The K1N Navassa DXpedition team hopes to be on the air with up to eight stations in less than 2 weeks, offering a “once in 32 years” opportunity to work the most-wanted DXCC entity. It’s been 22 years since the last Navassa operation, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), which is responsible for the island, will not permit another operation for at least more 10 years. The team said its exact departure date will not be determined until the last minute and will depend on the USFWS and on weather conditions. The team will arrive at its staging point a few days before the earliest possible departure window and will be ready for rapid deployment to Navassa.

“As soon as the USFWS has landed on the island and declared it is safe to proceed, we will start the helicopter flights and commence operations,” the K1N team said this week in a media release.

“We hope to have a basic camp established by the end of the first day, and, if things go extremely well, we hope to have several stations on the air by nightfall on the second day,” the K1N media release said. “Helicopter deployment will continue for 3 days before the camp is fully established. A boat landing is not possible this time of year.” The team will have to move additional equipment and supplies ashore manually.

The K1N team will take along a VHF/UHF transceiver and an Arrow antenna in the hope of making some satellite contacts via FO-29. The dates and times of satellite operation will depend upon the availability of operators and pass times. AMSAT has provided the DXpedition with a Yaesu FT-817 transceiver and associated equipment as well as pass predictions, an operational plan, and training.

The K1N stations will always operate split frequency, listening up or down, depending upon band plan, so do not transmit on the DXpedition’s frequency. “The QRM problem is one reason we are not publishing our operating frequencies. We will also try hard to keep our splits narrow as possible to avoid annoying non-DXers,” the K1N team said. “It is absolutely necessary to listen to the instructions of the DXpedition operator.” The K1N operators will listen in the US General and Advanced segments. At least one station will be on 20 meters 24 hours/day. Operation on 160 and 12 meters will be CW only, while operation on 10 meters will be SSB only. At least one station will always be on RTTY.

The K1N DXpedition has requested stations that already have confirmed contacts with Navassa Island on certain bands not to call K1N on that band, to give others a better opportunity. Logs will be uploaded several times daily to ClubLog and “sooner rather than later” to Logbook of The World (LoTW).

The DXpedition also hopes to combat malicious interference. “Deliberate QRM has been a major hindrance on both ends of the pileups in recent years and is worsening. There is a tab on our website where you can help us identify QRMing stations,” the team said. “This tab will not be active until the DXpedition comes on the air.”

Using the data it receives, the K1N pilots hope to develop a “heat map” of interference locations. “This was covertly tested during the recent FT4TA Tromelin DXpedition and even with limited data input, several deliberate QRMing stations could be identified within a very small area!” the K1N team said.