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E51MWA will be activating Manihiki Atoll in the North Cook Islands October 9-20, 2025. A team of six operators will operate CW, SSB, and...

As you know we went QRT after 5 days due to a fire at the solar plant that burned the generator and its building and auxiliary equipment. At first the Manihiki villagers were told to expect power out for 6 months. Now a Navy patrol ship is bringing a transformer and 2 technicians. This means fairly soon solar power access will be restored to the villagers. It is unknown when a new industrial backup generator will be coming. At least there will be solar power again soon.    Me

We reported earlier today about the fire at the power station. The damage has been assessed, and it has been determined that the village will be without power for the next 3 to 4 months. Without power options the team has no choice but to go QRT. We want to thank everyone who supported the team prior to the expedition and we had QSO's with. As the team packs equipment for return shipment to the US, we are already thinking of the next Dxpedition. 73 Team E51MWA Request QSL

Generator Building On cloudy days solar panels don't charge batteries fully. Yesterday was cloudy as is today. At 5:20 in the morning local time the power went out.  Technician came to start backup generator and went home. At some point the generator and building caught fire and is still burning now. Going forward we can only operate as long as solar batteries can provide power to island.    Video by N9ADG

The 160m antenna is up. Tonight, Monday, we will be on FT8 160m. The receive antenna will be installed tomorrow, so CW on 160m tomorrow, Tuesday.    Murphy struck again. We are down to two K3 radios. One K3 went deaf.   The 17m and 12m bandpass filters failed. So, we run those bands with no filters and they cause noise on other bands. That is why we are not always on those bands when we prefer to be.   Thank you for your patience and understanding.    73, Team E51MWA

We have also had our 12 and 17 meter band pass filters fail, which has created operating challenges with radio interference