ANTARCTICA
I participated in the 25th French polar expedition in Adelie Land, Antarctica as a radio operator operating the professional radio station
FJY3. Because I stayed the whole winter in Dumont d'Urville base, during my free time, I transmitted on the ham bands, with my callsign
FB8YC from December 1974 to March 1976.
In 1977, at the very time I was looking to be part of the 1978 FO0XA-XH dx'pedition on Clipperton atoll, but I got a new job in Saudi Arabia and finally didn't go to the expedition.
Due to restrictions in Saudi Arabia, I could not get a HZ licence. This period was the worst of my ham radio life.
As you can imagine, the weather was much different than my tropical island in Martinique ... sometimes I was really cold ...
Due to the very bad weather conditions, we were obliged to stay at all 19 days on the ship "DAP Mares".
Fortunately, we had the opportunity to spend our time on the open bands, operating XR9A/MM. After all, we made several thousands of Qs in these conditions.
ST BRANDON
St Brandon, also known as the Cargados Carajos Shoals, is a group of 16 small islands on an extended reef in the Indian Ocean. The island group lies nearly 250 miles north-east of Mauritius and together with Agalega, a further 350 miles to the north, forms its own separate DXCC entity. In September 2007, I have been invited by The
Five
Star
DXers
Association to participate at the last major dxpedition to St Brandon. We were based on "Isle du Sud" at the southernmost point of St Brandon. The island is shaped like a butterfly and is about a kilometre long and under 100 meters across in the centre.
We stayed 18 days on the island, covering three full week-ends and made over 137.000 QSOs using 3B7C callsign.
We all were very happy with the final outcome, this was a new record for a generator powered expedition and was another extraordinary experience in my "Dx'peditioner life".
GUINEA BISSAU
In January 2008 I participated at the
J5C dxpedition to Bubaque Island, Bijagos archipelago (AF-020) leading by
F6KOP radio club. We were active 160-10 meters SSB, CW and digital modes with four stations. We loged 61.939 Qs and 178 Dxcc countries around the world. Despite the low sunspot, low bands were good enough to put in the log the first ever JA-J5 Qso on 160m.
CLIPPERTON
The dream of all french dxers came true for me, the last week of february 2008. As a team member, I had the chance to be part of the 2008 dx'pedition to Clipperton atoll. Our plan was to operate 12 to 14 days with 7 stations. But, due to both weather and sea conditions, the Captain of the "Shogun" (our boat) determined that an earlier departure was required to ensure the safety of our team. In these conditions, our goal was not attempt, we only stayed 6 1/2 day on the island.
Despite these very bad weather conditions, we managed to put 71794 QSOs into the TX5C's log during the only 156 operating hours. Believe me, it was a very very hard dx'pedition ..... but again another great experience.
KERKENNAH
On January 2009, the radio-club of Provins, F6KOP, oganised a training expedition on Chergui Island in the Kerkennah group, Tunisia AF-073.
During 8 days, the multi-national team of 25 operators, including some novices, made more than 57000 Qs using TS7C callsign.
Despite all the hard work made by the organizers, prior to the departure, we encountered lots of problems with the Tunisian customs.
All our transceivers were seized by the authority and sent to Tunis for inspection ...!!!
Finally, after long dealings, we got back all our six radios four days before the end of the expedition.
Even if our global goal was not reached, we are proud to have established a new rtty QSO's record, the former was held by VP6DX, a real reference .....
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