Group Selected to Pursue DXpedition to Baker Island National Wildlife Refuge
The Pacific Islands Refuges and Monuments Office of the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has selected the Dateline DX Association (DDXA) — the DXpedition group that activated Howland Island in 2009 and Wake Island in 1998 — to pursue a DXpedition to Baker Island. Dates have not yet been determined. Baker and Howland Islands (KH1) are part of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (PRIMNM), created by former President George W. Bush in 2009. Baker and Howland is the fourth most-wanted DXCC entity on Club Log’s DXCC Most Wanted List.
The group will announce planned activation dates and other details once a vessel has been selected and the FWS has approved the vessel and dates. DDXA co-leaders are Don Greenbaum, N1DG; Tom Harrell, N4XP, and Kevin Rowett, K6TD.
The FWS in early June agreed that a DXpedition to Baker Island would be an acceptable use of the Baker Island National Wildlife Refuge but detailed strict conditions under which it would issue a special use permit (SUP) to allow such use. Earlier this year, the FWS conducted a Compatibility Determination for Amateur Radio operation on the ecologically sensitive island refuge. Baker Island is 1,830 nautical miles southwest of Honolulu — an 8-day voyage.
“While…not a wildlife dependent public use according to National Wildlife Refuge Administration Act of 1966, as amended, Amateur Radio operation is a use that assists in the management of the resources indirectly,” the FWS said in its Compatibility Determination, released on June 8. A DXpedition to the Refuge may last up to 14 days, with only 12 days of radio operation and allowing time for setup and breakdown on each end of the visit.
When I drive along the Belt Pkwy every day I look at the islands in the harbor and again in the channel off the Canarsie Pier and wonder, can those be “activated”? Do they have IOTA numbers? Does anyone I know have a boat they’d let me use to explore them?…..
CALL AREA 2
NA-111 W2 a. NEW JERSEY STATE group (=Barrel, Bonnet, Boot, Brigantine Beach, Cedar Bonnet, Clam, Dog,
Drag Sedge, East & West Sedge, Egg [x2], Elder, Fish, Flat, Goosebar Sedge, Ham, Hester Sedge,
High, Hither, Johnny Sedge, Long Beach, Marshelder Isls, Middle, Middle Sedge, Mordecai, Pullen, Salt,
Sandy, Seven Mile Beach [Avalon, Stone Harbor], Shelter, Story, Sunflower, Tow, Tucker, Vol Sedge)
(Note: not Absecon [Atlantic City], Peck’s Beach [Ocean City])
38º55–40º29N 073º57–075º30W
NA-026 W2 b. NEW YORK STATE group (=City, Davids, Fire, Fishers, Gardiners, Governors, Great & Little Gull,
Hart, Hoffman, Long Island, Plum, Robins, Shelter, Swinburne) (Note: not Manhattan [or the UN
Building 4U1UN], Staten)
40º29–41º18N 071º50–074º16W
Might be easier to read like this
@James: sorry for the late reply. As a kid, my dad would take me and my two older brothers by boat to explore those islands in Jamaica Bay. There wasn’t much to see, and they were mostly occupied by bird nests and flotsam and jetsam. There were some remnants of the few industries that occupied the Bay in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (mostly fish and shellfish processing), but by the mid-70s, there wasn’t much left to look at. Still, it was kind of cool as a kid.
Most of those islands are protected now–part of Gateway National Park–and probably can’t be alighted upon, let alone set up a IOTA station–but you never know. I’d be more worried about keeping the equipment dry and the salt air out of the equipment! Gee, I wonder if you could active the Wildlife Refuge? It’s accessible by car and by A/C train to Broad Channel (then walk a bit).
Sadly, my parents no longer live in the area, and the boat is long gone… but occasionally I’ll search for the nautical chart online (there’s one that encompasses all of Jamaica Bay) and browse the channels, islands, and marshes, and relive old memories.