Click here for the report Report of VK9XD CQWW SSB contestpedition 2005 by David Burger VK2CZ (in PDF format)
Click here to download/read "The Islander" Newspaper, December 2005 Christmas Island Community Newspaper (3MB PDF format)
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Listing of DX reports from DX-Summit during the event: DX-SUMMIT Spot Database: JA1LNZ 21216.7 VK9XD ZONE 29 0544 30 Oct 2005 JA1LNZ 21216.7 VK9XD ZONE 29 Christmas Island 0603 30 Oct 2005 SP5SA-@ 21216.7 VK9XD 0618 30 Oct 2005 OM3NA 28487.9 VK9XD 0643 30 Oct 2005 DF3TQ-@ 28488.0 VK9XD z 29 0650 30 Oct 2005 DH3RD 28488.0 VK9XD 0658 30 Oct 2005 RK3FWA 21287.5 VK9XD 0729 30 Oct 2005 JR5HXU 21368.5 VK9XD 0732 30 Oct 2005 DL3APO 28489.9 VK9XD 0903 30 Oct 2005 DL5WW 28490.0 VK9XD same QRG 0916 30 Oct 2005 KH2X 3783.0 VK9XD 1025 30 Oct 2005 VK3EW 3782.9 VK9XD CQ CONTEST 1027 30 Oct 2005 JA1HGY 3797.2 VK9XD ww 1042 30 Oct 2005 DS1JFY 3792.0 VK9XD QSY 1045 30 Oct 2005 ZL3JT 3795.0 VK9XD ww 1049 30 Oct 2005 DS1JFY 3795.0 VK9XD FB conc 1058 30 Oct 2005 VK3EW 3795.0 VK9XD here... 1059 30 Oct 2005 W6UC 3795.0 VK9XD here on freq 4 u 1104 30 Oct 2005 W6UC 3795.0 VK9XD still there 1126 30 Oct 2005 VK6DU 7031.0 VK9XD 1347 30 Oct 2005 ES5Q 7031.0 VK9XD 1355 30 Oct 2005 7N4WZI 14300.9 VK9XD ww 2223 30 Oct 2005 W1NR 14182.7 VK9XD Under PS2T 2252 30 Oct 2005 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Below are the status reports during preparation leading up to the event: Status as of Friday, 28th October 2005. Hi everyone, Just a quick update from Christmas Island. Having arrived a few hours late from Perth on Monday, it became very apparent the wet season was well and truly here. I know some of you are in Charlie's log ( VK9XG) in CW... I will be using SSB exclusively. Charlie will be active in the contest, but just a token on 160m or 80m. All the antennas are now finally complete after 3 full days of effort, and fingers crossed, they all stay in the air. We have run out of coax, rope, PL259 barrel adapters and mojo. In summary, they comprise what we understand to be the biggest antenna farm ever erected here: - 10m 5 ele yagi up at 7.5m - 15m 4 ele yagi up at 7.5m right at the cliff face - 20m vertical using full size top modified Force12 Sigma 40XK - 30m dipole vertical - 40m sloper right at the cliff face - 80m vertical with 8 ground radials, maybe more to be added. - 160m inverted vee and a Force12 6Y-160 TX antenna - 160/80 pennant RX antenna - 160/80/40 RX antenna made from 160m dipole mounted just 3m above ground. The recent flare has knocked out 10m and knocked down 15m when tested earlier today, while we had some great 160m EU signals.. we could only get a QRZ and ?? from them.. Friday is a bakehouse out there, and no chance to do anything outside in the heat. It is clear 15m and 40m will be the screamer bands for me. Importantly I will be looking for east coast VK (zone 30) on 80 (3780)and 160m (1843) SSB from 11:30z (that's 21:30 local Saturday evening, and 22:30 local Sunday evening).. Getting to Sydney will be quite easy on 40/20 and 15m and 10m if it gets out of the doldrums. I look forward to working you if you can get on air.. (I will be sending out 5929 reports and in VK2, you would send me 5930 report or even 5530 if you wanted.) Regards from David VK9XD. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Status as of 12 July 2005. Developments are: - Rex VK7MO has re-scheduled his 2m digital modes EME visit to a time with more favourable lunar conditions, kicking off on Cocos(Keeling) on Aug 18 to Sept 1, then to Christmas from Sept 1 to Sept 22. He will be operating from the CI Cricket & Sporting Clubrooms – giving him a 360 degree horizon with about -1.6 degrees to the water, which tells me is should be brilliant for VHF. There is also a fully steerable 6m dish on the island, but seriously jungled in (a 6 inch tree has grown thru it).. while duly noted, it wasn’t much interest to me. A solid afternoon could have it workable.. it has a 3.7Ghz feed on it still. - Charlie W0YG and I are kicking off on Christmas on 25 October to 6 November, and this time all the operations will from the CI Resort (old casino), including the higher bands. This is pretty much as close to the water you can get, with the antennas literally parked 20m above the ocean (read hanging off the cliff into the water). While the resort is shadowed to the west (AF & EU direction) by 300m gradual cliffs, we reckon the high bands will still be sweet.. Those who have read previous reports will understand this may be the last time the Resort is available in its present condition – for anything !! - Given the past 2 visits have been all-band efforts, am tempted to fire up on all bands, including 160m (for the benefit of others), but favour one band (to set a single band score for VK9X).. no idea which band – but will probably decide a couple of hours into the contest. - Charlie & I will be in Perth for a day or 2 beforehand to catch up with the radio community there – where possible. - Will try and locate the old 6m yagi use by Steve VK3OT back on 2003, and while not a priority for us.. worth asking and seeing what can be done. - This year on 80/160m, Charlie is setting up a 3 pennant receiving array – I think bearing around 100 degrees.. smack on VK/ZL – but also in the direction where 160m stateside signal came from in previous years. Fingers crossed we get a VK or ZL in the 160m log. - I’ve also set my laptop up for RTTY & PSK31 and importantly become proficient at driving both programs. - Will also enter whatever contests are alive on the weekend of 5/6 November, noting we start dismantling right on 2359z on the 6th. Lets see how it works out :-} ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Status as of 1st February 2005: A quick synopsis of the 2005 travel plans are bullet pointed below, noting the plans are in flux and subject to tweaking and possible changes: - Looking to utilise a different HF venue on the Island, mainly for extra low band performance right at the water; - Invitation to Rex VK7MO who is presently looking at setting up a 2m EME station at the Cricket club venue, utilising JT44 and JT65 modes. An effort is being made to juggle some higher bands (non-EME) capable to see if some VK9X records can be set. Ideally there is possibility for the 1,500km hop from Christmas Island to Broome/Dampier/Karratha to be bridged on 70cm and 23cm as almost every “Hepburn” troposcatter prediction for the “Indian Ocean” indicates regular ‘extreme’ propagation opportunities. This higher band opportunity will be limited by finding an equipped ham operator in north-west WA, and I understand that Rex is investigating possibilities here, noting that the Port of Christmas Island suffers severe and regular interference from both Broome and Darwin 156Mhz marine channels. - Running a dual operator HF station with Charlie W0YG, and juggling the CQWW SSB entry and operation to suit our individual motivations. Certainly VK9XD will now run outside the core contest hours in 2005 taking note of the next item. Charlie, Rex and I will also look at doing a short burst on Cocos-Keeling Island immediately after this operation, and will be my first visit to VK9C. - A QSL manager (Neil VK6NE) has been engaged to cope with the extraordinary QSL demands encountered in 2004, as this was the first activation of VK9X in 2004. There were many 2003 Dxpeditions conducted, so the 2003 QSLing was not a real issue for me.