5-12 October YL Mini DXpedition to Norfolk Island

Gwen VK3DYL

After attending the International YL2000 Meet in September 14 YLs (and 4 OMs to carry their baggage and put up antennas!) headed to Norfolk Island to operate the special callsign of AX9YL. After a week of playing radio, sightseeing and Duty Free shopping, we were glad to see that Aunt Em's Guest House, where we set up the station looked none the worse for our visit - we blew no fuses, caused no TVI, the palm trees remained upright after having numerous wire dipoles hurled at their tops, and the roof survived having a vertical antenna lashed to its chimney more or less upright, That poor vertical! It was sent from Auckland on the deck of a cargo ship which couldn't offload freight onto the island for three days due to heavy swells. Frustrating is hardly the word to describe our feelings. Once safely ashore and on the roof, the R7000 performed very well, though it did end up more horizontal than vertical after a couple of nights of high winds.

We called ourselves a "mini" DXpedition since we were taking no beams or amplifiers and we were just relying on our YL voices to get us through. We got three stations up and running the first afternoon but initially no-one wanted to talk to us. Lousy propagation. But luckily this soon changed and it seemed the whole world was calling us. However we wanted to sightsee (and shop) so were fairly selective of the times we operated. In spite of this we logged approx 3,500 contacts covering 110 countries in the week 5 - 12 October. Not all the YLs operated - the dogpiles we generated were a trifle frightening.

Norfolk Island is a beautiful place, particularly on a sunny day, with deep blue seas, white rollers breaking on rocky shores and sandy beaches, and the many tall green pinetrees. We even saw two whales. Cows meander along the sides of the roads and have right of way, hitting one can cost you a $200 fine. A wonderful spot both for aholiday and on which to play radio - a far cry from the horrific days when it was the worst penal settlement in Australia's history. The special callsign was obtained for us by the Wireless Institute of Australia (Vic Div.) and the various antennas were lent by kind friends.

photo Aunt Em's Guest House, erecting aerials

The group consisted of Ella G0FIP, Mio JR3MVF, Unni LA6RHA, Maya OHlMK (and OM Teuvu OHlBV), Raija SM0HNV, Birgitta SM0FIB, Eine SM0UQW (and OM Lars SMSCAI) Elizabeth VE7YL, Gwen VK3DYL, June VK4SJ (and OM Doug VK4BP), Bev VK6DE, Poppy VK6YF, Biny ZL2AZY (and OM Merv ZL2AVY), and Ingrid LASWL.