September - October 2025
September - October 2025
 WIA Member Digital Edition Download
Editorial
No doubt many of you would have dreamed, at one time or another, of spending time living on an isolated island and the amateur radio adventures you could have. Away from the clutter of suburbia and its inevitable pressures, not to mention the QRN, such dreams doubtlessly included the experience of daily DX on the HF bands to all sorts of places around the globe, both familiar and exotic, but otherwise a struggle to contact from home.
Me, too.
Just nine years after becoming licensed, I was offered the opportunity of a remote island stay – not a holiday, but to work. In 1971, having returned from over a year at Casey Station in Antarctica, I joined what was then the Ionospheric Prediction Service (IPS) in Sydney, now Space Weather Services.
I was engaged in transequatorial propagation research activities, but, in August 1972 I was offered a temporary job to restore and maintain the ionosonde on Cocos (Keeling) Islands while IPS found a new operator.
I was familiar with the ‘sonde of the type on Cocos as it was the same that I’d helped maintain at Casey.
With two weeks’ notice, the family and I packed up to spend from 6 to 12 weeks on Cocos. Allotted a certain capacity of crates to take “life” with us, naturally I included some amateur radio projects. There was no time to get a VK9Y call sign, so it had to be VK2ZTB/pVK9.
The Cocos IPS station, as did others, had a Collins KWM-2A for weekly skeds on HF (6, 12 MHz) with Sydney headquarters, to pass ionospheric data, order technical supplies and swap chit-chat. Desktop faxes were not yet invented and phone calls too expensive. A 1.5 kW bespoke linear came with the KWM-2A. Amateur band SW listening on the Collins was both glorious and frustrating!
However, I’d brought homebrew 6m gear with me and set up a simple antenna. An Eddystone 770R VHF receiver was part of the station gear, and I spent much spare time being amazed at what it could hear. There were times when the Darwin 6m beacon rolled in S5 to S9+ for hours on end . . . but no one to work!
Noted islander SK
Kirsti Jenkins-Smith VK9NL, long-time resident of Norfolk Island and widely known around Australia and globally, became a Silent Key in August. Wife of Jim Smith VK9NL (SK 2009), Kirsti and Jim founded the Heard Island DX Association (HIDXA) from Norfolk Island that famously supported and enabled many DXpeditions, including to Heard Island. From Norfolk, she took a primary role in planning and supporting HIDXA DXexpeditions, aside from enjoying many aspects of amateur radio.
Kirsti died peacefully at home aged 89. Advised by Bruce Smith G3HSR.
Table Of Contents
Technical
 Homebrewing digital with GNU Radio - Dave Abel VK1DJA
Receiving Slow Scan TV images from some satellites - Dale Hughes VK1DSH
Just what does your S-meter indicate? - VK2DBN Gary Gibson
General
Cocos-Keeling, Diego Garcia and FIFO DXing - Paul Roehrs VK5NE, VK9YB
Sweet sojourn in the Solomons; it was the ‘70s - Jules Perrin VK3JFP, VR4DJ
YJ8OT adventures, and snagging a 6m first - Steve Gregory VK3OT, YJ8OT
Idyll on the Isle of Wight - Phil Hartwell VK6GX, G3YC
What you need to know to legally operate abroad - Peter McMahon VK3HEX and Bruce Kendall VK3WL/9V1WL
Mounting a G90 rig into an ammo can for a ready-to-go radio - Carmel Morris VK2NO
A triumph of perseverance: one lad’s amateur radio achievement - Mel Lewis
Files For Download
Page Last Updated: Monday, 22 Sep 2025 at 11:09 hours by Webmaster
|
