The much-anticipated 3Y0J DXpedition to Bouvet Island is over and the team is safely back in friendlier climes. While the team’s original goal was to operate 12 stations simultaneously for 22 days and hoped to make 200,000 QSOs, they were only able to get two stations on the air and made about 19,000 contacts, according to the ARRL Letter.
In addition to terrible weather and extreme difficulty getting equipment on shore, the only safe place on the island to set up camp had a huge rock blocking the short path to most of North America. Plus, the effort was beset by massive amounts of deliberate interference.
CQ will have a complete report on the expedition in the May issue.