Originally published in the February 1986 issue of the C&E.
SOMEWHERE IN THE ATLANTIC — The fabled, eagerly-awaited Dxpedition from the lost continent of Atlantis began right on schedule on January 9, and ham radio history was made.
Conceived and carried out by Q. R. Zedd, A5A, world’s greatest DXer and all-around nice person, the Atlantis Dxpedition achieved many memorable things, including the following:
FIRST UNDERWATER OPERATION BY A DXPEDITION. Zedd and his fellow operators made 21,211 valid logbook contacts in their six days of operation, all from a site more than 700 feet below the surface of the South Atlantic.
FIRST LOST CONTINENT ACCEPTED FOR DXCC. Atlantis, lost for thousands of years, was accepted for DXCC credit by the American Radio Relay League in a special emergency meeting on January 9, only hours before A5A/ATL went QRZ.
FIRST SPECIAL UNDERWATER COMMEMORATIVE STAMP OFFERING. Zedd took with him several hundred special first-day stamps and envelopes, and sent them off for early delivery of QSL cards by shooting them out of a torpedo tube of the U.S.S. Yagi, a United States nuclear submarine which served as underwater headquarters for the amateur radio group.
Atlantis, as faithful readers already know, was discovered late in 1985 by the famed Jacques Cousteau. In his nightly QSO with Zedd on 75 meters, Cousteau mentioned his discovery of the continent fabled since the time of classical Greece. Zedd, seeing the true significance of the event, immediately laid on the DXpedition.
The amateur radio group led by Zedd departed Portsmouth, England, around Christmas, and after storm delays reached the secret Atlantis site on January 7. Further storms delayed operations for two days.
With Cousteau’s deepsea submersible charting the route, the Yagi stood by off a vast and antique city on the shore of the lost continent in 665 feet of water on January 9. Zedd, his constant companion Tonde 1 ayo Schwartz, and a reporter for the Oklahoma Collector & Emitter left the submarine the following afternoon and, in full scuba gear, explored the fabled central city of Atlantis.
Crumbling silver towers, some more than two hundred meters high, looked down upon golden streets and avenues now tarnished and broken by centuries of undersea storms. In an eerie half-light, Zedd swam among the ruins of pagan castles and monuments of untold antiquity. After lengthy exploration, he radioed back his first message to those waiting on the Yagi, and the other ships on the surface:
“Okay, guys,–send us out a bunch of copperclad, that antenna buoy, the 930 in its plastic bag, a big battery, a couple of logbooks, a weighted cardtable, and some of that Coors. We’re going QRZ.
“Oh, and you might send out another tank, too. Tondelayo just ran out of air and she don’t look too good.”
Zedd, of course, was first on the air as soon as his feedline, draped over the shoulder of a large statue of some ancient Hellenistic warrior, was all hooked up with the capacitive couplings through the plastic bags.
First contacts were made with southern Europeans, and by the time the other operators were out of the sub and nicely weighted down at their respective operating positions, the pileups were hot and heavy on all bands. The U.S. started coming in nicely on 20 right after Zedd got the first homebrew linear going.
Underwater currents prevented an ecological disaster. Cousteau had worried that heating from the linears would harm local sealife. But with the currents providing adequate cooling., curious dolphins and sharks appeared unharmed as they circled the operating site, occasionally taking a playful nibble of somebody’s elbow.
There were, however, minor technical problems. W5NUT’s special canned ice tea sipping device failed during the first hour of operation, and only inspired improvisation by technical adviser N5MS saved the Shawnee legend’s powerful tonsils. Tondelayo’s bikini top fell off and despite intense attention to the problem by all the other OXers, the broken snap never did get repaired properly, with the result that there were constant repetitions. Momma Zedd’s Bencher sprang a leak and sent bubbly noises for hours, and the baggie around the No. 2 linear got a hole in it, resulting in QRP operation from that operating position.
The DXpedition went QRT late on the afternoon of January 14. The last station worked was W5LFK, but it was his sixth contact and Zedd thought that was too greedy even for a DXer, so he took his out of the log.
Exhausted by their hard work deep under the sea, all members of the DXpedition returned to the Yagi, where a message awaited them from the president. A few hours later, under a balmy tropical moon, the submarine surfaced beside Cousteau’s Calypso, and Zedd and his pals went aboard the surface ship for a debriefing and good old fashioned country hoedown. Willie flew in to entertain, and said he was real proud to be invited.
Tondelayo never did get her thingamajig fixed.