Elleda Wilson: Callsign 3Y0J
Feb. 16—Thanks to maritime writer Peter Marsh for this nugget: A team of amateur ham radio operators embarked on The Bouvet Island DXpedition to set up the callsign 3Y0J on the world's most remote (and, incidentally, uninhabited) island, Bouvet Island, a dependent territory of Norway, that is 1,400 nautical miles north of Queen Maud Land, Antarctica, gCaptain.com reports.
Why? Because they wanted to reach as many other amateur radio operators around the world as possible from a remote location. Not surprisingly, the 13-member team required vertical climbing and glacier crossing training to even reach a spot to set up.
The venture cost $650,000, which the group managed to raise in only two years, and the Northern California DX Foundation awarded them a grant of $100,000 to charter the sailing yacht S/V Marama to get there.
The latest update says they contacted nearly 7,000 radio stations worldwide, and were leaving the island on Valentine's Day. (Photos: 3Y0J — The Bouvet island DXpedition Facebook page)
