NEWS
JAUNARY 08 – UPDATE
Heading to Navarino Island with 3G9S
The 3G9S team is already on board the «Kaweskar» ferry, waiting to set sail towards our destination: Navarino Island
✈️ Smooth trip
The flight from Santiago to Punta Arenas had no delays, and all our luggage arrived safely (we hope the contents are intact). The hostel in Punta Arenas was very comfortable, and the hosts treated us wonderfully.
🔧 Technical preparations
We managed to buy what we were missing, mainly oil for our generator and a few small items. We tried a quick communication test with our JPC-7 antenna, but realized the tuning coil was missing. During the pre-flight inspection in Santiago, the police asked us to manually check the antenna we carried in our hand luggage (since it has parts that may be considered unsuitable for flying), and unfortunately, the coil piece was left behind at the Santiago airport. A pity, but we move forward.
🏛️ A touch of history
During our short stay in Punta Arenas, we visited the Museo del Recuerdo, which has an excellent collection from the late 19th and early 20th centuries: steam machinery, railroads, cinema, livestock ranches, and more. Highly recommended!
🤝 Meeting fellow hams
At night, we met with Rodrigo CE8WDB, with whom we shared many radio amateur anecdotes. We thank him very much for his support.
🌊 The journey begins
Thus begins our more than 30-hour voyage. Once we arrive on the island, we will be updating our activity.
📲 Follow us on social media
- Instagram: @dx3g9s, @ce2pm, @cris.ce2gt
- Facebook & TikTok: @JuncalDX
- Website: 3g9s.org
If possible, we will be doing live transmissions.
Thank you, and see you on the pile-up! 🎙️
OCTOBER 26 – UPDATE
After dedicating ourselves to our jobs to get some time for our expedition, we’ve resumed preparations for the small activity at 3G9S.
We already have our plane tickets from Santiago to Punta Arenas and the ferry transfer to Navarino Island.
Cristian CE2GT and Rafael CE2YWW (who has already obtained his new callsign CE2) have participated in the CQWW for a few moments now.
We already have the DXWorld-e 500W amplifier, and our Flex 8400 has also arrived, which we hope to configure so it can be used by radio amateurs around the world remotely. We still need to learn the configuration through Starlink, a new challenge.
Soon we’ll be setting up and testing our main antennas, a BuddyHex and a DXCommander Expedition. We hope to manage to build a couple of wire antennas for the 30 and 80-meter bands.
Being just two radio amateurs on the island, it will be a challenge to set up all the bands in a short time, but but we’ll give it our best shot, and we’ll also try to build a line filter to keep the generator noise down.
We’re hoping to test all our setup by the end of November or early December.
The expedition is a new experience for us and we’re enjoying the preparations to the max.
More updates soon.
CE2PM
JULY 28 – UPDATE
The meeting point is the city of Punta Arenas, Chile from where a ferry departs to the city of Puerto Williams (approximately a 32-hour journey). The transportation company is called Tabsa and publishes the definite dates and times of departure 6 months in advance, so by the first week of August, the final date should be available. If they maintain what is scheduled until December, the probable departures are on January 1 or January 5. The ferry returns to the city of Punta Arenas 7 days later. (10 days in total of the trip to carry out the activity)
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DECEMBRE 22 – UPDATE
We’re just a few days away from our little project, and there’s still a lot to do.
We’ve acquired a small 2kW inverter generator and hope we won’t have any problems with air transport. We’ve decided to build the line filter according to the GM3SEK model, for which we already have all the materials, including the ferrites purchased from Mouser. We plan to assemble it during the last week of December.
We’ve also built an end-fed antenna with a 1:64 balun for 80 meters, which we won’t be able to test before traveling, but we believe it will work.
We haven’t been able to activate our Starlink Mini due to the high cost and demand where we live, so we’ll activate it upon arrival on the island (we need to keep costs as low as possible).
We still need to test our small 100W amplifier for the IC705 and the power adapter for the Huawei 4850G2 power supply; our amplifier depends on these tests.
We received a donation of high-quality thermal clothing from Cristian’s employer, for which we are very grateful. We’ve been checking the weather forecast, and we’re expecting temperatures between 3° and 10°C with a 90% chance of rain (it looks like we’re going to get wet) and winds of around 15 km/h. We hope our ferry trip will be pleasant. Both Cristian and Miguel are currently on their respective shifts at their mining jobs, so we’ll only have a few days to finish everything, pack our gear, and begin the long journey to Navarino Island.
Send your best wishes, and we also want to wish you a very Merry Christmas with your families.
OCTOBER 26 – UPDATE
After dedicating ourselves to our jobs to get some time for our expedition, we’ve resumed preparations for the small activity at 3G9S.
We already have our plane tickets from Santiago to Punta Arenas and the ferry transfer to Navarino Island.
Cristian CE2GT and Rafael CE2YWW (who has already obtained his new callsign CE2) have participated in the CQWW for a few moments now.
We already have the DXWorld-e 500W amplifier, and our Flex 8400 has also arrived, which we hope to configure so it can be used by radio amateurs around the world remotely. We still need to learn the configuration through Starlink, a new challenge.
Soon we’ll be setting up and testing our main antennas, a BuddyHex and a DXCommander Expedition. We hope to manage to build a couple of wire antennas for the 30 and 80-meter bands.
Being just two radio amateurs on the island, it will be a challenge to set up all the bands in a short time, but but we’ll give it our best shot, and we’ll also try to build a line filter to keep the generator noise down.
We’re hoping to test all our setup by the end of November or early December.
The expedition is a new experience for us and we’re enjoying the preparations to the max.
More updates soon.
CE2PM
JULY 28 – UPDATE
The meeting point is the city of Punta Arenas, Chile from where a ferry departs to the city of Puerto Williams (approximately a 32-hour journey). The transportation company is called Tabsa and publishes the definite dates and times of departure 6 months in advance, so by the first week of August, the final date should be available. If they maintain what is scheduled until December, the probable departures are on January 1 or January 5. The ferry returns to the city of Punta Arenas 7 days later. (10 days in total of the trip to carry out the activity)
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JUNE 22
The friends of JuncalDX from the Aconcagua Valley, eager to enjoy amateur radio, participate in and organize various amateur radio activities, such as the 3rd Chilean DX Congress and participation in international contests like CQWW or CQWPX, POTA activations, lighthouses, and others.
CB9N, XR9N and 3G9S will be the special callsigns that will be part of the expedition to the Chilean Antarctic Province CE9 on Isla Navarino, taking place during the first half of January 2026. Info as follows:
— QTH: IOTA SA-050, Navarino Island, Chile (Provincia Antártica Chilena, CE9 Zone).
— Callsigns: 3G9S valid for all programs (IOTA, POTA, WWFF), CB9N (Only Remote Operation, only valid for CE zone), XR9N (For the trip)
— Operators: “Pelao” Miguel CE2PM, “Cris” Garcia CE2GT
— Dates, first half of January 2026 (confirmed soon).
— Rig: 3x ICOM 7300, 1x ICOM 705.
— Power: 100W.
— Antennas: 1 x Buddihex, 1 x Hexbeam NA4RR, 1 x DX Commander Expedition.
— Bands: 40-6 (80-160 will be confirmed soon).
— Modes: SSB, FT8 & CW.
— QSL detail: DIRECT OQRS.
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