The eagle-eyed amongst you will have realised the team, except climber Nick Hancock, are part of the upcoming CY9M St Paul Island DXpedition scheduled for end of July. Certainly with all four operators together in another inhospitable island, we’ll have plenty to talk about regarding MS0INT 2013.

Whilst Nick does not join us for the CY9M adventure, he has been extremely busy with his own solo effort to land and stay on Rockall for 60 days. This attempt will take place at the end of May and of course we wish him all the very best. You could say that Nick is our recce for Rockall 2013 !

With careful consideration and much deliberation, we have decided to postpone our intended activation of the islet for at least one year. This decision was not taken easily considering our planning and organisational aspects were going extremely well. Suffice to say, we believe an activation so soon after the Belgian effort now makes Rockall a less attractive target – that is the crux of our decision.

It is not lost on us that the majority of the world, outwith a proportion of Europe, still require EU-189 for their IOTA scores. With that in mind, this planned activity will not be cancelled, only postponed.

All donations will be refunded. We thank sincerely those kind operators and groups who pledged financial support.

What we can say is that another excellent location/target is now being organised. This involves a rare DXCC and IOTA. However, unlike MS0INT 2012 plans, we prefer to keep silent on this for time being.

A team of four highly experienced IOTA (Islands On The Air) amateur radio activators are planning to operate from the extremely rare and dangerous Isle of Rockall. Accompanied by an experienced climber, they aim to land and stay for 48 hours in late May 2012, in what will be considered one of the most ambitious island activations the ham radio world has seen.

The four radio operators George Moreno EA2TA, Christian Cabre EA3NT, Simon Gadaleta IZ7ATN and Col McGowan MM0NDX are all part of the larger and highly successful MS0INT IOTA adventure group, which has had previous transmitting success from St. Kilda, the Monach Isles and the Flannan Isles. Completing the team is Nick Hancock, a climber with considerable expedition experience in remote and inhospitable places, increasing the chances of activating the island.

Nick has future plans stay on Rockall for 60 days, setting new occupation records and raising money for charity. By joining and assisting the IOTA team to land and activate Rockall, this expedition is an ideal opportunity for Nick to “recce the rock” prior to his attempt at a long-haul stay. Find out more about each member by visiting the expedition website.

Locating a yacht, skipper and crew to take the team to Rockall was always going to be a difficult task. However, the team are delighted to announce that Killary Flyer, out of County Galway, Ireland will be their transport to and from the islet. A 50ft ex-Admiral’s Cup Racing yacht, Rockall and Killary are no strangers having landed a small team in 2005.

With meteorological research and historical data, the IOTA team believe that the end of May / beginning June 2012 will be the ideal window to land on Rockall and put on air.

Each member will pay their own flights, additional travel costs, food, equipment and charter boat expenses. To help offset some of this expense, the team have already successfully sought donations from within the IOTA radio community, DX organisations and like-minded individual radio operators. Undertaking an expedition of this magnitude is not cheap. The team continue to seek kind sponsors and donors who realise the challenge ahead, and want to be part of this exciting project. To donate, you can use PayPal: rockall.eu189@gmail.com or visit our sponsors page. Thank you!

For more information please email Col or Nick.