ZL9CI - CAMPBELL ISLAND DXPEDITION JANUARY 1999
(Information Bulletin)
The Kermadec DX Association’s DXpedition to Campbell Island in January 1999, represents possibly the last chance for many years for a QSO with this DXCC< entity and IOTA island (OC-037).The New Zealand Department of Conservation is severely restricting access to the island and it is only with representation at the highest level of New Zealand government and continued hard work by team leader Ken Holdom ZL2HUthat permission to visit the island has been secured.In addition, the remoteness of Campbell Island, located as it is in the sub-Antarctic ocean about six days sailing from New Zealand prevents easy operation from there. The licence for the team to operate from the island has been granted, a suitable vessel for the trip has been arranged (The "Braveheart", a 117’ ex - Japanese research vessel) so plans are in order to make this a very successful venture. An international team has been assembled ,a team which should ensure that DXer's in all parts of the globe are expertly catered for.
General
We will be using the IC system ("In Charge"). The Leader IC is Ken ZL2HU, the Logistics IC is Lee ZL2AL and The Antenna IC is Declan Craig EI6FR
I won’t go into the attributes, skills, professionalism and experience of the team members and our pilots, except to say, we are blessed with a superb team with a lot of 5BDXCC’s who have a helluva lot of hardware up in the air and are very skilled at getting the very best out whatever they are sitting in front of.
The operator mix of 4 Kiwis, 2 Yanks, 2 Irishmen, 1 Canuck, 1 Japanese op and one half Canuck, half Kiwi is a most interesting mix. The common denominator that runs through the selected team members is their awesome abilities and ham radio experience.
Further publicity releases on the Dxpedition will be from ZL2AL or EI6FR
The team lineup includes .....
ZL2HU - Ken Holdom ... led the very successful ZL8RI operation in 1996 and was a member of the Oct 1997 DXpedition team to Chatham Island and has previously operated from both Rarotonga (South Cooks) and Pukapuka (North Cooks) and will be back at both these ZK1 QTH's in the future.
Timing of DXpedition
The team will depart New Zealand on Jan 1st, 1999 arriving Campbell on the January 6.
We will remain QRV until the 25th of January. Its hoped that this timing will allow all adequate time to QSO ZL9CI on the bands and modes they wish.
SSB,CW and RTTY will all be used and maximum use will be made of openings with the more difficult parts of the world. ZL9CI will be active on all bands 160M through 10M, the WARC bands and 6M. The modes will be SSB, CW, RTTY and some SSTV. An amazing antenna inventory has been assembled and it is possible that up to six stations may be active at any one time. Extensive propagation forecasting is being done and this together with information from strategically located pilot stations should be of great assistance. We will be taking six operational stations. At present, our time on Campbell is limited to the hours of daylight only (1600 UTC to 10.30 UTC ). We are limited to that ruling by the New Zealand Dept of Conservation (DoC).
Pilot Stations -
The following Pilot Stations have been appointed and email, packet addresses etc. will follow in a further bulletin.
West Coast USA - Ron Lago AC7DXBudget -
The total budget for the ZL9CI DXpedition will be in the region of $85,000 of which the members of the team have contributed $33,000.
Some examples of the expenses are .....
Boat Charter - $70,000
Generator - $3000
Fuel - $1000
Fee for use of Met. buildings - $1250
Transport team/equip in NZ - $5000
And the list goes on and on .....
Donations received to date have been very encouraging indeed, however we >still require several thousand dollars to cover the ever increasing costs.
Contributions from DXers and DXing Clubs are definitely needed and can be sent to either ..
The Kermadec DX Association,
PO Box 56099,
Tawa,
Wellington,
New Zealand
or
The Kermadec DX Association (Europe)
167 St. James's Road,
Greenhills,
Dublin 12,
Ireland.
All donations will be receipted and in the event of the DXpedition not proceeding be returned. We would be delighted if DX editors would publish this information bulletin as widely as possible and DXers bring it to the attention of their clubs and fellow DXers.
73 on behalf of Kermadec DX Association and Campbell DXpedition team
Lee Jennings ZL2AL