Over the past months, there has been some discussion of the Falklands
operation in April, by Carl White, G4VFU, as VP8/G4VFU.
You will recall that Carl operated from a seagoing drilling platform
that had antennas strung from the huge drilling structure and had an
enormous signal when operating M/M. When he signed VP8/G4VFU and had a
large signal on 160, many of us presumed he was operating from the ship,
and not from land, as required for DXCC credit.
The fact that further clarification and QSL cards have been slow in
coming have added to the uncertainty about whether Carl's operation
would count. There have been emails suggesting both that the operation
was not land-based and did not count, and that it was indeed land-based,
and should count.
Now that Carl has, after a vacation in warmer climes, returned to the
South Atlantic, and is again QRV as an M/M station, with new plans for
operation from several VP8 locations, the questions have again come to
the fore. Carl's appearance on 20m SSB in recent days has afforded an
opportunity for clarification.
I spoke last night (the 28th) with Carl. He stated emphatically that his
operation from the Falklands was land-based from about the 17th (I
think) to the 24th (I think) of April. I qualify the end-dates because I
was listening through S9 local noise from quite close by. He stated that
he had been operating from a helicopter base, entirely on land.
He also said that, while his manager had handled quite a few cards, he
had brought about 250 with him on board, and was working on answering
them. He followed up today with an email:
"Your card is all ready along with about 100 more , i picked
them up from Eddie, this time at home, its got a nice Falklands
stamp on it and will be posted on the next available helicopter
(Friday i think) so perhaps away to you on Friday from here -
Falklands. Sorry about the delay, but i have been on vacation in
the Med and the Carribean, thus not at home to collect the cards
Eddie has posted many, but this time home i got what was left
and posting them from down here"
Carl said he has documentation and is either in contact with the League
(I think) or will soon be in contact with the League (I think).
Sorry I had to parenthesize several of my commments, but the local noise
was really horrendous. If any of you have successfully submitted Carl's
card for VP8 credit, please let us all know.
--
Garry Shapiro, NI6T
160 meters: not a band, but an obsession
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