KH1 - Baker and Howland Islands - News

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KH1 - Baker & Howland Islands -
On April 24th the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (US FWS) released a "draft compatibility determination for Amateur Radio Operations". On May 8th, the "14 day public comment period" ended as the US FWS received "24 email letters in strong support of allowing Amateur Radio Operations at Baker Island NSR" and none "opposing".
Response comments and the final Compatibility Determination report can be found at https://www.fws.gov/uploadedFiles/Re...20v6.12.17.pdf and https://www.fws.gov/uploadedFiles/Re...20v.6.9.17.pdf. The last time KH1 was QRV was May 7, 2002, by K1B. The Baker and Howland Islands currently ranks number 4 on Club Log's most wanted list.

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PRESS RELEASE #2

The Dateline DX Association is very pleased to announce significant progress in our planning to operate in 2018 from KH1, Baker Island National Wildlife Refuge, the 4th most wanted entity in the DXCC program.

We have executed a charter agreement with a ship, the Nai’a out of Fiji, with an anticipated arrival at the refuge during the 3rd week of June, 2018. We intend to be at the refuge a total of 12 days with 10 days of operations. This ship and dates were chosen in consultation with the US Fish and Wildlife service based on availability of their resource monitor, avoidance of the cyclone season, and Nai’a availability. Propagation forecasts look favorable for HF to Western Europe (a large target audience for us) during this time as well.

As with any DXpedition to the really rare ones, this will be another large budget operation. The 11 operator team will contribute over 50% of the expected budget of $400,000.

You can help make this DXpedition happen by visiting our new website and contributing today.

We wish to thank the US Fish and Wildlife Service for their trust in our group to safely and responsibly activate this rare location.

Co-Leaders:
Don Greenbaum, N1DG
Tom Harrell, N4XP
Kevin Rowett, K6TD

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The Northern California DX Foundation is pleased to announce it will be a major contributor to the KH1 Baker Island DXpedition planned for June 2018. Baker-Howland is #4 on the ClubLog Most Wanted List now, but will be #3 after the upcoming Bouvet DXpedition.
In 2016, NCDXF-supported DXpeditions activated five of the ten most-needed entities. These DXpeditions put nearly 500,000 QSOs into DXers’ logs! That year we spent $156,000 to fund these and other DXpeditions. It is possible that the Bouvet and Baker DXpeditions could add another 200,000 QSOs to that number!
DXpeditions to rare entities like Baker-Howland that are so remote are becoming more expensive, a trend that we believe will continue.
NCDXF’s primary purpose is to help fund well-organized DXpeditions to rare, difficult and expensive entities, like Baker Island. During the last 45 years, NCDXF has granted over $1.1 million to hundreds of DXpeditions – helping to put an “all-time-new-one” (ATNO) in the log and make DX happen for thousands of DXers worldwide. The credit for these large grants goes to the NCDXF contributors, individuals and clubs who support the DX community. Without those contributions, DXpeditions to entities like Bouvet or other rare locations would not be possible.
If you agree with the importance of NCDXF's work, and if you are not a current contributor, we hope you will become one today by clicking here. Your contribution will continue to help make DX happen. You can also support future DXpeditions by including the NCDXF Cycle 25 Fund in yourestate plan.
We wish the KH1B team a safe and very successful trip to Baker Island next year.
73 .
Glenn Johnson, W0GJ
NCDXF Vice President