KH1/KH7Z - News - Press Releases

[4L5A]

For Immediate Release:

The Dateline DX Association is pleased to announce the callsign for its DXpedition to Baker Island in June 2018.

The Association already has the callsign KH7Z so we will identify our location and call as KH1/KH7Z.
Visiting a remote DX location like Baker Island is an expensive undertaking. Our budget is over $400,000 and 50% of this cost is being underwritten by the team members. That still leaves a large amount of fundraising. Do you need KH1 for an ATNO? This is the first DXpedition to Baker and Howland Islands since 2002. The FWS ruling that allowed this trip prevents another DXpedition for 10 years. Please help make this happen by donating at our website Baker2018.net. A 50% deposit on our vessel is due December 31, 2017 so we have an immediate need for our 2017 fundraising. Please remember that NCDXF members may direct donations above $250 through the Northern California DX Foundation to qualify for a tax deduction. The specific details as well as general donation instructions are on our website at http://www.baker2018.net/pages/donate.html
Thanks for helping make this happen.

The Dateline DX Association
Don Greenbaum, N1DG, Tom Harrell, N4XP, and Kevin Rowett, K6TD co leaders

[4L5A]

Today Is Our First Team Member Tuesday. Every Tuesday for the next few months, we will be introducing you to a member of the KH1/KH7Z team.

MEET THE KH1/KH7Z TEAM --- N1DG Don Grenbaum

Don Greenbaum, N1DG, grew up in New York City and the NJ Shore. His father, WA2UDV, was his radio mentor and two other siblings also had their licenses by the time Don became WN2DND at age 11 in 1962. After Don advanced to WB2DND he became active in traffic nets and DX earning WAS and DXCC before going to college and becoming inactive for 10 years.
Upon his return to the bands after incentive licensing, Don upgraded to Extra class as he continued his love of DXing and contesting. Today Don has worked all entities on mixed modes, and only needs P5 on CW. His mixed country total stands at 358 and he has DXCC on 10 bands. His Challenge total is 3,072.

Don was a banker in NY on Wall Street and became Treasurer of Commodore International in the early 1980s. He wrote one of the very first ham radio logging programs in BASIC for the Commodore 64 and in the mid 1980s ported it to DOS for IBM compatibles. The job at Commodore took him all over the world and he began operating from exotic DX locations as well.

In 1986 he moved to New England and started his own computer company that exported computer components to Europe and the Middle East. It also wrote software and Don holds two patents on Machine Translation software. In 1989 he attended a trade show in Dubai and met Saeed who would become A61AD. Don has been operating from there ever since on his annual visits. Don still exports items to the Middle East but instead of computers, today it's sports and race cars.

Don has been on several major DXpeditions including VP8ORK, K4M and A52A. He has also operated as A61AD, A51DG, C91DG, A73A, and /KH9, /VP9, /VS6, /BV2, /4X and /9V. His latest DXpedition was to C92DX which he co-led with N4XP. Now Don and Tom have teamed up with Kevin, K6TD to bring you the first DXpedtion to Baker Island in 16 years.

In 1997 he authored the web pages of VK0IR and posted online logs daily there were received via ham radio satellites. It was the first major DXPedition utilizing online logs and ushered in a new era for DXers. Since then he has been webmaster for over 50 dxpeditions.

In 2005 Don was honored at Dayton by CQ Magazine by being inducted into the CQ DX Hall of Fame.

In 2009 Don was one of the founding members of the CW Operators' Club (member number 2). He is Treasurer of the Northern California DX Foundation and has authored several articles on the rising costs and financing of major DXpeditions.
Don is very excited about his expedition to the 4th of the KH prefix Islands. He worked with FWS for 2 years to secure the permit.

[4L5A]

Dated January 16, 2018 For Immediate Release:

The Dateline DX Association is pleased to announce major equipment support from Elecraft, DX Engineering, and SteppIR Communications Systems for its KH1/KH7Z Baker Island 2018 DXpedition.

For the KH1/KH7Z operation, Elecraft will supply the highly reliable K3S transceivers and their matching KPA500 amplifiers. These radios are veterans of several highly successful major DXpeditions and will greatly aid our goal of many ATNO contacts.

Our use permit for access to the Baker National Wildlife Refuge restricts the type and height of antennas we can use for KH1/KH7Z. SteppIR Communications Systems is working with team member George Wallner, AA7JV, with antennas that are acceptable to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Every operation of this size needs a large number of critical equipment items suitable for island operation. DX Engineering has stepped up to offer those items on an as needed basis. DX Engineering continues to support major DXpeditions, and is a quality supplier of everything needed for the Amateur Radio community.

KH1 is the 4th most wanted entity. Our plans are to bring the KH1 entity to as many operators, and countries as we can. Support from these equipment vendors is appreciated and helps us meet our QSO goals. As with any DXpedition to the really rare ones, this will be another large budget operation. The operator team will contribute over 50% of the expected budget of $400,000. You can help make this DXpedition happen by visiting our website, and contributing today.

http://www.baker2018.net/pages/donate.html

Thank you in advance for your support. The Baker Island 2018 Team

[4L5A]

KH1/KH7Z Baker Island DX Pedition News February 28, 2018 WILDLIFE!

As a protected US National Wildlife Refuge, Baker Island is a place few humans ever get a chance to see. In fact, the protected status of the wildlife is the main reason why landing permission is so rare. There are strict conditions laid down by the US Fish & Wildlife Service to make sure our DXpedition does not disturb the island’s delicate ecosystem.

Baker Island. Sooty Tern.

Eleven species of seabirds nest on the island including boobies, frigate birds, and almost a million pairs of sooty terns. There are also skinks, geckos, sea-turtles and staggering numbers of hermit crabs. As DXpeditioners to other remote Pacific islands have found out, crabs pose a particularly difficult problem. They emerge at night, and eat their way through just about anything that has a trace of organic matter. This includes cardboard, rope, paper, clothes, bedding, leftover food and even coax. Keeping the pesky crabs out of DXpedition tents has become sort an art-form over the years, and many different techniques have been tried on other islands such as Clipperton. The most popular to date has been the “DXpedition Crab Fence”, which is basically a 15” high roll of sheet metal strung out around each tent. It’s not 100% crab-proof, but its highly effective.

Even with the abundance of crabs that exist on Baker, the risk of an invasive plant or animal species from the mainland gaining a foothold is very high, and could mean catastrophe for native seabirds. This means everything we bring with us including clothing, footwear and equipment must be pre-cleaned and specially treated prior to our departure. Even the food we bring is controlled, with fresh fruit and seeded vegetables both prohibited.

The land is not the only place where we’re bound by permit conditions. The marine environment at Baker is also under protected status. Surrounding the island are extensive thickets of living staghorn coral which dominate on the eastern side. Table, plate and many other coral formations are also common on the rest of the reef slopes. Larger heads of lobe, disk, and brain corals - some up to nine feet in diameter - are found along the deeper slopes. A total of 104 species of coral has been reported since Fish and Wildlife began documenting the area. Because of this, diving is strictly prohibited at Baker, and waste from our ship must be disposed at a distance of 50 nautical miles.

While our movements and equipment may be regulated in order to protect the environment, luckily the hours we can be on the air are not. Therefore, we intend to be active as much as we can on all available bands.

This project presents a great opportunity to prove to the US Fish and Wildlife Service that DXpeditioning is a highly compatible activity on an ecologically sensitive island. Our protection of Baker is just as important as the number of QSOs we make, so when we’re done we intend to leave the island exactly as we found it – to ensure future operations are possible.

As with any DXpedition to the rarest and most remote islands of the world, this trip needs your help. March 2018 will mark a significant milestone for the team as our next payment on the ship is due. Though the operator team will contribute over 50% of the expected budget we still need your support to make this trip happen. If you haven’t contributed yet, please consider helping by visiting our website:

http://www.baker2018.net/pages/donate.html

Thank you in advance for your support.

73 from the Baker Island 2018 Team

[4L5A]

KH1/KH7Z Dated April 11, 2018

For Immediate Release:

The 2018 DXpedition to Baker Island is proud to announce the addition of Neil King, VA7DX to our team.
Neil was first licensed in 1979 as VE7CVM, attained his advanced certification in 1980 and acquired the call VA7DX in late 1999.
An avid HF, VHF and UHF contester, Neil has also dabbled in meteor scatter, EME, tropo and satellite operation.
Neil has had the opportunity to visit and operate from 3DA0, 7P8, VU7, TX5C, JT1, K5D, HK0, C9, A25, FT5ZM, 7Q7, A35, and TX5T. KH1 is the 6th most wanted entity.

Our plans are to bring the KH1 entity to as many operators, and countries as we can.

As with any DXpedition to the really rare ones, this will be another large budget operation. The operator team will contribute over 50% of the expected budget of $400,000. You can help make this DXpedition happen by visiting our website, and contributing today.

With two months to go before we board our ship in American Samoa, we thank you in advance for your support. The Baker Island 2018 Team

[4L5A]

KH1/KH7Z Baker Island News
For Immediate Release:
Friday 27 April, 2018
Following a successful Visalia DX Convention, the KH1/KH7Z team met in Cupertino this week to assemble the stations and network in preparation of landing on Baker in 2 months. The DXpedition is now in the final planning stages and this step was the last before packing and shipping our gear to Fiji.

Stations

DXpedition sponsors Elecraft and DX Engineering provided the required gear. There will be 8 stations on Baker Island consisting of 8 Elecraft K3S transceivers -- 7 powered by KPA500s; the 8th low band station powered by a KPA1500 amp. This is the first expedition to use a KPA1500 and the team and Elecraft are looking forward to seeing this exciting new amplifier in action.
There will be 3 separate tents for CW, SSB, and Digital stations. Co-leaders K6TD and N1DG, and AA7A, K6GFJ, K6MM, ND2T and N6MZ assembled the stations, activated the BGAN satellite network, interfaced the NUC computers & monitors, and installed N1MM+ in a complete on-island simulation (including generator power). We also successfully simulated making QSOs and uploading sample logs to ClubLog via the BGAN.

The network was designed by our IT team led by AA7A and N6MZ and consists of rapidly deployed transit boxes containing the switches power hubs and POE repeaters. Upon reaching the island the team will deploy these cases and run out cables from the central CW tent to SSB and Digital tents. All N1MM+ computers will be networked to our center administrative PC allowing 2 uploads daily via satellite to ClubLog to minimize duplicate contacts.


Antennas

Although limited to 43 feet, our 80 and 160 meter antennas are newly designed AA7JV “fat” verticals, which will sit just inside the high tide mark. The SteppiR verticals for 75 through 10 meters will also be mounted just inside of the high tide mark while four 2-element vertical arrays will be mounted away from the water for 15, 17 and 20 meters. In this way, we can maintain a 24-hour presence on 20 meters to maximize the number of unique callsigns and enable the most ATNO contacts. We also intend to install a multi-vertical array for 6 meters at the digital radios.
Testing the SteppIRs and our own design of vertical arrays is all that remains before cleaning and sterilizing our gear to meet the FWS Biological Protocols and sending the gear to our freight forwarder.
Please visit http://www.baker2018.net/pages/pretrip.html to see more pictures relating to our testing activity this week.
As with any DXpedition to the really rare ones, this will be another large budget operation. The operator team will contribute over 50% of the expected budget of $400,000. You can help make this DXpedition happen by visiting our website, and contributing today.
http://www.baker2018.net/pages/donate.html

Thank you in advance for your support.
The Baker Island 2018 Team

[4L5A]

KH1/KH7Z News
May 28, 2018
Press Release #9
The Dateline DX Association is pleased to congratulate Kimo Chun, KH7U, on his induction into the CQ Magazine DX Hall of Fame at last weekend's Dayton DX Dinner. Kimo, a founding member of the Dateline DX Association, joins other DDXA members, Don N1DG, Tom N4XP, James 9V1YC, and Franz DJ9ZB as Hall of Fame members.
Kimo was instrumental in our group getting permission to go to Midway in 2009 as K4M and in addition to his being on the team on Midway he has assisted our group in DXpeditions to Wake and Mozambique. Congratulations Kimo, you deserved this honor for all you have done for the DX Community.

[4L5A]

Dated June 4, 2018
For Immediate Release:
KH1/KH7Z
Propagation Forecasts:

The 2018 DXpedition to Baker Island occurs during the declining side of the solar cycle where propagation is usually much, much worse, nearing the bottom (https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/s...le-progression). In addition, there are limited hours of darkness in some Northern Hemisphere locations. However, this is the when our permit is valid and we are planning to maximize the time we are available to work to propagation challenged areas. For instance, stations will be on 20 meters 24 hours a day.

First, thanks to Stu, K6TU, we have imbedded his tools in our website where you can run forecasts specific to your grid square and station properties. Please visit http://www.baker2018.net/pages/propagation.html to see when and on what bands to look for us. We have also run these forecasts by geographic area to know when we should be listening for you. The forecasts are grim. However, stations on the Equator report working EU in June/July is one of the better times. During noon, local time, we don’t expect to hear any signals. We will mostly likely take our main meals during that time, and rest up, for a long night of productive QSOs.

Remember, these are predictions – like climate versus weather. Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get. Keep an ear on the bands – you might catch an opening. Check the daily space weather forecast - http://sunspotwatch.com

Our network of worldwide pilots will also report how well we are being heard in your area to keep us abreast of propagation.

Our permit restricts our antennas to 43 ft vertical antennas. We won’t get the gain of a Yagi, nor the directionality. We will be using Steppirs and special design antennas to take advantage of the salt water ground. One of the antenna designs has been adapted by AA7JV from the recent 3B7A operation.

We will be using FT8 to find openings we might not hear, and to serve as a beacon. When we find an opening, we will put as many radios/modes/ops on as we can.

Our group helped develop the latest WSJT-X software to incorporate a DXpedition fox/hound mode. Please download version 1.9.0 before we are QRV around 27 June. This may expand the bands we are able to use at this point in the solar cycle. We’ve also put a “how to use the new FT8” primer on our site. You can view it and our planned operating frequencies at https://www.baker2018.net/pages/plan.html It will help those new to the mode to quickly master the new version.

As previously mentioned, we will stay on 20 meters continuously and jump to other bands from one of the other 7 operating positions. Our 15 operators will rotate on and off in 3 hour shifts. We have one goal, maximize the number of ATNO QSOs with this 5th most wanted entity.

All our equipment has arrived at the departure point. Our permit has been issued. Our callsign is set, KH1/KH7Z. All our plans for the past 11 months have led to this month! We are excited, and trust you are too.

We are nearing the start of the operation, as the ops leave for Pago-Pago within the next two weeks. We still could still use your donation at this time. http://www.baker2018.net/pages/donate.html

Thank you in advance for your support.
The Baker Island 2018 Team

[4L5A]

Dated June 16, 2018
For Immediate Release:

KH1/KH7Z Baker Island DX Pedition.
The first of our team arrived in Fiji this week to load the Nai’a. The Nai’a is now underway from Fiji to Pago Pago for its pre-departure inspection by US authorities. This is the last hurdle before departing with the team on 20 June for Baker.

We have activated our daily blog and in-reach GPS so you can follow us. You can see both new features at https://www.baker2018.net .

When we arrive on the 26th at Baker we will immediately begin setup and expect to be QRV by our afternoon on the 27th (00:00 UTC 28 June).

We will have 8 radios on all open bands 24/7 for the next 10 days. Our band plan is here: https://www.baker2018.net/pages/plan.html . But any plan is only good until you meet the enemy in the field of battle. We plan on listening to our pilots. Please tell them if we are missing an opening or opportunity. We can and will adjust to the propagation.

We still could still use your donation at this time. http://www.baker2018.net/pages/donate.html

Thank you in advance for your support.
The Baker Island 2018 Team

[4L5A]

KH1/KH7Z Baker Island DX Pedition News 19 June 2018

The majority of the team is now gathered in Pago Pago, American Samoa. 10 out of the 14 team members have arrived, and the other four are all in route. The NAI’A is expected to arrive in Pago Pago at approx. 1900z today. The team plans on boarding the NAI’A tomorrow to get ready to leave port Wednesday.