A big one to watch for

Without any doubt, the most important DXpedition in the month of January is Clipperton Island TX5S.

The Perseverance DX Group (PDXG) is organizing a team of experienced DXpedition and contest operators to activate Clipperton Island (IOTA NA-011), currently ClubLog #38 most wanted (#26EU). The team will be QRV on 160-6 meters, SSB, CW, RTTY, FT8, 6m EME, and Satellites. They plan to leave San Diego, California on Jan 11, 2024 and arrive at Clipperton Jan 17, 2024. The current schedule is to be on the island for 14 days. The call sign TX5S was issued for this project.

Clipperton Island is an uninhabited coral atoll in the eastern Pacific Ocean. It is 10,677 km from Paris, France, 5,400 km from Papeete, Tahiti, and 1,080 km from Mexico. It is an overseas state private property of France under direct authority of the Minister of the Overseas. The weather will be tropical with hot temperatures and high humidly. The team will erect tents for radio operations, sleeping and eating.

“The island is inhabited by various bird species and millions of crabs. Our campsite will be sited to avoid disturbance to the wildlife. Establishing a camp site required extensive research, documentation and permission from several government agencies, each of which approved our plan. The most recent major DXpeditions to Clipperton were: 2013 as TX5K, in 2008 as TX5C and in 2000 as FO0AAA. Additionally, during 2015 there was a scientific expedition to Clipperton. Operating as TX5P, Alain F6BFH made several thousand contacts. There has never been FT8 or 60m operation from Clipperton.

If you miss this one – it could be ten years until Clipperton is back on air again!

For more, see https://clip.pdxg.net/

Note for FT8 casers: WSJT-x in Fox/Hound mode. Meaning: you must transmit on nominal frequency + 1000Hz in audio spectrum, or higher.

The boat is now 10km of the shore, in fairly rough weather, with landing expected sometime today.