Category - Blog

3Y0J Bouvet Island – Press Release 2

29th April 2021
Press Release #2 from the Intrepid-DX Group
3Y0J Dxpedition to Bouvet Island, January/February 2023
 
Bouvet is like the Mount Everest of DXCC entities. It is among the most challenging entities to activate due to significant transportation costs and personal sacrifices required by the team to make the 42 day round trip. Fortunately, Bouvet is not our first mountain. We are well prepared for this challenge.
 
All plans are going well. We are researching polar quality tents and equipment. We are discussing antenna specifications with various manufacturers. We will make careful choices to help us meet the demand for Bouvet contacts.
We are delighted to add a second Physician to our team. Dr. Mike Crownover-AB5EB and Dr. Bill Straw-KO7SS are both seasoned Emergency Physicians and will help the team immensely with their expertise. 
 

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VE1VCI Merle Taylor, Canada – SK

28th April 2021
VE1VCI Merle Taylor, August 2, 1923 – 22 April, 2021, (She was 98).
 
Merle had just turned sixteen when war was declared in September 1939.
 
In 1942, when Merle was 19, she saw an opportunity to apply to be a Wireless Operator in the Royal Canadian Air Force, Women’s Division. She was hired and her main responsibility was Morse Code.
After her training, Merle was sent to Number 1 Wireless School in Montreal. There she learned how to use Morse Code, how to signal using lights and flags, as well as other theoretical classes such as the components of a radio. She taught the code to pilots through the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.
On her twentieth birthday August 2, 1943, she married Fred Taylor.
 
In 1986 Merle passed the exams necessary to become a ham radio operator – receiving a mark of 100 percent on the Morse Code test. She set up her radio system in her basement and communicated with people around the world, both through voice and Morse Code. During the 1980s, she even won the provincial annual amateur radio competition.
 
The image below shows Fred and Merle on their wedding day, which was also Merle’s twentieth birthday. You can see their matching red shoulder badges with rays of electricity, showing that they were both in Communications.
 
More about this remarkable woman’s life, with pictures, on the sites listed below:
 
Credits ; Heather Holland – Thanks….

 

GB1SAK St. Anne’s Kite Festival

28th April 2021
Nigel (M0NJW) will be qrv as GB1SAK from St. Annes, England between 3rd and 5th September 2021 as part of St Annes Kite Festival. He will be using a Kite Antenna for the weekend.
Details are – 4.5m square pilot kite flying at maximum of 60m above the ground, supporting a long wire antenna on the beach at St Annes, as part of the annual international kite festival.
QSL via M0OXO

Billy GM6DX awarded Jack Wylie Trophy

24th April 2021

The Jack Wylie Trophy has been awarded to Billy McFarland, GM6DX (ex GM0OBX).

During the Covid restrictions Billy has devised a free, online UK amateur radio licence course which has had many subscribers, whom he has closely mentored and tutored.

Many of these students have donated to charity in thanks for the help they have received from Billy and his Coursework.

The Jack Wylie Trophy is issued annually to the Scottish club, society or RSGB member thought to have done the most for amateur radio in Scotland.

Congratulations to Billy GM6DX , well deserved.

JW0W Prins Karls Forland Island

22nd April 2021

A Team of 5-6 operators from LA will activate Prins Karls Forland island which is part of EU-063 Svalbard’s Coastal Islands in July 2021 (20 yrs since this island was activated). One week tent and generator trip.

Activity July 21/7 to 26/7

Band: Focus on 40/30/20meter but also other band if propagation allows.

Participation in RSGB IOTA contest. Operators: LB1QI, LB2HG, LA7GIA, LA7QIA, LA8OM

Outside contest focus will be NA/Asia. VDA antennas and verticals next to saltwater, 1 kW amplifiers.

Radio: Elecraft K3, Kx3, TS590.  Amplifier: Expert 1.3 and Juma 1000

Donations appreciated via [email protected]

QSL via Charles M0OXO OQRS Direct, OQRS Bureau and Direct QSL.

Full log to be uploaded to LoTW

KL7RRC IOTA Dxpedition

21st April 2021

Adak and Kiska islands expedition June 30th-July 17th 2021 by Russian Robinson Club (RRC).
Team:
Rob N7QT
Hal W8HC
Tim NL8F
Yuri N3QQ
Hal W8HC
QSL via N7RO.
 
All donors will receive QSL direct.
We plan to use /p callsign in Adak and without /p in Kiska. Look for the latest updates and we appreciate your support!
 
Updated schedule (subject to change due to travel restrictions):

Arrival in Adak, Alaska: Jun
e 30th, 2021
Operating from Adak June 30th-July 3rd, 2021
Travel to Kiska island on July 4th, 2021
Operating from Kiska island July 7th-12th, 2021
Operating from Adak (NA-039) July 14th-16th 2021
Flying back home: July 17th, 2021
Support with travel costs is welcome:
 
Paypal email [email protected]
 

3Y0J Bouvet 2023 – Message of thanks….

7th April 2021
I am really pleased to have been confirmed as the QSL Manager for the 3Y0J project to Bouvet in January 2023. At #2 in the Most Wanted Lists it will no doubt be the biggest Dxpedition I’ll deal with and I’m looking forward to the challenge.

 
The Intrepid DX Group have a very high reputation and an excellent track record from their past Dxpeditions 
such as South Sandwich (VP8STI) & South Georgia (VP8SGI) in 2016 and I am excited at the chance to work with them. The Bespoke OQRS has been tailored over recent Years to the needs of a Qsl Manager with a view to managing major DXpeditions such as this. It has proved with Dxpeditions such as 5V7EI, 9J2LA, A25UK, VK0EK, VP8PJ, VP6D and many more that it’s certainly up to the job.
 
I would like to wish the Team the very best of luck with your preparations ahead and of course a huge thanks for the privilege of being your QSL Manager.
 
Please see the links below that give further information. These are updated as and when appropriate.
 
https://3y0j.com/
http://www.intrepid-dx.com/
https://www.m0oxo.com/
https://clublog.org/charts/?c=3Y0J
https://www.m0oxo.com/oqrs/logsearch.php?dxcallsign=3y0j
https://www.facebook.com/charles.wilmott.3

Dismayed at the number of Sunspots?

7th April 2021
Are you dissatisfied by the sunspot numbers we aren’t having? Soumyadeep Mukherjeee of Kolkata, India, has found an optimistic way to look at young Solar Cycle 25. Add together a hundred days of sunspot activity (see image).
 
“I imaged the sun for 100 days in a row, from 25th December 2020 to 3rd April 2021,” says Mukherjeee. “This image is a blend showing every sunspot that has appeared on the solar disk over these 100 days. There were a total of 19 active regions.”
 
His composite shows that sunspot activity is clustered in two narrow bands approximately 25 degrees north and south of the sun’s equator, respectively. This is typical of young solar cycles. As Solar Cycle 25 matures, the bands will converge toward the equator, and become more densely populated. By the time Solar Maximum arrives in 2025 (that’s the official NOAA prediction), 100-day composites should be very congested, indeed”.
 

3Y0J Dxpedition to Bouvet Island

5th April 2021
Press Release from the Intrepid-DX Group
 
3Y0J Dxpedition to Bouvet Island, January/February 2023
 
As we completed our successful VP8STI-South Sandwich and VP8SGI-South Georgia DXpeditions in 2016, we began to plan for our next Dxpedition. Our target is the Norwegian Island Bouvet. This is the #2 most wanted DXCC entity.
At this time, it gives us great pleasure to announce that we have joined forces with Intrepid Norwegian DXpeditioner Ken Opskar-LA7GIA in our quest to activate Bouvet.
 
Together, in January 2023, 14 men will board the Braveheart in Capetown and make the treacherous voyage to Bouvet. We will plan to spend twenty days at Bouvet and weather permitting, we plan to have 14 to 16 good days of radio activity.
 
This will be an arduous and expensive mission. Our budget is $764,000 USD and the 3Y0J team will fund much of this mission. We desperately need the global DX Community to support our mission and help us make this important activation of the #2 most wanted DXCC entity. It is only through this kind of support that we can achieve our mission of making 100,000 contacts or more from Bouvet. We plan to make best use of Propagation and Modes on 10-160 meters.
 
We pledge to assemble the strongest team possible and to use good operating practices to optimize your ability to reach our stations. We are confident that the Braveheart crew can get us there and back safely.
In closing, we especially wish to recognize and thank the Northern California DX Foundation and the International DX Association as our premier donors. Without the support of the NCDXF and INDEXA, operations to the world’s rarest entities would not be possible.
 
You can follow our plans from our website and the 3Y0J Facebook pages:
Thank you,
Paul Ewing-N6PSE Co-Leader
Kenneth Opskar-LA7GIA Co-Leader

Einstein’s Eclipse – Restored

26th March 2021

On May 29, 1919, the Moon slid in front of the sun and forever altered our understanding of spacetime. It was “Einstein’s Eclipse.” Using his newly-developed theory of relativity, the young German physicist predicted that the sun’s gravity should bend starlight–an effect which could only be seen during a total eclipse. Some of the greatest astronomers of the age rushed to check his prediction.

More than 100 years later, Petr Horálek (ESO Photo Ambassador, Institute of Physics in Opava) and Miloslav Druckmüller (Brno University of Technology) have just released a stunning restoration of the photo that proved Einstein right. The original picture was taken in May 1919 by astronomers Andrew Crommelin and Charles Rundle Davidson, who traveled from the Greenwich Observatory in London to the path of totality in Sobral, Brazil. They were part of a global expedition headlined by Sir Arthur Eddington. Glass photographic plates from the expedition were typical of early 20th century astrophotography, colorless and a little dull. Read More

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