NEWS

ARD V55LA DXpedition to Namibia (2024)

Dear All,

Our team has been working tirelessly to prepare for this exciting adventure, and we’re pleased to share that the flight tickets are confirmed, our QTH in Namibia is secured, and some of us are updating our vaccinations to ensure a safe journey.

We’re also proud to unveil our brand-new V55LA logo, beautifully designed by our longtime friend, Miguel EA5ZD. Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to finalize our preparations.

DXpedition Dates

Departure: 30th October 2024
Return: 11th November 2024

During this period, the V55LA team will be active on all HF bands (CW, SSB, Digi), with a particular focus on the low bands. Our team consists of experienced operators skilled in "human modes", so you can expect to hear plenty of activity on both CW and SSB throughout the expedition where it is needed for most of you.

Our goal is to make contact with as many operators as possible so Digi will be run too of course, and we’ll be doing our utmost to make this a memorable and enjoyable DXpedition for everyone.

Meet the Team

Rune - LA7THA (Leader)
Gjermund - LB5GI
Erwann - LB1QI
Svein - LA3BO
Morten - LB8DC
Chris - LA8OM
Philipp - OE7PGI
Svein Jarle - LA9KKA
Torvald - LB1FI

(Additional operators to be confirmed soon!)

Stay Connected

Our dedicated V55LA webpage is live! We’ll be regularly updating it with new information as the DXpedition date approaches. Visit us here:
https://www.ardxpeditions.com/dxpeditions/v55la

QSL Information

We are delighted to have Charles Wilmott (M0OXO) as our QSL Manager. QSL policy will be detailed soon.

Support Us

If you’d like to support our efforts, donations are warmly welcomed! Please send contributions to our PayPal address:
donations@ardxpeditions.com

We can’t wait to embark on this journey and look forward to making contact with as many of you as possible!

Warm Regards,

The V55LA Team (2024)

AMATEUR RADIO DXPEDITIONS - PRESS RELEASE 19/09/2023

During the ARD Annual Meeting, that has been held online on the 26th of August 2023, a new Amateur Radio Dxpeditions board has been elected as following:

Chairman: Gjermund Bringsvor, LB5GI
Board member: Erwann Merrien, LB1QI
Board member Rune Øye, LA7THA

Message from the Chairman at the Annual Meeting: “Thank you to the outgoing board members for the significant work done. We now must also look forward to new projects. All together we will try to make this non-profit organisation a good tool to conduct dxpeditions and help each other to execute dxpeditions.”

Amateur Radio Dxpedition is already working at a next DXpedition project and will communicate as soon as practicable on the targeted DXCC. The important for us is to have fun and help the amateur radio community enjoy the hobby.

The membership fee has been maintained at 10 USD (100 NOK) for the period of 2023-2024 and everyone willing help our organisation to development of DX-peditions can join!

You can visit our website: www.ardxpeditions.com

Join our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3093983840726129

September 2022 (3Y0J):

The team have agreed new departure date from Falkland island Friday January 13th. The team will assemble in London prior to departure to Port Stanley. All flight tickets for the 13 operators have been booked. We currently anticipate to arrive at Bouvetøya January 26th +/- a few days where we have contracted a minimum of 22 days stay around Bouvetøya

3Y0J budget has increased and is now $700,000+. We have received a huge support from the DX community which we are very greatful for. We still need roughly $35,000 to go to Bouvetøya and next week we pay our 3rd vessel deposit. This shows our committment and determination to go Bouvet and activate the rare #2 DXCC Bouvetøya.

August 2022 (3Y0J):

Press Release #11 from 3Y0J team

3Y0J DXpedition to Bouvet Island

Amateur Radio DXpeditions (ARD) is making great progress for our upcoming 3Y0J Bouvet DXpedition! With only four months left until we go onshore Bouvet, we approach September that will come with two major milestones for us.

One major milestone is the shipping of the Container from Norway that is scheduled on September 18th. From Oslo the container will be shipped to Falkland Island where a team of local hams lead by Don VP8ON will make an effort to inspect the content before our arrival. The 3Y0J team is currently busy packing all our equipment at our staging site at Oslo airport, where we for the next few weeks will finalize the packing of the equipment. This will end an extremely busy period for us.

We have been through 12 months of purchasing, assembling, testing, and packing the equipment. The team has worked hard, and ultimately shipping the container will complete this intensive period of work that will enable us to achieve our goal to activate the rare #2 DXCC Bouvetøya. Be rest assured this is a well-planned DXpedition!

We have detailed out the logistic plan and have made a few changes. Among the improvements are:

We have bought yet another outboard engine enabling us to use two zodiac boats simultaneously during beach landing to speed up the unloading of gear. In addition, we have a 3rd spare zodiac and engine. Having a pair of zodiak’s is a great advantage to us as we have developed a plan for going onshore Bouvet even for a short weather window down to 2h.
We have swapped the Yanmar generators with 5 kW Hyundai generators that will enable us to run full station setup with only 2 out of 4 diesel gens. It means that we are less dependent on a long duration of good weather to achieve a good setup.
We have carried out a risk analysis and identified 37 hazards and assessed the risk for each hazard. 10 hazards are identified as “high” risk and 17 “medium”, all which have been mitigated to an acceptable residual risk level. We have prepared a plan for rationing of food and water in case resupplies are difficult, and when we unload operators and equipment onshore Bouvet, they will be self-sufficient for 28 days without needing resupplies.

The second milestone for September is the payment of the 3rd deposit for the Marama contract. This payment is a major commitment from the team and our sponsors individual and clubs, that we together will make this happen. We thank each and every one of you who have contributed to pay a share of the vessel cost to have the opportunity to work Bouvet. We still need $70,000 to be able to go to Bouvet. If you want to see Bouvet activated, please consider to donate.

You can follow our plans from our website and the 3Y0J Facebook pages:

http://www.3y0j.no

https://www.facebook.com/groups/3093983840726129

June 2022 (ARD):

Amateur Radio DXpeditions (ARD) is a Norwegian non-profit organization. ARD is currently executing the 3Y0J Bouvet DXpedition, a DXpedition we started planning more than two years ago in April 2020. At that time we engaged with NPI and other polar experts to see if such an activation was possible.

ARD mission is planning, executing but also financing other DXpeditions beyond the Bouvet DXpedition.

We now open for membership in ARD for all amateur radio operators worldwide. Become a member of ARD if you want to

contribute financially to future DXpeditions.
participate as a team member on DXpeditions
participate as off-island member of future DXpeditions.
assist in planning and executing DXpeditions - work closely with us and perform various work tasks.
Memership fee of your choice goes exclusively to finance DXpeditions

As a member of ARD you can join us on an exciting journey to activate rare DXpeditions in the next decade.

A membership is not an obligation to participate in any work, DXpedition or meeting – but an offer to join ARD based on your own time and will. Maybe you want to help DXpeditions but can not go on such trips? Maybe you want to be an off-island team member, or maybe you just want to support potential future trips.

As a member of ARD you get to know our plans and stay more closely in contact with us about what we do, what we plan and how our Bouvet project is running.

With the new solar cycle 25 we should see a lot more activations coming, and your membership might contribute to that.

For a small membership fee at your own choice (>$10) you can now become a member of ARD. (see our membership section)

73, Amateur Radio DXpediitons