[South Florida DX Association] Orlando Sentinel Article Peter 1 DXpedition

[NPAlex at aol.com]

I don't know if this was circulated before, but I thought it might be of 
interest.
Norm
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Aline Mendelsohn
Sentinel Staff Writer

January 4, 2006

This is not the kind of trip you can book on Travelocity or Orbitz.

Later this month, a group of amateur radio enthusiasts, including two from 
Central Florida, will embark on a journey to a remote Antarctic island called 
Peter I.

The expedition might as well be going to another planet: Peter I is one of 
the hardest places on the globe to reach, an uninhabited, volcanic island about 
280 miles west of the Antarctic mainland and roughly 8,000 miles from Orlando.

One of the biggest challenges members have faced already is explaining why on 
earth they're doing this.

Why else? To communicate by radio from one of the most remote areas of the 
world. As the expedition's Web site helpfully points out, "It's difficult to 
make radio contact with a country without a population!"

For the uninitiated, amateur radio provides a way of communicating via 
noncommercial radio. An offshoot of the practice, known as DXing, challenges 
enthusiasts to make radio communication from as many different locations as possible.

Two previous amateur radio expeditions landed on Peter I, most recently in 
1994. The current group hopes to connect with 100,000 amateur radio operators 
around the globe.

"We're trying to achieve international goodwill," says Bill Beyer, 46, an 
engineer from Ormond Beach.

The rest of the 22-member clan includes professors, doctors, other engineers 
-- and a San Francisco man hoping to break world travel records. They hail 
from eight different countries and they came together mainly through previous 
friendships and "meetings" over the airwaves. In addition to a fun radio trip, 
Beyer and the others see the adventure as a personal challenge, a chance to see 
a part of the world few will ever visit and an experience that will feed their 
need for excitement.

They know it won't be easy.

"Let me put it this way: It's not like going on a vacation to Disney World," 
says Al Hernandez, 58, a Melbourne engineer.

A trip to Disney World might be expensive, but it's much cheaper than this 
venture's price: half a million dollars.

Some of the cost will be funded by business sponsors and DX associations. As 
for the rest of the cash, team co-leader Bob Allphin, of Marietta, Ga., says 
each member is shelling out more than $16,000, "for the privilege of going to 
this God-forsaken place and freezing."

Way off the beaten path

Peter I was discovered in the 1820s by a Russian explorer who named it after 
Peter the Great. About 100 years later, a Norwegian explorer made the first 
landing on the island.

"It's a very, very difficult place to get to," says Eugene Domack, an 
Antarctica scholar and professor of geosciences at Hamilton College in New York.

It will take eight days for the group to reach Peter I. A series of flights 
and boat rides will whisk the team to Chile to King George Island and finally 
to Peter I. The sea voyage alone will last about four days.

But because walls of ice surround the island, Peter I is inaccessible by 
ship. So from the vessel, the team members will fly in by helicopter -- and they 
might have to wait a few days to do that.

After all, Peter I is moody. At times the island is placid and pristine, with 
stunning mountaintop views and icebergs drifting by. Other times it turns 
hostile, with zero visibility and howling winds.

"It isn't beautiful very often," says expedition co-leader Ralph Fedor, 61, a 
Minnesota radiologist who visited the island in 1994.

Though it's summer right now in the Southern Hemisphere, the members should 
consider leaving their Tevas and flip-flops at home. At this time of year on 
Peter I, the temperature can range from a few degrees below zero to a balmy 30 
degrees during the day.

It's a 15-ton picnic

Once the team reaches Peter I, the helicopter will make 50 round trips to 
deliver radio equipment, as well as generators, tables, chairs, food, kitchen 
supplies and other items that will sustain group members. They're even bringing a 
bread maker, mainly for the comforting and morale-boosting smell of baking 
bread.

Excluding food and fuel, the supplies add up to an astonishing 30,000 pounds.

The expeditioners are the kind of guys who generally pack lightly, but Peter 
I is an unforgiving destination.

"You don't just bring a windbreaker and shorts," Beyer says.

Adds Allphin, 61, "We have to prepare ourselves for whatever Mother Nature 
decides to throw at us.''

The team will set up camp on top of the glacier, a few hundred feet above sea 
level. They will sleep in cold-weather-rated sleeping bags tucked inside 
insulated tents. For safety reasons, generators will not heat their sleeping 
quarters.

In addition to making radio contacts, the team will conduct scientific 
research such as measuring the depth of snow, collecting rock samples and setting up 
a weather station for various scientific groups as well as for a university 
in Germany.

have completed their mission in a window of 21/2 weeks, they will pack up 
everything -- including waste -- and return to the ship.

"We don't leave anything behind but our footprints," Hernandez says.

Hernandez's son Alberto is proud of his dad but nervous at the same time. "If 
anything fails, it can be a life-or-death matter," says Alberto Hernandez, 
31, of Palm Bay.

But the risks don't seem to faze the team members.

About this time two years ago, George Nicholson of Atlanta was having bypass 
surgery. Early in his recovery, he vowed he would go on the Antarctic 
expedition.

True to his word, Nicholson, now 59, is part of the team. He will have with 
him a banner that reads, "Heart Surgery 2004, Antarctica 2006."

When he arrives at Peter I, Nicholson plans to find a scenic spot, unfurl the 
banner and have his picture taken.



Aline Mendelsohn can be reached at amendelsohn at orlandosentinel.com or 
407-420-5352.