{"id":7505,"date":"2013-10-05T11:14:38","date_gmt":"2013-10-05T15:14:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=7505"},"modified":"2013-10-05T11:14:38","modified_gmt":"2013-10-05T15:14:38","slug":"shutdown-wake-island-dxpedition-on-ice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/10\/shutdown-wake-island-dxpedition-on-ice\/","title":{"rendered":"Shutdown: Wake Island DXpedition on ice"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WakeIsland\"<\/a>I’ve been somewhat amazed at the number of ways the US government shutdown<\/a> has had an impact upon radio.<\/p>\n

Many ham radio operators are aware of the upcoming Wake Island DXpedition<\/a>\u00a0commemorating the 70th anniversary of the World War II massacre; everything had been arranged in advance, including payment for the flight to Wake Island.\u00a0But as the last leg of the operators’ trip to Wake Island relies upon a coordinated venture with the US Air Force, just as many USAF employees suddenly find themselves on furlough,\u00a0the trip has been placed on hold until the shutdown ends.\u00a0This is particularly unfortunate in that DXpeditions are pricey ventures; the total cost of the Wake Island DXpedition cost each radio operator $9,000 out-of-pocket, for a grand total of $140,000 US.<\/p>\n

I received the following message from the DXpedition on Wednesday:<\/p>\n

To All:<\/p>\n

Those of us on the Wake Atoll DXpedition team were scheduled to depart today\u00a0for Hawaii, on our way to Wake Island Friday.<\/p>\n

However, because of the U.S. Government shutdown yesterday, the DXpedition\u00a0has been delayed. The USAF is preoccupied with sequestration activities and\u00a0many staff personnel have been furloughed.<\/p>\n

We are hoping this is a short-term delay, as we continue to pursue the\u00a0approval process. As soon as a revised schedule is finalized, new dates\u00a0will be posted on the Wake DXpedition website.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/wake2013.org\/<\/p>\n

In the meantime, thanks to all for your continued support.<\/p>\n

73,
\nJohn Miller, K6MM<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yesterday, the DXpedition actually caught the attention of the Reuters news service:<\/p>\n

(Source: Reuters<\/a>)<\/p>\n

For anyone questioning the reach of the federal government shutdown, consider Wake Island.<\/p>\n

Not much more than military-plane refueling and classified operations occur on the unincorporated U.S. territory, a coral atoll located between Hawaii and\u00a0Guam<\/a>, about 6,700 miles (10,780 kilometers) from the legislative standoff in\u00a0Washington<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That was about to change this week with the arrival of a dozen ham-radio operators who thought they\u2019d won approval for a two-week commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the World War II massacre of almost 100 U.S. civilian contractors on Wake Island by the Japanese on Oct. 7, 1943.<\/p>\n

Instead, after months of preparation, the trip is on ice because of a paperwork delay the group attributes to the partial federal shutdown, which started Oct. 1 as Republicans and Democrats failed to agree on a stopgap spending measure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey made it sound like it was just unfortunate timing,\u201d said\u00a0Craig Thompson<\/a>, 61, one of the expedition\u2019s leaders. \u201cAt the level that it was at, they were focused on what they had to do to shut down government, to prepare their budgets and deal with all of the other changes that were going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

The operation was of special interest to tens of thousands of ham operators inside and outside the U.S. The hobbyists collect contacts with all countries and islands in a practice known as DXing. Because Wake Island hasn\u2019t had a major radio\u00a0expedition<\/a>\u00a0since 1998, there\u2019s great demand for its confirmation of a contact there.<\/p>\n

All the paperwork was in place, except for final travel orders that needed one last Pentagon signature, said Thompson, an electronics company owner from central\u00a0Illinois<\/a>\u00a0who is a veteran of radio expeditions to other remote locales, including Midway Island and Swains Island in thePacific Ocean<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[…]The U.S.\u00a0Air Force<\/a>\u00a0manages Wake and access is restricted. The group was to fly commercial on Oct. 2 to Honolulu, where they would have then boarded a military flight today to Wake.<\/p>\n

The decision to cancel was made late on Oct. 1 after determining the group probably wouldn\u2019t get final approval in time to catch the second flight, flown once every two weeks.<\/p>\n

[Continue reading the full article on Reuters…]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Follow this, and other radio-related stories around the US government shutdown, by following the tag\u00a0shutdown<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been somewhat amazed at the number of ways the US government shutdown has had an impact upon radio. Many ham radio operators are aware of the upcoming Wake Island DXpedition\u00a0commemorating the 70th anniversary of the World War II massacre; everything had been arranged in advance, including payment for the flight to Wake Island.\u00a0But as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,399,3,43],"tags":[2224,2205,2202,2223],"class_list":["post-7505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-dxpeditions","category-news","category-shortwave-radio","tag-dxpedition","tag-shutdown","tag-us-government-shutdown","tag-wake-island-dxpedition"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-1X3","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17889,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/03\/heard-island-dxpedition-vk0ek-live-via-wbcq-tonight\/","url_meta":{"origin":7505,"position":0},"title":"Heard Island DXpedition (VK0EK) live via WBCQ tonight","author":"Thomas","date":"March 22, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: ARRL) [...]At 0000 UTC on March 23 (the evening of Tuesday, March 22, in US time zones), Tom Medlin, W5KUB, host of the weekly \u201cAmateur Radio Roundtable\u201d video webcast and radio program, hopes to make ham radio media history by interviewing the DXpedition team live on his webcast. Audio\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DXpeditions"","block_context":{"text":"DXpeditions","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/dxpeditions\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"heard-live-with-text","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/heard-live-with-text.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":33003,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/06\/the-story-behind-the-recent-bouvet-island-3y0z-dxpedition-attempt\/","url_meta":{"origin":7505,"position":1},"title":"The story behind the recent Bouvet Island 3Y0Z DXpedition attempt","author":"Thomas","date":"June 28, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: Southgate ARC) Bob, K4UEE, narrated an interesting PowerPoint presentation at both the recent DX Forum at the Dayton HamVention and the W5DXCC\/HamCom. This presentation includes a summary of the 3Y0Z DXpedition with stunning pictures, their Vessel vetting process, what they learned, planned refund of remaining funds, another attempt, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ham Radio"","block_context":{"text":"Ham Radio","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/ham-radio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DAP-Ship-3Y0Z.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DAP-Ship-3Y0Z.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DAP-Ship-3Y0Z.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DAP-Ship-3Y0Z.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":31571,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/st-bandon-3b7a-an-all-sdr-dxpedition\/","url_meta":{"origin":7505,"position":2},"title":"St. Bandon (3B7A): An all-SDR DXpedition","author":"Thomas","date":"April 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mike Hansgen (K8RAT), for passing along this press release from SunSDR: The 3B7A Saint Brandon\u00a0team is now active from Saint Brandon and we are exited! This is the first major DXpedition that will be using only SDR transcievers in its setup.[...] Using past experience\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ham Radio"","block_context":{"text":"Ham Radio","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/ham-radio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/3B7-antennas-with-logo-v3-1024x334.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/3B7-antennas-with-logo-v3-1024x334.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/3B7-antennas-with-logo-v3-1024x334.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":31799,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/gary-debock-shares-most-distant-catch-from-cook-island-dxpedition\/","url_meta":{"origin":7505,"position":3},"title":"Gary DeBock shares most distant catch from Cook Island DXpedition","author":"Thomas","date":"April 28, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Gary DeBock, who shares the following note about his recent\u00a0Cook Island DXpedition: The farthest DX received during the Cook Island DXpedition (on Aitutaki island) was 657-All India Radio in Kolkata, India, at 8,072 miles (12,991 km). Recorded by accident during a sunrise check of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Map-DX.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Map-DX.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Map-DX.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Map-DX.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":36397,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2019\/03\/guest-post-2019-henrys-island-dxpedition-catches\/","url_meta":{"origin":7505,"position":4},"title":"Guest Post: 2019 Henry\u2019s Island DXpedition catches","author":"Thomas","date":"March 10, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Sandipan Basu Mallick (VU3JXD), for sharing the following guest post: 2019 Henry\u2019s Island DXpedition with Perseus - Logs by Debanjan Chakraborty (VU3DCH) This year\u2019s DXpedition to Henry\u2019s Island on 10th -13th Feb 2019 witnessed some of the finest receivers available in the country. Among\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DXpeditions"","block_context":{"text":"DXpeditions","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/dxpeditions\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Henry%E2%80%99s-Island-DXpedition-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Henry%E2%80%99s-Island-DXpedition-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Henry%E2%80%99s-Island-DXpedition-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Henry%E2%80%99s-Island-DXpedition-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":35198,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/marks-tree-house-dxpedition-in-bali\/","url_meta":{"origin":7505,"position":5},"title":"Mark’s Tree House DXpedition in Bali","author":"Thomas","date":"December 16, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I recently received an email from SWLing Post\u00a0friend, contributor and Patron, Mark Fahey, who is currently enjoying a fascinating DXpedition. Many thanks to Mark who has allowed me to share a few of his notes from the trip. Mark writes: I am at Susut, in the Bangli Regency, on the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DX"","block_context":{"text":"DX","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/dx\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Mark-Fahey-Indonesia-Treehouse-DXing-Loops-DXpedition3-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Mark-Fahey-Indonesia-Treehouse-DXing-Loops-DXpedition3-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Mark-Fahey-Indonesia-Treehouse-DXing-Loops-DXpedition3-1024x768.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7505\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}