1965-67 DXPEDITION BULLETIN 14
                      Mauritius         Don Miller, W9WNV        4 October 1967

Dear Fellow DXer,

     The time has come to bring you up to date on the DXpedition and once again ask your 
continued support. I'll attempt to give you all the details and let you decide whether it 
is worthwhile, at this stage, to continue or quit the DXpedition.  A self-addressed 
envelope is provided, and we would greatly appreciate your comments and suggestions, and 
any support you can give at this time.  If adequate finances permit, we will continue; if 
not,contributions will be returned to those donating,and the DXpedition will be terminated.
Whatever does happen, I want to take this opportunity,on behalf of all those connected with 
this expedition, to thank each and every one of you for your encouragement and support. Few 
amateurs realize just how much planning and effort are involved in a venture of this magnitude
(the Dxpedition has been on all seven continents), and just how discouraged one can get with
all the obstacles, both deliberate and incidental (hi).  I'll try to bring you up to date,
in outline form:

1.  Bill, WA6SBO, and myself left the States 3 months ago; en route to this area it was
    necessary to make arrangements for future operations, meet with DX organizations 
    (mostly in Europe), conduct a great deal of research and supply information regarding
    the ARRL mess and the legal complications, and arrange for transporting our gear, Our
    funds were in fair shape at that time.

2.  By the time the Dxpedition actually was underway, however, we were burdened by mounting 
    expenses; these included expenses connected with the ARRL crisis (it is difficult to 
    combat the degrading material published by ARRL at the expense of thousands of dollars) 
    expenses for transportation of gear (about double what we had anticipated), expenses 
    connected with Bill's urgent and unexpected return home, and various miscellaneous 
    expenditures that were not anticipated.

3.  It was quite clear we were in poor shape, but at least we were able to secure trans-
    portation for a reasonable price (Indian Ocean) and start rolling again, with operations
    from St. Brandon and Rodrigues Islands.  The bands had seemed quite "dead" but the
    activity, on all bands, was well worth while.

4.  An emergency at home necessitated Bill's untimely return to the States; it looks 
    quite unlikely that we will join up again before long.  This was quite a disappointment
    for both of us;  Bill put a great deal of effort and time into the planning of the
    Dxpedition and deserves much of the credit for successfully launching the Dxpedition
    again.

5.  Larry Page, WB2DHF, obtained the Mauritius license, VQ8CC, and the two of us worked 
    together on these operations; Steven Gibbs, VQ8CC, joined us for the Rodrigues opera-
    tion.  Both Larry and Steve deserve a great deal of credit for the operating and
    physical work involved.  Larry will probably accompany me for future operations in 
    this area, although this is not quite definite.


6.  The ARRL Awards Committee has been supplied with the following documents to verify the 
    operations from St. Brandon and Rodrigues Islands:  Original of License, original of 
    statement, signed by Island Manager and Meteorological Officers at St. Brandon, stating 
    we were there, original of receipt for travel to and from Rodrigues Island via commer-
    cial ship, telegrams indicating arrangements for accommodations at Rodrigues, original 
    of letter from private lessee of St. Brandon giving us permission to land and visit, 
    and so on. We weren't sure whether or not this would be required, but I did not want 
    to take any chances that QSL cards would be rejected, even temporarily, for these
    operations.  The Statement from the Awards Committee in May indicated the new policy
    of requiring these, but it was not quite clear whether they should be submitted auto-
    matically, or whether they should be sent only at the Committee's request.  Just to be
    on the safe side, they were submitted by registered air mail.  We hope to have word
    from the Committee on how to handle this in the future and, as I promised the Directors
    in May, we will continue to cooperate with the Committee on future operations and be
    quite careful to document everything, so that no misunderstanding or rejection of cards
    can possibly occur.

Back to Don Miller Page
Back to GeoCities Cape Canaveral