[OKDXA] 3Y0J Facebook update

[Jeff Martin]

Facebook update from Ken Opskar:
   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 DXped. We could not 
fight against Bouvet, but had to adjust to the weather and go ashore 
when Bouvet allowed us. We called it "Picolite DXped" as pictures 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 19,000 
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. In the coming months, you will be invited 
to hear more of our stories at conventions and in articles.
(Full videos later)
73 Ken

There are also a couple of new videos of the beach landing on 
facebook...

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73,
Jeff - K5WE