3Y0X in the ears of SWLs
By Achraf, 3V4-002, MDXC#235

The 3Y0X DXPedition to Peter I island belongs to the history’s pages after 2 years of waiting and after the 2005 postpone due to some planning difficulties.
All the amateur radio society was waiting for this big event; the most ever expensive DXPedition to one of the most isolated places in the world and 4th most wanted DXCC in the 2005 survey by DX Magazine, Peter I island in the Antarctic Sea.

Shortwave Listeners, as part of the ham community, were also waiting for the activation of this rare DXCC entity and IOTA Reference.
For some, it is a new one; others need a confirmation in other bands or modes.
Dan I1-12387, says that “I already had the Peter 1 QSL since 1994, but only SSB. My target was a new RTTY DXCC entity. It is not so easy to hear a DXPedition in RTTY. I remember the last Andaman DXPedition. In approx.15 days of operation and before the Tsunami, they operated only few hours in RTTY. And of course I didn't hear them in RTTY”.

The adventure started at the end of January, and since that time all the people were tracking the DXPedition via its web site (www.peterone.com).
In spite of the communication difficulties from Antarctica, news was regularly updated.

After some delay due to weather conditions, 3Y0X was finally on the air in 8th February!
And during about two weeks of QRV, big pile-ups were made in nearly all bands, all modes (SSB, CW, RTTY…)

Propagation conditions were not very good during the operation. An average of SSN=75, K=1, A=3 was recorded.
SWLs found great difficulties to copy 3Y0X.

Andy, DJ7IK says in this matter: “Regarding the low sun activity, 10m and 12m did not allow us to hear the station from Peter Island. On the other bands the signals were extremely weak and the pile-ups extremely heavy! The best signals could be heard on 30m and 40m. But on Sunday morning Feb. 19th, their last day of activity, I heard them on 20m CW with a good signal via the long path, that means from northeast over Japan”.

Gil, F5NOD sent us a summary of his listening:
160m: 15/02/2006 RST: 219 at 0400z to 529 at grey line.
80m: 15/02/2006 RST: 549 at 0100z CW.
40m: from 2000z to 0700z Excellent signal (57~58) using vertical antenna.
30m: from 22:00z to 7:00z RST: 519 a 579 CW
20m: Night SP: Depending on day; 0x0 to 57
Morning SP & LP: 08:00z to 10:00z depending on days, RST 0x0 to 57, overall good.
17m: 13:00z to 19:00z CW SSB Never strong signal 519/529 in max.
15m: 16:00z to 18:00z CW never strong 519 in max. But usually 0x0
SSB 0x0 to 41 (one time!).
12m: CW RST: 219 around 18:00z.

He noticed also that reception depends on days, and there is a big difference from day to day.

Achraf, 3V4-002 says “Since being on the air in 8th February, I was tracking the DXPedition using DX Cluster. I found them on 14.190, 7.066, 18.135… but nothing heard in 3V! The entire world was on the frequency, but no copy! I tried CW Mode reception using CWGet v1.40, and as the frequency was extremely crowded, it was impossible even to find their frequency in the sound spectrum.
Three days passed and I still not having 3Y0X in my log.
I had a lot of disturbance in my sleeping routine, and sometimes I was obliged to leave class to try a band…”

Jeroen, NL12339 says that “No copy here, I'm very low in the Netherlands. There are few of Dutch stations that can copy 3X0Y”.

Denis, F-11217 says that he was armed with the DX Cluster, and he found them on 14.195 MHz RX: 14.240/250 MHz. He said that many stations from Europe were present, but no signal received from Antarctica using his Yeasu FRG8800 and a 25m Long Wire.

Later, the situation came better, and SWL started hearing 3Y0X. Here is what Dan, I1-12387 said “The first days, 3Y0X operated only in SSB and CW. Finally the 11/Feb I found in the DX cluster 3Y0X in RTTY on 18MHz. But no propagation to Europe at this time. I also read in the RTTY-Contesting mailing list the following message sent by W9OL: "Over 5 hours straight on 17 rtty. Can't be many rtty dxers left in the world.......” I was one of the left in the world!!!
Luckily the 3Y0X operators didn't read this message and after few days on
14/Feb they appeared again in RTTY on 20m in the evening. I hrd them with a weak signal not well decoded by my MIXW2.16. But after 2 hours and half of monitoring, the signal improved and I could have a clean log with a lot of correspondent stations.
My receiver is a Palstar R30 with a set of 14-18-21 dipoles directed SE.”

For Achraf, 3V4-002, 11th Feb 2006 was the great day! He says”I woke up at 04:00 Local time. 3Y0X was on 40m SSB (7.066) making a big pile-up.
Absolutely nothing received by my RadioShack DX-398 and my dipole antenna! But the good news came from my excellent propagation prediction software W6ELProp v2.70 that told me that propagation will be better in the next few hours, and especially when we’ll be under the grey line which joins 3Y/P to 3V at that time. I still on the frequency, and about 06:30 I started hearing something. Few minutes later, the signal reached a peak of S3! I copied the 3Y0X Call Sign with 2 Worked Stations! YESSS!
It was a great pleasure for me!!! And now, it’s time for a deep sleeping!”

What all the people noticed, is the bad ham spirit by some OMs. And this has become usual for the major DXpeditions.

Terry, G0VTI says that “I encountered complete deliberate obstructions. The “Policeman”, continuous
keying, continuous tuning on the frequency, deliberate QSO’s on the 3Y0X
frequency even though politely asked to move by others, people continuously sending QRZ, QRL & UP in CW, a suspected pirate 3Y0X and, although a scheduled event, the PA contest did interfere at times with 3Y0X. All this on top of poor propagation at times.
You may think “what’s new”, that this is the normal state of affairs from a
minority of idiots out to spoil others enjoyment? You are probably right but this was happening on every single band that I heard them on.
The “Policeman” was making more QRN than anyone else shouting “up”, “up” all the time.
A QSO would start up right on or very near the frequency that 3Y0X were on, polite efforts to move these people were in vain.
For some reason on the CW bands they were on I experienced continuous
jamming, operators sending continuous QRZ QRZ and QRL?? Over and over again, also the CW Policeman was active. An example, on Saturday afternoon 3Y0X was 559 with me on 10.103 MHz listening up. Immediately someone jammed the frequency for a good 5 minutes continuously making any attempt impossible.
On Sunday they were workable on 18,145 MHz, QSO started right on top”.

This is the experience of some SWLs catching 3Y0X DXPedition, which was very successful. All SWLs mentioned in this article who sent their participations would thank all the DXPedition’s team for their efforts and time, and for giving us the 3Y prefix.

Thanks to: Dan I1-12387, Jeroen NL12339, Denis F-11217, Terry G0VTI, Gil F5NOD, Andy DJ7IK.

	Comment of Ralph K0IR, co-leader of the 3Y0X DXpedition, on the article: "I was a co-leader of the 3Y0X DXpedition to Peter I. I enjoyed reading Achraf's article about the DXpedition. Being on the DXpedition was a great adventure. Thanks to all of you for sharing it with us".