[....For the rest of us...the peanut whistle stations? Not so much. Chasing DX is only enjoyable when there is a real possibility of making a contact. I'm not criticizing...just stating reality.[/QUOTE] An amazing effort by the 3Y0Z team! To those saying that DXpeditions are only accessible to Big Guns: - as someone running <100W low power with a low quad and G5RV on a city lot, I have worked almost all of the major DXpeditions I attempted; making contact with a DXpedition involves choosing the right time for the propagation, figuring out how their QSX moves and waiting til the last few days of the operation after the megastations have had their way. Years of running QRP has been a good teacher of these hard lessons...
I guess for them that would equal SHTF? On the bright side, at least they had plenty of emergency communications.
IRREGARDLESS OF "3Y0Z'S" PROBLEMS, THEY'LL BE BACK!!! I guess EVERYBODY FORGOT ABOUT "3Y0X", AS THEY WERE SCHEDULED FOR (FEB-2005) AND THAT WAS "ABORTED UNTIL 2006"!!! MY! HOW SOON EVERYONE (FORGETS)!!! I'm NOT ASKING FOR MY CONTRIBUTION BACK LIKE SOME OTHERS OUT HERE ARE, AS THEY (WILL GET THERE AGAIN) EVEN IF LIKE (3Y0X) ONE YEAR LATER!!! Damn GUYS!!! HAVE PATIENCE!!!
These same hate mongers would have bashed Jesus Christ for healing the sick and giving sight to the blind. Their hobby is not ham radio, it is denigrating others. You hear these same people on the HF bands. One ham in these forums calls it "Slop Bucket Operating." I think he hit the nail on the head. It's the same bunch that never misses an opportunity to bash the ARRL. My hat is off to the Bouvet team. I'm hoping that no real money was lost and they will be able to reschedule the DXPedition. As far as this trip goes, it is better to be safe than dead and sorry. It was a valiant try and the experience will be useful to all the team members.
Asking for their contribution back??? Surely you jest. They contributed to the effort, they didn't buy a contact. The nerve of some people. I think they should give the money back and then keep track of the call signs. Those call signs would never get a contact If I was on the team.
*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** I'M NOT THE ONE JESTING, EXCUSE ME? I'M QUOTING OTHERS WHO'D ASKED FOR A "PAYPAL REFUND"!!! IT'S AMAZING HOW SOME INDIVIDUALS JUST DON'T GET IT ABOUT (HARD-TO-GET) ENTITIES AND HOW MUCH THOSE "DX-PEDITION TEAMS" HAVE TO SACRIFICE ON "THEIR OWN $$$" !!!
I had a QSO on FT8 with their 3G9A/MM station at Grid Square JD15, 200 yards off of the coast of Bouvet, running 100w on a Hex. WV0CQ
I just heard a presentation 48 hours ago by Tim Duffy about Bouvet. Each of the 20 members on the team had to put up $20,000 of their own money. The total cost for the expedition was/is $761,000. The fuel cost for the ship and helicopters was around $300,000! These folks are willing to give not only their money, but everything to make this happen. Their level of commitment is unfathomable. What a huge undertaking, with years of planning and preparation. The "ops manual" for this expedition is over 2,000 pages! I'm sure they did not abort this effort easily. To be so close..... Nothing but admiration on my part.
A few more Bouvet Aborted threads for your reading pleasure: From the front page of QRZ, Bouvet Aborted - This thread From the Ham Radio Discussions forum Bouvet Aborted! - This is the leading thread Bouvet DXpedition Aborted! Guess what? Bouvet is no more. Wait, what? Bouvet not happening BOUVET DX-PEDITION ABORTED !!! From the Amateur Radio News forum Ham Talk Live! Episode 100 - Bouvet Island DXpedition LIVE update - Se Post #43 From the DX Zone forum 3Y0Z Bouvet is NOT active yet - false cluster spots Bouvet is cancelled 3Y0 aborted 01001001, Lisa
Did anyone else but me know that on January 28th there was a 6.5 earthquake just northeast of Bouvet. In fact, it was named the Bouvet earthquake on the international earthquake website. Looking at the tsunami map caused by this quake the waves took only three hours to get to southern Africa and I suspect they met the Bouvet ship in about the same amount of time as they were headed east, but not yet at Bouvet. That would have contributed to a lot of the rock & roll they encountered in route. The Bouvet weather map looked really brutal wind-wise. According to the data I saw these winds would not abate for at least 1-2 weeks. Then to get engine trouble on top of that, bummer! Looks like from their speed returning to Chile, they are only making 8.5 knots whereas when going east they were approaching 17 knots. That could correlate with one engine versus two. 73, Dick, N6RC