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Dec 14, 2012 new
Cezar and Johan have purchased their plane tickets. They will travel together from Buenos Aires on Dec 31, arriving in Puerto Madryn at 12:50 pm, early afternoon. Alex and Luc will arrive in Puerto Madryn the same day, and so the operating and logistical teams will spend the afternoon and evening together, going over the equipment, logistics, and contingency plans. We hope to be operating between Jan 2 and 6. Once again, we would like to remind everyone that this expedition includes some very difficult logistics. Consequently, the above dates are approximate and can change depending on the weather conditions. Moreover, there is no guarantee that the team will be able to land. Rest assured that for us the safety of everyone involved is paramount.
Nov 21, 2012 new
Jose (LU2WAZ), Daniel, Juan, and Jorge, all experienced amateur divers, carried out a recon mission on Nov 21. They had out at sea at 6 am local time, in very good weather conditions, without wind. The team used a semi-rigid boat 5.5 m long with a 70 HP engine. They tried to find a possible landing site, navigating several times around the island, but it was extremely difficult to get close to the rocks, and they couldn’t land. Despite this, the trip allowed the logistical team to better evaluate the site conditions, and conclude that they will have to dive in order to ensure that the boat is solidly anchored and then the transportation of the operating team and equipment to the island. The attached photos were taken during this trip.
Oct 31, 2012
We have applied for the special callsign LU6W.
Oct 27, 2012
We are pleased to announce that an IOTA expedition to Escondida Is. (SA-096) is scheduled to take place in early January 2013 under the auspices of the Radioclub de Puerto Madryn. A team of four operators, including Cezar/VE3LYC, Johan/PA3EXX and two LU radioamateurs will attempt to maintain two stations on the air for up to 4 days, operating on all bands from 10 to 40 m, CW and SSB. The team applied for the special callsign LU6W.
Escondida is a small rocky island of approximately 250 x 100 m, located 5 km off the coast of Patagonia. At high tide, only a portion of about 90 x 30 m remains above water. However, the name of the island means hidden in Spanish, as its rocks are virtually covered by the sea in high winds at high tide. Wind and sea conditions are bad on a regular basis and can change rapidly. The southeastern wind known as Sudestada may rise at any time, reaching up to 80 km/h in a blink of an eye.
The presence of broken rocks, with deep crevasses, makes landing extremely difficult. Various types of wreckage in the vicinity of the island occurred in the past, reason for which the place is unconditionally avoided by local fishermen. The rocks of Escondida are home to large colonies of sea lions and cormorants, generating intense ammonia, which can create serious breathing problems. Camping is very difficult and requires careful logistics.
The project is based on 16 months of logistical work, with support from numerous LU hams, non-hams, and Government of Chubut officials. We are especially indebted to Jose (LU2WAZ), his colleagues from the Radioclub de Puerto Madryn, Federico (LU6KK), Carlos (LU1EBR) and Cristian (LU1WCR). We would also like to express our appreciation to Simon (IZ7ATN), Ezequiel (LU1EEZ) and Mark (LU7CAW), who independently were keen to embark on a similar project 5 months ago and graciously stepped down when they became aware of our plans. Thank you guys for your great sportsmanship!
Our scope is to give everyone around the world a chance to log us. However, we would like to underline that the operation will depend entirely on the weather conditions. Since in case of emergency the team cannot leave the island at night, if staying on the rocks after dark will be deemed unsafe, this will reduce our daily operating time, as the team will have to travel daily between mainland and the island.
The team will have:
-Two ICOM IC-7000 tranceivers, each with 100 W output;
-Two multiband verticals;
-Two 1 kW generators;
-Four car-type batteries.
We have proudly selected the services of Alfio, IT9EJW for the design and printing of the QSL cards.
QSL information
(1) Via Direct - Use ONE of the TWO options below:
(a) PayPal at least USD 4 (NA) and USD 5 (outside NA) and email QSO data to ve3lyc@hotmail.com. No need to mail any cards or SAE.
(b) Mail QSO data with SAE and sufficient return postage to Cezar Trifu, 410 College St., Kingston, Ontario K7L 4M7, Canada. Requests with insufficient postage will be replied via the bureau.
DO NOT SUBMIT OTHER QSL REQUESTS WITH THOSE FOR SA-096, AS THEY WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY REPLIED VIA THE BUREAU.
(2) Via Bureau
Send your request via the bureau to VE3LYC. Cards will be sent out based on ‘first received, first replied’ service.
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