A nice evening hanging out on the bands waiting for the Sable Island, CY0S operation to get underway. Things there were delayed a bit so I spent time once again exploiting opportunities using FT4. Nothing new to be found, though I was able to add a few DXCC band-points for the Challenge.

It was another case of calling one JA station and then being called by a half-dozen more of them. I obviously had a good path into that region and it never gets old to be piled upon, however gently, by the DX for a change. The night also included visits with Hawaii, Chile, and Australia. (I heard this morning that Sable came up a little after midnight last night.)

Before sunrise, and while the coffee was still brewing this morning, I saw that the CY0S operation on Sable Island was up and running. I tried them for about 45 minutes on 12 meters using FT8 with no luck. But it’s early in the operation and signals were quite strong giving me some confidence that I will get them in the log eventually though they will get spread pretty thin with the expected EME and other activities.

Wikipedia: Sable Island is a small Canadian island situated 300 km (190 mi) southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and about 175 km (109 mi) southeast of the closest point of mainland Nova Scotia in the North Atlantic Ocean. The island is staffed year round by three federal government staff, rising during summer months when research projects and tourism increase.

The pileups have been sizable and there’s some DQRM, to the point that I believe DXpeditions will eventually go all digital, but overall its been nothing like the dogpile for Bouvet.

The latest news from the island was updated last night and included some photos. See you in the pile-up!