News Flash - August 2016

Help get Norfolk Island on the Air more! 

The VK9NT team have visited John Anderson, VK9JA a couple of times. He is a long-time resident of Norfolk Island and one of the four resident radio amateurs on the island, none of whom are particularly active these days.

John VK9JA, once the local Yaesu dealer back in the 80's, is now more or less retired.

John was kind enough to present at the WIA AGM Saturday Forums about the significant contribution Norfolk Island had to World War 2 with details of the radar site on Mt Bates.

The VK9NT team visited John in May this year and installed a new antenna for him. It’s a Rippletech TZ-OCF-40 Sota OCF dipole, including 25m of RG58 coaxial feedline.  This antenna is well constructed with a 4:1 Balun, stainless steel fittings and hardware and should last for many years in the subtropical environment of Norfolk Island.

A quick check with the trusty FG-01 antenna analyser showed low SWR on most HF bands from 40m - 10m, with a reasonable match on 6m. More surprisingly was an SWR of about 1.6:1 at 3.6Mhz, so John will now have opportunity to work most of the HF bands again.

A quick chat indicated that John's trusty FT901D had suffered from a power supply PCB failure and we’ve just posted him some replacement HV capacitors for a possible repair.

Seeing the predicament John was currently in, the VK9NT Team felt it would be in the best spirit of amateur radio to see if we could arrange a more up-to-date radio for John’s radio operations.

After some discussions with John, we decided the best value rig that was currently available (within the budget) turned out to be an FT920. One was quickly sourced from the popular VK Classifieds site.
Some quick emails and only a few days later, said FT920 has arrived at in VK3 for inspection of testing before shipping off to Norfolk Island.

This is where the VK9NT team is asking for your support.

We are asking the global amateur radio community to help fund Project Norfolk VK9JA to get John back on air.

The costs are:
FT920 plus new mic $820
OCF Antenna $100,
25m coax $35,
PSU $136,
Print & Bind Manual $10
estimated freight to Norfolk Island $100

Any donations (no matter how large or small) towards this project will be most graciously accepted.
VK9NT team leader, Chris VK3QB will be managing the accounts via his paypal account (ease of use and low fees). The team will provide full disclosure of all monies received.

All donors (unless anonymity is requested) will be listed on the VK9NT website and Facebook page.

Please send your donation via Paypal to vk3qb@hotmail.com and note your callsign.

Once AUD$1000 is reached, the request for donations will close and any excess donations will be returned to those donors.

Regards
Team VK9NT

Supporting the WIA Rerform Group - for a stronger WIA

 

DXpedition to Norfolk Island 2016

A team of five Australian radio amateurs will activate Norfolk Island from 20^th May (1000UTC) until 31 May (0100UTC) 2016 to coincide with the Wireless Institute of Australia’s 2016 Annual General Meeting and conference, also being held on Norfolk Island.

It’s worth noting that a WIA Commemorative Station VI9ANZAC will also be activated over the AGM weekend.  It will be a busy time with many radio amateurs expected to be on the island. 

 

QRT as of 2347 UTC on the 30th of May.  Thanks to all.

 

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VK9NT endorses the DX Code of Conduct

Both DXer and DXpedition codes.  Click the logo for full details

"Just as we work to improve our technical skills, we should all aspire to hold ourselves to the highest ethical operating standards."

 

Originally colonised by East Polynesians, Norfolk Island was colonised by Britain as part of its settlement in Australia in 1788. It then served as a convict penal settlement until 1794, when it was abandoned until 1856, when permanent residence on the island for civilians began and it was settled from Pitcairn. In 1901, the island became a part of the Commonwealth of Australia which it has remained until this day.

Information:  VK9N (DXCC 189)

Longitude 167.95 E

Latitude -29.03 S

Locator  RG30xx

IOTA OC-005 

CQ Zone  32

ITU Zone  60

UTC +11.5 Hours