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Author Topic: VKØLD/VK6CQ suggests ARRL revoke 3Y0J DXCC Credit for Endangering Life & Limb  (Read 2984 times)

K5MO

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For those who were around then, what was DXing like in the 50s and 60s?

73 John AF5CC

A great read describing the activities of one of the great DX activators of the day, can be found:     https://www.yasme.org/dw1/

I certainly wasn't a ham then, but I have a large stash of CQ magazines from those days and the accounts of his travels are fantastic to read.

Unlike today, where there's much hand-wringing about helicopters and OSHA, Weil traveled solo on a relatively small (and rickety) boat around the south pacific activating rare spots.   Almost all the voyages were eventful and the story is a great read.

There's a download link for the whole book about YASME which I really recommend. I purchased the paper copy and it's a great retrospective describing all the early efforts in DXpeditioning

John K5MO
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WO7R

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K5MO, that's a great resource.

It links to this:

https://www.yasme.org/award-call-signs/

. . .which appears to be any call sign (some common, some rare) that were ever linked to YASME in any way (past and present).

I did note VP8SSI in there (a fairly recent operation).  That one was a big time operation to a difficult, dangerous place.  Lots more stuff that was no doubt quite rare in the day, but also I did not see a lot of Bouvet or Peter I type operations.  Call signs, farther back, did often have different prefixes than they do today, so I might have overlooked something.  And, I didn't exhaustively read it.  Maybe someone else can point out others.  It would not be a lot and the dates would matter for this discussion also.

But, the call list kind of matches the stories I have been told over the years of those bygone days.

DXing just wasn't as big way back then as it is now.  DXpeditions were simple affairs, not expensive, and didn't really have more than a handful of ops.  The big 8 to 20 team activation does not appear to be what most of the activations on that list were.  In fact, the majority was done by a handful of operators, including OH2BH, but also the Colvins.

A lot of warm water South Pacific stuff, so it's safe to say that "safety" wasn't a big discussion other than the ordinary hazards of operating a sailboat.

As we expanded the DXCC list, and expanded the list of the possible, things got more dangerous than they did in those early days.  DXing, way back then, simply didn't have the budget it does now and just couldn't really go to such places I imagine.  I have no idea when Northern Cal DX got big, but until it did, there was no way for a DXpeditioner to raise large sums of money or even apply to it from the foundations, which took a while to get to where they are today.

It all grew organically as far as I was ever told and the call sign list, and the dates, reinforce all those old stories I was told.

There was a day, whole decades probably, where "danger" as we have been discussing it, just wasn't a factor yet.

It has been a factor since at least the 1990s and following, though.
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K5MO

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It's a great book to download as a PDF and covers the Colvin's expeditions as well (those I vaguely remember.  Weil was before my time).   

DW's expeditions were dangerous from the jump.  He sailed solo in a leaky old boat and faced the effects of typhoons without much of anything in the way of preparation.  He was really a character, and was quite resourceful in staying alive over extended voyages.

In an age where there was no spotting networks, no daily updates to expedition status, folks had to tune, subscribe to weekly mailed DX newsletters and use telephone buddy systems to find DX.   As a result, the total QSO counts were pretty low (and make Bouvet counts look huge).   Equipment too, was not what it is today, though Weil had good stuff provided by Hallicrafters.

That book is likely the best resource on early DXing short of complete collections of early QST and CQ magazines (which I also have).

"Happy go lucky" really describes Weil's vagabonding around with a radio.

PS: Thanks for the link to the callsign list. I know I worked 3D2KG, back in the day but didn't realize it was a Colvin operation.

PPS: Which of the expeditions on the rocks in the pacific that had the platforms made of 2x4 which had the famous photo of a fisherman visitor on the platform with a filet knife in hand?
« Last Edit: March 06, 2023, 06:28:12 AM by K5MO »
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W1VT

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Of the many DXpeditions Jim undertook in the following years, the major one was the DXpedition to Heard Island in 1983, operating VKØJS with Kirsti operating VKØNL. Kirsti wrote the riviting book Heard Island Osyssey, an account of the Heard Island DXpedition and the harrowing experience of getting back from Heard Island on a ship that should never had left port.
http://www.heardisland.org/HD_team/HD_VK9NS.html
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KD6KVL

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I've been looking for some time for a copy of Jims Book VK9NS.  If someone has a copy, I'd gladly like to buy it and pay shipping.
Thanks,
Frank
kg6n
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Frank KG6N

W9AC

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"Happy go lucky" really describes Weil's vagabonding around with a radio.

Gus Browning, W4BPD comes very close to fitting that description.

A discussion about '60s-era DXpenditions is incomplete without also bringing in Don Miller, W9WNV:

https://dokufunk.org/upload/dunphy.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ut1RAGMlFQ8

Paul, W9AC
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K5MO

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The thing about reading Don Miller, is that it's not apparent what is real and what is not real.
It's hard to know where to draw the line.
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K6OK

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An expansion of VK6CQ's proposal would be to ask governments everywhere to ban extreme sports, such as:  Bungee jumping, cave diving, free climbing, hang gliding, wingsuit flying, parkour, mountaineering and skydiving, to name a few.  All of these sports have reported multiple fatalities over the years.  DXpeditions to remote uninhabited areas is less risky than some of those, but to those who believe risk-taking should be regulated or banned, it's risky enough.

There is a segment of the population who thrive on risk-taking and pushing personal limits.  It's how they tick.  Should the rest of us ban them from pursuing their goals?  No.  As long as they don't expose the rest of us to excessive risk, let them be.  Let humans be humans.
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AF5CC

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As we expanded the DXCC list, and expanded the list of the possible, things got more dangerous than they did in those early days.

Weren't most of the dangerous already on the post-WW2 list?  Or at least the list by the 60s?  I think  Bouvet, South Georgia, South Sandwich, Campbell, Marion Is, and most of the other Sub-Antarctica lands were on the list by the 60s.  The only really dangerous recent edition, climate wise, has been Peter I.

Most recent editions have pretty nice climates: FO/A, FO/M, FK/C, 3D2/C, 3D2/R, VP6/D, and KH8S are all in the south pacific.  Very nice temps for DXing.  The new PJ entities have very nice weather.  E3, Z8, BV9P and KP5 might be hard to get permission to operate from, but the weather rarely if ever gets below freezing there.  E4, and most of the new EU countries are pretty similar to WX in the W1, 2, 8, 9, and 0 parts of the US. 

BS7 has some nice temps but can be dangerous for other reasons.  Now P5 can get pretty cold!!

73 John AF5CC
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KD6VXI

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While not nearly as rare as those mentioned:   KP2 is a great place to DX from as well.

--Shane
WP2ASS / ex KD6VXI
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K1VSK

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It’s dubious at best and downright wrong at worst to suggest it was easier, cheaper or l more safe in past decades. These people had to lug large equipment, larger generators and depend on sextants or LORAN where available just to find these places and do so with less than perfect weather prediction tools and rudimentary safety equipment.

And size is a relative thing - in the ‘60s for example, the set of DX’ers worldwide was substantially less than today making any comparison of qso totals a silly comparison.

It is arguably much easier today than ever before to activate remote islands. Romanticizing about how simple things were then is fun but rarely realistic.
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KD6KVL

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In addition, the same big guns would call every night and these were not 59 and on to the next qso's.  This is where Don Miller started making a list of operators jhe would not respond to.  After repeatedly asking to work him once and then let others, they ignored his requests and so he ignored them until they complained to the league. 
Say what you will about his later faults, but he was one of the best damn CW operators dx'ing ever had.
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Frank KG6N

KD6KVL

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Don came back to the Visalia DX convention some years back and openly admitted to operating from the boat at ST Peter & Paul.  He also proved to the K1N presentor that he had been on the island by discussing an attribute that is known only to those who have actually been on the island.
Frank
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Frank KG6N

US5WE

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An expansion of VK6CQ's proposal would be to ask governments everywhere to ban extreme sports, such as:  Bungee jumping, cave diving, free climbing, hang gliding, wingsuit flying, parkour, mountaineering and skydiving, to name a few.  All of these sports have reported multiple fatalities over the years.  DXpeditions to remote uninhabited areas is less risky than some of those, but to those who believe risk-taking should be regulated or banned, it's risky enough.

There is a segment of the population who thrive on risk-taking and pushing personal limits.  It's how they tick.  Should the rest of us ban them from pursuing their goals?  No.  As long as they don't expose the rest of us to excessive risk, let them be.  Let humans be humans.
There's an excellent science fiction book by Stanislaw Lem "Return from the Stars"  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_from_the_Stars describing the emotionless world without risk, violence and great deeds.
From that prospective it seems to me that VK6CQ wants to betrizate the DX community in general and DXPedition entрusiasts in particular. 
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UARL Technical and VHF Committies
DXCC Honor Roll #1 (Mixed, Phone) 10BDXCC (160-6m), 10BWAZ(160-6m),
ARRL field checker.

W1BR

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JOHN VK3YP:

GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT! I never called for 3YØJ DXCC to be invalidated due to no landing permit, as the subject header of your previous post suggests.

Read my open letter properly; I suggested that ARRL should consider the following: "...revoke 3YØJ's accreditation on the grounds of reckless endangerment to life & limb" due to "continued ignorance of, or flippant disregard for, safety protocols". Then I listed several examples from 3YØJ's own Facebook page of 3YØJ Team members doing really, really dumb things that could easily have seriously injured or killed them. Ask any polar / alpine field guide or licensed boating / zodiac driver and they will agree with me.

73 de Alan BSc (Radio Physics), Professional Radio Officer Licences etc. etc.
VK6CQ VKØLD VP8PJ 9VØA VKØEK VKØMM CE9/VKØLD etc. etc.

Yeah, been there, done that many times in the past 40 years. So don't waste time on any anti-VKØLD smear campaign and turning the tables to try and publicly discredit me - I'm not the 'Elephant in the Room', I'm just the messenger boy.

Why don't you take your virtue pompous  virtue signaling and bullying and stuff it??  Jealous?? What a hateful SOB.
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