Heard Island Expedition 1997
A: The team includes 21 radio amateurs from 10 countries worldwide:
Q: Why is the team so large?
A: It was necessary to spread the high cost of the expedition out among many participants. The requirements were: no more than $10,000 and 5 weeks duration. Safety and manpower for operations were central requirements.
Q: Why is the budget ($320K) so high?
A: Transportation alone is $10K per person. It is so high because Heard Island is not on any shipping or tourism route, hence a special charter trip is necessary. The cost of passage for the team is $200K. To this must be added the cost of helicopters, food, gasoline, propane, shelters, generators, cooking and living facilities, and emergency gear, plus coax, connections, computers, and operating facilities for 5 radio stations. The additional cost was estimated at $5100 per person.
Q: Who is paying for this?
A: The participants are paying their entire transportation bill, $200K, plus other major expenses. Several foundations, including NCDXF, INDEXA, and many other clubs and associations have contributed about $30K. We expect QSL donations to be about $20K. We're currently looking for the balance. The rough breakdown we envision is about 70% paid by the participants, about 20% paid by organizations, and about 10% paid by individuals.
Q: Why are you doing this expedition at the bottom of the sunspot cycle?
(1) Experience with VP8SSI, 3YØPI, XRØY, and others southern expeditions shows that propagation is always much better than predicted;
(2) We are interested in extending our understanding of topband (160m) propagation (currently there are no programs that do this);
(3) The team had considerable momentum from the previous year, and considerable resources that would have been lost if the expedition were delayed.
Q: Is this a commercial enterprise?
Hardly. Everyone on the team is an amateur radio operator, and is contributing large amount of finances, time, and energy to make it happen. There will be no profit, and no cash residual.
Q: Will you have souvenirs, and will they raise money for the expedition?
We already have the mug sand tee-shirts, and we will have a video and book. We will not sell rocks from HI, but what would you think of a small vial of penguin guano? They will only result in a net for the project if we sell them all. The books are breakeven.
Q: How many radios will you have, and what bands will they use?
We will have at least 5 stations, on the air whenever there is propagation. We will be active on all HF bands (especially 160, 80, and 40), plus 6 m, RTTY, and AMSAT.
Q: Will you post the logs publically so we can check to see if we're in?
A: Yes. It will be slightly different from the way XRØY did it.
Q: Will you send out e-QSLs and next-day (pre-emptive) QSLs?
No
Q: When will you come on the air, and how long will you operate?
A: On or before Jan 15, 1997. We'll operate about 2 weeks.
Q: Who is the QSL manager?
INDEXA
c/o John Parrot W4FRU
P. O. Box 5127
Suffolk, VA 23435
Q: Where can I send contibutions, and will I be acknowledged?
- Heard Island DXpedition
- c/o Bob Allphin, K4UEE
- 4235 Blackland Dr.
- Marietta, GA 30067 USA
- mallphin@aol.com
- (Preferred U.S. site for donations under $100)
- Heard Island DXpedition
- c/o Peter Casier, ON6TT
- Oude Heerbaan 30B-9230
- Wetteren, Belgium
- pcasier@innet.be
- (Preferred Eu site for donations under $100)
- Northern California DX Foundation
- c/o Bruce Butler, W6OSP
- P.O. Box 608
- Menlo Park, CA 94026-0608
- (Preferred site for donations over $100)
- Cordell Expeditions
- c/o Bob Schmieder, KK6EK
- 4295 Walnut Blvd
- Walnut Creek, CA 94596
- (Any donations)
Sponsors are listed on the Web page according to the following general categories:
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