Scheduling their activities for April 2010, an international group of amateur radio operators plan to conduct a DXpedition to a remote island off the coast of Vietnam. During their 2-week stay, they will make radio contacts with as many ham radio operators as possible around the globe. Running four stations 24 hours a day, they hope to reach 60,000 hams in that period. In addition, the Vietnam telecom authorities have issued an official amateur radio license as required for any such activity; in this case, the call sign under which all radio communications will take place is 3W6C.

The multinational project, being coordinated by Swiss ham-radio operators, consists of roughly 20 individuals including one woman with members not only from Switzerland but also from Vietnam, Germany, USA and Japan.

Côn Có Island, with a land surface of just 2 square kilometers, is 32 km off the central coast of Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin. The island has a population of approximately 400 people. For many years it was a restricted military zone, but today the Vietnamese government is working to turn this idyllic location into a tourist and vacation destination. What is of special interest to ham operators is that this island has rarely seen any radio activity. And because it belongs to the popular Islands of the Air program (designation: AS-185), and the fact that Vietnam itself is high in the list of most-wanted countries for radio contacts, the DXpedition expects very high interest from the amateur radio community around the world. The goal is to make contacts on as many different frequencies as possible, even in the 80 meter and 160 meter bands, which makes this DXpedition very special. But this goal also means that the group must transfer considerable amounts of equipment – including radios, antennas, power generators, computers, and various ancillary supplies – with them to the island.

Go to the 3W6C website