Well-known DXpeditioner Paul Ewing, N6PSE,
ignited a storm of controversy in the DXing community when he announced in a
blog post that he reluctantly felt forced to cancel a secretly-planned
DXpedition to North Korea at the last minute. According to Ewing, in a post
that was subsequently removed (see final paragraph), the project had been in
the works for several years and started to come together while he was on
another DXpedition, this one to South Sandwich and South Georgia Islands (see articles
in May and June issues of CQ).
In his post, Ewing said one of the conditions of
approval by North Korea was that there be no public announcement of the
operation until it was actually on the air. He also said the North Korean
government required very large fees in advance. However, Ewing's efforts to
raise contributions from the usual foundations and DXing organizations were not
successful and he launched a tirade against these groups – which have funded
many of his other expeditions – for their reluctance in this case. Ewing said
that he and other team members put up personal funds to pay these fees,
purchase equipment and have it shipped to a transfer point in China.
In addition, as Ewing tried to line up a team on
short notice, word of the planned operation inevitably leaked out and made its
way onto several DX news blogs. There were also fake spots on the DX clusters,
supposedly from Ewing, of operating in North Korea. The last straw, according
to Ewing, was when the North Korean government denied his visa application, apparently
because of the leaked publicity. He said he could not support an expedition
with so much of his personal money invested if he could not be there in person
and decided to cancel the activity at the last minute.
Other DXers felt that Ewing was "biting the
hand that feeds him" in going after the DX organizations when some of them
apparently felt they were on shaky legal ground in making donations. Some
apparently felt that what North Korea called "fees" could be
interpreted by others as bribes, which would be a violation of the federal
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. It is uncertain at this point how the
cancellation may affect future efforts to put amateur radio on the air in North
Korea.
In what might have been a "too little, too
late" gesture, Ewing pulled down his blog post on April 29 after speaking
on the phone the previous evening with Wayne Ordakowski, N0UN, who had first
posted news of the upcoming operation on his blog. "In the interest and
betterment of amateur radio," Ewing wrote, "I have decided to put
away my P5DX Story." Similarly, Ordakowski removed what he had written in
response to Ewing's original post, explaining that "we both decided that
nothing we've blogged about … was doing anybody any good."
Members of the Bloomington (Indiana) High School South Amateur Radio
Club are planning to provide a chance for county hunters to work one of the most
wanted counties in Indiana (according to countyhunterweb.org) during the Indiana QSO Party on Saturday, May 7, 2016. According to club advisor Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, students
plan to set up and operate two portable HF stations from the highest point in
Brown County State Park near Nashville, Indiana .
