Andrew (OZ1XJ) came to visit me in New Zealand and of course the conversation got around to DX and the possibility of a DX-Pedition to some where in the Pacific.We discussed various options and then decided that Rotuma Island was still on the "rare" so we would try to go there for about 10 days.  This is where the difficult part really started.  I had a Fijian licence so I was OK there and Andrew managed to get one with out too much trouble as well.  The big problem was accomodation.  there is no such thing as a Hotel on Rotuma Is.  The only waty to get permission to stay on the Island is to be invited by a family on the Island to stay with them. Fortunately through some friend of ours we were able to get the important invitation.  Next was the problem of getting our equipment to the Island.  There is only one flight per week and the luggage weight is very limited (about 25Kg per person).  However we managed to get all our equipment on to the Island but could not take a generator with us, fortunately we were able to borrow one from a friend for the duration of our stay.

 Beautiful photos and get links to Rotuma CLICK HERE

EQUIPMENT

HF

Icom IC-735A
Icom IC-AT150 Tuner
Dentron 1Kl Linear Amp.

Antennas

3-ele Beam for 20,15,10
Dipoles for 40,80,160

QSO   Statistics

Total QSO's 10,500 with 60% CW and 40% SSB.  So why so many CW compared to SSB?  Well our hosts were concerned that SSB meant "work" on Sundays so if they could not here us talking and they could not hear anything from the speakers of the radio then all was OK.  So on Sundays we used all CW and used headphones !!

Spaecial thanks to our Rotuman hosts, Taito and his family.