With Bouvet Island (3Y0K) now QRV with decent antennas and amplifiers, working them should be well within the abilities of most HF stations in the UK with 100W and a wire antenna using any mode.
The best opportunity for most however will be to use FT8. As with most DXPeditions, 3Y0K will be using Fox/Hound mode. There is plenty written about using this sub-mode of FT8, the best and original can be found here, https://wsjt.sourceforge.io/FT8_DXpedition_Mode.pdf
However there are tricks which can be used to get your signal heard above the cacophony of other stations. One good way is to wait until the mania dies down after a week or so. Another is to be listening before 3Y0K begins working on a certain band.
Another very effective technique is to transmit where the DX is listening but others are not transmitting. In regular FT8 stations can only receive up to 2700Hz above the dial frequency. This is the default for the WSJTX software. However, canny operators using SDR radios, 3Y0K are using Flex radios for FT8, can open their RX up to 6KHz and change the WSJTX software to decode up to 6KHz. Knowing this we can transmit our signal above 2700Hz and be clear of the melee. Result, work the DX easily.
I did just this on 17m working them after just a couple of calls.
Note that the frequency which elicited the reply was 2914Hz so we know that they're listening up to at least 3000Hz, possibly higher. My report was +8dB so very loud indeed and that was using about 120W with the beam pointing south. I would expect that to be about 0dB with a wire antenna and 100W.
Remember to be careful not to overstress your transmitter if using a rig barefoot. I routinely use the amplifier even at 100W to ensure everything runs cool.
Good luck and remember to periodically check that you have a confirmed QSO using the Clublog log search utility.
At the time of writing, 3Y0K have not uploaded their logs but I expect they will do so each day. Of course, I could have just worked a pirate but we'll have to wait and see 😊
73, Mike G0KAD
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