VK0EK Heard Island. From DXNews.com

VK0EK Heard Island News 14 January 2016
Heard Island News 1 September 2015
VK0EK Heard Island News Letter 10 September 2015

VK0EK Heard Island News Letter 14 October 2015
VK0EK Heard Island News Letter 28 November 2015

VK6CQ, ZL3CW, HB9AHL, WJ2O, K3EL, I8NHJ, NP4IW, DJ5IW, UT6UD, HB9BXE, AE0EE, K2ARB, KK6EK will be active from Heard Island 6 – 20 March 2016 as VK0EK.
They will operate on all HF bands CW, SSB, RTTY.
QSL via M0URX.
Ads for direct QSL:
Tim Beaumont, P.O. Box 17, Kenilworth, Warwickshire CV8 1SF, England.

VK0EK News 12 February 2016

VK0EK News 6 February 2016

Equipment Arrives in Cape Town
The container carrying the equipment for the expedition has arrived in Cape Town, South Africa, and has been put into storage awaiting arrival of the advance team March. 3. The vessel Braveheart will arrive March 5, while the full team will arrive March 7. We will sail for Heard Island March 10, weather permitting, of course!

In addition, we are very appreciative of our South Africa team: Paul ZA1A, Pierre ZS1HF, Malcolm ZS6MAL, Sue ZS1AFR, and Tom ZS1AFS. Together with similar teams in California, Virginia, and Perth, Australia, the logistics is being managed professionally and securely.

VK0EK News 2 February 2016

In exactly one month, the “Advance VK0EK Team” will leave for Cape Town, South Africa. They will check in with our shipping agent and local Cape Town team and process the arrival of our container. The Braveheart will arrive soon after this team arrives. The excitement is building and we are making last minute preparations before the team starts their epic journey.

Heard Island. Information.

Heard Island

Barren, uninhabited – Heard Island – is a sub-Antarctic island, located in the Southern Ocean, in India. Heard Island is under the administration of Australia. The island is covered with ice and mountains and is bleak, with a large dominance of massif – called Big Ben and Mawson Peak, which is an active volcano. You need to be highly cautious, when visiting the Heard Island. A lot of preparation and planning is required prior to a trip to the island. Since, there isn’t any permanent inhabitation, accessing the island can happen via an expedition only. You need prior permission to enter the island, since it is a nature preserve.

Heard Island, along with McDonald Island is known as HIMI. Both the islands experience severe sea and weather conditions, with a limitation of any kind of human activity. It was in 1855, when people landed in this island and till date, there have been only 240 visits to the Heard Island and that too, offshore ones.

Visiting Heard Island

Those visiting the island are usually part of wildlife resource exploitation, management, research, surveillance and expeditions. Water activities are inclusive of fishing, only at the commercial fishery, which is close to the HIMI Marine Reserve. Marine and territorial research is done in association with the Australian Antarctic Science Program.

Scientific studies and research continue to take place at the Heard Island, irrespective of the unfavorable conditions and isolation. HMS Challenger scientists came here first for research purposes, in the year 1874.

The massive research and studies here at the island, include different marine science disciplines, covering meteorology, volcanology, geomorphology, geology, marine ecology, terrestrial ecology, cultural studies and oceanography.

Recent programs of research and studies have laid a lot of emphasis on the comprehension of climate of the region and its effects that on the functioning of the ecosystems. The programs also study Heard Island’s glacial systems, monitor the seabird population and its trends, conduct examination of preys and predators and many more.

Australian Antarctic Program

This is a multi-disciplinary program, conducted by scientists and logistic professionals. The crew spends weeks and months on the island for conducting the program and they are usually accommodated in tents and huts that at the Atlas Cove and Spit Bay camps. The source of power is via small diesel generators, wind and solar cells generators. Storage of waste is also widely propagated and undertaken.

Since the 90s, extensive research programs in the marine discipline have been conducted in Heard Island, as well as, McDonald Island. Scientific research programs are coordinated by the AAD, which propagates sustainability of resources and retention of the ecosystem and its dynamics.

If you want to get an ‘island experience’, then visit Heard Island!