3Y0J Bouvet Island 2023

I got it. 3Y0J Bouvet Island 2023, the DxPedition of the year, the second one in the most wanted list, is on my bag. I follow the international team since the departure from Falkland Islands, with sail boat MARAMA. They sailed through the south Atlantic Ocean for 12 days, before drop anchor in an island bay. Bouvet Island lie quite at same latitude of Cape Horn, The extreme south of the Land of Fires, Argentina. Who has pass Cape Horn, like me, knows even durin the austral summer, from 21 december to 21 march, the weather conditions in that latitudes coul be very bad indeed. Here is the boat course.

Bouvet is a small volcanic island, its nationality is norwegian. Its geographic position is:  54°25′S, 3°20′E, about 2500 km southwest of South Africa. Just 12 degrees of latidude northward of the Antartic Polar Circle. Its surface is 49 square metres. Its highest mountain is at 780 metres. It’s not included in South Pole lands, because those lands lies south of parallel 60 degrees south. Bouvet is uninhabited.

I was worried for team crew members, because after 12 days of hard sail they had to land, with a small motor boat in an short beach, discharging the radio stations facilities, food and fuel too. with strong wind and rough sea and ew rain and snow. This Dx Pedition has been performed to satisfy her adventure spirit and the hungry of traffic radio with rare and esotic lands of the world radioamateur popolation.

The base camp on the island with radio stations and barracks for the team, has been installed with effort and commitment daring the sea and the weather. I followed these operations through the pilot stations, in particular LA3MHA an web forum messages, but I didn’t be able to hear them on the radio frequencies. Monday 13th febbruary it would have been the last day of radio operations of 3Y0J Bouvet Island 2023. They have to dismantle the camp and all facilities reimbarching them on the sail boat owuing a storm arriving fast to Bouvet.

It happened suddenly. It was the five o’clock in the afternoon, I was taken a cup of tea when my smath watch advise me that 3Y0J Bouvet Island 2023 was on air in CW on the frequency of 21034 kHz. Quickly I swith on the radio station and i tuned my TS 850S on 21034 kHz. I beamed the cubical quad on their direction and I tuned the Pa with 500 watt, just few kHz below 3Y0J. I hear him at once, the signal was quite low but perfectly readable, RST 559. The operator was saying that want to contact european stations only. From messages on the cluster I understand that he was watching until 35 kHz above his frequency. I watched the calling band, it was very crowded indeed of european stations calling them, I located the frequency of 21047,5 kHz not so crowded so i settled the transmitter there to set the working in split manner transmitting +13,5 kHz up the receiving frequency. The 3Y0J’s signal arrived quite low but still workable despite QRM on the frequency. I didn’t want to leave the transmission of my call sign, I3FDZ, to the macro of the keyer or the transmitter, but to my hand reliable by more than 50 years of morse code.

I manipulated personally the semi automatic Samson ETM-4C transmitting my call sign at the speed of about 30 wpm, sending carefully when 3Y0J was listening. Eight minutes later at 17:20 UTC, 3Y0J reply to my call giving me the signal report. I hear quite good my call sign sent by 3Y0J, despite a few radioamateur absentminded was tranmitting on the 3Y0J frequency. I reply immediately giving their signal report, thanking and saying goodbye to them.

Done. I contacted 3Y0J Bouvet Island 2023 the Dx Pedition of the year. But, for more certainty I have better to wait the upload the 3Y0J’s log to the OQRS sites. A few voices on forums toll that they will up load the log from the sail boat at the end after dismantling of the base camp and when all facilities and team menber was safe on bord of sail boat.

Yesterday evening i checked both the OQRS web sites, Clublog and M0OXO but log had not uploaded yet. This moorning, 15th febrary, I wake up early at 05:00 and i checked immediately the OQRS web sites and wiyh my happyness, both sites confirmed my qso on the 15 metres band. This is the confirmation page of M0OXO.

At this point I falled asleep again very quiet thinking how write this article.

73 es cuagn de Fiorino/I3FDZ