Ducie Island, VP6, DXpedition Gears Up
The Daily DX reports that the Ducie Island DXpedition Team, VP6DX, has been busy behind the scenes preparing for the much anticipated February 2008 DXpedition, reports, Carsten Esch, DL6LAU, who says the group has decided to extend the duration of the DXpedition. Plans are to depart Mangareva Island, Gambier Islands, French Polynesia via the Braveheart on February 5, 2008 and head for Pitcairn Island; this trip normally takes about 36 hours. The ops will spend a few hours on Pitcairn before take another 36 hour trip boat ride to Ducie Island; they plan to arrive at sunrise on February 9. They hope to be up and running within 24 hours. The team needs to be back on Mangareva by March 3. If all goes well, including the weather, they will have VP6 on the air for as long as 19 days. There is a slight chance of a short visit to another uninhabited island if things on Ducie slow down. Henderson Island (also VP6, not a separate DXCC entity) is the only island on the way to and from Ducie Island.
The team will have seven of the new Elecraft K3 transceivers; Elecraft is a sponsor of the VP6DX DXpedition. ACOM is also sponsoring the DXpedition. As such, the team will have six or seven of the ACOM 1000/1010 amps and one ACOM 2000A (for 160 meters).
The VP6DX team will have two phased verticals on 160 meters aimed at Europe and the US, with one vertical to be used to all other areas. There are plans to have two 4-squares on 80 meters -- one on CW and the other on SSB -- for simultaneous operation. They will use 4-squares on the 30 and 40 meter bands, and phased vertical dipoles on 10-20 meters.
The DXpedition to Ducie, announced at the 2007 Dayton Hamvention, will have a different set of operators than first announced. The current list of operators is: Jan B. C. Harders, DJ8NK; Dietmar Kasper, DL3DXX; Carsten Esich, DL6LAU; Andree Schanko, DL8LAS; Eric Scace, K3NA; Martii Laine, OH2BH; Pertti Simovaara, OH2PM; Leszek Fabianski, SP3DOI; Andrew Chesnokov, UA3AB, and Marshall Critchell, WA6CDR. Unfortunately, Krassy Petkov, K1LZ, will not be able to go. The group plans to announce the addition of three more ops in the near future.
The VP6DX DXpedition team will be assisted by a support team, including Kan Mizoguchi, JA1BK, who will be advising the VP6DX team. Kan was the DXpedition leader on the first operation (VP6DI) from Ducie, and he also supported the second operation (VP6DIA). Franz Kramer, DF6QV; Ulrich Weiss, DJ2YA, and Juha Tuovinen, OH1JT, will be the Antenna Engineering Team. The team's Webmaster will be Christian Janssen, DL1MGB. Bob Beebe, GU4YOX, is the electrical team manager, and Miralda Warren, VP6MW, is the Pitcairn Island liaison. More support personnel are expected to be announced soon.
This will be a serious effort to make Ducie Island available to the DX community. Donations for this operation are requested in order to make this operation a success.
The VP6DX Website is constantly being updated, and a monthly newsletter will be available prior to the trip; the team also hopes to put out a daily newsletter once on Ducie. Those wishing to receive the news letter can register on the Web site. The July issue is expected to be available to the DX community in the next few days.
Page last modified: 08:20 AM, 28 Jun 2007 ET
Page author: awextra@arrl.org
Copyright © 2007, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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