQRS requests to LotW recently.
Please note that Sven is now on DXpedition, too, operating from S21WD. Upcoming LotW uploads
may take a few days longer than before. Please be patient! Paper QSL cards will be sent out
in June/July 2026.
Many Thanks for all the contacts. We hope that you enjoyed the J51A activity as much as we did. - [15-Mar-2026 0900z]:
254,200 QSOs and 49,600 different callsigns after 19.7 days of operation.
"The end is near!" - the final hours of the J51A activity are running. We will take down antennas
after breakfast (around 1200z) and start packing our equipment. Remember, we are five people
travelling with 18 suitcases, two oversize ski-bags, six pieces of hand luggage (containing the
Band Pass Filters and Triplexers) and five back-packs (containing the radios and power supplies).
That sums up to 600 kg gross weight. - [14-Mar-2026 1310z]:
247,000 QSOs and 48,300 different callsigns after 18.9 days of operation. Still 1 day to go.
The last 24 hours of the J51A DXpedition have started! We had QO-100 sessions in SSB/CW earlier
today at 1000z and 1200z with some FT8 in between. Tomorrow morning (Sunday) at 1000z we will
be on QO-100 for the last session. Tonight (Saturday) after 1800z we will be on 40/SSB, and
after 1900z on 80/SSB and 60/CW. Earlier this afternoon we'll do some 20/CW, however, when 6m
is open, 6m will have precedence over 20/CW. During daylight, we'll populate the higher bands.
And in the night on 160/CW we will give out our grid "IK21" to Stew Perry contest participants.
Please note that E-Mails regarding busted calls or missing data will be worked on only after we
have returned home to Germany. - [13-Mar-2026 1150z]:
235,500 QSOs and 46,100 different callsigns after 17.9 days of operation. Still 2 days to go.
After 16 consecutive days with more than 10,000 QSOs per day, yesterday was the first day with
less than 10,000 QSOs. We are spending more time on "difficult" band slots like 160/CW,
60/CW, 80/SSB, 40/SSB and 6 meters. The rates are lower, but many ATNOs and fresh callsigns
in the log make up for it. We'll continue to fill in empty spots as good as we can. - [11-Mar-2026 1230z]:
217,300 QSOs and 42,400 different callsigns after 15.9 days of operation. Still 4 days to go.
Last night we surpassed the magic number of 213,022 QSOs, set by T32C in 2011.
The T32C team has sent a nice E-Mail with congratulations. Looking at many more E-Mails
and guestbook entries, we feel that we have delivered a good show so far and made a lot
of people happy with one or more ATNOs in their logs.
Nevertheless, we'll keep on operating from this wonderful place. - [10-Mar-2026 1250z]:
206,700 QSOs and 40,700 different callsigns after 14.9 days of operation. Still 5 days to go.
A first heads-up regarding the end of our operation: Sunday, 15-March-2026, around 1200z.
We will dismantle Lowband and RX antennas first, keeping the Spiderbeams up a little longer. - [09-Mar-2026 1310z]:
196,400 QSOs and 38,500 different callsigns after 14 days of operation. Still 6 days to go.
During ARRL DX SSB Contest we started operating SIMPLEX which has worked well.
From now on we will decide "on the fly" if we operate SSB in "split mode" (listening up)
or "simplex mode" (listening on our own frequency). Please listen carefully for the
instructions from our operators! For CW, we will continue "listening up"!
We appreciate every contact, but if you have already worked us on a band/mode slot like 10m SSB,
please don't call us again on that same slot (="dupe contact"). Of course, you are welcome to
call us on other band/mode slots where we didn't have a contact yet!
Everything else is working fine. Please keep the QSOs coming! - [08-Mar-2026 1240z]:
185,200 QSOs and 36,000 different callsigns after 12.9 days of operation. Still 7 days to go.
Operation is progressing well and everyone is in good spirits. There's not much more to report.
In this case, no news is good news... :-) - [07-Mar-2026 1250z]:
174,500 QSOs and 33,600 different callsigns after 11.9 days of operation. Still 8 days to go.
Operating is getting more complicated for us. On small bands like 12m SSB the wide 3Y0K pileups
leave no space for other DXpeditions or regular QSOs. Other bands like 15m SSB are full with
ARRL DX Contest. Here we tried to evade below 21200 kHz, but not many callers down there...
On 6 meters we identified the root issue why we felt that we hear 10 dB less than we transmit.
Now we are waiting for a good 6m opening. Btw, we didn't find a 6m opening to W/VE yet,
but we have reached a few stations from the Caribbean.
Tonight and tomorrow we will be on 40/SSB and 80/SSB around European sunset and then,
later in the night, for W/VE. - [06-Mar-2026 1250z]:
164,500 QSOs and 31,600 different callsigns after 10.9 days of operation. Still 9 days to go.
Yesterday around 1700z there was a generator outage (30 minutes). Apart from that, operation
is going on smoothly.
About missing QSOs / busted callsigns: We will work on those messages on or after Monday.
ARRL SSB Contest this weekend: J51A will not actively take part in the contest. W/VE stations
giving their state will receive a "59 500" report in return.
Many thanks for all contacts so far! Keep the QSOs coming! - [04-Mar-2026 1300z]:
142,200 QSOs and 26,600 different callsigns after 8.91 days of operation. Still 11 days to go.
Yesterday we repaired the neighbor's water pump which was full of sand and the motor was stuck.
As a bad coincidence that problem had only started after the neighbor was kind enough to let
us stop their solar power system... Unfortunately that construction is a big mess and we told
them that the problem can come back at any time, because the water level in the dwell is
simply too low and the pump is sitting too close to the bottom.
There was not any 6 meters opening yesterday. Today it may look better again.
All bands are progressing well and we will put more time on 60/CW, 40/CW, 40/SSB for example.
We will also start 80/SSB some time. However, we will not offer 160/SSB and 60/SSB. - [02-Mar-2026 2130z]:
124,600 QSOs and 23,800 different callsigns after 7.24 days of operation. Still 13 days to go.
Today was kind of a maintenance day. Some lowband RX antennas were improved.
And we solved an annoying noise problem which had only started on Saturday. We found out
that the neighbor had installed a new solar system. He was kind enough to understand our
problem and let us check his new system. We found a cheap inverter and two 12V battery packs
as a buffer. By just switching the inverter off, all the noise was gone...
We could have started playing ferrites or other things, but it was easier to convince the
neighbor to keep his system switched off for the next two weeks and receive his electricity
over a temporary 3x2.5 cable from our generator instead...
On 6 meters we caught two more openings to Europe, but still not reaching deep into Central,
Northern or Eastern Europe. - [01-Mar-2026 0020z]:
100,000 QSOs after 5.33 days of operation (129 hours), averaging 18,760 contacts per day.
Best days were the second day (25,000+ contacts) and the third day (20,000+ contacts).
Today we worked the first 137 CW contacts over QO100 satellite, plus some 100 more FT8.
As a nice surprise, 6 meters opened into Europe this afternoon. Some 600+ contacts were
made, bringing the 6 meters totals up to 751 (FT8), 460 (CW) and 207 (SSB).
The opening covered the southern half of France and most of Italy, Spain and Portugal.
A couple of G, EI, HB9, DL, OE, 9A, S5 made it in the log, too.
Don't worry, if you feel that one or more "band/mode slots" are still "under-represented".
Remember that we are still here for another 15 full days! - [27-Feb-2026 1020z]:
73,900 QSOs after 3.79 days of operation.
The QO100 satellite station is working! 500 QSOs in the log so far.
As a nice surprise, a few JAs made it on 160m FT8 (in the 2100z hour). We keep on trying.
Last evening the generator had a small hiccup. The technician came and replaced a part in the
fuel system. As announced earlier, today around 1100z he'll come again and give a checkup
and oil service to the generator. We'll use this scheduled downtime (about an hour) for a
walk to the nearby beach and a swim (we haven't been there yet... ;-) ) - [26-Feb-2026 1250z]:
61,300 QSOs after 69 hours of operation.
Today we are relocating the BOG RX antenna and the DXCommander vertical (used for 40m).
They are picking up too much of the 50 Hz noise from the neighbor's property.
When the signals get weaker in the coming days, that noise will be too annoying.
We are also working on the QO-100 satellite installation. - [25-Feb-2026 1510z]:
47,000 QSOs after 47 hours of operation.
We are all in good mood. So far, we have uninterrupted electricity from the generator
since the beginning. Let's keep fingers crossed... On Friday, the owner will perform a
scheduled maintenance and oil service on the generator which shall last about an hour.
We are very happy with the QTH and all people on site. There is no air condition in the
small houses. We keep all doors and windows open all the time, even at night. We are
very fortunate that there are hardly any insects around. Temperature in the shack (with
all five radio setups in full swing) is 33-34 °C over the day and 27-28 °C in the night. - [24-Feb-2026 1710z]:
25.000 QSOs after the first 24 hours of operation (plus about 50 QSOs on 50 MHz FT8
which were logged two hours earlier while still setting up the other operating positions).
We already logged more that 5.000 QSOs in CW. Only some 100+ SSB QSOs yet.
Many more CW and SSB to come in the coming days, don't worry...
Antenna-wise, today the combined 160m/80m antenna went up as well as the Aziloop
RX antenna and a BOG (Beverage-on-ground). We also found and replaced a defective
PL259 "barrel" in the coax to the 60m Inverted Vee. On 40m we detected some
man-made noise (50 Hz) from the neighboring property. We will go there shortly and
discuss with the owner. Later on we shall clean up the place, stow away all the things
we don't need and finally be ready for a smooth 24/7 operation. - [23-Feb-2026 1800z]:
Today, the second Spiderbeam (30/17/12m) went up, the 4-ele 50 MHz Yagi went up and
we did some minor improvements on our yesterday's work. At 1507z today I just pressed
the CQ button on 50 MHz FT8 once and was instantly answered by an EA and IK0. Although
the other radio setups were not fully tested yet, I kept 50 MHz FT8 running. You never
know, if the magic band will ever come back again... ;-) The other four radio setups
started running CW after 1708z. We hope that you will like our operation over the coming
three weeks. - [22-Feb-2026 2310z]:
Internal station setup almost ready, just missing the bandpass filter installation.
Antennas completed today: One Spiderbeam to be used on 20/15/10m; DXCommander Vertical
to be used on 40m; 60m Inverted Vee. More antenna setup tomorrow after sunrise.
Operation will start some time tomorrow (Monday, 23-Feb) afternoon or evening. - [22-Feb-2026 1345z]:
Team has safely arrived in their QTH after an exciting two-hour speedboat ride.
This update was already sent over our Starlink connection which seems to work fine.
We have started unpacking and sorting our luggage. Other things on the agenda for
today are: connecting our own power subdistribution unit to the property's generator
and solar power system; defining the exact locations for our antennas; preparing the shack:
setting up the five HF stations, filters/triplexers and internal cabling.
If things are going well, we may be able to get some antennas up before dark.
Depending on our antenna work, you can expect first signals tonight, Sunday, 22-Feb-2026
after dark or some time on Monday, 23-Feb-2026.
We will activate HA8TKS's frequency tool and Club Log Livestream right from the beginning.
Check back to our QRZ.com page regularly. - [16-Feb-2026 0945z]:
J51A on QO-100: We were asked to be active on QO-100 satellite, too.
We learnt that J5 has NEVER been active on QO-100 before. So, we decided to give it
a try for a lot of ATNO contacts on SSB, CW and FT8. However, none of us has operated
over satellite before. Please bear with us if we do something stupid or unexpected.
Just let us know by E-Mail ( j51a@gmx.de ) and we’ll fix any misbehavior a.s.a.p.
Technically, we will use 50 MHz as the IF band. It means that we cannot do 50 MHz
when on QO-100, and vice versa. QO-100 operation will start a couple of days after
the other bands. Please watch the "News" section on www.qrz.com/db/J51A for more info. - [02-Feb-2026 0900z]:
ARRL has approved the J51A license for DXCC. We already received the LotW certificate.
The original license document from "ARN" (telecommunications authority) was not
100% clear about frequencies and modes. In a second step, we offered the official
IARU Region 1 Band Plans (HF and VHF) and asked for a reconfirmation that all
typical frequencies and modes can be used by J51A. We are happy to announce that
we have received that confirmation. It means that all contacts, including 160m, 60m,
the WARC bands and 50 MHz will be valid for DXCC, IOTA and other awards.
Pictures Section: (click to enlarge)
(1) Arriving with our luggage at Bissau Airport
(2) These small boats shall bring us to Bubaque Island (70km trip over open water)
(3) And off we go... (DM5EE, DL8LAS, DK9IP, DA1DX); DM6EE is on the second boat...
(4) Spiderbeam #1 overlooking the bay (to be used on 20m, 15m, 10m)
(5) Spiderbeam #2 (to be used on 30m, 17m, 12m)
(6) Both Spiderbeams in the same picture
(7) The 4-ele 50 MHz Yagi on a 6m long waterpipe right next to our shack
(8) The DXCommander 12.4 Vertical (to be used on 40m and as a backup antenna for other bands)
(9) Overlooking the bay towards Europe and Japan
(10) Overlooking the bay towards North America
(11) Ditches to prevent other people around stepping on our coax cables
(12) The J51A shack (empty place=DA1DX making the photo, DK9IP, DM5EE, DM6EE, DL8LAS)
(13) Operating positions #1 (DL8LAS) and #2 (DM6EE)
(14) Operating positions #3 (DM5EE) and #4 (DK9IP) and some cables... ;-)
(15) Band Pass Filter and Triplexer installation
(16) Power Sub Distribution unit (3-phase 380V to 8x EU-Schuko) and cable path on the floor
(17) Combined 160m + 80m antenna (vertical part in the back, end of horizontal 160m part in front
(18) Feedpoint of the 160/80m antenna (using the same radials)
(19) The Aziloop RX antenna
(20) Our Starlink (Mini) sitting on his chair. We also brought the bigger Standard version
(higher antenna gain), but it can stay in his suitcase...
(21) Our QO100 satellite antenna sitting on his chair
(22) DK9IP is happy. He's got the QO100 station running
(23) 100,000 QSOs in the log! (Sunday, 01-Mar-2026, 0020z, after 5.33 days of operation)
(24) The local generator, so far working very well without any problem
