VP6DX - Ducie Island - On the Way!

The operators for the upcoming Ducie Island operation are in Papeete, French Polynesia, and will leave today for Mangreva Atoll where they will board their ship, the M/V Braveheart and depart for Ducie Island later today. The trip is expected to take 72 hours with a stop at Pitcairn Island during the night to offload some supplies for the people there. The Braveheart will begin offloading the operators and equipment on Ducie at first light on Saturday, February 9. They will then begin to set up all SEVEN stations before beginning operations simultaneously at approximately 0400 GMT on February 12th.

On the low bands (especially 160-M) they will try to work Europe during the early night hours asking NA stations to "check back later." About 0730 they expect to begin working NA in full force so you can plan on some late nights to work this operation. They WILL operate in the 160-M SSB contest on February 23/24.

The NEW transmit frequency for 75-M SSB is 3781 kHz and the NEW 160-M CW transmit frequency is 1826.3 kHz. Please read News Item #9 HERE for tips on the techniques they plan to use.

Be sure to check out their web page HERE for the latest news and the online log which should be updated twice a day.