Beside the WAP’s Antarctic Activity Week which runs from 18th to 25th february, another important event recalls the WW Ham radio community, the so called “Dia de la Antartida Argentina” which is celebrate yearly on 22 february.
Historical reference:
“Dia de la Antartida Argentina” (Argentine Antarctic Day-Law 20,827) commemorates the inauguration, on February 22, 1904, of the Meteorological Observatory on Laurie Island, South Orkney, which would later become the Orkney Base (WAP ARG-15), a historical milestone that marked the beginning of the uninterrupted connection of Argentina in Antarctica.
Since this event, Argentina has maintained a permanent and uninterrupted presence on the Antarctic continent for 120 years.
On its “120th Anniversary” a “digital certificate with 5 contacts” has been issued to celebrate the event, which will be held from February 22 to March 10, 2024.
This Digital Certificate, will be available for working five (5) stations of the Joint Antarctic Command.
Icebreaker ARA Almirante Irízar and the joint Antarctic bases listed below will be “On Air” for the national and international radio amateurs (and SWL) community.
Look for the followings:
LU1ZA Orcadas Antarctic Joint Base (WAP ARG-15)
LU1ZD Gral. San Martín Antarctic Joint Base (WAP ARG-Ø8)
LU1ZG Belgrano II Antarctic Joint Base (WAP ARG-Ø6)
LU1ZI Carlini Antarctic Joint Base (WAP ARG-2Ø)
LU1ZR Petrel Antarctic Joint Base (WAP ARG-17)
LU1ZV Esperanza Antarctic Joint Base (WAP ARG-Ø4)
LU4ZS Vcom Antarctic Joint Base. Marambio (WAP ARG-21)
LU2ARM Joint Antarctic Command
LU2AIB/MM Icebreaker ARA Almirante Irízar
Date: February 22 to March 10, 2024.
Schedule: Subject to operational activities and tasks on 80, 40, 30, 20, 17, 15, 12, 10 mts
Modes: CW – SSB – FT8 – RTTY – PSK
Exchange: Only signal report (RST) is required
Task: To obtain the certificate you must be able to contact 5 calls of the above list.
Operation: Subject to time availability of Antarctic operators and propagation conditions.
Argentine and foreign Amateur radio stations will be able to download their QSL by entering the integrated system (QSLOG.AR) through the website www.qslog.com.ar in the activities tab, once the event has ended and the logs have been processed.
Hams should NOT send any logs. If you do not see your QSL/Certificate reflected, you must contact the event organizer in order to verify your QSO data.
SWLs could confirm the listening of each station, sending all the corresponding data to the email (qslantartida@fuerzas-armadas.mil.ar , lu3ia@hotmail.com) subsequently downloading in the same way the corresponding QSL of each operator listened to.
TNX : Estado Mayor Conjunto de las Fuerzas Armada, Comando Conjunto Antártico and LU3IA Alfredo Arcangel Amaro