Gabo Island Expedition-Report
Background
I have put pen to paper (so to speak) regarding out recent dxpedition to Gabo Island. For those of you who have been involved in operating portable or dxpeditions this is not an attempt to tell you how to suck eggs. The summary of our activities is merely how we went about setting up for the dxpedition, getting there, setting up, operating and leaving. It also includes what worked for us and just as importantly what went wrong.
A few months ago Paul VK3DK suggested that a group of amateurs should mount a dxpedition to Gabo Island. Paul attempted to book accommodation at Gabo Island for the Light House weekend in August. Unfortunately accommodation was booked out several months in advance so he submitted his name for chance of a cancellation. This chance came several weeks later when he was informed that he take a period from the 24th September until the 30th September. Indications at that time were that September would be good for propagation especially for 10 meters. A short time later the team was finalized as Paul VK3DK, Randal VK3RM, Tex VK1TX, Leon SWL and Keith VK3FT. Paul subsequently made further inquiries regarding Lighthouse activities and within a short time Kevin VK2CE established a Web page for the dxpedition. Kevin also ensured that information was published in relevant DX publications. Many thanks Kevin :-]
We had all agreed to meet at the Mallacoota Hotel Motel on
Tuesday evening and by 10pm we were all in the Hotel enjoying a meal and a few
drinks at the Bistro. The dilemma at
this point of time was how many refreshments would we take to Gabo, as there
was only two ways on, air or sea. We
had chosen to fly so weight would be a major consideration.
Equipment
We had decided to take the following transceivers: -
Kenwood TS2000
Icom 706 Mk11G
Icom 706 Mk1
Other equipment included: - Antenna Tuning Units - K.W.
(Ezee Match), Yaesu FC 301, Icom AT180 and Icom AH-4. A 3-element yagi for 10 meters, which would be mounted on a
12-meter pump up mast. Lots and lots of
copper wire. Counterpoises for the long
wire antenna. Dipoles for all HF
bands. One hundred meters of RG 58/u. One hundred and fifty meters of 450-OHM
ladder line. Four squid poles, earthing
wire and stake and one reel of 300-OHM ladder line. MFJ antenna analyzer, four power supplies, Heil headsets (2), 3
Laptop computers, UTC clock, co-ax plugs, 500 meters of nylon rope, clamps,
cable ties large and small (invaluable), two toolkits and a portable soldering
iron. Enough food had to be purchased
to last at least 4 days.
What went wrong
The weather – Day one was a complete disaster. We had planned to drive to the Mallacoota airfield and fly out to Gobo starting at 8.30am. We arrived and within short time it was raining heavily, blowing a gale and the cloud level appeared to be about 200 meters. Not good flying weather. To cut a long story short we eventually started flying out to Gabo at 4.30pm, which led to the next problem.
The gear - too much. A Cessna 172 can only carry a very limited amount of luggage so five trips were needed to take most of the gear to Gabo. Unfortunately some had to be left behind because it was just too heavy (the amplifier) or too big (the pump up master). This gear had to be brought to the island by boat the next day.
The food – Again too much. Catering had been planned for 4 full days with the possibility that if we couldn’t fly out after that we would have some left over. As it was we lost almost a full day getting there and consequently we had lots of food left over. This was donated to the caretakers from DNRE who look after island.
The propagation – A great deal of solar activity had occurred a few days before we left. This affected us for the first two days with the majority of contacts being made on 20 meter during the afternoon and night. Saturday our last day was brilliant with 10 meters coming in from all directions. Overall we made over 1000 contacts, which was good considering the band conditions.
The wind – I know this should be under the heading weather but it was such a significant factor in our operation that it deserves a separate heading. On arrival at the island on Wednesday evening we were unable to gain access to the Lighthouse so we erected a couple of temporary antennas. A vertical was erected for 10 meters and a long wire was also utilized. The vertical didn’t fair well in the wind but the long wire worked well with numerous contacts being made into the states on 20 meters. The long wire consisted of about 10 meters of 450-OHM ladder line shorted out on the end with the other attached to the Icom AH-4. The antenna was about 3 meters off the ground at its highest point.
The next day after the boat arrived the 10-meter yagi was erected and three separate wire antennas put up utilizing the lighthouse. The first was a long wire, which was attached to the safety rail of the Lighthouse and ran down to the assistant lighthouse keeper’s house. (Our accommodation) Here it was attached to the Icom AH-4 with appropriate counterpoises. The long wire was approximately 160 meters long and terminated about 40 meters high. The second antenna was a vertical, which ran from the base of the light up to the safety rail (42 meters) and then horizontal towards our accommodation for about 50 meters. The third antenna erected was a none resonant inverted V with its apex just below the safety rail (42 meters) with two 100 meters legs running approximately east west. This was fed directly with 450-OHM ladder line into the K.W. (Ezee Match) and then into the Icom 706 Mk11G.
During the second night both the long wire and inverted V were used with the inverted V doing the best on 20 meters. When the antennas were erected the wind had been blowing from the west. During the second night after we had all gone to bed the wind changed direction 180 degrees and increased in velocity. The next morning we found the vertical was completely tangled up with the vertical. The result was crazy SWR readings from the ATU. There wasn’t much of a decision to be made and vertical was dismantled. The wind also affected the 10 meter yagi. Whilst the light weight rotator turned the antenna without a problem the wind was so strong that it twisted the telescoping sections of the mast which necessitated someone going outside every time the rotator was changed to see which direction it was pointing.
During the third night the wind was again very strong and the last day we awoke to find that one leg of the inverted V had broken. Fortunately the leg had broken right at the apex of the antenna so we dropped it down re-soldered the connection and hoisted it back up. This took about an hour with another climb of the Lighthouse stairs. (250 of them)
Operating – With hindsight we perhaps spent too much time
operating on nets when the band (on 20m) was open. This is only a small self-criticism but I felt we could have
managed a few more contacts if we had stayed off the nets. We had of course committed to a number of
requests to operate on some nets to ensure contacts with both IOTA and
Lighthouse chasers.
What went right
The antennas – The three antennas we ended up with all worked very well. We were all impressed on how well the non-resonant inverted V performed. Reports from all over the world were excellent and I believe there was on two stations that contacted us that we could hear properly enough to give a report to. The K.W. (Ezee Match) ATU made that possible and did a sterling job matching the wide range of impedances encountered.
The long wire and AH-4 did best on 80 and 40 meters with one contact being made on 6 meters. The 10-meter yagi came into its own on Saturday with over 200 contacts being made in about threes hours.
The Team – the team got on very well considering some had not met prior to the dxpedition. All jumped in to complete all manners of tasks including cooking (Tex deserves special mention) washing up and drying. Randall VK3RM provided plenty of entertainment so much so that we let him have the privilege of flying off the island first. (Who said he was scared)
The Cost – Overall the dxpedition cost about $450 per
person. If you work that out and
compare it with any holiday it’s a little over 100 dollars per day. Not bad when you consider the fun we had.
Conclusion
I hope that sharing the experience of going to Gabo Island some of you will be prompted to do similar. We had a great few days, which we will always remember. We didn’t work lots of DX but learnt a lot and had fun doing it. I recommend to all.
Keith VK3FT / Team GABO 9/2001