There is a major expedition planned to Jarvis Island in the middle of the Pacific in early August 2024 and their planned operations include some 50 MHz activity.
Press release
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Dear Fellow DXers,
In March the Dateline DX Association was pleased to announce that it has received permission from the USFWS for a DXpedition to Jarvis Island National Wildlife Reserve this August. Jarvis is ranked nr. 18 on Clublog's global most wanted list. It is number 9 in Europe. In some EU countries Jarvis is ranked as high as second most wanted on phone and digial. Jarvis is ranked higher than Bouvet (16) in Europe. It is 450 miles from Palmyra Atoll and 1500 miles from Hawaii.
Back in February of 2023, we had the 3Y0J expedition to Bouvet Island in the South Atlantic which promised a lot but disappointed many.
The initial ambitious plan was to be have 12 stations active for most of the month of February 2023 with a target of 200,000 contacts. In the end, the number of contacts that were actually completed was 18,833 which is 9.4% of the target planned.
In a previous post, I outlined how each QSO might have cost in the region of $38.
After the expedition, there was a lot of talk about how unruly the pile ups were and there were a few soft interviews with members of the expedition about how it went.
What I think a lot of people and groups who donated to the 3Y0J expedition will be wondering about is the actual planning.
How was it that after raising $715,000, they seemed so ill-prepared to transfer equipment from their boat onto the island in what were always likely to be choppy seas?
Why did they bring four diesel generators that weighed 113 kgs (250lbs) each instead of smaller and lighter petrol (gasoline) ones?
How did they manage to lose a tent?
Did they train for the landings on some safe island?
If you were following the expedition then you'll remember that they failed to get the heavy diesel generators off the main boat and had to use just one smaller petrol generator instead which had a limited fuel supply of 50 litres.
The second video below describes some of the problems they faced.
Two videos of the 3Y0J expedition...
Two new expeditions... On the 7th of December 2023, the organisers of the 3Y0J team announced that they were planning to return to the island in 2025 using the call 3Y0K.
Just days later, a rival expedition announced that they were planning a separate expedition as 3Y0I! It looks as if there might be a bit of tension between the two groups... see below.
3Y0K... The key points of their press release were...
3Y0I... The Rebel DX Group release this statement just days later...
"BY REBEL DX GROUP
Due to Dom 3D2USU being kicked out of the 3Y0K Bouvet DXpedition / Project which was made and led by Ken LA7GIA and Dom (Ken was informed by DX foundations that if he joined forces with the Rebel DX Group there would be no support for Ken), the Rebel DX Group has decided the time is right to reactivate 3Y0I plans and stage their own DXpedition to Bouvet. You may remember that in 2019, the 3Y0I team were unsuccessful in getting to Bouvet due to inclement weather, seas and vessel damage.
For this DXpedition, there will be no support or funding needed. They seek no assistance from foundations or clubs. All equipment is in place already in South Africa. Plan is for three operators to land on Bouvet with an additional five more ops operating CW remotely – more on this in the future.
A vessel has already been secured and will be operated by four ex-Navy seals from Military Unit Formoza. A captain and first mate will complete the team – between them they have 25 years experience heading into the cold South Atlantic waters. Many years ago, Dom 3D2USU, landed several times on Bouvet using a dinghy during a 3-day stay. The whole crew is highly trained for this kind of landing and surviving in harsh conditions.
Reissuing the 3Y0I license is straightforward. You can get your own license if you wish. It takes two days and $0 dollars to receive one. Some info will not be provided for many reasons – for example dates will only be announced near the time of sailing.
As a footnote, the last 2.5 years the Rebel DX Group has delivered over 1 million QSOs from various Pacific islands. LoTW is always uploaded straight after any expedition, without delay or requests for “Express LoTW” services. QSL cards from the Pacific are usually sent out once a year when the team is back in Europe to print them, and then take back to Fiji. Note:
QSL cards from Bouvet will be run by proper QSL manager as we will relocate our team to another cold place. More on that info soon."
HF Conditions... As someone pointed out on Twitter / X, we're near the peak of the sunspot cycle and things will start to get worse in the next few years on the higher HF bands like 28 MHz as we move away. Whoever gets to Bouvet, it would be better to be operational as soon as possible.
A few weeks back, I saw a news item on the IRTS news about an upcoming Irish DX expedition to Antigua in the Caribbean. Usually, I just ignore any news items about DX but the fact it was an Irish team caught my interest.
I checked the DX Cluster a few times to see if they were on 28 MHz CW but to no avail. One day, I saw them being spotted by European stations but there was no sign of them in my location.
On the 30th of March 2023, I finally worked them.
As for whether it was a new country or not, I have no idea. I suspect not as I've worked well over 200 countries on 28 MHz and Antigua isn't that rare as far as I know.
As for the distance, it was just under 6000kms which is about right for two F2 layer hops.
According to the Proppy HF propagation website, the path seems to have been reasonably easy on 28 MHz as expected. The challenge really is getting through the pile up of stations from Europe and North America rather than just being heard.
In November 1962, Gus Browning W4BPD landed on Bouvet island with a guide and operated for four and half days. He recounted his exploits in the October and November 1967 issues of 73 Magazine.
It's an interesting account of what the conditions were like and it was certainly a very different time with less environmental concerns about wildlife disturbance.
It is reproduced below if anyone wants to read it.
Bouvet Island - Gus Browning W4BPD Cordova, South Carolina
