V.K.0. dx expedition

from Reunion island

What 's happening...

27.12.96 : Men bought oil for the 7 engines. They had to test generators here

28.12.96 : Peter et Arie check their 413 kg cargo. (polar cloth 2000$...) Since they arrived, every night some pictures are sent to the internet site. Arie uses a digital camera to send these pictures. From Heard isl, pictures will be sent via pacsat (9600 bauds).

29.12.96 : New oms Glen and Ralph already think about antenna near bungalow. Glen left his country with a temperature of 44°C minus. 160 m ll be activate this night with a portable station on the beach (in front of the hotel)... and RTTY will be operated from the station of FR5DN ... There will be an interview of official tv about the expedition this night...

30.12.96 Cargo (30tonnes) was opened today. 7 generators were tested and some housekeeping was done. 160 M activity was cancelled because of a party on the beach. Oms will try this night. Peter ON6TT well worked RTTY (300 qs0). WA3YVN arrived without Carlos... May be he missed a connection (departure CHILI). The keys of cargo were with him... Locks were broken.

31.12.96 Yesterday on 160 m (portable station on the beach) 21contacts were done (2 with ZS, 1 with Canada, the others with Europe). Today have arrived 9 operators. Our party with VK0 oms was very funny. (oms who arrived today were very tired...)

1.01.97 Very difficult wake up for everybody. 160 m portable on the beach was good : 150 qs0 morse : 50 with Europe from 0h00 to 3 h) and then 100 contacts with USA (since sunrise). Working cond were FT1000 + linear + vertical mono and beverage (reception). Funny story : PA3DUU Arie gave me a floppy with emails for familly oms unfortunatly my dog eat the floppy....

2.01.97 Oms are allowed to go onboard (MARION DUFRESNE). Pse don't forget to look very often all pictures of great moments avaible on the officiel site (news)

3.01.97 Very strange: on 160 m oms did this night 160 contacts from the docks (near Marion Dufresnes).

4.01.97 Small little vacations for oms. It s scheduled today a fly on the island for some oms and a visit of volcano for others. Tomorrow departure of Marion Dufresnes at 16h local time.

5.01.96 Departure at 16h. Many FR oms came on the boat. VK0 team offerd us a colation before departure. This night, the crew will be qrv on 14195. They will operate from 2 large rooms (very qro).

14.01.97 here is a part of message sent via Inmarsat satellite telephone from Heard island by Peter ON6TT : "landing started at 22:30 z (0330 local time) on Saturday night (GMT), which means their Sunday morning at day break. - All operators and all equipment (30 Tons of it) were put ashore by helicopter. It took 51 helicopter flights back and forth (5 hours)" On Reunion island the reports were very good for this first radio day...

26.01.97 On Jan 30 th , VKO ham op will leave the island. So hurry...If you are not ham radio and you can read french, look at this page. I expect some Antartica pictures from Crozet island, Kerguelen isl, St paul isl would be soon avaible on this site.

28.01.97 At 11:55z, on Monday Jan 27th, VK0IR logged their last QSO on 20 meter. Congratulations for the 80000 contacts.
All (waste...) will come back with team.

30.01.97 Pilot message :"29 January 1997 - The Heard Island Pilots - Messg. #91

At 09:30z, on Wednesday Jan. 29th, we received a fax from the ship, the Marion Dusfresne, saying that the last people and the last cargo were successfuly taken off the island on Jan. 29th at 03:28 z.

The evacuation had begun on Jan 28th around 15:00z. Half of the people and some cargo was removed before night fall on Tuesday. The remaining of the evacuation was done on Wednesday. The weather was very calm on Tuesday, but there was a lot more wind on Wednesday (40-45 knots). A total of 49 helicopter flights were done to take all and everyting safely off the island.

The Marion Dufresne is now sailing to Kerguelen. The ETA (expected time of arrival) is noon (17:00z) on Thursday, Jan 30th."

03.01.97 On 02.02.97 at 16h50 UTC, le Marion TO0R/MM (reached by radio (20m)) was located by 38S et 65E. Scheduled arrival on Reunion isl would be on 5th feb in the afternoon

Pse look at travel album (Crozet isl; Kerguelen isl; Amsterdam isl; Saint Paul isl).

Pictures weigh is about 50kb. With some browsers (netscape) pictures become darker. Tune luminosity on monitor or display pictures on your favorite paint software (jpeg files) Last advice : when you see pictures, to come back, use back arrow (browser menu)

05.02.97 At 8:00 UTC we reached TO0R/MM on 40m. Radio contacts on 20 m are since yesterday very difficult (because of proximity). Arrival on Reunion isl is delayed at 20.00 UTC. We ll try to contact vk0ir team via vhf this nignt.
Team will be allowed to leave boat only tomorrow morning (2h UTC)

The Web : You ll know all (click here) From this page you could go on this other page: which is often upgraded (photos etc...)