3Y0J 2023 Bouvet Island

Listen to 3Y0J on 30 Meter CW!
Listen to 3Y0J on 30 Meter CW!
Listen to 3Y0J on 30 Meter CW!

The 3Y0J Team aboard The Marama

The 3Y0J team of LA7GIA, LA7THA, LB1QI, LB5GI, KO8SCA, VE3LYC, NP4G, KO7SS, N0FW, DL6KVA, AB5EB, WD5COV departed England January 11, 2023 and landed in the Falkland Islands on January 12. They loaded the Marama sailboat, waited for good weather and headed for Bouvet on January 17. Some of the team were /MM using their home calls. The team is receiving Starlink Internet service thanks to Elon Musk. The group arrived at Cape Fie Bouvet on January 31, waiting for better weather and started preparations to land. A zodiak landing was made in difficult conditions and LA7GIA went into the water and had to swim 30 meters but clothing stayed dry. 4 team members spent 4 days on Bouvet in difficult conditions and returned to the Marama February 3. The wx looks very bad for the next several days. The operation will be scaled back. They starting on 30 meters February 6. The Team were QRT just before 1900Z on 17m FT8" on February 13th with 18,628 QSO's in the log.

Today (February 15, 2023) the 3Y0J team set sail for Cape Town, South Africa. If the weather is not bad they may sail around Bouvet Island. On their way to ZS they plan to operate /MM aboard the SV Marama. They are expecting to arrive in Cape Town around February 23. Plans are to have a dinner and spend one night before continuing home.

LA7GIA, Ken, posted the following on Facebook:
We activated Bouvet Island in extremely difficult conditions! Now that we leave Bouvet with mixed feelings, we also know that we did what we could to get Bouvet on the air.

Four members went ashore at Bouvet on 31 January in good conditions to set up the climbing route and install an unmanned zodiac rope system between a buoy and the beach, so that we could land equipment also in rough surf. During the day the surf increased, and the extraction of the team members was aborted, and we were thus stranded on Bouvet late in the evening. During 3 nights we slept outdoors under the open sky in cold and difficult conditions with little or no supplies. We prepared a simple emergency shelter on the island where we stayed (tarp). During the second day we got some supplies in a risky zodiac operation in high swell. We lost several objects in the surf and punctured the zodiac. The conditions on the beach were terrible. Due to the coming storm, we evacuated back to Marama on day 4.

Despite this, we decided to go ahead and scale down DXpedition. We could not fight against Bouvet, but had to adjust to the weather and go ashore when Bouvet allowed us. We called it "Picolite DXpedition" as pictures (on facebook) will show you we operated with 100W from a single tent, no chairs and no table, 60m coax, no amp, simple antennas, small generator etc. Our 2 Elecraft K3 radios were stacked on top of a bucket turned upside down, and we sat on the ground operating. All our wet clothes were dried outdoor on the rocks, and we had very limited heating. We went through a storm of 55 knots, but our tent had no problem with the windforce! The spiderpoles and the DX Engineering antennas also survived the storm w/o any issue.

We only took the equipment we needed, 620 kg in total including supplies. All our supplies to the island were via a rope attached to a buoy 100 meters from shore to beach. All objects were hooked to the line and floated to shore by team members pulling the rope. We named it the gym. The team members also went ashore in survival suits hooked to the line and floating to shore. What an experience!!

Radio Operation: Pileup was difficult as our signals were weak. We had good reception and very often we called 3 to 5 times to log a qso. Many DXers called us but couldn't hear us, how frustrating! We focused on fewer bands to maximize ATNO and looking at the stats we achieved 18,628 QSOs and 50% unique calls. And many dupes! Many are satisfied, but some are also disappointed by the performance of either the team or the DQRMers. We had issues with the FT8 due to we did not have any device to sync against, and our clock were 14 seconds off - which meant we at some time were TX odd, while we thought it was even.

As for Bouvet, there is no guarantee at all, whether you use two helicopters or zodiac! We could have wanted to make more contacts, but safety was and will always be more important than trying to push our limits in a risky environment.

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In the coming months, you will be invited to hear more of our stories at conventions and in articles.

QSL Courtesy of SM5LNE