About the Dx-Camp

Letter read by Chrissy Brand (EDXC General Secretary) during the EDXC Conference 2019 - in September, at Toulouse Golden Tulip Andorra Fenix hotel, in Andorra.

“When the last tree is cut, the last fish is caught, and the last river is polluted; when to breathe the air is sickening, you will realize, too late, that wealth is not in bank accounts and that you can’t eat money.” (Native American saying)

Thus begins the letter of DXers Martín Butera and Ivan Dias da Silva Júnior, which I was asked to read to all of you.

Known as the “lung of our planet”, the Amazon region has been suffering from fires for several weeks and several organizations have denounced the silence of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro over what they consider to be a devastating environmental crime against planet. Such a disaster has caused worldwide commotion.

For this reason, the 15.61 Crew, composed by Martín Butera, journalist correspondent in South America of the British DX Club and his colleague, Ivan Dias da Silva Júnior, founder of the Regional DX group from Sorocaba/São Paulo, invite all members of the 2019 European DX Council (EDXC) to participate in planting a tree on their next DXcamp to be held in November on the Marajó island.

Marajó is the largest island in Brazil and the largest river island in the world, where runs the meeting between the Amazon and Tocantins rivers with the Atlantic Ocean. It is just over three hours by boat from Belém, capital of the state of Pará.

Martin Butera lives in Brasília, the capital of Brazil and is at 27 hours from Belém, approximately 1982 km away. As for Ivan, he lives in the city of Sorocaba, in the state of São Paulo, at 38 hours from Belém and approximately 2893 km. Both will meet in the city of Belém and will go by boat to the island.

A trip like this requires a lot preparation. Both colleagues have extensive experience in the hobby, both Martín, 29 years as amateur radio operator (LU9EFO-PT2ZDX) and many DXpeditions in several South American islands such as Ivan, who already has more than 25 years of DXing, including contributions to several clubs and as utility stations professional monitor.

This DXcamp has already caught the attention of brands like CCrane, SDRplay, the Brazilian manufacturer DS antennas, Compactenna, Heil Sound, Radiwow and many other companies that are supporting us.

Everything we do during this DXcamp will be shared by texts, photos and videos by our correspondent Martín Butera and will be published soon in the Communication bulletin.

Our objective is that DXcamp will not be only a radio listening event. We will take a direct and committed action to help the planet and raise awareness of the climate change that we unfortunately living.

We will plant a tree with the names of each of the EDXC 2019 participants, placing them on each branch with recycled paper.

Planting a tree in the midst of the flames that are killing the Amazon today will certainly not be its salvation, but it will leave a legacy and our contribution for a better world.

Thank you!

Martin & Ivan