Cezar VE3LYC, Craig VK5CE, Stan SQ8X, Bob KD1CT will be active from Antipodes Islands (IOTA OC-286) 7 - 11 January 2016 as ZL9A.
They will operate on 40 - 10m CW, SSB.
QSL direct/bureau via VE3LYC. Detailed information to be available in due course.
DXCC Country - New Zealand Subantarctic Islands.
News ZL9A 10 January 2016 20.01 UTC
Received from Stan 10-01-2016 20:01 UTC
We are qrt, sea calmed down a bit we will try to leave on 2-3 hours from now.
The log has been uploaded to ClubLog :
8,650 QSOs logged between 2016-01-06 23:49Z and 2016-01-10 17:10Z
News ZL9A 10 January 2016
Received from Stan 10-01-2016 11:00 UTC
Waves are so huge that our captain decided to postpone departure for tomorrow evening (Monday night ZL time), if sea wont settle down will wait another 1 day. Some waves crashing against shoreline are like 30-50 meters, yes meters, high!!! Our QTH is sprayed with salt water, Amazing!!! Huge crashing fountains against cliffs they are enormous! When waves crash against cliffs water strikes up producing huge fountains reaching far inside shoreline, enormous power and low freq deep sound produced.
News ZL9A 8 January 2016
Due to bad wx forecats we must leave on our Sunday evening (Sunday 0:00 – 01:00 UTC).
The team is experiencing heavy winds which collapsed one of the verticals. This has been fixed and they are running with both stations again.
Please note that contacts with remotely controlled stations will NOT be accepted.
News ZL9A 6 January 2016
Message received 06-01-2016 18:37 UTC Waiting for landing in 2 hours, around 20:30 UTC. So the earlier activity was a pirate!
News ZL9A 5 January 2016
All ok, high sea swell making Evohe bouncing left right 45-60 deg each side, difficult to walk across the yacht. Everybody in good spirits and healthy. We sail with engine on and 1 sail, good food on board and really nice crew
ETA is January 7th noon LT.
Information from Cezar, VE3LYC:
First DXpedition to Antipodes Islands (ZL9A), OC-286 New!
Department of Conservation of New Zealand has issued for the first time landing and operating permits for the activation of Antipodes Is. (ZL9), OC-286 New. The team includes Cezar (VE3LYC), Craig (VK5CE), Stan (SQ8X), and Bob (KD1CT), who will attempt to operate between January 7 and 11, 2016. The team will assist in the mouse eradication program on Antipodes, and support other critical research activities there. Details will be made available soon on the expedition website.
DXCC is expected to announce later this week a re-naming of the existing ZL9 entity ‘Auckland & Campbell Is.’ to also include other New Zealand Sub-Antarctic Islands. ZL9 ranks #37 on the current ClubLog DXCC Most Wanted List. The team will operate CW and SSB on all bands from 10 to 40 m, running two stations around the clock.
Given the large cost of this project, in excess of $50,000, the operators call upon the DX and IOTA communities to consider assisting them financially in order to offset some of their travel expenses. Donations can be sent by paypal to ve3lyc@hotmail.com, and all donors will be acknowledged on the expedition website.
News 9 December 2015
ZL9A should be on the air four weeks from now. Here is a brief update on our preparations:
The Team is pleased to announce that Johan (PA3EXX) joined us as our Pilot Station. Any inquiries, suggestions, and comments during the island operations should be forwarded to him. Johan will summarize and communicate them to us. Please do not post any requests on the DX clusters, since they will not be taken into consideration.
- We are working to provide you on the expedition website with the possibility of tracking the position of our boat in real time, during its voyage to and back from Antipodes.
- It is our intention to offer an on-line log, to be uploaded daily at Club Log. Any questions regarding possible errors or omissions should be addressed to Cezar (ve3lyc@hotmail.com), only after the end of the expedition.
- We have selected the services of Alfio (IT9EJW) for the design and printing of the QSL cards. QSL requests can be made to Cezar (VE3LYC). We strongly encourage DXers to use On-line QSL Request Service (OQRS) from Club Log for both their direct and bureau demands. Direct OQRS requests will be answered first.
73,
Cezar, VE3LYC
Sea Lion Scampering on Coastal Cliff Face Remote Antipodes Islands. Author - ngaire hart (lawson).