Chasing TX5K- Clipperton Island DXpediton

Another fun Dxpedition to chase! I've always enjoyed trying for contacts with these operations from the comfort of My basement with the snow swirling around outside and imaging what the other end is enduring to bring about a successful operation. I'm very impressed and in awe of their willingness to do these. Thanks to all who make it possible!
  The Website is very good and the online Log is excellant. You can find them at www.cordell.org
I don't remember when I first heard about this Dxpedition but when I did I was hoping to contact them on as many bands and modes as possible. I remember the last time an expedition was  there in 2006 and the frustration I felt not hearing even a whisper on my dipole. This time I'm ready with more antennas so I was hopeful and realized the big obstacle this time would be My work schedule.
 TX5K was QRV as of 0615 UTC on March 2nd which coincided with the start of the ARRL DX contest. I did hear some reports from fellow Hams about jumping from the contest to grab a TX5K QSO. In hindsight it appears they were the smart ones. I didn't start the chase till March 5th- Tuesday night and the conditions weren't good. I had no luck that evening and no chance for another try until the next night. Wednesday night 10m was the only band I could hear them on with a good signal- S5 or better and managed a confirmation on My contact- or so I thought. I didn't have the TX5K online log running during this contact so I wasn't able to see if My call was logged. After looking several times on breaks at work the next day and not seeing it- I assumed I was not logged correctly! Now it became a little more intense since I was hearing them on certain bands but not having any luck breaking the pile ups. I even tried RTTY on 30m but no luck :((  I also was watching some of the email reflectors and seeing completed QSO's on 160m but early morning.Several were even SSB and not CW! I contemplated an early wake up call but really hoped for the higher bands to pull thru after work. Eventually I was able to pull out a very nice contact on 15m and was watching the online log to see My call scroll across! Yes ,at least a contact! Then Friday night I also noticed I was now logged for My 10m contact. Not sure what happened to cause the delay but now I had two bands. I was hoping for one more chance on Saturday but the expedition was really winding down so I threw in the towel. I'm very pleased with two contacts-- another soon to be confirmed DXCC !! I did read on their blog about some Generator troubles and the need to NOT always run an amplifier so this might have been some of My trouble not hearing them as loud at times.
 I did compare antennas and I'm very pleased with My HF6V ground mounted vertical and also My 10m Yagi . My dipole and G5RV could hardly pull out a whisper of activity. My inverted "L" was able to hear them but it was very noisy. The difference in verticals was amazing to Me- this Butternut HF6V is a great antenna! Course a little QRO power would help too :)) but My 100w was still enough!
 73--Tim