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<DIV><FONT size=2><FONT face=Tahoma size=3>The International DXpedition to Ducie
Island, VP6DX in the South Pacific will be on the air February 10 through
28.<BR><BR>At present containers with equipment are on their way to New
Zealand.<BR><BR>The team led by the German DXer Carsten, DL6LAU, comprises
outstanding operators from Germany, Estonia, USA, Russia, Poland and Greece.
They will set up 7 stations; 5 of them will have a kilowatt amplifier provided
by the Bulgarian private company ACOM and two of them will be used at 100
watts.<BR><BR>A variety of antennas will be used: on 160 meters phased, linear
loaded verticals, on 80 metres two 4-squares for SSB and CW at the same time, on
40 and 30 meters – 4-squares, on 20, 17, 15, 12 and 10 meters – phased vertical
dipoles and on 6 meters – a Yagi beam antenna.<BR><BR>Ducie Island, a rarely
visited island atoll, has been part of the Pitcairn Islands since 1902. There
are no permanent inhabitants. The atoll is located 540 km east of Pitcairn and
has a total area, including the lagoon, of 3.9 sq. km. There are four islets on
the rim of the atoll. The land area is 0.7 sq. km.<BR><BR>Portuguese sailor
Pedro Fernandez de Quiros discovered Ducie on January 26, 1606 and named it La
Encarnacion.<BR>It was later rediscovered by the British in 1791 by Captain
Edward Edwar who commanded the Pandorra while searching for the mutineers from
the Bounty. Ducie Island is named after Baron Ducie, a captain in the Royal
Navy.<BR><BR>The island was claimed in 1867 for the United States under the
Guano Islands Act and the UK annexed the island in 1902.<BR><BR><BR>Fonte: Radio
Bulgaria DX Programme</FONT></FONT></DIV>
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