ARCHIVE: Australian Ham Radio Discussion Forum ( AHRDF )

News today that the latest dxpedition to Bouvet Island has been aborted because the ship has been damaged by extreme, life-endangering weather? This is the second time in 12 months that this is happened.

Is it right that a hobby, which is really what ham radio is, encourages people to attempt to travel to remote and dangerous places like Bouvet so a person sitting in comfort at home can chalk up another "rare one?

I have 238 DXCC entities confirmed, but I would be horrified if my quest to get 3Y in the log meant that lives were lost during the attempt to provide the contact.

Could the money spent on these "Dx-expeditions" be better spent in promoting AR as a whole rather than just satisfying the cravings of a just one section of the AR community? 

Is it time to re-think the whole DXCC idea?

73

Wayne VK4WDM  (I have been to Antarctica by ship and know a little bit of what that part of the world can offer weather-wise).

There are lots of hobbies that are dangerous. People arent forced to do them.
If there werent people at home looking for their signal, they wouldn't bother going in the first place.
It all works together. Some people like adventure others like to stay at home.

Over many years I was involved in what some call an extreme sport.  A group of like-minded folk would spend our time and cash diving on deep shipwrecks.

Risk is a funny thing, we were all very aware of the potential dangers, but we managed the risks we could and planned everything as best we could.

The thing is we enjoyed it and no one was at the back of the boat pointing a gun at us to make us jump into the water.

Even the aborted trips still have an element of fun for the participants, so the planning and aborted execution are all part of the game.  These folks have aborted twice, good on them - pulling the pin is hard but sometimes is the smart thing to do.

It would be a boring old world if we all stayed wrapped up in our cotton wool cocoons and no one went to the edge and had a peek.

Accept their kind efforts and thank them for the successes and the aborted trips (I deliberately didn't say failed - an aborted adventure isn't a failure, it's just and alternate outcome.).

No.

These guys are managing the risk.

I agree with Leigh and Colin.