VKØEK Heard Island 2016
This 14-person DXpedition to one of the most challenging entities on the
DXCC list made planning and execution even more of a challenge with a multi-
disciplinary focus that included studies of the local plants and animals.
Robert W. Schmieder, KK6EK,
and the VKØEK Team
Out of all the DXCC entities, Heard Island
is arguably the most difficult destination to
activate. Its ferocious weather, its distance
from civilization (almost 2500 miles across
the Southern Ocean), the formidable effort
of obtaining a permit, the near-impossibility
of finding appropriate vessel transportation,
the effort of raising the necessary project
financing, the requirement for Public
Liability Insurance, the need to spend more
than 3 years of planning to put together a
safe and effective team with all the tools and
requirements in place — all of these factors
and more combine to make Heard Island
such a difficult destination. It’s no wonder
that activations take place there only about
every 20 years.
In May 2012, I announced plans to organize
and lead an expedition to Heard Island.
Despite my having been one the organizers of the previous DXpedition, VKØIR, in
1997, planning this operation would prove
to be much harder than I imagined.
The Vision
My strategy included the following: (1) A
multi-disciplinary project, including radio,
science, and information technology;
(2) Completely open planning; (3) Exten sive outreach via social media; (4) Significant commercial sponsorship; and (5) The
highest ethical standards, including legal
and fiscal soundness, and risk management.
Transport of the equipment between the beach and the campsite, using the ATV.
[Robert Schmieder, KK6EK, photo]
organization, Cordell Expeditions. Rich
Holoch, KY6R, enthusiastically agreed to
be the co-organizer of the project. His creative contributions and extraordinary hard
work would be central to the realization of
the project.
Planning
One of the biggest challenges was finding
transportation to Heard Island. For various
reasons, three vessels that had made precontractual agreements with us failed to
keep their commitments, so in mid-2015
I contacted Nigel Jolly, owner-operator of
the Braveheart, who agreed to do the trip.
In retrospect, it was the best of all possible
developments.
For fundraising, we contacted all the major
DX foundations and clubs. We obtained
the support of more than 100 organizations
and more than 5000 individuals. HDT
Global provided AirBeams (military-grade
tents that erect by inflation in about 15
My first realization was that the radio community alone could not raise the finances
for such an expedition. My solution was to
combine the radio operation with two other
activities: field science and advanced communications technology. None of the three
activities alone could muster sufficient
support for such an ambitious project, but
together they could.
The project would be organized with the
standards I had developed and practiced
over the past 35 years under my nonprofit
Reprinted with permission from October 2016 QST ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio
The 2016 Cordell Expeditions campsite, with Big Ben — Heard Island’s active volcano — in the
background. The summit is 9000 feet high. [Robert Schmieder, KK6EK, photo]
®
www.arrl.org
Inside the operations tent, with radio at right, Internet communications at far left, and the galley
at near left. [Robert Schmieder, KK6EK, photo]
minutes), Inmarsat provided four BGAN
satellite terminals and unlimited air time,
and Disc-O-Bed provided high-quality
bunks. Foundations and clubs contributed
about $80,000, individuals about $100,000,
corporations about $40,000, and the team
about $280,000. Thus, the total cost was
roughly a half-million dollars.
Obtaining the permit was a major effort. A
lot has changed since 1997: Heard Island
has been added to the World Heritage List,
a major Australian scientific expedition in
2000 – 2003 highlighted the fragile and
rapidly changing environment, and the
Australian government had reduced support
for Antarctic operations. I made two trips
to the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD)
in Tasmania to negotiate the permit, and I
wrote hundreds of pages of detailed descriptions of, and justification for, the project.
The equipment included major contributions from Elecraft, DX Engineering, Array
Solutions, Spiderbeam, and many other
companies. Some equipment and supplies
were provided by Cordell Expeditions. The
cargo was shipped in one 20-foot container
to Cape Town, South Africa, where it was
delivered to a warehouse on the dock near
the Braveheart.
The Expedition
The team of 14 men converged on Cape
Town the first week of March 2016, and
spent most of their time cleaning and
repacking the gear. The permit from the
AAD required that the cargo be exhaustively cleaned and inspected, and the vessel
be inspected for rats and possible infestation by insects, seeds, spores, and fungus.
Anticipating the need for a vehicle to move
the cargo on the island, I purchased an allterrain vehicle (ATV) and it was loaded
aboard the vessel.
We sailed from Cape Town aboard the
Braveheart on March 10, 2016. The voyage
was long, but we were very active on the
radio, and we deployed a series of scientific
buoys provided by The National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration and the
Woods Hole Oceanographic In stitution.
After a 12-day voyage, we arrived at Heard
Island and were greeted with the extraordinary sight of Big Ben, the 9000-foot live
volcano that dominates the island. We made
a quick reconnaissance trip to the planned
site for our camp, near the ruins of the 1947
Australian research station (ANARE), but
we found it to be unsatisfactory for our
AirBeam tents.
Early the next day, the team found a perfect
campsite: a 20 × 60-foot flat area about
a quarter mile from the beach. Within an
hour, the ATV began delivering our gear,
and by mid-morning the tents were up.
Several four-square vertical array antennas
were erected on flat ground in front of the
camp, and several Yagi antennas were put
on the elevated rocks around the camp.
Within 15 hours of landing, we activated
VKØEK. To our great surprise, we heard
not a single SSB station, a pattern that was
to be frustratingly common during our
entire stay. CW it was, then, and thereafter.
Within 48 hours of landing, we had six operational stations.
The BGAN satellite terminals provided
direct access to the Internet. This meant that
we could use our special software, DXA, to
provide real-time online confirmation of
QSOs. Once each minute it uploaded the
log updates, and anyone with a browser
anywhere in the world could get confirmation of his or her QSO within 2 minutes
of making it. Almost always there were
10,000 people watching DXA at any given
time. We also used the BGANs for e-mail,
Skype interviews, and for personal and expedition business.
By the third day we fell into a routine:
Table 1
Mode and Frequency Distribution
of Contacts
MHz CW RTTY SSB QSOs %
1.8 3225 0 13 3238 4.3
3.5 5902 0 0 5902 7.9
7 8956 1279 1562 11797 15.7
10 9898 933 0 10831 14.4
14 5774 0 3238 9012 12.0
18 7047 0 2957 10004 13.3
21 7643 1183 4498 13324 17.8
24 5015 0 2342 7357 9.8
28 2419 1 1149 3569 4.8
Total 55879 3396 15759 75034
QST® – Devoted entirely to Amateur Radio www.arrl.org Reprinted with permission from October 2016 QST
Table 2
Continent/frequency Distribution of Contacts
MHz AF AS EU NA OC SA UNK
1.8 24 483 2376 293 56 6 0
3.5 50 922 3410 1383 104 31 2
7 132 1789 6420 3205 167 81 3
10 63 1488 4807 4165 211 94 3
14 207 2160 3268 2680 628 68 1
18 153 3508 4842 952 383 153 13
21 206 3315 7789 1344 353 316 1
24 98 2285 4308 475 112 76 3
28 48 1126 2277 82 29 6 1
CW 456 12221 30626 10901 1097 554 24
RTTY 36 663 1389 1182 81 54 1
SSB 489 4192 7482 2496 875 223 2
QSOs 981 17076 39497 14579 2043 831 27
%
1.3 22.8 52.6 19.4 2.7 1.1 0.0
A Multi-Disciplinary Approach
The 2016 Heard Island Expedition was multi-disciplinary. As such, there were
many innovations and accomplishments that went far beyond a normal “pure radio”
DXpedition. Here are just a few:
Radio
VKØEK: more than 75,000 QSOs, about 4000/day
DXA: More than 70,000 unique call signs entered in the online real-time radio log
Maritime mobile operations: more than 10,000 QSOs, about 400/day
WSPR operation during the voyages from Cape Town to Heard Island to Fremantle,
Australia
More than 3200 QSOs on 160 meters, using a special antenna
First remote radio operation (ever)
First JT65 operation on a DXpedition
Environmental science
Buoy deployments (15 total) for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Geological samples for the University of Tasmania
Exploration of the Laurens Peninsula
First entry into Stephenson Lagoon: Photo-documentation of glacial retreat and
erosion, samples of shoreline sediments and lagoon water, documentation of
the degradation of the two breakwaters that formerly isolated the lagoon from
the ocean
First flight of a drone on Heard Island
First use of a GigaPan camera for ultra-high-resolution photographs of the
environment
Deployment of a weather station at the campsite for the duration of the visit
Deployment of temperature and illumination sensors around Atlas Cove
Recording of cloud patterns for a cooperating class
Observation of skeletons from a mass dolphin death
Collection of an insect of undetermined species
Collection of streamwater samples and soil samples
Outreach
Websites:
Social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
Newsletter (distributed electronically on a roughly monthly basis)
Help desk developed and operated by KY6R and the Diablo DXers
GPS trackers on the voyage and in Stephenson Lagoon
Skype conferences from Heard Island with W5KUB and classrooms in
California and Ukraine, and live call to the International DX Convention in
Visalia
Audio Log recorded daily from Heard Island (https://media.vk0ek.org)
Repair of the AAD refuge shelters and deposition of emergency food
Tests of the AirBeam tents and Disc-O-Bed bunks in extreme conditions.
The amount of information and material collected will require years to
examine and interpret. One immediate result is the documentation of the
major and rapid effects of global warming on the glaciers of Heard Island,
and its inevitable effects on the landscape and the biological communities.
The almost instantaneous creation of the Stephenson Lagoon by glacial
melting and the destruction of the breakwater barriers present us with an
invaluable opportunity to document the effects of incursion of seawater into
a glacial landscape. Among the long-term projects is examination of the soil
and water samples, which could contain undescribed species that will alter
the known biodiversity.
The ops worked the pileups, and the field
team explored the area around Atlas Cove,
making extended treks to document the
plants, animals, and glaciers, as well as
the trash that accumulates from the ocean.
The crew from the Braveheart brought
Reprinted with permission from October 2016 QST ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio
www.heardisland.org
(static) and
www.vk0ek.org (dynamic)
gasoline, water, food, clean kitchenware,
and laundry, usually around noon. One
day we carried out the first-ever remote
radio operation. I spent considerable time
handling e-mail and filing required daily reports to the AAD. Outside, the temperature
The author with the first environmental
specimens ever obtained from the Stephenson
Lagoon. [Robert Schmieder, KK6EK, photo]
was around zero centigrade, but the wind
chilled it to much lower, and we found it
difficult to be outside for much longer than
required to service the generators and go to
the bathroom.
On April 4, three of the team (Gavin, Fred,
and myself) took the Braveheart to the
opposite end of the island, 20 miles from
Atlas Cove, to inspect the area around Spit
Bay and to explore the recently created
Stephenson Lagoon. We had thought that
the Spit Bay area might help with propagation to the North American west coast, but
we were quickly dissuaded from that: the
surf was unworkable. (In fact, the radio log
showed that the operation was unnecessary. The DXpedition made 75,034 contacts, in which there were 21,220 different
call signs and 174 DXCC entities. You can
see the breakdown of bands and modes in
Table 1.) We did have a brief weather window, and we burst through the high surf to
enter the 2-mile-wide lagoon. For 3 hours
we excitedly documented what we found
with photographs and specimens. It was a
“lost continent” experience: we were the
first people to observe and document the
changes due to global warming.
Completion
Near the end of our stay, propagation dwindled to somewhere between terrible and
none. On April 11, we had a short window
of reasonable weather, and it was decided to
strike camp and leave. Good thing — as we
were departing, a front arrived that almost
certainly would have stranded us on the
island for another week at least. The voyage
from Heard Island to Fremantle, Western
Australia, was another 11 days. We mostly
spent the time resting and watching the
®
www.arrl.org
ocean, but we did continue to work DXers
via maritime mobile, and we deployed another set of scientific buoys.
We arrived in Fremantle early on April 22,
and were greeted by customs, immigration, and biosecurity officials, as well as
a representative from the AAD, who flew
over from Tasmania to look at our specimens. The rocks went to the University of
Tasmania and the water and soil samples
came to me in California, to be distributed
to specialists in museums and universities.
The next day, the Northern Corridor DX
Group threw us a celebratory BBQ, and we
began to prepare to disperse.
The Cordell Expeditions team, on the day of departure, with the flags of their
five nations. From left to right: NP4IW, WJ2O, VK6CQ, K3EL, KK6EK, UT6UD,
HB9BXE, NG2H, K2ARB, VK2BAX, KM4MXD, N6TQ, W7XU, AEØEE. [Carlos
Nascimento, NP4IW, photo]
Acknowledgments
The onsite team consisted of Robert Schmieder, KK6EK (Expedition Organizer/
Leader); David Lloyd, K3EL (Radio Team Leader); Adam Brown, K2ARB; Alan Cheshire,
VK6CQ; Arliss Thompson, W7XU; Bill Mitchell, AEØEE; Carlos Nascimento, NP4IW;
Dave Farnsworth, WJ2O; Fred Belton, KM4MCD; Gavin Marshall, VK2BAX; Hans-Peter
Blattler, HB9BXE; Jim Colletto, N6TQ; Kenneth Karr, NG2H, and Vadym Ivliev, UT6UD.
Offsite co-organizer Rich Holoch, KY6R, created and led the West Coast support
group, “Diablo DXers,” including Jack Burris, K6JEB; Elliot Medrich, N6PF; Daniel Brock,
WB4RFQ; Peter Hoffman, W6DEI, and others. Especially important were Pete Bouget,
W6OP, who developed DXA Version 3; Mike Coffey, KJ4Z, who implemented the remote
radio operation and the AudioLog; and Tim Beaumont, MØURX, who was the QSL man-
ager. Additional support teams included the East Coast support group, led by Manny
Rodriguez, K4MSR; the Cape Town, South Africa, support group, led by Paul Johnson,
ZS1S, and the Northern Corridor DX Group in Perth, Western Australia, led by Keith
Bainbridge, VK6RK.
Scientific collaborators and advisors included Jodie Fox and Eric Woehler from the
University of Tasmania, Mary McGann of the US Geological Survey, Grahame Budd
from the University of Sydney, Erik van Sebille from Imperial College London, Steve
Smith of OceanEarth, and numerous others.
Expedition honors included Prof. E. O. Wilson (Harvard University, Principal Scientist),
Prof. Joseph Taylor, K1JT (DXpedition Leader), Jean-Michel Cousteau (Expedition
Leader), Jim Smith, VK9NS, and Kirsti Jenkins-Smith VK9NL (DXpedition Dedication),
and the “Fourteen Men” of the 1947 ANARE Expedition (Expedition Dedication).
Corporations making major donations in kind included HDT Global, Inmarsat,
Inmarsat Government, Disc-O-Bed, Sound Seal, Acoustical Solutions, Elecraft, DX
Engineering, Array Solutions, Arlan Communications, Spiderbeam, K1NSS Design, and
numerous others.
Major funding support was provided by the Northern California DX Foundation,
German DX Foundation, Oceania Amateur Radio DX Group, European DX Foundation,
Danish DX Group, Northern California DX Club, Central Texas DX and Contest Club,
Clipperton DX Club, GM DX Group, Twin Cities DX Association, Swiss DX Foundation,
Tokyo 610 DX Group, Southeastern DX Club, International DX Association, Twin Cities
DX Association, Lone Star DX Association, CDXC The UK DX Foundation, Southwest
Ohio DX Association, ARRL Colvin Award, Mediterraneo DX Club, Isle of Man DX
Organization, Dayton Amateur Radio Association, the W. A. Tucker Foundation, and
many others.
More than 5000 individuals made contributions to the project. Among the largest
individual donors were Jan Poniwas, DG2AT; Dave Anderson, K4SV; Steve Hammer,
K6SGH; John and Cheryl Muhr, KTØF/NØWBV; Zorro Miyazawa, JH1AJT; Kan
Mizoguchi, JA1BK; Kip Edwards, W6SZN, and David Bower, K4PZT.
My transition back to civilization was moderated by two delightful days in Sydney
with Grahame Budd, the legendary explorer of Heard Island. Grahame was the
first to summit Big Ben (in 1965, done only
twice since), and is probably the world’s
living authority on the island.
Successes and Disappointments
The weather and duties prevented me
from doing much of the exploration I had
dreamed of for 20 years, and as I left Heard
Island I was pensive, knowing that I would
probably never again see this place I had
come to know and love. But the satisfaction of a successful project, the pride and
admiration I have in the superb team, the
appreciation to the sponsors for making
it financially feasible, the anticipation of
potential discoveries in the specimens
— these triumphs moderate the disappointments. I know that, in spite of the difficulties and criticism and frustration and
disappointments, we delivered a successful
and significant project, as promised, and
that is a source of pride for all who can say,
“I helped make it happen.”
Robert Schmieder, KK6EK, has been organizing and leading scientific expedition for 35
years. He is the founder of the nonprofit oceanic
research organization Cordell Expeditions,
which has to its credit more than 1000 discoveries, including new species, range and depth
extensions, and first observations. Among his
notable DXpeditions are 3YØPI, XRØX/Y, VKØIR,
XRØZ, K7C, TX5K, and VKØEK. He is the author
of seven expedition books, is honored by four
named species, and is listed in the CQ Amateur
Radio Hall of Fame. He can be reached at
schmieder@cordell.org.
QST® – Devoted entirely to Amateur Radio www.arrl.org Reprinted with permission from October 2016 QST
Loading...