For TopBand Reflector:
With the recent "magic nights" reported on Top Band, the following
should be of great interest to Top Band enthusiasts!
HEARD ISLAND 1997 UPDATE
12 Oct 1996
As of 10 October 1996, the last container has been
shipped to Reunion Island. The first container is scheduled
to arrive on Reunion Island next week. Departure from
Reunion Island to Heard Island will be on 3 January 1997.
The final phase of preparations for the most
ambitious DXpedition of the century were completed the last
weekend of September 1996. The team practiced survival
techniques and built (and dismantled) one of the several
shelters designed for the harsh environment of Heard Island.
The Heard Island DXpedition team is composed of 20 men
representing 10 countries.
Heard Island is 53 degrees South and 73.5 degrees East.
The timing of this DXpedition is ideal for emphasizing the
Low Bands, as this winter will see the "peak" of the low band
propagation in the solar cycle. Fully half of the team
members are well-known and active low band operators.
A solar flux of 70 will probably be present during the
month of January. The low band operators came away from the
training session very enthused about the propagation potentials.
The dates of operation will be January 13-27, 1997, basically on
the coat-tails of the antarctic summer solstice. Sunrise on Heard
Island will be about 2300Z and sunset about 1500Z, giving about 8
hours of darkness. The exciting thing is that Heard Island will
literally be perched on the grayline for a full 8 hours each
"day." Terminator programs have shown that literally every spot
on the globe will pass in the grayline, again while Heard Island
is perched on the grayline at 53 degrees south!
Extended openings on the low bands are expected into Asia,
Middle East and Europe Since the antipode of Heard Island is
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, North America will have shorter openings,
but good grayline propagation. It appears that the West coast
should have optimal opportunity to work Heard at sunrise.
The East coast and Midwest should have good grayline
propagation at sunset. Because North America is antipodal,
sunrise AND sunset terminators almost EXACTLY coincide
with the terminator at Heard Island TWICE a day! Both "short"
path and "long" path propagation are both possible along the
terminator. There will be very little difference in path length
between short and long paths. On the higher bands, skew path
propagation and other-than-usual paths might be the norm to
antipodal North America. Indeed, it will be an exciting time
to be a Top Band DXer!
The Heard Island team has enough equipment and antennas to
have 6 stations on the air simultaneously. The team has
committed themselves to "being there" during darkness on the
low bands.
The team has put a lot of effort into optimizing
propagation possibilities on each band. Yaesu Europe has supplied
FT-1000MP's. ETO has supplied amplifiers. A full complement of
Beverage antennas will cover each direction. Transmitting
antennas will consist of 4-Square phased vertical arrays ON EACH
of the low bands.
Antenna Summary
160M: - 4-Square phased array using Gladiator Verticals
with elevated radials. DX Engineering has supplied the phasing
network.
- The traditional Battle Creek Special, but a
beefed-up version, as an inverted-L.
- A monoband "T"-loaded vertical designed by ON4UN.
80M: - 4-Square phased array using Gladiator
Verticals, again with elevated radials and a DX Engineering
supplied phasing network.
- Battle Creek Special.
- A monoband vertical designed by ON4UN.
40M: - Two 4-Square phased arrays using verticals and
phasing networks supplied by DX Engineering.
- Battle Creek Special.
- Two 40-2CD yagi beams.
- Dipole if needed.
30M: - 4-Square phased array using verticals and
phasing networks supplied by DX Engineering.
- Rotating dipoles on A3S and A3WS beams.
- Dipoles if needed.
20-17-15-12-10 Meters: Full complement of mono- and
tri-band yagi antennas.
The Heard Team is very excited and fully committed to
maximizing the use of the low bands during their stay on Heard
Island. Heard will be perched on the terminator and if it is dark
on Heard Island, and the terminator passes over you, you can be
ASSURED that the team WILL be there. That is why they have
assembled the best low band antennas and Beverages available.
Their goal is to set the standard for low band operations on
DXpeditions with "Heard Island Special" 4-Square vertical
phased arrays.
Whenever the 160M station is unmanned, the beacon will be
operational on 1.826.5 MHz. If the beacon is heard, please break in on
a higher band and tell the team. Again, whenever it is dark, the 160M
station WILL be manned. CQ'ing will be continuous on 1.826.5 MHz.
Is YOUR Heard Beverage up yet????
The Heard Team schedule is as follows:
DATE LOCATION CALL
Dec 29-Jan 2 Reunion Island (FR) TO0R
Jan 8-9 Crozet Island (FT8W) TX0C
Jan 13-27 Heard Island (VK0) VK0IR
Jan 30-31 Kerguelen Island (FT8X) TX0K
Feb 6-9 Reunion Island (FR) TO0R
The times will be short while on Reunion, Crozet and
Kerguelen, but the Top Banders on the team will make every effort
possible to activate 160M from these locations as well.
QSL: INDEXA
c/o W4FRU
John Parrott, Jr.
P.O. Box 5127
Suffolk, VA 23435-0127 USA
The Heard Team:
EA8AFJ Michael Sabatino
HB9AHL Willy Rusch
K0IR Ralph Fedor
K4UEE Bob Allphin
K9AJ Mike McGirr
KA6W Ted Algren
KK6EK Bob Schmieder
N6EK Bob Fabry
N6MZ Mike Mraz
NP4IW Carlos Nascimento
OE9AMJ Arno Metzler
ON6TT Peter Casier
PA3DUU Arie Nugtergen
RA3AUU Harry Booklan
VK2TQM David Muller
W6OTC Glenn Vinson
W8FMG Wes Lamboly
WA0PUJ Glenn Johnson
WA3YVN Al Hernandez
9V1YC James Brooks
INTERNET WEB PAGES
The Heard Island DXpedition has been largely planned using
the internet. Please inspect the following web site for the
details of the DXpedition. The details and planning for an
operation of this magnitude in such a hostile environment are most
incredible!
http://www.ccnet.com/~cordell/HI
YOU CAN HELP!!!
Transportation from Reunion Island to Heard Island
and back will be on the Marion Dufresne. This 400 foot
French vessel was put into service in June 1995 and is
a no-compromise vessel that can sail and work under
any weather conditions in polar seas. It's sophisticated
landing craft are adept at safe landings and pickups.
This and the shear magnitude of logistics have made this
DXpedition perhaps the most expensive in history. But the safety
and logistics come with an expensive price tag. Each of the
participants has committed 7 weeks of their lives and considerable
sums of personal dollars to this DXpedition. (See the Web page
for details.) Over two full weeks will be spent in perhaps one of
the most hostile environments on this planet. Fully 2/3 of the funds
have been provided by the team members themselves. INDEXA and
the Northern California DX Foundation in particular, have
contributed, but still only 75-80% of the cost has been met.
Now that the equipment has been sent, your participation
in making this DXpedition a success is greatly needed!
All donations (except from Europe) for the Heard Island DXpedition
can be made via:
Heard Island DXpedition
c/o Bob Allphin, K4UEE
4235 Blackland Dr.
Marietta, GA 30067 USA.
Donations of any amount are welcome and will be acknowledged.
Donations of $100 or more should be made by check and may be
made out to NCDXF (Northern California DX Foundation) and
specified for the Heard Island DXpedition. Donations may be
tax deductable for U.S. contributors to the full extent allowed by law.
(Check with your tax-preparer.)
In Europe, contributions can be sent to ON6TT:
Heard Island DXpedition
c/o Peter Casier, ON6TT
P.O. Box 1
B-9090 Melle
Belgium
ALL contributions, however small, will be acknowledged.....
and greatly appreciated!
The 1997 Heard Island team is looking forward to working
YOU from Heard Island on Top Band!!! (......and on all of the
other bands, too!)
_________________________________________________________________________
Glenn R. Johnson, M.D. email: grjohnson@vax1.bemidji.msus.edu
Home: 218-243-2611 BBS: WA0PUJ@K0LAL.#NCMN.MN.USA.NA
FAX: 218-243-2918 Cluster: WA0PUJ@WA0PUJ (PacketCluster)
Work: 218-759-5000
"Orthopedic Surgeons
WA0PUJ, VO2GJ, VP2EZ, VP5H, ZF2RT get all the breaks!"
Soon to be: FR/WA0PUJ & VK0IR op
Homepage: http://vax1.bemidji.msus.edu/~grjohnson/homepage.html
_________________________________________________________________________
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