The Amsterdam Island DXpedition

The Amsterdam Island DXpedition team's progress continues unabated.

Essentially all the team's equipment is
now in hand and at the Atlanta staging area or undergoing final testing in preparation for shipment to Atlanta. Gear will soon be sorted into contents bound for the Mataf operating location and the Antonelli operating location (see our website page
http://www.amsterdamdx.org/ft5zm-operating-sites.

There will be no guess work about what piece of equipment goes to which site when we land. Efficiency means more time on the air and more QSO's.

Bob, N2OO, has been working on our maritime mobile operation to provide QSO's with some rare grids between Australia and Amsterdam Island. Arnie, N6HC, is our team doctor and has finalized his medical resources. Jerry, WB9Z, has been hard at work with his team cutting radials and coax, thousands of feet of each, but the job is now done. Bob, K4UEE, our chief financial officer has been watching our income and expenses and trying to be as frugal as possible without compromising our ability to generate lots of QSO's.
Craig, K9CT, has been putting our K3's and bandpass filters through extensive testing and has worked with Neil/VA7DX, Gregg/W6IZT, and George/N4GRN on our network and logging protocol.
Erling/LA6VM and Andy/UA3AB have been working hard to inform Europeans of our progress and peak their interest, while VE7CT beats the drum in Canada.
Michel, FM5CD, has worked closely with the French authorities, answering their questions and Nodir, EY8MM, has focused on our low band capabilities. Jorge, HK1R, has worked hard to generate interest in South America.

The berth and fuel for our ship has been reserved in Fremantle, Australia,
and our New Zealand customs agent has been retained. We've submitted a 'shopping list' to our friends in New Zealand and Australia; they will
purchase items for us that will come aboard in either Tauranga or Fremantle.

Finally, a major milestone occurred recently – something that says,
'There is no turning back now'. We made our initial payment for the
charter of our ship, the 'MV Braveheart'. This amounted to $175,000 (NZD).

Our team members are now fully vested (all in) financially.
Our next payment is due in December, so like all major DXpeditions of this magnitude, we will feel the cash flow crunch shortly.
We are hoping you can support us up front when we need the money and help us make Amsterdam a memorable DXpedition. If you've supported us, we greatly appreciate it. If you have not yet done so, please consider helping us now. All the team members will sleep a little better knowing you have our back..

Ralph K0IR

OPDX