[ADXA] The Disappointment of Bouvet

[Joel Harrison]

No one can be more disappointed about the aborting of the Bouvet
DXPedition than the folks working to activate it. Just imagine being on a
ship in VERY rough seas out in the wide open south Atlantic and battling
sea sickness 24 hours a day, then arriving at your destination only to
still be confined to the ship while looking out at Bouvet so close it
seemed you could almost touch it, then having to abort and return to Punta
Arenas.....then doing so with only one engine and traveling at 5 to 6 MPH,
a little less than half their full speed capability, though the rough seas
once again. When they make it back to Punta Arenas the Bouvet Boys will
have been on that ship for almost four weeks......stop and think about
that for a moment. Four weeks of what must be hell to most of us.

There has been a lot of misery in activating DXCC countries over the
history of the program, one particular event caused the death of one radio
amateur when their boat was attacked by the military of a hostile country
that claimed the disputed area as theirs.

Over the past several years these big, massive projects have been highly
successful and we probably have become complacent with our expectations.
For those of you who attended our 50th Anniversary Convention in December
you heard Bob, K4UEE tell about all the possible perils of a trip such as
this. Bob is on that boat, along with a lot of others who are personal
friends of mine so while I am disappointed my level can't begin to match
theirs and I pray for their safe return to Punta Arenas.

In the coming days and weeks we will hear more about their voyage and also
plans to try again.

What drives a person to make a trip like this? Beats me but what drives a
person to sit up all night waiting for that 15 second burst of propagation
to work a new country? It is for pride of accomplishment.....being
successful from a station that you built, not something you whip out a
Mastercard and paid for a commercial service.

No Bouvet, so time to move on to other non-radio things??? ABSOLUTELY NOT!
There is a ton of DX on, especially a brand new DXCC entity with Kosovo
Z6. You need to work those guys! 3B7 and KH1 are coming up a bit later.
P29VXG popped up on 160 meters yesterday for a 7 day run so while I'm
disappointed about Bouvet I was still able to put a new one in the log on
160 meters! Bernie W3UR is down in V4 so get on and work Bernie.

DXPeditions come and go and if you have been in this game very long you
know the excitement of today's major DXPedition will become just a memory
of tomorrow. Get on the air work some DX, be proud of what your very own
station can do!

As I noted, I know most of these guys personally and they WILL be back. I
believe it took them 3 attempts to make it to Peter I and they finally
did!

GL es DX

73 Joel W5ZN