Update April 22, 2024:  Press Release nr. 4

IOTA OC-081 and POTA K-0115 Release

Since the Dateline DX Association announced plans for activating Jarvis Island this summer many have asked if we could arrange with IOTA and POTA program organizers to secure approval of our DXpedition.

 Jarvis is one of the rarest of the IOTA counters, having been off the air for 34 years.  It is needed by 82% of IOTA program participants.

Because of the requirements set by the permit of the USFWS, while the stations and antennas and power are all set up on Jarvis Island, the local operators must conduct the DXpedition from the MV Magnet which will still be in the Jarvis Island National Wildlife Refuge just offshore.

Both the IOTA and POTA programs have agreed to recognize QSOs made by the local operators but will not allow QSOs made by internet remote operators to count.   Therefore QSOs made by AA7JV, HA7RY, N1DG, KO8SCA and KN4EEI will count for the awards.   Daily uploads by the N5J team to clublog will identify the operators.   Additionally at the beginning of each operator shift the team will endeavor to post on the cluster the callsign of the operator so chasers have some real time notice.   At this time all phone operations are expected to be by the at Island team as well giving that mode 100% IOTA/POTA certaintly.

In addition to the five operators mentioned above, there is an experienced team of 24 operators from 8 countries operating up to 6 stations around the clock ensuring DXers around the globe have ample opportunity to add an ATNO or band fill to their DXCC totals.

This is an expensive DXpedition to one of the rarest entities that DXers will see in 2024.  Please visit our website, www.jarvisisland2024.com and make a donation to help us put this one on the air.
Don, N1DG and George AA7JV for the N5J team. 

Update April 17, 2024:   Press Release nr. 3

The Dateline DX Association is pleased to announce that due to the increasing interest in our DXpedition to this rare DXCC entity we are adding another local operator to our team.

Please welcome KO8SCA, Adrian Ciuperca, to our at-island team.  A well known and experienced DXpeditioner, Adrian works as an IT consultant, a much needed component to any remote operation.  He is a newly inducted member of the CQ DX Hall of Fame and a YASME award of Excellence winner.

Adrian is a keen DXer with DXCC 318, 9BDXCC, IOTA, as well as being a passionate contester. He competed in WRTC 2018 in Wittenberg, Germany as well as at the 2023 edition of WRTC in Bologna, Italy.

Adrian has taken part in over 30 DXpeditions to destinations including W8S Swains Island, 3Y0J Bouvet Island, J2, Z6, OJ0, VP2V, PJ2, PJ4, A5, ZK3, V8, TX0M/TX0A, 6O, 9M0, FJ, FM, J3, J8, VK9C, VK9X, VP5, VP9, and Z2. Recently he has been a guest operator at 4U1UN and HV0A

His preferred operating mode is CW, but he is also active in SSB and digital modes. Adrian is a member of several amateur radio DX and contesting clubs, namely, NCDXF, INDEXA (board director), YCCC, FOC, CWOPS, LIDXA, Order of Boiled Owls of New York, LICWC, NYCDXA, WECA, Araucária DX Group, RRC.

This is an expensive DXpedition to one of the rarest entities that DXers will see in 2024.  Please visit our website, www.jarvisisland2024.com and make a donation to help us put this one on the air.
George, AA7JV, and Don, N1DG, for the N5J team.

Update April 8, 2024: It is 83 days to our departure for Jarvis Island from American Samoa. We are busy building and testing equipment. In addition to the RIBs, a lot of our gear is built by us, specifically designed for remote operation where reliability is key. We have finalized the station configuration. We will have six stations on the island. Four of the station are set up to be remotely operated and two will be locally operated, although we do have the flexibility to operated any station locally (from the boat) or remotely via Starlink and the Internet.

Update March 22, 2024: According to DX-World they will use the callsing N5J.

We have received permisison from the US Fish and Wildlife Service to land on Jarvis Island for a 13 day DXpedition, starting around August 1, 2024 (the date may change due to WX). We will have  6 RIB stations on the island, including a 160 meter station. While August is not idea for the low bands, we are greatful for the permit to operate. The time of the year was not our choice. 160m will be very challanging for EU (near impossible) as there is no common darkness but we will install a good RX antenna. The TX antenna will be a 45 ft tall vertical without top loading (wires can hurt birds). While this is a compromise antenna, it will be standing in salt water at most tides and should put out a decent signal. EU stations on 80m will have better chance, albeit still small. No matter, we will put in the time and effort at both our SS and SR. You never know with TB. We will also have a 6m station with a 6 element Yagi. 

[PRESS RELEASE #1] – The Dateline DX Association is pleased to announce it has received permission from the USFWS for a DXpedition to Jarvis Island National Wildlife Reserve this August. Jarvis is ranked nr. 18 on Club Log’s global most wanted list. It is number 9 in Europe. Jarvis Island is 450 miles from Palmyra Atoll and 1500 miles from Hawaii.

Jarvis was last on the air in 1990 and permission to visit has been difficult to obtain. We have worked very hard for the past few years on this permission and after demonstrating the success of the RIB concept with remote operators from various locations in 2023 we have received a permit that allows 4 operators on the boat to visit Jarvis with 6 stations on land.

The small team of four, consisting of George, AA7JV, Don, N1DG, Tomi, HA7RY and Mike, KN4EEI, will install 6 RIB stations on Jarvis, operating on 160 to 6 meters, using CW, SSB and FT8 modes. The on-island team will be augmented by 25 remote operators from Asia, Europe and North America, running CW and FT8. FT8 operations will use the Fox/Hound mode. The RIB equipment, which makes an efficient small footprint operation possible, was developed with the support of the NCDXF.

We will be accompanied to Jarvis by a team of 3 USFWS biologists conducting science.

Callsign, website and additional information will be announced shortly.

We wish to thank the staff of the USFWS in Hawaii for their hard work in approving this minimally invasive operation on Jarvis Island NWR.

73 George AA7JV and Don N1DG, permit holders for the Jarvis Island NWR 2024 DXpedition.