Hold still, this won't hurt.

Wind just took it down.  Snapped that fiberglass.   I had just switched to 17 meters and started CQ.

Luckily...  Swiss army knife and some duct tape...    WDFA

 A couple hours later...

Repaired and rebuilt (better this time) and doubled the guy lines...

Amplifier Malfunction

The KPA-500 is having a malfunction.  I need to diagnose.

Is it not a DX'p unless you have to tear apart the amplifier?   Indeed.  

Still troubleshooting.

Equipment Arrived

On the brightest day yet on the island, the Dash-8 zoomed in for a perfect landing.  

The storm that passed through last night was epic strong winds and rain that pounded the roof.   But by morning the sun came out and for the first time I could see most of the island.  I had a good feeling that the flight wouldn't be canceled like the days before due to high winds or low visibility

What a great sight to see.

My missing bags that contained virtually everything that I needed to establish the station were on the flight.    The air tags literally turned this around for the better.

After getting the gear loaded in the pickup truck and rambling back to the QTH, I spent the afternoon until dark assembling the antenna.   It's laying out in the grass ready for connection to the station tomorrow. The station itself will go together rather quickly.  All of the systems are arranged on the wide operating table.

It's also a relief to have the extra clothing that I needed.

Current time is only 6:40 p.m. local but the sun has been down for about 45 minutes and when it goes down, it's pitch black dark.  No lights to speak of.   I have a headlamp but it only illuminates a little bit of what I'm working on.

I expect to have the station running tomorrow.

QRV ?? -- Let's pencil in 2200 UTC Saturday July 13.  

Let's Try Again

Current time on island is about 5:00 a.m.

Insomnia is taking its toll.  Yesterday, the flight from Sydney to LHI was cancelled so the gear could not be here.  The weather conditions are drastic.  The cloud cover was too low for the flight.   It never left Sydney.

Over the night, the winds reached about 50 km/h and I don't know exactly what the mph equivalent is, but the sound of the trees and the horizontal rain that fell all night against the corrugated roof of the paddock was enough to keep me awake all night.

The wind has died down and the rain has stopped.   I am hopeful that the flight will be here today, but you never know until later in the day for sure.

The farm land on which the QTH is situated is ideal for putting up antenna here, and with nothing else to do but wait, I've had time to scope the terrain even more.  I'll be discussing the antenna location with the host of the Lodge and I think a few spots are going to be ideal.

We found among the gear that was left here over a decade ago, bags of old coax and makings for antennas.  Mostly aluminum tube and clamps and guy lines.  I think it is the makings of a beam antenna for the higher bands like 20 or 10m.  Perhaps 6m.  There should be enough tubing here to cobble together a spare antenna.   I have my own gear to expect for the vertical wire antenna, but we will see how it goes.

It is definitely winter time though.  Cold, rain, wind.  I also feel as if I'm probably one of very few visitors to the island.   I can walk or ride a bike along the road that goes along the coast line and not run into anyone else that isn't already a resident.

But the hospitality of the folks who live here is remarkable.  Everyone seems keenly interested in why I am here and when I explain it (the amateur radio DX'p explanation) they are polite to nod along, but I don't think I will try to get into too many details.   One very kind woman who runs a local outfitter shop told me that by now, practically everyone on the island knows why I am here. News travels fast, nothing is a secret for very long.

I moved up the dates of the DX'p (to land on July 10th rather than original July 20th) just for this reason -- in case things go side-ways on the luggage issue.    I'll be making some notes on this and when I get back to the States I'll give a brief 10 minute talk about the situation and some key points learned when the Western Washington DX Club has their convention in Everett, WA later in August.

At any rate, the battery is running low and all of the equipment I need to facilitate the station is still in Sydney.   If all goes well, I'll have the gear transported here to the Lodge and begin the process of stringing out radials, putting up antenna and connecting the K3/KPA station and try to listen for the band-conditions and check propagation.

As I said before, things are looking up.  That's the only direction to look at this point.

Until then,  CQ soon.

Jeff

Immanent Cargo

Each day, the Dash-8 makes a regular stop on LHI.  Almost like clockwork, around 2:45 pm local time, from the north west, the head lights of the Dash 8-200 appear out of the clouds and the wing tips reveal the trouble the pilot must endure to balance and straighten out the final seconds before trying to land.

I stress "trying to land"   -- Not all attempts work out. At the last second you might hear the throttle rev up and see the plane jump back into the sky after just touching a wheel....  then the next attempt is made after circling the island once again. The control of the variable pitch propeller Dash-8 is remarkable.

I was there today, waiting for the plane hoping that the equipment would be on-board.  I had checked Qantas and (with the help of Air-Tags), I was assured that the bags arrived from Los Angeles in Sydney four hours before the Sydney-LDH flight.  Well, what a surprise (or not)... the bags weren't on the plane today.  The winds were easily 30km/hr and as soon as it landed, they kicked up even stronger with a new burst of rain.  A typical late Feburary or March Seattle weather pattern. 

Nothing else I can do.   The helpless feeling is just what it is...

So we wait, again.   

Island

Arrival on Lord Howe Island

The arrival on LHI was successful.  The pilot of the Dash-8-200 skillfully handled the intense cross wind and turbulence on the last seconds of the landing.

(DASH-8-200 out of SYD for LDH,  July 10, 2024  ~ 2:00pm local)

Everything is as it should be, except for the lack of bags.   All of the checked luggage did not get transferred to the plane in Los Angeles for Sydney because of a delay in the SEA-LAX plane was over an hour late.

In the mean time I have been getting caught up on sleep, making some notes and trying to keep my battery charged.

The rain is pouring outside and the sound of the creatures  in the wild is intense.

I know some are expecting QRV soon.  The delays were expected.   I'll have some work to do when the gear arrives.   Things are looking up.

Thanks.

T minus 1

Ready

Bags are packed and ready.   I decided to bring enough fiberglass mast material to try to get on the low bands so there will be a chance of working 80m and 160m.

No bag over 45 lbs.  Enough gear for decent station, K3, KPA, KAT, KX3 two Spiderbeam telescope masts, and coax and radials for the station -- and everything else that goes in between.

• K3/100 (Elecraft bag) (ensconced in foam)
• Antennas (top bag to right)
• Other Equipment (bottom bag on concrete)
• Fragile Electronics (big Pelican case)
• KPA-500 (ensconced in OEM foam cradle within small Pelican case)

I'll be leaving Seattle within 24 hours and it will be Tuesday July 10th when I touch-down on LHI.

It might take me a couple days to get setup.

The Call Sign

A few notes for DX spotters ---

VK2/W7BRS will confuse a bit because it will seem that it's on the mainland.  But LHI is part of call area 2 in Australia, not 9.  So expect VK2/W7BRS and if you do spot, just add the "LHI" note (for Lord Howe Island).   The regulations got stricter this year so Lord Howe Island is no longer (or was ever) really VK9L.  We will leave that discussion for another time.

Meanwhile -- all that can be prepared for is done.  Antennas are in the bag, as well as all of the radio equipment:

Primary Station

K3 with KPA-500

CW, SSB and FT-8 capable.

Backup Station

KX3 (with KPA-500)

CW, SSB and FT-8 capable.

Logging and QSL

Livestream will be setup (pending stability of the network connection)

QTH

The QTH is on Lord Howe Island and the GRID SQUARE is:  QF98ml

Operating

All operations will be split except for FT-8 which will be traditional F/H mode.   Super-Fox-Hound will not be used.

SA, AF and OC have priority regardless of who I am CQing, otherwise if I call JA, NA or EU try to listen for your turn.   Again, always work split, and up.

Update your Logging Software (it has been several weeks since the COUNTRY file has been updated so that the QSO will log correctly in your Software as Lord Howe Island)