PRESS RELEASE ⬇️ 3Y0L – Peter 1 Island DXpedition 2027 https://www.dx-world.net/peter-1-island-dxpedition-2027
If 3Y0L Organizers plan to take two helicopters to Peter I Island in order to "make this a safe and reliable operation as required by the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI)", then it begs the question: Why is 3Y0K only taking one helicopter to Bouvet? Does this mean that NPI considers the 3Y0K Dxpedition to Bouvet Island to be unreliable and unsafe?
=== If you really want to do Peter I Island with the highest chance of success and within professionally acceptable safety margins then you need a heavy duty icebreaker with at least two twin-engine medium-lift helicopters, a large helideck and a proper enclosed hangar to protect the helicopters from the elements whilst in transit (helicopters don't like getting wet, especially when it's sea-water). For example the Russian Kapitan Khlebnikov or Akademik Fedorov as used by 3Y0PI. Anything less and chances of successfully activating Peter I Island are significantly diminished and safety margins are stretched to the absolute limit. Note that ICETUGS's existing vessels Argus and Mars are not icebreakers; they are merely ice-strengthened vessels, a subtle but very important difference in power and operational capability. Other salient points: 1) Peter I Island does not belong to Norway; it is not Norwegian territory. The Island is merely claimed by Norway, with most other countries not recognizing or even acknowledging that claim. Peter I Island is international territory under the auspices of the Antarctic Treaty System. 2) There are presently 58 signatory nations to the Antarctic Treaty and a group from any of these can legitimately visit Peter I Island and establish and operate an amateur radio station there under the auspices & authority of their respective government. No landing permit from NPI is required in this instance; neither is there any requirement to even notify Norway or the NPI. 3) An icebreaker on charter to Brazil's Antarctic Program will be operating in the Bellingshausen Sea Nov.25~Feb.28 and making multiple stops at Peter I Island as part of an on-going multi-national Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research project known as Antarctic RINGS. A well-funded Far Eastern mountaineering & amateur radio group (BY/BV/HL/JA?) is already rumoured to be negotiating passage. 4) Antarctic Treaty governments are pushing for a moratorium on the use of helicopters in Antarctic coastal areas except where necessary for bona fide scientific purposes only. This is due to environmental concerns (there have been reports of tourist helicopters causing mass stampedes at penguin rookeries, resulting in abandoned eggs, high chick mortality etc.). 5) Peter I Island's status as a genuine, bona fide DXCC Entity has to be seriously questioned, since it was added to ARRL's DXCC List in 1986, some 25 years after the Antarctic Treaty came into effect, thereby violating ARRL's own DXCC List Criteria Rule 3(b) 'Special Areas': "In view of these Treaty provisions, no new entities below 60 degrees south will be added to the DXCC List as long as the Treaty remains in force". The ARRL DXCC Desk should perhaps issue a public clarification on this important matter given that there's at least one group (and possibly more) out there planning to spend around $2Million to go play radios on Peter I Island within the next couple of years or so. 73 DE VK0LD ========
3Y0L got official gov. landing permit all sorted 8 months before even got an icebreaker or helis confirmed? Thats a bit hard to believe! How can you get gov. approval for "vessel technical data & logistics plan", "helicopter documents" and other important stuff like chopper pilot licences and flying hours many months before you even know what boat your taking and even now when your still "working on securing a helicopter contract"? Think you got your timelines the wrong way round here guys, and something dont quite add up - anyone know the Norwegian for 'Porkie Pies', 'Due Dilegence', 'Duty of Care' etc.? How come theres not even a copy of this 'landing permit' on the website already - your not eager to show it off? Or maybe you dont really have one and you just mean some basic spoken agreement or 'approval in principal' or something, which is completely different. Dont even look like their physically up to the job - a few oldies in the group and also some serious overweight unfit looking couch-potato types as well. Very high-risk and un-inspiring. They all bringing their own personal defibrillators and sleep-apnia oxygen masks along just in case? Norway dont even allow old people to go visit their Svalbard islands in the Arctic in case they die there, so why would Norway allow a group of oldies and couch-potatoes go to their Antarctic islands? Something really dont add up here and this is just stupid "let's waste two million dollars" Pie-In-The-Sky kind of stuff. Donating to this lot is just throwing money away.
