03/22/2016
A VK0EK DXpedition[1] "reconnaissance team" has arrived on Heard Island. Bob
Schmieder, KK6EK; Arliss Thompson, W7XU; Bill Mitchell, AE0EE, and Dave Lloyd,
K3EL, are on the island with several members of the R/V Braveheart crew to get
the lay of the land. The DXpedition team plans to spend about 10 days on Heard
Island, which is the fifth most-wanted DXCC entity, according to ClubLog's DXCC
Most Wanted List[2]. Chief Pilot Rich Holoch, KY6R, spoke with Schmieder via
satellite telephone.
"The satellite connection was crystal clear, and he sure is one happy camper!"
he reported. "He said they have a beautiful view of Mawson Peak (Big Ben),
where it peeks out from the fog often. He said that they are planning exactly
where the tents will go and making final staging plans." Holoch related that
the DXpedition will be busy staging the gear tonight and will set up camp in
the morning.
"It will take them all day to set up, but then they will be on the air!" he
said. The DXpedition team will use an all-terrain vehicle to transport
themselves and their gear to the operating site.
At 0000 UTC on March 23 (the evening of Tuesday, March 22, in US time zones),
Tom Medlin, W5KUB, host of the weekly "Amateur Radio Roundtable[3]" video
webcast and radio program, hopes to make ham radio media history by
interviewing the DXpedition team live on his webcast. Audio will be simulcast
on international shortwave broadcaster WBCQ on 5130 kHz.
Heard Island is an Australian protectorate, part of a subantarctic island group
(Heard Island and McDonald Islands) in the southwest Indian Ocean, some 4000
kilometers (approximately 2480 miles) southwest of Western Australia and 1000
kilometers (approximately 620 miles) north of Antarctica.
[1] http://vk0ek.org/
[2] http://www.clublog.org/mostwanted.php
[3] http://tmedlin.com/wordpress1/blog-3/
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