Seems that news of 3YØJ's dismal safety performance travels quickly on the diplomatic grapevine: According to my very reliable contact in the Govt. of South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands in Stanley, Falkland Islands, amateur radio licences for these two locations will now longer be issued and any DXpedition that might be in the pipeline to VPØ, VP8/g & VP8/s will no longer be approved. Australian, French and New Zealanders will probably go the same way, if not already done so Tusen takk, folkens!
I would very much like to see a public confirmation of this.
The world hasn't worked like this for the whole 30 years I have been a ham. If these guys going ashore as they did has made this big change, in spite of nothing actually going wrong, it deserves to become better than what amounts to a rumor. And, it needs some amount of airing out.
When will your well-placed friend (or his boss) make the public announcement? We do deserve to know.
Go ask 'em yourself Larry:
https://www.gov.gs/information/contactus/Note that since June 2017, the VP8 prefix applied strictly to the Falkland Islands only and the Falklands Post Office stopped issuing licenses for the old Falkland Islands Dependencies (FIDs). Later that year, after persistent lobbying by myself and others, Ofcom (UK version of FCC) finally authorized the use of the new prefix VPØ for amateur licences in the former FIDs, now the two separate British overseas territories of 'South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands' (VP8/g & VP8/s) and 'British Antarctic Territory' (VP8/a, VP8/o & VP8/h). However neither territory has bothered to enact or promulgate the VPØ prefix or issue licences. They still won't even convert my existing VP8PJ/a,g,h,o,s licence to VPØPJ/a,g,h,o,s after three years of me repeatedly knocking on their door. However, I do have a ruling from Ofcom in the UK stating that VP8PJ is still valid for use in the former FIDs (VP8/a,g,h,o,s) so that will have to do for now.
Anyone considering organizing a DX trip to VP8/a,g,h,o or VP8 South Sandwich Islands, my advice is don't waste any of your time or $$$, 'cos after those four 3YØJ guys got themselves marooned on Bouvet for four days and three nights without adequate food & shelter,
it definitely ain't gonna happen no more! My contacts at one of my former employers, the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) in Hobart, Tasmania are now saying the same thing about VKØ/h&m
i.e. Heard & McDonald Islands absolutely no chance and any future Macquarie Island amateur activity will be limited to AAD personnel stationed there (as is already the case with VK9/w Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) weather station on Willis Island). Judging by the deliberate bureaucratic obstacles Thierry FT8WW has been faced with recently, looks like the French authorities are following a similar, if not identical, path.
I don't like it any more than any of you DX chasers out there do, but that's the way it is.