Excellent and fun graphic by VK0EK Team Artist, Jeff, K1NSS

Its been a few years in the making and a lot of hard work by a lot of wonderful people. Three years ago I approached Bob, KK6EK about being a “Pilot” for the Heard Island DXpedition that he had announced at Visalia. Since he only lives 2 towns over, he invited me over to “Chez KK6EK” right at the foot of Mount Diablo.

We became great friends, and I joined the TX5K Clipperton DXpedition right at the end of that projects planning. Bob did what he does everyone – he asked me if there was anything “more” or “new” that I could bring to the TX5K DXpedition. At the time, I worked for Lithium Technologies, a “Social Media” company, now located in San Francisco. I was the Data Warehouse Lead Engineer, and had poured over social media data and statistics. I had been immersed in “Social Media”. I thought, what the heck – lets try some of this social media stuff on a DXpedition. From TX5K, the DXpedition “Live Blog” was born. And that tradition continues with the same goal – to thank all of our supporters and families by attempting to make you feel like your are “going along for the ride”.

Going back to Heard Island has been Bob’s dream, and so I helped him organize this project and have enjoyed it immensely. The best part of all of this is the fantastic team that we have assembled – both the team on the island, the crew of the Braveheart, and the many “back office” support team members. Anyone and everyone who has supported us – financially, with in kind donations – or just going along for the ride and sharing your stories and thoughts are also part of this team. All of our teams pictures are posted in the Team section of this site – take a few minutes to see how many great people are aboard. Think about all the “little things” that in a lot of ways are huge:

• Procuring, cleaning, preparing, testing, packing and loading gear in a 20′ container (in Walnut Creek, CA and Palmyra, VA)
• Making sure the container gets to Cape Town and is secure and making sure it passes stringent requirements that enable landing on Heard Island
• Negotiating with ships who would actually undertake such a journey
• Writing software to support the project
• Fund raising
• Working with science organizations and many schools interested in the science (and now ham radio) aspects of this project!
• Handling support tickets with the “Contact Us” Freshdesk system
• Tons of phone calls, in person meetings and Skype conferences
• Many, many more – all coming together to make this happen

This is the tiny “calm before the RF storm” and I just wanted to thank everyone for helping to make this happen – and I hope you make your ATNO, band slots and everything else that you want this DXpedition and Expedition to be.

Godspeed to the team for a smooth setup and DXpedition / Expedition.

73 and Best DX to you!

Rich, KY6R