3Y0J Dxpedition to Bouvet Island

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April 4, 2021

Press Release from the Intrepid-DX Group

3Y0J Dxpedition to Bouvet Island, January/February 2023

As we completed our successful VP8STI-South Sandwich and VP8SGI-South Georgia DXpeditions in 2016, we began to plan for our next Dxpedition. Our target is the Norwegian Island Bouvet. This is the #2 most wanted DXCC entity.

At this time, it gives us great pleasure to announce that we have joined forces with Intrepid Norwegian DXpeditioner Ken Opskar-LA7GIA in our quest to activate Bouvet.

Together, in January 2023, 14 men will board the Braveheart in Capetown and make the treacherous voyage to Bouvet. We will plan to spend twenty days at Bouvet and weather permitting, we plan to have 14 to 16 good days of radio activity.

This will be an arduous and expensive mission. Our budget is $764,000 USD and the 3Y0J team will fund much of this mission. We desperately need the global DX Community to support our mission and help us make this important activation of the #2 most wanted DXCC entity. It is only through this kind of support that we can achieve our mission of making 100,000 contacts or more from Bouvet.

We plan to make best use of Propagation and Modes on 10-160 meters.

We pledge to assemble the strongest team possible and to use good operating practices to optimize your ability to reach our stations. We are confident that the Braveheart crew can get us there and back safely.

In closing, we especially wish to recognize and thank the Northern California DX Foundation and the International DX Association as our premier donors. Without the support of the NCDXF and INDEXA, operations to the world’s rarest entities would not be possible.

You can follow our plans from our website and the 3Y0J Facebook pages:

https://www.3y0j.com

http://www.facebook.com/groups/3y0jbouvet2023/

Thank you,

Paul Ewing-N6PSE Co-Leader

Kenneth Opskar-LA7GIA Co-Leader



NCDXF Donates $100,000 USD to the 2023 3Y0J DXpedition

April 5, 2021

The Northern California DX Foundation is pleased to announce it will be a major contributor ($100,000) to the Intrepid DX Group’s 3Y0J Bouvet Island DXpedition planned for January/February 2023. Bouvet Island is currently #2 Most Wanted globally on the Club Log list.

NCDXF-supported DXpeditions have activated many of the ten most-needed entities. NCDXF-funded DXpeditions during Cycle 24 have put well over 1 million QSOs into DXers’ logs! We expect to continue this mission for Cycle 25 and beyond.

https://3y0j.com/ has details of the 2023 Bouvet Island DXpedition.

DXpeditions to rare entities like Bouvet Island that are so remote are becoming more expensive and difficult to reach, a trend that we believe will continue. In the last three years, two DXpeditions have attempted activation of Bouvet, but severe storms damaged ships that were so very close.

NCDXF’s primary purpose is to help fund well-organized DXpeditions to desirable DXCC entities like Bouvet Island. During the last 49 years, NCDXF has granted nearly $1.3 million to hundreds of DXpeditions – helping to put an “all-time-new-one” (ATNO) in the log and make DX happen for thousands of DXers worldwide. The credit for these large grants goes to the NCDXF contributors, individuals and clubs who support the DX community. Without those contributions, DXpeditions to entities like Bouvet or other desirable locations would not be possible.

If you agree with the importance of NCDXF’s work, and if you are not a current contributor, we hope you will become one today by going to http://www.ncdxf.org/pages/join_renew.html Your contribution will continue to help make DX happen. You can also support future DXpeditions by including the NCDXF Cycle 25 Fund in your estate plan.

We wish the Intrepid DX Group a safe and very successful trip to Bouvet Island.

73

Glenn Johnson, W0GJ

NCDXF Secretary

https://www.ncdxf.org

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Press Release #2 from the Intrepid-DX Group

April 29, 2021

3Y0J Dxpedition to Bouvet Island, January/February 2023

Bouvet is like the Mount Everest of DXCC entities. It is among the most challenging entities to activate due to significant transportation costs and personal sacrifices required by the team to make the 42 day round trip. Fortunately, Bouvet is not our first mountain. We are well prepared for this challenge.

All plans are going well. We are researching polar quality tents and equipment. We are discussing antenna specifications with various manufacturers. We will make careful choices to help us meet the demand for Bouvet contacts.

We are delighted to add a second Physician to our team. Dr. Mike Crownover-AB5EB and Dr. Bill Straw-KO7SS are both seasoned Emergency Physicians and will help the team immensely with their expertise.

Our fundraising is going very well. We have received a significant donation from our longtime friend Y. Zorro Miyazawa JH1AJT. Zorro has always been an enthusiastic supporter of our missions and his generosity is greatly appreciated.

We are pleased to announce that we will receive the ARRL’s Colvin Grant, as well as large donations from the Far East DX-ploiters Foundation, the German DX Foundation and the Twin Cities DX Association. We would love to add your Club or your Call to our sponsors pages.

This will be an arduous and expensive mission. Our budget is $764,000 USD and the 3Y0J team will fund much of this mission. We desperately need the global DX Community to support our mission and help us make this important activation of the #2 most wanted DXCC entity. It is only through this kind of support that we can achieve our mission of making 100,000 contacts or more from Bouvet.

In closing, we especially wish to thank our many Foundation, Club and Individual donors. Without this kind of support, operations to the world’s rarest entities would not be possible. Please include your call sign, mailing address and email address with your PayPal submissions. We would not want to miss QSLing with you!

You can follow our plans from our website and the 3Y0J Facebook:

https://www.3y0j.com

https://www.facebook.com/groups/3y0jbouvet2023

Thank you,

Paul Ewing-N6PSE Co-Leader

Kenneth Opskar-LA7GIA Co-Leader

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To the global DX community.

We regret to inform you of the following news.

The global pandemic has impacted the expedition charter vessel business very hard; this includes the venerable RV Braveheart which has provided outstanding safety and service to many DXpeditions. As you know, we had signed a contract with Braveheart for 3Y0J.

Today, we were informed that Braveheart will be sold. As a result, Nigel Jolly will no longer be associated with the ship, our contract with the ship has been cancelled and our deposit will be refunded. This is a very disappointing development to all involved.

At this time, we are cancelling the 3Y0J Dxpedition. We have ceased accepting donations and we will begin refunding 100% of the donations using the same method they were received, i.e., PayPal, cash or check. This process will take several weeks to sort out, so please be patient.

We wish to thank our team for putting their trust in us. We wish to thank all of the donors and sponsors that gave generously to this project. We will continue to research other ships and possibly find another suitable vessel for a future project.

73,

Paul Ewing, N6PSE

Kenneth Opskar LA7GIA

https://www.3y0j.com

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Press Release from the Intrepid DX Group

Dear Global DX-Community.
On June 18th, we announced that we were continuing to seek new transportation to Bouvet in support of our Bouvet 2023 project. At the same time, we have refunded all donations as there was a high degree of uncertainty that we could move forward.
We are pleased to announce that we have found a suitable/affordable vessel willing to take us to Bouvet. We are negotiating the terms of that charter contract now.
We have submitted a new application to the Norwegian Polar Institute.
We have revised the Leadership of our team as follows:
David Jorgensen-WD5COV Co-Leader, Operations, Antennas.
Kevin Rowett-K6TD Co-Leader, Systems/Networks, Procurement, Logistics
Paul Ewing-N6PSE Co-Leader, Planning, Public Relations, Tents, Logistics.
Together, this leadership team will assemble 12 Operators to make this vision a reality.
We are revising our website and soon, we will begin fundraising for this renewed effort.
We are extremely grateful for all our past Sponsors and Donors and we hope that you can support this renewed effort.

Sincerely,
The Bouvet 2023 Team

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Press Release #4 from 3Y0J team

3Y0J DXpedition to Bouvet Island, November 2022

The 3Y0J team are delighted to inform about our continued effort to activate Bouvet island. After cancellation of the previous attempt due to the ill-fated sale of the vessel Braveheart we decided to continue the effort and search for a suitable and affordable vessel.

Today we announce that we have signed a contract with an expedition vessel with a proven track record and experienced polar crew that will take us to Bouvet in November 2022. The vessel is MARAMA and is fully booked for the 2021/2022 season. The cost is significantly reduced compared to our previous Braveheart charter. With the signing of the vessel contract we will start fundraising immediately. On this journey to Bouvet we have assembled a team of 12 operators and we plan to spend 20 days around Bouvet. The QTH at Bouvetøya will be Cape Fie at the South East part of the island, the only feasible part where a DXpedition can safely setup the camp on rocky ground, we will not set camp on the glacier. We will have a wide area of 150 x 800 ft to setup the camp and the antenna farm.

Back in April 2020 we started our effort to activate Bouvetoya - a Norwegian DXCC in South Atlantic Ocean and also known as the world’s most remote island. In close co-operation with NPI we received the needed permits in September 2020 to activate Bouvetoya, which also included a helicopter permit. We also together with NPI researched and was provided photos that showed a beach landing was possible. In November 2020 we were approached by Intrepid and we joined our efforts. After the sale of Braveheart in June we informed Intrepid that we would continue our effort to activate Bouvetoya and search for a suitable and affordable vessel. Last week we were ready to launch the vessel news to the team members. As we sent out this information it was leaked to Intrepid group which caused Intrepid in a hurry to send out a press release the following day that they would go to Bouvet. The act of the team member came as a big surprise to us, the same did the announcement from Intrepid as they were informed we would continue the project.

As of today we still hold the only valid amateur radio team license specifically issued for the purpose of activating Bouvet (3Y0J). With the NPI permits, the license, the signed vessel contract and a new expedition vessel we’re ready to move forward. The team of 12 operators will fund much of the budget but we also need the global DX Community to support our mission and help us make this important activation of the #2 most wanted DXCC entity. It is only through this kind of support that we can achieve our mission of making 120,000 contacts or more from Bouvet in November 2022. Without support there will be no activation.

In closing, we especially wish to thank our many Foundations, Clubs and Individual donors. Without this kind of support, operations to the world’s rarest entities would not be possible.

You can soon follow our plans from our website http://www.3y0j.no (please note change of website to .no ) and the 3Y0J Facebook page
.

Thank you,

Ken Opskar LA7GIA, Co-Leader
Rune Oye LA7THA, Co-Leader
Erwann Merrien LB1QI, Co-Leader

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InnovAntennas and WIMO renew their sponsorship to 3Y0J

August 11, 2021

We're happy to announce that InnovAntennas and WIMO have renewed their sponsorship for 3Y0J and will supply us with all the Yagis. Thank you! We will have several tribanders on 20-15-10, several dual banders on 17-12 and a monobander on 20m

They will start manufacturing a unique Yagi specifically designed for Bouvet - it wil be named "DXR-3 Bouvet" and will be available for sale to all DXers!
We're proud of having a yagi connected to our DXpedition!

Let's make it happen!

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Press Release #5 from 3Y0J team

August 30, 2021

3Y0J DXpedition to Bouvet Island, November 2022 

We are happy to announce that Northern California DX Foundation has voted to grant $100,000 to the upcoming 3Y0J DXpedition to Bouvet. This is an all-time high donation and matches the previous donation given to Bouvet projects. The 3Y0J team is very grateful and honored in the trust NCDXF has shown by supporting our project.

The DXpedition will be carried out by “Amateur Radio DXpeditions”, a Norwegian non-profit organization created for the purpose of conducting DXpeditions. With an overall budget of $650,000 this will be the most expensive DXpedition ever. With the NCDXF donation we hope to succeed in the fundraising as our first payment milestone for the vessel contract is approaching. By end October we will pay 30% of the vessel contract, and by that time we must have regained confidence that we can succeed financially. We critically need upfront donations to be able to make it. While we have a solid plan, a “young and strong team”, a dedicated crew and vessel Marama – we need your upfront support to go there and make 120,000 QSOs from Cape Fie at Bouvet.

Donations to the 3Y0J project can be done through paypal on our website or by bank wire transfer.

We wish to recognize and thank the Northern California DX Foundation as the Lead Sponsor for our 3Y0J DXpedition to Bouvet. Without the support of the NCDXF, operations to the world’s rarest entities would be difficult.

You can follow our plans from our website and the 3Y0J Facebook pages:

​http://www.3y0j.no
https://www.facebook.com/groups/3093983840726129

 Thank you,
Ken Opskar LA7GIA, Co-Leader 
Rune Oye LA7THA, Co-Leader 
Erwann Merrien LB1QI, Co-Leader 

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3Y0J team is full speed ahead with the planning, below is just some info about what we're doing right now.

September 14, 2021 

​1. We prepare for the first vessel deposit which is due next month.

​2. The logistic team which Gjermund LB5GI is leading are working on several important topics

​a.) preparing a safe way to land the operators and the equipment on Bouvet. A flexible system that allows for various conditions will be engineered, constructed and soon tested at a beach in Norway with enough swell. We are working on several different systems to adapt to the conditions. One system consist of 2 zodiaks, buoys, anchor, capstan and rope to safely land the dinghy with and without personell/equipment.

Gjermund and Rune LA7THA are working with some experienced Norwegian professionals within the maritime industry in Norway to test this system live.

b.) prepare a winch system for lifting the equipment up from the beach to the cliff at Cape Fie. Again we prepare for a flexible system that can adapt to various shapes and height of the cliff, we will use both electrical and non-electrical systems, and also manual systems. The most bulky item is the diesel generators (75 kg). System to be engineered, constructed and tested in Norway soon. Effort is being lead by Rune.

c.) a system to assist us in bringing the equipment from the cliff up to the camp roughly 200 ft up at 70ft ASL being planned.

This will help us when bringing 4.5 metric tonn of equipment, fuel and water up to the camp.

3. We are currently reviewing the antenna layout once again. InnovAntenna being our main sponsor. We're working on a staged approach to allow setting up the camp also during very short weather windows with a setup that will be expanded with more stations and antennas until we reach the full setup. Adrian KO8SCA is currently preparing for testing the tribander yagi.

4. Erwann LB1QI is leading the ancillaries systems and is working on the tent selection. Heated or not heated tents?

5. We are working on the station setup, but so far we have not selected the exact setup - we have several options on the table when it comes to radio and amplifiers.

6. Safety has a high attention in the project, and we will do what we can to avoid accidents and injuries. Bill KO7SS is taking the lead on Safety. Bill is dedicated to oversee all planning and operations wrt safety. We will run risk workshops, discuss safety, safety procedures, mitigate risk, construct emergency shelter, prepare evacuation plan of personell, evacuation of injured operator from camp to vessel etc

In a while we will start with zoom meetings -there you can follow our journey to Bouvet. You can get the latest news, discuss with us topics, get feedback, interact with operators, Q&A and more

Check out our website for this feature - you can buy access for unlimited access to the meetings - and at the same time help us in fundraising. https://www.3y0j.no/funding

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Today we have finalized the procurement of all our 3Y0J antennas. All antennas will be supplied by our sponsors InnovAntenna, DX Engineering and Spiderbeam. We have run extensive HFTA analysis that shows our signals is predicated to be STRONG all over the planet. We will bring a mix of antennas with us with different material and technology. We have prepared a main antenna farm, backup antennas and a replacement strategy. We have focused on bringing quality products with us. You can expect our 160m toploaded vertical to be 21 m tall and our yagis will be 7 to 10m up on solid antenna masts that can withstand 35 to 44 m/s wind. We have various yagis with us. And we plan dedicated yagis for Asia, EU and NA/SA on a triplexer/diplexer system. We will run inband on 40-10m. All this will be visible on the antenna layout drawing. InnovAntenna will launch a new product DXR-3 Bouvet – a yagi designed for our DXpedition which you can soon buy at DX Engineering.

The antennas will soon be shipped to Norway for inspection and testing, we have a site off the west coast to test the equipment in harsh weather. Some low band verticals will be shipped to Arizona for assembling and testing, some yagis will be shipped to New York, and finally topband antennas will be sent to Hungary. This is truly an international project where all team members contribute with a common goal to activate Bouvet to give you that much needed QSO!

Let’s make it happen – support 3Y0J via PayPal bouvet@3y0j.no

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This narrow area of volcanic rock at Kapp Fie will be our QTH, 250' above the black sand beach where we will be landing in Zodiacs. See it now in 4K HD full screen mode. Yagis, verticals and our tents will be up here. How will we get the equipment onto the beach and up the hill? What will the camp layout look like? Parts of the plan are being tested in Norway right now. We plan on having video updates from landing to leaving and all the fun in between! Video Interviews with all the operators. Stay tuned!

3Y0J Bouvet Island DXpedition 2022

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3Y0J DXpedition to Bouvet Island - Press Release #6

Press Release #6 from 3Y0J team

3Y0J DXpedition to Bouvet Island, November 2022

We have reached our first payment milestone for the Marama vessel contract. Today we have paid the first deposit, and with this payment we confirm our plans of activating the #2 most wanted entity Bouvet. We would like to thank each individual and club who has contributed to this payment with their upfront support, especially thanks to our Lead sponsor NCDXF.

It is a huge task and undertaking to go to Bouvet and we still critically need additional upfront support to close the budget.

We are happy to announce two additional operators to the team to make it complete with 13 operators. Dave WD5COV will rejoin us on this adventure to Bouvet. Dave is a well-known and recognized DXer and DXpeditioner who has embarked on over ten major DXpeditions including three in the top ten most wanted category.

In addition, we have included Peter in the team as a combined crew and dedicated FTx operator. Peter is an experienced captain and expedition leader with huge experience from offshore sailing, sailing in remote polar uncharted areas and specializes in supporting some of the most complex expeditions in the Arctic and Antarctica. He is experienced in safety evacuation procedures, MOB maneuver in cold water, beach landings in difficult locations and he is an experienced zodiac operator that will be based in Norway. He will be heading up the zodiac landing at Bouvet.

Our preparation for Bouvet includes planning, constructing, and testing a system for landing zodiacs safely, this will be tested in rough sea in Norway before and after Christmas. We plan for several systems and techniques to adapt to the onsite conditions. We plan for safely landing the zodiacs in different manners also with some swell, unmanned and with less risk for operators. And we prepare for the event that zodiacs are capsizing and we still can retrieve the equipment. We have done the first prelim sea trials of the zodiac equipment in Norway and will continue sea trials to further mature the concept. We plan for a gasoline powered winch system to lift equipment up the cliff, and this will be tested in Norway after Christmas. We plan to access the 25 ft cliff with professionals means, and if needed prepare for climbing and bolting a short route to gain access. We refresh our climbing experience, and some team members will be certified climbers. In 2022 we will practice safe rope access training and evacuation down the cliff with instructor also including emergency evacuation with injured operator. We will have IRATA educated instructors training with us.

We also have an extended off-island team of 5 Norwegian professionals and experts from the maritime industry assisting us. These are former captains and chief engineers with huge experience within RIB SAR vessels, maritime risk assessment and safety training. Some of them have stayed several seasons at Bouvet, stayed anchored at Cape Fie, have passed Bouvet more than 60 times and have done zodiac landing at the same spot. With all these upcoming events and the knowledge in the extended team – be rest assured this will be a well planned and executed project.
You can follow our plans from our website and the 3Y0J Facebook pages:

http://www.3y0j.no

https://www.facebook.com/groups/3093983840726129

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaMaR21075U

Thank you,

Ken Opskar LA7GIA, Co-Leader
Rune Oye LA7THA, Co-Leader
Erwann Merrien LB1QI, Co-Leader

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3Y0J DXpedition to Bouvet Island - Press Release #7
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Press Release #7 from 3Y0J team

3Y0J DXpedition to Bouvet Island, November 2022

We’re happy to inform about some news related to the upcoming Bouvet DXpediiton.

We have selected the Norwegian brand Arctic Lavvo who will supply us with their Venor Gamme tent. Arctic Lavvo will deliver custom made tents to the project that includes three tents for radio operation and sleeping. The manufacturer having its factory at latitude 70N is taking the extra step to ensure their high-quality products will sustain the Bouvet climate. The tent having been tested at JW Svalbard in extreme conditions up to 40 m/s will be improved further by adding extra guying levels and by strengthening the aluminium frame. We’re confident selecting a Norwegian manufacturer with huge experience from this kind of climate is a wise decision.

We also would like to inform about the selection of SILCOM as the sponsor of our yagi antenna masts. SILCOM will deliver custom made antenna masts rated for the Bouvet climate. They will be named ALU-3Y0J and GLV-3Y0J where we will use the alu mast for the tribanders and the smaller steal mast for the dualbander yagis. All masts have been through detailed engineering to optimize the technical specification and rating to fit our InnovAntenna/Wimo Yagis. The masts being a square telescopic mast with tilt-over functionality and winch can easily handle 35 m/s at 10m level.

We’re taking the preparation to the next level by procuring a milpro Zodiak. The strategic decision to buy the milpro Zodiak will enable us to train continuously on the critical beach landing in Norway. Having access to the exact same zodiac we will use at Bouvet, is just another step we have taken to ensure the success of this DXpedition.

We also have a change in the team. 3 team members are leaving the team due to various health and personal issues. Sandro VE7NY, Laci HA0NAR and Dima RA9USU are unfortunately leaving the team. We are happy to inform that we have already onboarded Cezar VE3LYC and Otis NP4G in the team. Their experience will be a great addition to the team.

So far the team have spent more than $130,000 out of the total budget. We have reached an income level of $500,000 but still critically need additional $160,000 support to be able to make it. Going to Bouvet is a huge undertaking financially as all our expenses are upfront. If you want to have the opportunity to work the rare #2 DXCC Bouvet island, please consider to donate upfront. We ask all clubs and individuals to support us so that we can put on a 3 weeks DXpedition show from Bouvet.

You can follow our plans from our website and the 3Y0J Facebook pages: 

​http://www.3y0j.no  

https://www.facebook.com/groups/3093983840726129

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaMaR21075U

 Thank you, Oslo December 2021

Ken Opskar LA7GIA, Co-Leader  
Rune Oye LA7THA, Co-Leader  
Erwann Merrien LB1QI, Co-Leader  

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3Y0J Bouvet Island News 28 December 2022 Why RA9USU dropping out from 3Y0J Bouvet 2022 Team

Several friends were asking me about the reason for my dropping out from 3Y0J Bouvet 2022 Team. I will do my best to clear things out. Sorry for the delay – the end of the year is a nightmare multiplied by a hundred in Russia. Because of the long New Year holidays - every Government contract should be closed by the end of the year and there is almost absolutely no time to do anything besides the work. Sleeping no more than four hours at night for the last month or so.

Unfortunately, even though Ken and I usually had no issues communicating in the past, I found about me “quitting team for personal reasons” from the DX-world website. I know that you need balls to tell someone in a face that you are fucking him over.

Asking around cleared things a bit, but I was really confused by the Team Leaders decision.

It’s all started back in 2016 and I was in touch with Ken when I was working on my 3Y0H plans to operate from Bouvetoya. After failed attempts by 3Y0Z and 3Y0I, it was clear that collecting the funds from the Clubs will be very damaging to them and I was working on the budget-friendly operation. I had a plan and a way to exercise it but failed to collect the money in two weeks, which was almost impossible to do during the pandemic, but that was the condition from the vessel owner to keep the price down.

Then it was the 3Y0J announcement and I saw Ken joining the N6PSE-lead team. It was surprising to see because I had an experience in the past with that “leader” in action, but everything for the cause.

On August 4, 2021, I received the message from Ken, inviting me to join 3Y0J, where there were already eight Team members (including Axel, DL6KVA). Later I found that Axel was not yet on the Team that was just a dirty trick to make me agree to join. Later the very same trick was used to other members to join 3Y0J. Anyway, in the end, the Team was really looking promising and worth traveling with.

Therefore, I paid my dues and the required installment was all done…

On October 15, I received a revised Team Agreement from Ken. The deadline for signing the paper and second round of payment (which I already paid in advance) was on October 25. The next payment is in February 2022. That a little collided with my 3A3A road trip, which lasted during half of November, along with arranging most of the equipment for that operation, but my dues are paid in advance and I would read the agreement later upon my return, no biggies.

Then I read the Agreement.

I was puzzled, to say the least.

First of all, how is Team Agreement regulate the OQRS payment fee? 15 USD per card? I understand that DX-peditions like Bouvet requires a lot of money, but fixing the cost of confirmation to 15 USD is something I really don’t want to see before the expedition is even started!

Second, Team members are “expressly prohibited from soliciting funds from anywhere, which otherwise could donate to the Team account”. That means that I can no longer ask my friends from Expert Electronics (SunSDR) to support me because The Team could use that support for themselves (although everyone is bringing their own Elecraft K3’s with them anyway).

The third was absolutely something I can not accept. I did try to negotiate that but failed to find the understanding from Leaders. I never saw any Team Agreement (and I saw many of them) regulating the operating style before in my life, but this one went further.

This Agreement prohibits me from utilizing the Russian Language! I am mostly a CW operator and was invited as an operator, who pays 20,000 USD to join the operation. Not versa! I am not an employee and was not hired; requiring me to speak only English is unlawful and discriminatory! Linguistic diversity is a reality, observance of which is a fundamental value in the European Union. Also regulated by Article 3 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), Article 165(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) (while fully respecting cultural and linguistic diversity (Article 165(1) TFEU).

The Treaty of Lisbon prohibits discrimination on grounds of language (Article 21) and places an obligation on the Union to respect linguistic diversity (Article 22).

There is absolutely no sufficient justification for this requirement to be on the Agreement!

Just to remind Ken, that “Amateur Radio DXpeditions” is registered in European Union and required to obey the Laws.

I asked Ken why is that requirement on the Agreement and he replied that he “will not allow any QSOs in Russian or whatever” and “it is not allowed to give instructions in Russian on CW that no other people can understand”. This is coming from a person, who erased the TZ4AM from the TL7M/TL8AO log on 160m, just because he did not act the way instructed by the operator.

For real? I consider myself a decent operator and was never blamed by any DX-pedition leaders for my ability to operate in my native language. Quite the opposite – they insisted that I operate the radio when propagation was favorable to Russia and East Europe. I know best how to maximize the number of contacts and how to operate the specific areas of the World, propagation dependent.

The agreement also prohibits direct call of a specific area (i.e. Asia, Pacific, or else) and only allows to call CQ without designating the World area.

Fourth, as of now, we had not confirmed the port of departure and therefore I could not accept the Cancellation policy. I do not have to obtain a visa to Argentina, Brazil, or South Africa. However, should the port of departure change to Stanley (Falklands) I will have to get the BOT visa. Taking into account that British Embassy in Moscow is mostly closed – there will be additional challenges to get it, especially if that happens a month before the DXpedition.

One part of the Agreement says, “If you denied entry, we will consider you to have voluntarily dropped out and your payments will not be returned”. I know that visas are my responsibility, but a visa does not guarantee entry to the country. It’s an immigration officer’s decision on whether to let you in or not. Government employee’s decision, not mine. It cannot be considered as a Voluntary dropping out. Period!

Fifth – Part 10 Misc A(a) states that “Team members are encouraged to provide their own IridiumGo!, Garmin InReach or Iridium Satellite phone for personal communications”. Then (c) states “Team members shall not use their personally owned devices to post to Internet activities while on the island”.

Ken later added, “During the DXpedition, no operator can post anything from the operation on Internet… or post stuff on DX-World, post videos on your Facebook page from the operation, on reflectors, etc. while you are on the Island”. While it is technically challenging, to begin with, this kind of censorship is unlawful, unjustified, and unacceptable.

All that led to our few weeks long correspondence, where I was asked to acknowledge my disagreement with several portions of the Agreement and received an ultimatum from Ken, where he stated that he does not accept any disagreements and if I want to be kept as part of the Team I should immediately sign the Agreement and accept all discriminatory and unlawful requirements.

Ken, your entire Agreement is serve only one purpose – protect the interest of the three Team Leaders from any liability before 3Y0J Team Members, leaving the members themselves vulnerable. I do understand that treating members as your employees, dictating them how to use their free time and how to behave is maybe something you do in your field of work, but in no way does this in the Team’s interests nor the Agreement in general. This is the Declaration. We are supposed to be a Team of friends, going together to DXpedition, but instead, we end up being a Dictatorship, earning the way through…

How many people on the Team have sailing experience and how many of them are good operators, capable of reaching your goal of 120,000 Qs? Can carry 70 kg generators to the shore? I can easily survive without being on Bouvet (my wife will definitely love the idea of not spending 25,000 USD), does it really serves the purpose of this DX-pedition? I have experience in delivering results under the heavy pressure of Antarctic operations. Do you? I was raised as a DXpeditioner by Italian, German, Serbian, Russian Teams. Did you? How many actual team operations have you had before?

Just a note – failed 3Y0Z DX-pedition was budgeted 700,000 USD with two helicopters on board and twenty operators, plus the entire vessel crew, while your two-crew man’s sailboat operation is 650,000 USD. Sure that’s exactly the reason your Agreement requires to keep the DXpedition accounting books private.

[IK0ZCW]

Press Release #8 from 3Y0J team - 08/02/2022

3Y0J DXpedition to Bouvet Island , January 2023

Since we signed the contract with Marama we have been working on fine tuning the dates and port of departure. Today we can confirm that the departure date for the 3Y0J DXpedition will be January 6th 2023. It is complex to plan the logistics of such a huge project like the 3Y0J Bouvet DXpedition which involves many parties. The new dates are mainly related to the Marama vessel logistics, but as well the new dates enable us to return to Cape Town in late February 2023. We can confirm the scheduled duration of the DXpedition is 44 days and that we have reserved a week additional contingency at the end giving us more flexibility. We have contracted 22 days at Bouvet Island, and it means we will spend more than 3 weeks at Bouvet. As we have the flexibility to still decide the port of departure Ushuaia or Port Stanley this will be done at a later stage.

It is with great pleasure we inform that we have completed all equipment selection for this trip.

For the station setup we will lineup 12 stations, that will include 8 human mode CW/SSB stations and 4 FT8 stations so to achieve our new goal of 200,000 QSOs. We will be using the Elecraft K3S, a well proven in the field DXpedition radio as the CW/SSB radio and SunSDR2 DX as the FT8 radio.

During peak time we will run up to 12 radios simultaneously by using 4O3A triplexers and InnovAntenna/Wimo tribanders together with Messi&Paoloni coax. We plan for minimum downtime on the radios, and to achieve this we will setup the 4 FT8 stations to run 24/7 so that these can either be run by one operator separately or be run by any other operator in a simplified SO2R setup. This will be done so that each operator can log into the FT8 machine from his operator position and run CW/SSB and FT8 simultaneously. Running several radios by a single operator this way has shown to be very efficient.

At Bouvet we are pleased to announce that we will use the well-known S.P.E. EXPERT amplifier. We will bring with us various models where the 1.5K-FA will be the main model, but for 160m we will be using a 2.0 kW amplifier and a vertical running a K3S with diversity RX. We will also have several spare amplifiers.

We are also pleased to inform that as the RX antenna system we will be using a ground independent RX loop system developed by LZ1AQ. This RX antenna will be located 300 meters away from the camp and will provide us with a RX antenna for 160-30m with 8xRX output signals. It also includes possibility to switch from loop to dipole mode.

We have procured 5 rugged YANMAR diesel generators to provide the station supply that will also include 1 spare generator.

Going to Bouvet is a huge undertaking financially and it would simply not be possible without the support from the vendors and our sponsors Expert Electronics, S.P.E., 4O3A, Messi&Paoloni and LZ1AQ. If you want to have the opportunity to work the rare #2 DXCC Bouvet island, please consider supporting us by donating upfront.

You can follow our plans from our website and the 3Y0J Facebook pages: 
http://www.3y0j.no  
https://www.facebook.com/groups/3093983840726129 

Thank you, Oslo February 7th 2022
Ken Opskar LA7GIA, Co-Leader  
Rune Oye LA7THA, Co-Leader  
Erwann Merrien LB1QI, Co-Leader  

[IK0ZCW]

3Y0J LATEST NEWS

The 3Y0J team is looking for one more operator. Specifically we're looking for a NA SSB operator

15/03/2022

If you always have wanted to go on a most wanted DXpedition like Bouvet then send us an email. We would love to have you on the team, and can guarantee an exiting challenge! It will be all hard work. You will have to sail for 10 days, get seasick, then carry 6.3 metric ton into a zodiak, do a wet zodiac landing, fight the elephant seals, climb a rock, haul all equipment up, install the camp in harsh and cold environment, operate A LOT we have 12 radios one for each, sleep in a cold place, no beer or steak being served but you eat MRE, toilet is w/o insulation - but great seaview, be prepared for an emergency evacuation and sail back for another 8 days. Team agreement says you can talk your own native language in the pileup and say hello to your friends in Romania, Germany, Colombia or whatever. There is no shower for 3 weeks. The fee for this luxury vacation is only $20,000. But you will have the biggest pileup ever. And if there is a shortfall of donations you have to pay more.

Requirements:

(1) can take 7 weeks vacation in Jan/Feb 2023

(2) SSB contester or DXPedition experience

(3) from NA

Email: info@3y0j.no

[IK0ZCW]

3Y0J DXpedition to Bouvet Island - Press Release #9 

Press Release #9 from 3Y0J team - 03 April 2022

3Y0J DXpedition to Bouvet Island , January 2023

Today it is 9 months until the operators travel to South America to board Marama and go to Bouvet. We’re getting closer!

​We can announce the last operator on the team that will be Pete N0FW. We’re extremely happy to have Pete on the team with his experience and knowledge. Pete is a well know DXpeditioner, he has been on more than 16+ DXpeditions, some quite rare ones, and he is a lowband enthusiast for a long time with 322 confirmed current DXCC on 160m – so he has great ears!

In 3 weeks’ time we will perform a 4-day vessel inspection in Itajai in Brazil. Marama that has completed several trips to Antarctica this winter season will undertake some maintenance during her stay in Brazil. At the same time this allows us to do a detailed inspection of the vessel. Another purpose of the trip to Brazil is for us to complete the vessel loading plan. The team have worked hard to detail out all the equipment we will bring to Bouvet, and amongst other during this trip each equipment will be allocated a space in the vessel. The purpose of creating this plan is to make sure we have a smooth loading of the zodiac once we go ashore Bouvet. We have at this stage planned how to sequence all the equipment in a specific predetermined order from vessel to zodiac, and how to build the camp slowly. The detailed plan to build up the camp indicates that we will be able to setup a camp on Bouvet even with short weather windows down to 80-120 min that will take only 4 zodiac trips. We’re quite determined to go ashore when the first opportunity arise!

April will be a busy month for us as all team members gather in Oslo April 28th. For 4 days the team will perform a system integration test where we will do a thorough test of the radios, amplifiers and antennas in a real environment like what we can expect at Bouvet. During this event team members will practice on the installation and familiarize with it. A lot of equipment will undergo it’s final testing and packing and be stored until the container leaves Oslo in September 2022.

Going to Bouvet is a huge undertaking financially and it would simply not be possibly without the support from the vendors, clubs, foundations and individual sponsors. We’re currently missing $120,000 out of our $690,000 budget to be able to go to Bouvet. As we now prepare for the next vessel deposit, we need your support to close the gap.

If you want to have the opportunity to work the rare #2 DXCC Bouvet island, please consider supporting us by donating upfront.

You can follow our plans from our website and the 3Y0J Facebook pages: 
http://www.3y0j.no  
https://www.facebook.com/groups/3093983840726129 

Thank you, Oslo April 2022
Ken Opskar LA7GIA, Co-Leader  
Rune Oye LA7THA, Co-Leader  
Erwann Merrien LB1QI, Co-Leader  

[IK0ZCW]

3Y0J DXpedition to Bouvet Island - Press Release #10 

Press Release #10 from 3Y0J team - 03 June 2022

​3Y0J DXpedition to Bouvet Island , January 2023

In late April we successfully conducted a 4-day vessel inspection in Brazil that ended with a very good result. The inspection was carried out by a 3rd party vessel inspector and covered more than 105 checkpoints. The vessel inspection focused on safety equipment, instruments, navigation, engines/machinery, deck, tenders, fuel&fluids, interior, and exterior. Marama is in very good condition and hence the overall feedback is positive. The vessel went through significant upgrades with regards to machinery and engines in 2021 and has since been tested for years, most lately during the previous Antarctica season. The inspection file resulted in a punch list of only a few minor items to be followed up, no major findings during the 4-day inspection.

The team is currently working on the final preparations for packing the container scheduled to be shipped from Oslo in early September. Preparing the packing and shipping the container is extremely time consuming and requires a focus on details as our more than 2 years of work now is being materialized into packing lists and labeling the equipment. Today we have finally decided our container will be shipped to Port Stanley, Falkland Island. In Port Stanley a local team of ham radio operators will assist us in receiving the container, conduct a container inspection and make sure all is OK before the team arrive in early January. To Bouvet the team will bring with us 6500 kg of equipment, which includes several tons of fuel and food. Our contract allows for 22 days on the island, but we have food for 30 days and a plan for rationing should we have to stay beyond 22 days.

At this stage all the operators have already paid their full deposit of their individual $20,000 operator fee. This is your insurance that we will do whatever we can to make this DXpedition a success. In a few weeks we will pay our 2nd vessel deposit to Marama. Ultimately this represents a huge undertaking for us financially as well a commitment to go to Bouvet and activate the rare #2 DXCC Bouvet island. With all the preparation and planning over the course of the last two years you can rely on our commitment and our determination to go onshore Bouvet in a zodiac 7 months from now.

Going to Bouvet would simply not be possibly without the support from the vendors, clubs, foundations, and individual sponsors. June 1st, we completed our budget update, and this shows we’re still missing roughly $100,000 out of our $690,000 budget to be able to go to Bouvet. As we now prepare for the next vessel deposit, we need your support to close the gap. Please consider supporting us by donating upfront.

You can follow our plans from our website and the 3Y0J Facebook pages: 

http://www.3y0j.no  
https://www.facebook.com/groups/3093983840726129

Thank you, Oslo 3rd June 2022
Ken Opskar LA7GIA, Co-Leader  
Rune Oye LA7THA, Co-Leader  
Erwann Merrien LB1QI, Co-Leader  

[IK0ZCW]

Buy 3Y0J merchandise and be a part of helping 3Y0J reach Bouvet!

We are very happy to announce that we have now setup a page where you can buy "official" tee shirts and other goodies really supporting our Dxpedition to Bouvet island in January 2023.

Be very careful as the below is the only official link where you can purchase them:



or visit: https://www.bonfire.com/store/bouvet-dxpedition-2023/

This online shop is managed by our team member Mike Crownnover.

​

[IK0ZCW]

Press Release #11 from 3Y0J team  

3Y0J DXpedition to Bouvet Island - 30/08/2022

Amateur Radio DXpeditions (ARD) is making great progress for our upcoming 3Y0J Bouvet DXpedition! With only four months left until we go onshore Bouvet, we approach September that will come with two major milestones for us.

One major milestone is the shipping of the Container from Norway that is scheduled on September 18th. From Oslo the container will be shipped to Falkland Island where a team of local hams lead by Don VP8ON will make an effort to inspect the content before our arrival.

The 3Y0J team is currently busy packing all our equipment at our staging site at Oslo airport, where we for the next few weeks will finalize the packing of the equipment. This will end an extremely busy period for us.

We have been through 12 months of purchasing, assembling, testing, and packing the equipment. The team has worked hard, and ultimately shipping the container will complete this intensive period of work that will enable us to achieve our goal to activate the rare #2 DXCC Bouvetøya. Rest assured this is a well-planned DXpedition!

We have detailed out the logistic plan and have made a few changes. Among the improvements are:

- We have bought yet another outboard engine enabling us to use two zodiac boats simultaneously during beach landing to speed up the unloading of gear. In addition, we have a 3rd spare zodiac and engine. Having a pair of zodiak’s is a great advantage to us as we have developed a plan for going onshore Bouvet even for a short weather window down to 2h.

- We have swapped the Yanmar generators with 5 kW Hyundai generators that will enable us to run full station setup with only 2 out of 4 diesel gens. It means that we are less dependent on a long duration of good weather to achieve a good setup.

- We have carried out a risk analysis and identified 37 hazards and assessed the risk for each hazard. 10 hazards are identified as “high” risk and 17 “medium”, all which have been mitigated to an acceptable residual risk level. We have prepared a plan for rationing of food and water in case resupplies are difficult, and when we unload operators and equipment onshore Bouvet, they will be self-sufficient for 28 days without needing resupplies.

The second milestone for September is the payment of the 3rd deposit for the Marama contract. This payment is a major commitment from the team and our sponsors individual and clubs, that we together will make this happen. We thank each and every one of you who have contributed to pay a share of the vessel cost to have the opportunity to work Bouvet. We still need $70,000 to be able to go to Bouvet. If you want to see Bouvet activated, please consider to donate.

You can follow our plans from our website and the 3Y0J Facebook pages: 

http://www.3y0j.no  

https://www.facebook.com/groups/3093983840726129 

Thank you, Oslo Aug 30th 2022

Ken Opskar LA7GIA, Co-Leader  
Rune Oye LA7THA, Co-Leader  
Erwann Merrien LB1QI, Co-Leader  

[IK0ZCW]

Press Release #12 from 3Y0J team 

3Y0J DXpedition to Bouvet Island

Amateur Radio DXpeditions (ARD) is making great progress for our upcoming 3Y0J Bouvet DXpedition! With only 2 months left until we go onshore Bouvet, we approach November that will come with another major milestones for us!

1st December 2022 we will pay 30% of the vessel contract – which is a significant amount! At the same time our projected budget shows a negative balance of $35,000 indicating that we are at risk of having to increase the operator fee. The operators have already paid approximately $25,000 each on this adventure to activate Bouvet. With only 2 months to go, we critically need your support to balance the budget before our departure January 13th from Port Stanley. In worst case the operators will have to cover up the negative balance to pay the bills! Still, we’re determined to go to Bouvet! Let’s see if we can close the gap!

We have made a tremendous effort through the last 15 months to prepare for the trip. We have matured the 3YØJ DXpedition to a level we think is needed to achieve the necessary success. And we have made significant improvements the last few months to your benefit.

Amongst other, we quite recently attended a climbing course to prepare for the rough vertical 90 degree climbing to be expected at Bouvet. This knowledge will enable us to safely rescue an injured operator from the camp. Next week we prepare for attending a glacier course to train for a 300m glacier crossing at the Bouvet glacier. During the whole process since June 2021, we have engaged with an experienced Norway based Expeditioner and sailor, Peter, that has an incredible knowledge and hands-on experience in assisting Expeditions to succeed in difficult Antarctica waters! Peter is leading the zodiac operation and vessel loading. His experience is a huge benefit to us! We have engaged with former NPI employees that have visited Bouvet more than 60 times. With all these preparations, we now find us in at the end of a long marathon after 2.5 years of planning! With all the expertise on the team – we’re confident in the end-result and the team is determined to go to Bouvet!

You can trust we will do what we can to give you that much needed ATNO!

Follow our progress and plans on our website and the 3Y0J Facebook pages:

http://www.3y0j.no
https://www.facebook.com/groups/3093983840726129

​Thank you, Oslo Nov 05th 2022

Ken Opskar LA7GIA, Co-Leader 
Rune Oye LA7THA, Co-Leader 
Erwann Merrien LB1QI, Co-Leader