YJ0VV Vanuatu

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 31, 2024
 
This is the DXpedition you have been waiting for. For this two week DXpedition we are mixing Holiday and Serious DXing. We have limited openings but no matter what your style, you will be welcome. We will be in Vanuatu during several contests including the CQ World-Wide SSB Contest. We will be in Vanuatu from October 16 – 30, 2024.
Timing will allow us to take advantage of the excellent Southern Hemisphere springtime propagation on top of the best sunspot activity in years. Since Vanuatu is #74 for most wanted phone on Clublog there should be plenty of pileups.
 
This DXpedition is open to all hams and their spouses. We have contracted with Vanuatu Luxury Holiday Homes on Efate Island for the Asana home just outside of the capital of Vanuatu, Port Vila, and have sent a deposit. It sleeps nine in five bedrooms and has four bathrooms. For eight guests it will only cost $1,500 US per person for two weeks. Each person should have an additional budget of $1,000 US for food, island transportation, and incidentals. Flight cost is not included which would fluctuate depending on departure city, class of flights, insurance and baggage. Shellback Cruises, 843-762-3888, is providing my flights at 33% of Google Flights.
 
In addition to operating as a DX station we will have the opportunity to operate POTA and IOTA. We have secured a QSL Manager to handle the over 40,000 expected contacts. If interested contact Van, N4VGE / YJ0VV, as soon as possible, only three more hams are needed.
 
Sponsors:
Patrons (individuals and companies that have donated more than $100)
Tommy Billings, AA4TB BuddiPole
Friends of the Vanuatu DXpedition (individuals that have donated more than $50)

VK5FIL – Flinders Island (OC-261)

A Team of Australian Hams will partake in a Dxpedition to Flinders Island, Australia (IOTA OC-261) in April 2024.  

The Team consists of; Grant VK5GR, Adam VK2YK, Chris VK5FR, Ivan VK5HS, Andy VK5LA & Paul VK5PAS.

The dates of operation – 14th April 2024 – 21st April 2024.
Islands On The Air (IOTA) – Flinders Island OC-261
World Wide Flora Fauna (WWFF) – Investigator Important Bird Area VKFF-0175

Flinders Island is located in the Investigator Group off the coast of South Australia, about 35 km southwest of the mainland town of Elliston. (Flinders Island Ecoscape 2024)

The Investigator Group is an archipelago in the Great Australian Bight off the western coast of the Eyre Peninsula that consists of Flinders Island, Waldegrave Islands, The Watchers, Topgallant Island, Ward Islands and Pearson Isles. (NGIA 2022)

​Flinders Island is the largest and only inhabited island in the Investigator Group.
More information can be found on their website here;

https://www.vk5fil.com/

VI60IOTA Australia

Plans are underway to activate a special event callsign across Australia to mark the 60th anniversary of the Islands On the Air awards program in 2024.
 
Details of this activation and how we will be using the callsign as part of the VK5FIL expedition will be available soon.
 
VK5FIL – Flinders Island, South Australia – OC-261

8R7X Guyana

14th – 24th February 2024

8R7x .com

Follow along four young and ambitious DXPeditioners
on their journey to 8R – Republic of Guyana.

The 8R – Guyana 2024 project is thrilled to announce a major achievement as the Guyanese Telecommunications Authority assigns them the special callsign 8R7X for the duration of their activity. After originally given a longer callsign, this is a big step for the project to smooth the operating process.

Furthermore, it can be said that all necessary paperwork has been finalized to ensure smooth travels and operations for the whole team.

Right now, the team is busy testing final pieces of their equipment. The antennas, a crucial part of the project, are already packed and ready to go.

The team will gather in Miami, Florida – USA, on February 12th, 2024, before flying to Georgetown, Guyana. On the day after, they plan to set up their equipment in this beautiful South American location.

 

ZF2NQ Cayman Islands

Bruce K3NQ will be qrv from Grand Cayman (IOTA NA-016) in the Cayman Islands as ZF2NQ, between the 11th – 20th December 2023.
 
He will be active several hours each day whilst on his Scuba Diving vacation. Logs will be available on Clublog during his trip and then on M0OXO OQRS when he returns home.
 

Peter I Island Dxpedition 2026

Peter I Island DXpedition 2026 preparation has started!

Peter I is the #8 DXCC in ClubLog most wanted list.

We have secured a vessel, and we’re now building a team of 19 operators that will go to Peter I Island in February 2026 and stay there for 14 days. The vessel is a proper Antarctica vessel with 2 helicopters, two Expedition leaders and with all permits needed.

We are working closely with the Norwegian Polar Institute to obtain the landing permit. A website has been created and additional information about Peter I Island DXpedition will be released shortly. Fundraising is expected to start 2024

Team leader Ken LA7GIA, Co-leader Adrian KO8SCA, Co-leader Cezar VE3LYC and Co-leader Dave WD5COV.

Media Officer: James Gallo KB2FMH.

Because we are running the two DXpeditions through the same organization (Delta-Xray Group) there exist synergies as for the equipment, logistics and resources committed to execute these.

3Y0K – Bouvet Island Dxpedition 2025

We’re building an organization of 25+ experienced DXpeditioners committing to and capable of executing some of the rarest and most difficult entities to activate. In the pipeline we have two exciting DXpeditions planned.

  • 3YØK DXpedition to Bouvetøya January 2025 (#11 most wanted)
  • We will stay up to 21 days on the island
  • A team of 3 operators + support team of 4 persons + remote team
  • Budget $440,000 where 2/3rd of budget is already secured
  • $150,000 in support still needed
  • ALL PERMITS IN HAND

We have signed a contract with a vessel owner with a proven track record in Arctic and Antarctic waters. The experienced Captain has been supporting expedition teams since 1997 and before that has been managing his own fishing trawler for decades. We’re also teaming up with Peter as responsible for landing us safely on the beach, similarly to what he did this year. We are three persons with previous experience from landing at the island. Peter’s experience, skill and determination is again an important factor for success!

We have been through some 3YØJ lessons learned where everything have been scrutinized to improve the next attempt. This time we plan 3YØK based on our previous Bouvet experience! We will go only with smaller Honda gasoline generators, and it will be a lightweight DXpedition but still with some yagis and amplifiers. Weight is reduced from 7 ton to 2 ton. Peter will be leading the support team of total 4 younger persons, that comes in addition to the radio operators.

We will also engage a remote team where AA7JV George will be involved with tons of remote experience from his Pacific trips. George will design, test, and supply the remote radio system adapted to Bouvet environment and we’re grateful for his contribution. The remote radio system will be Pelican Cases with radio and power supply, where we will taking four remote radios and 5 radios with amplifiers for the local operators. In addition to the 7 members that will be on the island there will thus be additional remote members providing you with QSOs.

Operators: Dave WD5COV, Emil DL8JJ and Ken LA7GIA

Media Officer: James Gallo KB2FMH

Visit our Facebook page and our website www.3y0k.com.

IOTA 2024 IOTA Honour Roll/Annual Listings

As always, the IOTA Team would like to take the opportunity at this time to wish all IOTA enthusiasts the very best of Seasons’ Greetings.
 
IOTA enthusiasts are reminded that the last date for submitting applications or score updates to checkpoints for inclusion in the 2024 Honour Roll and Annual Listings is 31 January 2024. If submitted after that date, they will be processed in the normal way but the scores will be held over to the following year’s listing.
Where packages with cards are involved, these need to be posted/dated before 31 January and, in countries where the postal service to the checkpoint is occasionally subject to delay, it is best to mail them early so as to avoid missing the final date for completion of the exercise. It is important that participants who have not updated since the 2019 annual listings and wish to remain listed within the five year window should make a submission on or before 31 January 2024.
 
If you have not logged into your record for more than two years, you will need to revalidate your registration through info@iota-world.org. Do not leave it to the last moment as you may run out of time.
 
G3KMA and the IOTA Team, 14 December 2023

Understanding OQRS

DXpeditions need funding before the team depart to pay for expensive shipping of equipment and for the charter of a vessel to get to the island. Quite often these expensive costs need to be paid at least by means of a deposit up to 12 months before the DXpedition. The best way that we can raise these funds is by using the teams Donation page on their website. This not only helps the teams funds but also if you are in the log your QSL and LoTW will be sent for you automatically.

To help you understand some changes we have made on OQRS, you may find this helpful.

The Pre-DXpedition Donation
Once you fill in the form on the donation page, the data on that form is automated onto an Excel file. Once the DXpedition sends me the first log update. I upload the Excel file to OQRS, this file is then populated to the relevant QSL address fields and your QSL is queued, while your LoTW QSL is automatically uploaded to LoTW. This is repeated for every log update that i receive. ALL your QSOs are covered by the donation. It is the DXpeditions IT team that must prepare the Excel spreadsheet correctly. I will provide the Excel spreadsheet to the team with all the needed fields laid out correctly. High end DXpeditions may attract 1,500+ personal donations and this has to be automated by the team. As you can imagine doing this manually would not be possible.

Express LoTW” In recent times some DX’ers have said that they do not want a QSL, but want to request an early LoTW and not have to request a QSL card. So for this reason Express LoTW replaces the QSL request. You are not forced to pay for the LoTW upload and neither is it an extra QSL charge.
DO not use Express LoTW if you want a QSL card. You will NOT get one.
Express LoTW will upload all QSOs in the log so far…. It will NOT upload any Qs you make tomorrow so better waiting until the end of the Dxpedition before requesting may be a better solution for you?.

“OQRS Direct + LoTW” If you want the QSL and LoTW this is the option you should use.

“OQRS Direct” – NON-DXpedition logs are normally uploaded to LoTW when the log updates arrive either by me or the log owner. 

“Busted/Missing Call Requests VERY IMPORTANT. Please do not send ANY busted or missing call emails – Use the NOT IN LOG Button on OQRS. All inquiries are handled on the system. NO EMAILS.

I provide daily updates of all Log and LOTW uploads on my Facebook page. If you are on Facebook, this is the place to keep bang up to day with activities surrounding the Stations & Dxpeditions whom I manage.

Please also remember, OQRS is self-funded so it is not always possible to do upgrades that you may think are relevant and/or worthwhile. A lot of thought is given to upgrades and in particular the cost implications that surround them.

(Thanks to Tim M0URX for his input)