In consultation with our new transportation partner Aerovias DAP, we continue to refine our plans for our Bouvet DXpedition. We expect to depart from King George Island, in the South Shetlands Islands on January 13, 2018. Our transit time to Bouvet will be between 9 and 11 days depending on weather and the sea state.
Upon arrival at Bouvet we will conduct reconnaissance flights to the island and select a campsite free of crevasses. As weather permits we will begin building our radio city on the ice and secure our infrastructure. Then antennas will go up, our equipment will be assembled and we will begin non-stop operations. We are planning to be at Bouvet for 21 days, and depending on weather and other factors we hope to be on the air for 14-16 days. Then we will return to either King George Island or Punta Arenas, Chile. All in all, we will be away from civilization for 6-7 weeks.
Final preparations continue this summer, and we still have a lot to do:
Equipment will be tested under simulated harsh conditions at the QTH of K9CT.
Antennas will be assembled, tested and packed for transit at the QTH of WB9Z.
The Sea Container will be packed and shipped from Atlanta the first week of October.
A team meeting will be held in Atlanta on Sept. 7-10. Topics to be discussed will include:
Safety
Helicopter operations
Site selection
Shelter erection and quick deploy plans
Weather
Escape plans and rescue.
Medical considerations
EME set-up and testing
Familiarization and operation of Flex Radios and Amplifiers
Propagation and our strategy
Operator scheduling
And….more.
Our fund-raising continues. We are pleased with our progress toward our goal of $740,500. The team has committed $400,000 cash as well as paying for their own transportation, food and hotel expenses. DX Clubs have stepped up and some have added additional contributions as have many individual DXers. However, we are still about $200,000 short. Please help if you can. We have a large payment due for the vessel and helicopters in several months.
Please check our website http://www.bouvetdx.org at periodically for updates and additions as we progress toward departure. You can also join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/639362206232014
For the 3YØZ team,
Ralph-K0IR
Bob-K4UEE
Erling-LA6VM
