DX
In recent years, I often joked about how my DXpeditioning would change if I could plop a radio and antenna down in a rare or semi-rare location — especially an uninhabited island—and, through a satellite internet link, run pileups from the comfort of my own home. Although the thought of doing this at the time was a bit of a fantasy, I think the times they are a changing.
There have been remotely accessible stations around for some time now. I’ll cover this aspect later in this column. It is not my intention to take you through the mechanics or electronics involved in setting up to do remote DXing. I just want to present the basic concepts, and provide some food for the imagination.
What really got my new curiosity juices running was something that happened back in 2018 when I was just starting to operate on FT8. In February of that year, I came across KH6JF/MM calling CQ on 20-meter FT8. After a number of attempts, I was able to work him. The grid that was being given out was CK09. A quick check found that grid to be about halfway between Hawaii and Baja California. My initial thought was that I just worked a freighter, or a fancy yacht of some sort. After checking I found out that I had just worked a most unusual “remote” station called the “HF Voyager” which was part of a mission to track humpback whales. It was heading east from Hawaii to off the coast of Baja California (Mexico). More info can be found at <>. It was>. It had a sealed 20-meter mobile antenna mounted on the surface. The system included basically two parts. One was the floating platform on the water’s surface. The other part extends below the surface and has multiple wings. I kiddingly called the platform a surfboard since that is what is resembles. When asked, I say that I worked an unmanned surfboard in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. As a matter of fact, on its return voyage I worked it again, this time from Grid BK89, a little closer to Hawaii heading west. It had left Hawaii in January and returned in April, making some 1,600 QSOs. I believe that the operator was actually in California utilizing a satellite link.
