Welcome to ZS8T - Marion Island!

In such a short space of time two of the most wanted DXCC entities have been made possible by one man. Petrus ZS6GCM, most recently on Bouvet as 3Y0E, is now headed to another rare DXCC - Marion Island using the callsign ZS8T. Within ZS8T.net you will find an abundance of information, discussions, images/movies and enough viewing to entice you into working Petrus. The entire ZS8T Team would be delighted if you joined us in following Petrus by subscribing to the RSS-feed or our ZS8T-newsletter.

It has been little over a month since Petrus ZS6GCM started his journey to Marion Island and we are glad to report that the staff takeover period is completed and the SA Agulhas is making its journey back to Cape Town.

Petrus and Rhy ZS6DXB have been in contact and are happy to report on the following.

• Petrus has already undergone a full circle walk around the Island with one of the research scientists, and has been out of base camp for the past week.

• The team is currently on cleaning duty since the takeover and is now cleaning the entire camp - furthermore it is business as usual and all is well.

• Petrus is planning on starting construction of the antennas this week and will be QRV as ZS8T by May 9th, 2008.

• Petrus has also confirmed that the newly installed satellite internet system on Marion Island is working beyond expectations to date, so correspondence between Petrus and the ZS8T team are a lot easier than during the Bouvet Island 3Y0E operation.

We hereby say good luck to all in working ZS8T and we look forward to seeing your callsign in the ZS8T logbook. We will, of course, notify you all on the first lucky contacts that make it into the log and of any further developments.

73 and good hunting
Rhynhardt Louw ZS6DXB

ZS8T Press Officer/Logistical Support
http://zs8t.net/
zs6dxb@kats.za.net

Good news for the last day of March. Thanks to suitable weather conditions, SA Agulhas (aka “Red Taxi”) reached Marion Island today in the early hours without any difficulties. This means Petrus ZS8T is now at Marion Island, where this will be his QTH for at least 12 months.

We’d like to remind the current research team scheduled for 2008/2009 inc. its leader - Petrus ZS8T) is overloaded with work which has to be completed in the next few weeks. This is why ZS8T’s activity won’t start earlier than end of April.

With regards the above, please keep in mind, especially on April 1st, when false spots may hit dx-clusters leading to chaos and misunderstandings (as it already happened with previous Petrus’ activity from Bouvet isl).

The beginning of ZS8T’s activity will be announced only at ZS8T.net website as a confirmation you may start chasing one of the most wanted DXCC entities - Marion Island.

*we hope to have the first pictures of Marion Island (from Petrus) as soon as possible.

UPDATE: ZS8T spotted today at 16:49z on 14.255.00 was a fake of course…

March 26, 2008 - Destination: Marion Island.

Within the past few minutes, Press Officer ZS6DXB has informed that Petrus ZS6GCM is onboard the SA Agulhas (South Africa’s polar research vessel). The ship will be going straight to Marion Island.

Depending on weather, Petrus may arrive at  Marion in as short as five days. However, should the weather deteoriate, there is a fair chance landing on ZS8 could be delayed. The support team will keep you updated as best we can on this. You may like to join us by following the progress of the SA Agulhas

Moments before Petrus boarded the Agulhas, he managed to send through some images from Table Bay. Prior to these pictures, all radio equipment had been safely loaded, with only a few items still to go onboard.

We’d like to remind you that once Petrus is on ZS8, it will take approx three to four weeks before any radio equipment is used. This is due to a changeover time in working patterns and general settling in on the island.

Would you like to learn more about Petrus’ trip to ZS8T? ARMI conducted a 12 minute audio interview with Petrus which is packed full of interesting information - a kind of short insight into the life of ZS6GCM / ZS8T / 3Y0E.

Thanks to The South African Radio League you may listen to the interview by hitting the big arrow on the player.

Last weekend some members of the ZS8T team gathered in Cape Town, South Africa at David’s ZS1BCE to assemble all the equipment before loading it on SA Agulhas.

Thanks to fantastic efforts of our sponsors, everything arrived in time, coming to South Africa from different parts of the world via Fed Ex, UPS and such.

Rhy ZS6DXB spend entire days with Petrus ZS6GCM/1 on antennas’ construction, installing software for digimodes, and the most crucial, explaining all of important things regarding operation on IC-7000, the power amplifier, Signalink card etc. to Petrus.

Petrus was amazed at the new possibilities he will have down there in ZS8. He has been listening very carefully, asking very good questions that helped him to learn faster. Nevertheless, unlike on Bouvet island, this time his stay in Marion will have a huge advantage: he will be able to get instant support regarding the rig from the team.

All the radio equipment has been double checked as there is no place for mistakes and failures at Marion Island… And Petrus’ departure comes faster than you might think…

All the guys at David’s had a glass of wine to celebrate forthcoming departure for Marion Island. We just wonder, was it this wine that they have had there? :-)