Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (A) To : All From : Daryl Stout Date : Thu Apr 08 2021 23:35:16 Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2267, for Friday, April 9, 2021 Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2267, with a release date of Friday, April 9, 2021, to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a QST. Get ready to work Bouvet Island later this year. Antarctica gets an unexpected activation -- and a renowned hexbeam creator becomes a Silent Key. All this and more, as Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2267 comes your way right now. *** BILLBOARD CART ** PAIR OF DX GROUPS SET EYES ON BOUVET ISLAND PAUL/ANCHOR: We begin this week with a big DXpedition update - and you know that has to mean Bouvet Island. But - TWO DXpeditions? John Williams, VK4JJW, brings us the details. JOHN: The date is set - December 15th of this year - for the Rebel DX Group to depart Cape Town, South Africa for Bouvet Island and the Three Y Zero Eye (3Y0I) activation. The team said it is as ready as ever, following the cancellation of their 2019 DXpedition when they were within sight of the remote island and turned back during a cyclone for safety reasons. The team of eight, led by Polish DXpeditioner Dom, 3Z9DX, expects to be on Bouvet for as many as 30 days and will operate eight stations on 160 through 6 metres, using CW, SSB, FT4/FT8, RTTY and operations through the Qatar-Oscar 100 satellite. The team has continued to appeal for donations to meet its remaining need for $32,000. Meanwhile, the Intrepid-DX Group has announced that they will be activating the island as well using the call sign Three Y Zero Jay (3Y0J). Their 20- day stay on the island is set for January 2023. The team's immediate goal is to continue fundraising to meet their budget of $764,000 before their planned trip aboard the MV Braveheart. The Rebel DX Group, in response to the other team's announcement, said in a press release: [quote] "We would like to wish the recently announced 3Y0J Bouvet DXpedition all the best for a successful activity in 2023. There is enough space for even 3 more activities from Three Y Zero land. We know how much detailed planning goes into a project like this and cross fingers for them." [endquote] For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm John Williams, VK4JJW. (INTREPID DX WEBSITE) ** ANTARCTIC ASSIGNMENT EVOLVES INTO DXPEDITION PAUL/ANCHOR: Occasionally there's a DXpedition that didn't start out quite so ambitiously. Graham Kemp, VK4BB, has this story about one ham whose activation of Antarctica just grew from its humble beginnings. GRAHAM: For Paul Daniels, VK2PAD, this was the Antarctic DXpedition that, well ... just sort of happened. An instrument electrician and trades supervisor, Paul was assigned to work at Casey Station in Antarctica where he expects to be for the next nine months or so. Of course, he brought his radios and lots of wire for some antennas. Initially, he just wanted to chat with people on the air: that's what he told Newsline. A conversation with the Australian World Wide Flora & Fauna manager changed all that. Being a SOTA activator, he was game for adventure, and he was convinced to activate the WWFF park he was in, as well as the continent. He's using the callsign VK0PD, and trying his best on HF, including two bands new to him: 17 and 24 metres. Paul told Newsline: [quote] "Somehow this quickly morphed into what feels like being a rare contest station. My usual style is halfway between a quick QSO and a ragchew. I like to get to know people and make friends, so this fast-paced action is not a familiar thing for me." [endquote] The activation has shown Paul that the peaks of SOTA summits have got nothing on the peaks of massive pileups for a coveted DX location. Email him if you want to learn more about his availability. His email address is in the printed version of this week's Newsline script. VK0PD only operates on the weekends but is eager to - what else? - break the ice. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Graham Kemp, VK4BB. FOR PRINT ONLY: Paul's email is exile06_1980@hotmail.com ** ANOTHER 'FIRST' FOR HAMS ON THE ISS PAUL/ANCHOR: Commercial spaceflight logged another first on Monday, April 5th, as the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft undocked from the forward port and moved to the zenith port of the ISS with the crew of four amateur radio operators aboard. The complex maneuver was the first of its kind undertaken by a commercial crew and it makes way for the next Crew Dragon spacecraft's docking at the ISS later this month. On board Crew Dragon "Resilience" during the undocking were NASA's Mike Hopkins, KF5LJG, Victor Glover, KI5BKC, Shannon Walker, KD5DXB, and JAXA's Soichi Noguchi, KD5TVP. The relocation was carried live on NASA TV. The new four-member crew will consist of NASA's Shane Kimbrough, KE5HOD, and Megan McArthur, JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, KE5DNI, and Thomas Pesquet, KG5FYG, from the European Space Agency. (SPACENEWS.COM, NASA, AMSAT) --- SBBSecho 3.14-Win32 * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - tbolt.synchro.net (454:1/33) .