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ZS8M – Marion IslandTuesday Jul 20, 2010
July 20
- ZS8M log now online: http://dx.qsl.net/logs/
July 14
- ZS8M QSL cards are now being processed.
May 17
- ZS8M operating images courtesy of Pierre can be found here
May 15/16
- ZS8M – 15m SSB
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- ZS8M – 17m SSB
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[courtesy RA3CQ]
May 14
- Pierre informs DX World.net that ZS8M will be active from 15 May at 04.00Z on 7.140 and then later on 14.250. Pierre will be operating from Marion Island for the next year.
April 18 - as per QRZ:
- I arrived on Marion Island on April 15th, but will be operating as ZS1HF/P until the ship leaves for Cape Town. I have too much work to complete in the field before the ship leaves and operating ZS8M just places too much pressure on me. I will try and monitor 14.240 during the day, if and when I am in the base. Keep watching QRZ.com! 73 Pierre ZS1HF/ZS8M”.
April 14
- With the SA Agulhas arrived at Marion Island, the ZS8M website is also now in the public domain. Although very much under construction, it can be found here. With limited internet access, it’s conceivable Pierre will update when time permits.
March 19 from Pierre, ZS1HF/ZS8M
- In true tradition, we have an idiot pirating my callsign – ZS8M. Shame on you! Please note….ZS8M will only be operational from approx 15 May 2010. Before I get operational, I will notify you all once ready. Please do not entertain any idiot pirating my callsign before I make further announcements. My technical training is progressing well. The complete team gathers on Tuesday 23 March in Cape Town to start team training – fire fighting, first aid and cooking etc.
March 14, 2010 [OPDX]
Pierre informs that he is currently still very busy with some technical and team training. Training includes maintenance on the Wx equipment and hydrogen generator, with team training including fire fighting, cooking and first aid. The ship leaves Cape Town on April 8th, and he will arrive on Marion Island some 6 days later. The ship that take him there will unload food and cargo, and then leave 4 weeks later once the scientists have completed their work.
Once the ship and scientists leave, he will be on the air. Pierre tells that this is his first long voyage. He has sailed before, but on some of the SA Navy ships and usually on much shorter trips. On Marion Island, Pierre’s job will be the resident radio and electronics technician for; HF, VHF, Wx station, Hydrogen generator, IT LAN, satellite system and all the other smaller systems that use 12 or 220V. He will be assisting the engineers with technical support. Pierre states, “One of the engineers will be writing her exam on the island, which will be a first for the island.”
February 8
- Pierre has confirmed he will be taking dipole antennas to Marion Island. This is mainly due to the severe winds which often occur on Marion, and to prevent birds from flying into a larger antenna structure. There is a possibility Pierre may take an amplifier too, however his weight restriction for the entire year on ZS8 is 100kg. Updates expected beginning March once Pierre’s training is in motion. A ZS8M website will be available soon.
February 5 - Initial Breaking News from DX World.net
- Pierre, ZS1HF will be operational from Marion Island (AF-021) at the end of April 2010 as ZS8M. He takes up the position of radio/electronics technician for a year once the SA Agulhas has left for Cape Town. Operating frequencies, times, QSL info to follow..
Marion Island is #3 most wanted DXCC in 2009 according to DX Magazine. 
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19 Responses to “ZS8M – Marion Island”
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Ja Boetie ek sal moet n oog op jou hou, mooi loop
Great news GL
Great news!
Vy 73 and GL Pierre. Hope to hear your signals here into North Texas.
Stay warm and be safe.
CU
Brad K5AR
Dipole antennas ?
Where are the equipments of ZS8T Petrus. Probably not very used, he was not active…
ICOM America donated an IC7000
Spiderbeam donated a 5 band HD yagi
NCDXF donated funds to obtain an Ameritron AL80 Amplifier, with a SteppIR Vertical.
Tigertronics donated a Signalink USB digital interface
LINK
Most recent news from Marion Island <--- Click
Hello dear Pierre!
I need you very very much.
ZS8 is last country for my DXCC HR#1.
See you aftre 15 may.
73 ! Vlad-RX9FM.
Hello Pierre,
Very good news.I need this country.See you.
73! Ted SP6GOX
nice i am keeping ears out there
ZS8M called me while I was running JA’s on 17m SSB last night.
Interesting, I wont confirm it though since they are trying to extort people out of $5 bucks, they can keep the card.
Good thing I dont care about chasing countries
Enjoy radio, 73 !
Matt – KQ7W
What’s up with these “Send me 5 bucks or you wont get my card” deals? What if somebody does not have $5 to pay for his ZS8M card? If I want to donate $5 that should be done on a good will basis. It is a shame that this kind of practice is becoming more and more popular among some HAM operators and in the case of ZS8M the organizations like ARRL DXCC desk, IOTA committee etc… must respond accordingly.
I hope at least IOTA committee takes an action and does not approve this activation until the guy changes his mind. Just like in the case of C91VM IOTA activations last year. The DX community must put behaviors like this to an end.
73 Dragan K0AP, Z32XX
Morning Dragon, I note your comments. Please read qrz.com and have a look at what I said about currency exchange, tax, bank charges, etc. I do NOT benefit once single cent from this action. All my equipment is self funded, except for a IC-7000, the rest I bought. The small profit that is made is being donated as per my statement on qrz.com. If you or others have a problem with that, then please do not qsl. Donations are pouring in, so I must be doing something right. The AR community is supporting my project to support others. I am here for a year and will make every effort to operate and enjoy myself.
73
Pierre
Hi Pierre,
What you are doing in regard to your Qsl policy is WRONG, period. You are demanding $5 for a Qsl card and you are not giving us other alternatives/routes but the “5 bucks” one. I myself have donated money to almost every dxpedition in the last 2-3 years… TX3A, K4M, K5D, T32, P29 just to name few… but they NEVER demanded my 5 or 10 dollars, it was all done on a voluntary/good will basis. They gave me an option, if I wanted to get my Qsl faster $3-$5 dollars donation, if I still wanted my Qsl direct but with a little delay $2, or if I wanted my Qsl via buro. You must be either relatively new to the HAM radio or completely ignorant when you don’t make difference between donation or demand. Your Qsl policy is completely against the radio HAM spirit rules and instead of giving me lesons here please login to your QRZ.com page and make the neccessary corrections.
If you were asking not demanding donations I would probably be the one among many others to send you $5, if I worked you of course.
73 Dragan K0AP, Z32XX
Pierre,
I’ll have to agree with Dragan. Your request of $5 for a QSL card is unreasonable. I say request, it’s more like a demand. You are there for work, so it’s not like you had to fund a DXpedition. And I don’t see where you offer any alternative but to pay $5 for your card.
Donations are pouring in because you did something right? The only thing you did right in this regard was to appear at a location that’s in demand on the DXCC list. There’s people who will pay whatever it takes to get a card, and apparently you know it. As Dragan also stated, the ARRL and IOTA should respond and take action.
Your activity and information about costs to send from South Africa has been added to this page. http://www.k4hb.com/scheme.html
73, Hal K4HB
Guys,
It’s quite simple – if you don’t like what Pierre is asking for, don’t send him a QSL request. It was his choice to operate from ZS8, and his decision about what smount reasonably covers his expenses in bring you the QSO and QSL. Neither you, nor ARRL or IOTA have any business trying to force anything on him. If you don’t like it, wait for someone else to activate ZS8.
I really amazes me how some “DXers” thing they have some god-given right to be worked and QSLed at their choosing.
~Iain / N6ML
PS. I have not yet worked ZS8. If I get lucky enough to work Pierre, I’ll make a decision on whether the QSL is worth $5 to me. I suspect it will be.
I’m not surprised at the reply. There’s folks out there who will say anything, do anything, and pay anything to get his QSL card. He claims on QRZ.com that their costs in South Africa are considerably higher than Europe or the states. There’s a link to the South African Post at this link, which plainly states that airmail from South Africa to all other countries is 5.75 Rand airmail and 4.85 Rand surface. If you’ll check today’s exchange rate, you see that 1 USD = 7.64 Rand.
http://www.k4hb.com/scheme.html
South Africa can send airmail for less than 1 USD. Most countries in Europe can’t do that. We can barely do that in the states. PayPal charges 3.9% + .30 for international transactions, which equates to about 50¢ for $5. There may be exchange fees, but nothing to justify charging $5 for a card.
No, ARRL and RSGB IOTA can not force anything on him, nor any other person or group. But those award programs do have every right to set rules for participating in their programs, and they have every right to disqualify any participant or any operation from their awards. RSGB IOTA did just that last October, when they disqualified C91VM. This operation was demanding $5 for their card. The IOTA committee later agreed to accept their card when this operation dropped that demand. As individuals, we have every right to be concerned about unreasonable requests to mail us a card. By giving in to these requests, what’s to stop some people or groups from requesting (actually demanding) more.
If it’s worth $5 to you for his card, then fine. I have nothing against donations to defray expenses, but that should be voluntary. In this case, it’s either donate, or you don’t get a card. DXpeditions solely for the purpose of operating radio can be expensive. Going some place for work purposes is not in that category.
73, Hal K4HB
THANKS QSP PIERRE
40m/7150 and 20m/14150/SSB
HUGE SIGNAL
REGARD: YC6NE/BILLY
HELLO PIERRE:
WAITING FORYOU 160m/80m and 15m
LET DANCING ON AIR AGAIN
BILLY-YC6NE
Hello Pierre,
Yesterday, it happened an unfortunate incident:
I was listening when you operating at 14,205 and I listened very good.
Suddenly, I heard you said goodbye and went QRT.
Then I and another colleague (previously involved in pile-up) commented to each other in Italian, but we were insulted by other om northern Europe that continues to call even though you had closed. I explained that you were in QRT but they have continued to injure us.
In this regard, in the cluster appeared the following advertisement:
14200.0 ZS8M 6-Oct-2010 1559Z easy?listen ALLWAYS ITALIA
14204.9 ZS8M 6-Oct-2010 1558Z you can listen?
14205.0 ZS8M 6-Oct-2010 1558Z is too easy to say Italians.
14205.0 ZS8M 6-Oct-2010 1555Z Usual fools causing QRM, Sha
14205.0 ZS8M 6-Oct-2010 1555Z qrt when italian qrm ***
As I wrote in the dx-world.net, I agree with you about the bad behavior of “some” italians om, but I think what you wrote on your website is creating a pretext for some om, to insult and write bad on us.
The situation is already unhappy because of some Italians “character” known for the noise to 14195 and 3795, and what you write could create many forms of discrimination on the Italians although excellent workers and investigators.
Personally, since I am a graduate architect, a good person and I consider myself a good radio operator, I feel insulted to be unjustly disgraced by a French or german woodsman!
I hope you understand my thinking and will work to riolvere this situation before it becomes unsustainable.
***: this guys F4FJH (if it was), definitely should not speak, as the day before, as you called it “cq-japan” in 17m, he continued to shout her callsign !!!!!! And has the courage to comment?
Best regard’s Alex iz7fmm.