[NEWS] – by AU2H team:
Hope island used to have a village. Over the last few years, however, most of the inhabitants moved to the mainland. The island is made up to compacted sand, with very little vegetation. As a result, it doesn’t offer much protection against the raising water level during storms hitting from both the east of the west. The few inhabitants who are still there continue their fishing traditions. There is no power grid on the island, and although there are some solar panels, there aren’t used, because the batteries have been depleted a while back.
During the recent mission, the team identified a former classroom, in an advance state of disrepair, as the optimum site for the upcoming radio operation, due to its location. Our plan is to organize things such as to have the roof repaired and secure the respective building against possible water inflow. After the radio activity, we want to ensure that this place will be able to be used as a storm emergency center. We will also donate to the fishermen one of our generators, to be used there as needed.
Our intention is to operate three stations with three amplifiers, one each for CW, SSB, and FT8. We are waiting for the license to be issued by WPC in the coming days.
[JULY 28] –
The members of Team Kanika-2024 plan to carry out an IOTA DXpedition from Hope Island (AS-178 New) for five full days, between September 27 and October 2, 2025.
Cezar VE3LYC/VU3LPL, Sarath VU2RS, Adersh VU24DX, and Anil VU3DXA will attempt to operate three stations on all bands from 10 to 40m, aiming for a balanced number of contacts in CW, SSB, and FT8. They will also be prepared to operate on 6 m FT8, if the band will offer any openings. For this activity, the team applied to the licensing authority for the special callsign AU2H.
For more information about this project, visit the expedition website for full details.
