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 3Y0X
Dxpedition team ready
A major D-Xpedition to one of the world's most sought after and hardest
to reach locations is in the final planning stages.
The location is Peter One Island next to the South Pole. Callsign of
the operation is 3Y0X. Chris Edmondson, VK4AA, is down-under
with the details:
A team of radio hams are going to great lengths to be on the air from
a remote Antarctic island called Peter I.
The expedition might as well be going to another planet: Peter I is one
of the hardest places on the globe to reach, an uninhabited, volcanic
island about 280 miles west of the Antarctic mainland.
Two previous amateur radio expeditions landed on Peter I, most recently
in 1994. The current group hopes to connect with 100,000 amateur radio
operators around the globe.
They know it won't be easy.
"Let me put it this way: It's not like going on a vacation to Disney
World," says Al Hernandez, 58, a Melbourne engineer.
A trip to Disney World might be expensive, but it's much cheaper than
this venture's price: half a million dollars.
Peter I was discovered in the 1820s by a Russian explorer who named it
after Peter the Great. About 100 years later, a Norwegian explorer made
the first landing on the island.
"It's a very, very difficult place to get to."
It will take eight days for the group to reach Peter I. A series of flights
and boat rides will whisk the team to Chile to King George Island and
finally to Peter I. The sea voyage alone will last about four days.
But because walls of ice surround the island, Peter I is inaccessible
by ship. So from the vessel, the team members will fly in by helicopter
-- and they might have to wait a few days to do that.
At this time of year on Peter I, the temperature can range from a few
degrees below zero to a balmy 30F during the day.
Once the team reaches Peter I, the helicopter will make 50 round trips
to deliver radio equipment, as well as generators, tables, chairs, food,
kitchen supplies and other items that will sustain group members. They're
even bringing a bread maker, mainly for the comforting and morale-boosting
smell of baking bread. It's a 15-ton bar-b-que.
The team will set up camp on top of the glacier, a few hundred feet above
sea level. They will sleep in cold-weather-rated sleeping bags tucked
inside insulated tents. For safety reasons, generators will not heat their
sleeping quarters.
Haveing completed their mission in a window of 21/2 weeks, they will pack
up everything -- including waste -- and return to the ship.
"We don't leave anything behind but our footprints," Hernandez
says.
I'm Chris Edmondson, VK4AA and VK3CE.
And late word is that the D-Xpedition has made recipient of a substantial
grant by the ARRL Colvin Award. This is a DX'ing support program established
in 1994 after the passing of famed DXer Lloyd Colvin, W6KG. The ARRL administers
the Colvin Award program. The 3Y0X team plans to activate Peter 1 island
for two weeks in early February, weather
permitting.
Visit the Peter I
Dxpedition website
Sources: Amateur Radio Newsline, WIA
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