FR/G

The Glorieuses 2009 team gathered at Frank’s F4AJQ the last week end, June 6 and 7, with some KOP Team members.
During these two days, all the time was spent to tune the antennas, to teach the dxpeditionners about their setting, and to cordinate all of the packages.

Finally, 4 complete stations, with each at least a 800 watts PA will be settled on Glorioso main island, to be active as closer as possible of 24h a day.

The antenna farm will consist of 2 Spiderbeam 10-15-20 – an other for 12-17.30 – An Inverted L, for 160m, one V10, one V80 andone HF2V 80-40.
Some other vertical elements are packed too; so is also a K9AY array receiving system.
A 6 meters station will monitor the Magic band, but only into a G5RV.

The complete crew ( we hope it will not happen new changes ) consists of :
F5IRO Freddy – F5PRU Yves – F5RQQ Jean-Marc – F5TLN Sylvain - F4EGS Philippe and three SIRPA agents : Florence (YL) journalist, Yann director and cameraman and Didier cameraman and sound engeneer.

We thanks a lot Jeff F6AOJ, Floyd N5FG, Toshi JA1ELY, Mike UAØM, Lee ZL2AL, who will be our pilot stations.

Floyd, N5FG, Jeff F6AOJ., were more than ever making big efforts in the back office, thanks again..

About the callsign :
For the First time, Gloriosos will be active under the new French Antarctic and Australes Territories (TAAF) regulation so the callsign claimed is: FT5GA. For which the confirmation is pending.

>From the year 2005, the “Iles Eparses “ , - Gloriosos, Tromelin, Juan da Nova and Europa - are now put under the TAAF authority.
The future callsigns will be issued as follow:
FR/G becomes FTxG Gloriosos
FR/E becomes FTxE, Europa
FR/T becomes FTxT, Tromelin
FR/J becomes FTxJ, Juan da Nova
No change for FTxW (Crozet), FTxY (Terre Adélie), FTxX (Kerguelen) et FTxZ (Amsterdam)
@+ et 73’s QRO
Major Didier SENMARTIN, Radioamateur F5OGL.

CE0Y

If you haven’t got CEØY confirmed so far or missing on some bands, mark your calendar between October 31 and November 15, 2009. A small group of Polish and Greek operators have set dates for their stay at Rapa Nui aka Easter Island – the mysterious spot in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The team consists of some recent operators to VK9LA – Lord Howe island: Stan SQ8X and Vicky SV2KBS. They will sign as CEØY/home-calls.

After a real battle to secure tickets and suitable accommodation (the island is a very popular tourist destination and it’s actually overbooked during high season), they finally found a good spot in Hanga Roa’s outskirts – the only town on the island.

- We’ve got really hooked by a “dx-virus” after our fantastic experience at Lord Howe earlier this year so we didn’t hesitate to chose another destination in autumn – says Stan SQ8X. – Why Easter Island while there are many other rarer entities? There were a few factors we decided. The island has always been very top on our dream destinations list. It’s not top most wanted DXCC but there is still a strong demand on contacts with that entity – especially in Europe, which will be our main target. This doesn’t mean we will omit the rest of the world, of course. Moreover, the place merges the best of what we’re looking for: unique dx-location and a site of extraordinary cultural an environmental heritage. We plan to utilize 2 independent stations for almost 2 weeks. We also plan to create something special regarding our confirmations that haven’t been used for QSLing so far. This is gonna be a little bit extraordinary, but it’s a secret for now. We really wish to share experiencing our forthcoming stay at the island with the ham radio community as much as we can – adds Stan SQ8X.

All details regarding exact band plan, equipment, operating shifts and website address will be announced very soon.

The team is also looking for 1-2 additional operators to join the DXpedition.
A previous experience in similar enterprises is most welcome. If you wish to join, drop an email at: stan.sq8x (at) gmail.com and list your experience and plans. Note: be quick as securing your accommodation is a top issue.