Get ready!

Arguably, the most important DXpedition of the year.

KH5 ranks seventeenth on the most wanted list. It consists of two islands: Palmyra and Jarvis. While the larger Palmyra atoll has been activated numerous times in the past, in almost 80 years there have only been two expeditions to Jarvis Island: first, AD1S/KH5 in November 1983 which made 16,800 QSOs and second, AH3C/KH5J in April 1990 which made 55,000 QSOs.

Jarvis Island (formerly known as Bunker Island or Bunker’s Shoal) is an uninhabited 4.5 km2 (1.7 sq mi) coral island located in the South Pacific Ocean, about halfway between Hawaii and the Cook Islands. It is an unincorporated, unorganized territory of the United States, administered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. It literally took years for a team of activators to obtain a number of permits to land and operate. The cost has already passed USD $500K mark.

What makes the expedition unique: there will be two teams of operators; five expeditioners physically located on the island and group of operators who will remotely operate radios installed on the island. To say that pileups will be enormous would be an understatement. The entire ham radio population, worldwide, will be on the air chasing N5J.

For us, the path to Jarvis is entirely over salt water so getting this new one in your log would be just a matter of persistency. But don’t expect to break the pileup on day one – or two. There will be thousands of callers fighting you on all bands, at all times.

You can find more about the expedition here: https://jarvisisland2024.com/

And while you are there: take a moment to check out the announcement of SuperFox FT8 mode. https://jarvisisland2024.com/operating/super-fox-mode

Like it or not: this could be the last chance in your lifetime to work Jarvis, so don’t miss it.