Update January 8, 2026:  Heading to Navarino Island with 3G9S
The 3G9S team is already on board the «Kaweskar» ferry, waiting to set sail towards our destination: Navarino Island  Smooth trip
The flight from Santiago to Punta Arenas had no delays, and all our luggage arrived safely (we hope the contents are intact). The hostel in Punta Arenas was very comfortable, and the hosts treated us wonderfully.

Technical preparations
We managed to buy what we were missing, mainly oil for our generator and a few small items. We tried a quick communication test with our JPC-7 antenna, but realized the tuning coil was missing. During the pre-flight inspection in Santiago, the police asked us to manually check the antenna we carried in our hand luggage (since it has parts that may be considered unsuitable for flying), and unfortunately, the coil piece was left behind at the Santiago airport. A pity, but we move forward.

A touch of history
During our short stay in Punta Arenas, we visited the Museo del Recuerdo, which has an excellent collection from the late 19th and early 20th centuries: steam machinery, railroads, cinema, livestock ranches, and more. Highly recommended!

Meeting fellow hams
At night, we met with Rodrigo CE8WDB, with whom we shared many radio amateur anecdotes. We thank him very much for his support.

The journey begins
Thus begins our more than 30-hour voyage. Once we arrive on the island, we will be updating our activity.

Follow us on social media

    Instagram: @dx3g9s, @ce2pm, @cris.ce2gt
    Facebook & TikTok: @JuncalDX
    Website: 3g9s.org

If possible, we will be doing live transmissions.
Thank you, and see you on the pile-up! 

Update November 1, 2025: Announced dates are January 10-17, 2026.

Update October 26, 2025:  After dedicating ourselves to our jobs to get some time for our expedition, we’ve resumed preparations for the small activity at 3G9S.

We already have our plane tickets from Santiago to Punta Arenas and the ferry transfer to Navarino Island.

Cristian CE2GT and Rafael CE2YWW (who has already obtained his new callsign CE2) have participated in the CQWW for a few moments now.

We already have the DXWorld-e 500W amplifier, and our Flex 8400 has also arrived, which we hope to configure so it can be used by radio amateurs around the world remotely. We still need to learn the configuration through Starlink, a new challenge.

Soon we’ll be setting up and testing our main antennas, a BuddyHex and a DXCommander Expedition. We hope to manage to build a couple of wire antennas for the 30 and 80-meter bands.

Being just two radio amateurs on the island, it will be a challenge to set up all the bands in a short time, but but we'll give it our best shot, and we'll also try to build a line filter to keep the generator
noise down.

We’re hoping to test all our setup by the end of November or early December.

The expedition is a new experience for us and we’re enjoying the pre parations to the max.

More updates soon.

Update July 15, 2025: The meeting point is the city of Punta Arenas, Chile from where a ferry departs to the city of Puerto Williams (approximately a 32-hour journey). The transportation company is called Tabsa and publishes the definite dates and times of departure 6 months in advance, so by the first week of August, the final date should be available. If they maintain what is scheduled until December, the probable departures are on January 1 or January 5. The ferry returns to the city of Punta Arenas 7 days later. (10 days in total of the trip to carry out the activity)

The transportation cost is $300 dollars per person round trip + luggage. We are in the stage of coordinating details such as transportation from the seaport to the cabin round trip, food, water, among others. We are looking for the most efficient and economical way to do it.

The most challenging point so far is electricity since we will need at least a 3000W generator which has already been quoted on the island for a value of 30 dollars per day (250 dollars aprox total and the fuel will be about 350 dollars, but we need to figure out how to get it to the transmission site)

The place to sleep will be the same where the radio station is, a cabin 100 meters from the sea that costs $25 dollars per night per person (beds, shower, hot water, heating, basic solar electricity for lighting, refrigerator included).

The calls will be:

 — 3G9S (main call CE9 zone, POTA and WWFF).
 — CB9N (remote operations, only valid for CE9 zone).
 — XR9N Only test, early visit to the island if it is possible and, and during the trip.

73.CE2PM

The friends of JuncalDX from the Aconcagua Valley, eager to enjoy amateur radio, participate in and organize various amateur radio activities, such as the 3rd Chilean DX Congress and participation in international contests like CQWW or CQWPX, POTA activations, lighthouses, and others.

CB9N, XR9N and 3G9S will be the special callsigns that will be part of the expedition to the Chilean Antarctic Province CE9 on Isla Navarino, taking place during the first half of January 2026. Info as follows:

— QTH: IOTA SA-050. Navarino Island, Chile (Provincia Antártica Chilena, CE9 Zone).
— Callsigns: 3G9S, CB9N, XR9N.
— Operators: “Pelao” Miguel CE2PM, “Cris” Garcia CE2GT
— Dates, first half of January 2026 (will be confirmed soon).
— Rig: 3x ICOM 7300, 1x ICOM 705.
— Power: 100W.
— Antennas: 1 x Buddihex, 1 x Hexbeam NA4RR, 1 x DX Commander Expedition.
— Bands: 40-6 (80-160 will be confirmed soon).
— Modes: SSB, FT8 & CW.
— QSL detail: DIRECT OQRS.