VK9XI on air!
VK9XI is now fully underway with operation on 160/80/40/30/20/17/15/10m observed already on SSB, FT8 or on CW.
N0UN in Colorado reports a booming signal on 20m SSB on his (blog).
Good luck team!
News from Christmas Island – Station Build Continues
It”s Hot and very humid with a relentless sun pounding down while we set up antennas today. We completed the 40-10m vertical and its been performing very well on 15m so far. Adrian KO8SCA has been active on CW whilst the rest of the team has worked on the remaining antennas.
It seems that Adrian however has committed the cardinal DXpedition sin of bringing along an untested piece of kit. In this case a very “dashing looking” red foot switch. Fortunately the folks at DXEngineering had a premonition this might happen and sent along some Heil foot switches just in case!
Outside, the 80-10m doublet is being installed between a couple of coconut palm trees.
The 2el 20/15/10m yagi is also up and running at about 10m. A VK3TZ design and working extremely well on 10m at the moment. This is a very Lightweight antenna and also very broadband covering from the CW through to top of the SSB band segments. Operation has commenced on 10m using the antenna and so far reports are excellent.
Finally work has commenced on putting up the 160m antenna as well. Keep watching the clusters for details of what frequencies are operational! 73’s from the team at VK9XI!
VK9XI is on the air – 15m CW
The team is underway with 15m on the air on CW this afternoon!
The following was relayed to Facebook today by JA0RUG
That was the heard calling them as seen in VK5, although at the time they weren’t copyable in VK5. The DXCluster and Reverse Beacon Networks were showing their progress well!
Team has arrived on Christmas Island – Setup Underway
News Update from Lee VK3GK:
Arrived safely on Christmas Island after about 12 hours traveling. Even all of our baggage was offloaded, which was good. Greeted by the local Tourism lady and off to the “resort” we go.
A Special thanks to Cliff Tindall for helping out with carting all our stuff to “The Sunset”.
More setting up today and we already have one station operational on the multiband vertical.
Update from Luke VK3HK:
Everyone slept well, and is feeling refreshed. Time to get busy.
Team Meeting in Perth Airport
First leg down – Team arrives in Perth!
Tony, Luke and Lee have just arrived at Perth airport awaiting to meet up with Adrian KO8SCA who arrived from USA yesterday. Just a few hours layover until our international connection to Christmas Island. Some of the baggage is very CLOSE to the weight limit…..
Cliff VK9VKL will meet the team on their arrival on Christmas Island in a few hours time! Not long now before they will be heard on the air – although Lee and Tony might need a nap first as it will be nearly a 40 hour day for them by the time they arrive!
Tony reports that they dont expect to be on air until tomorrow (4th of October).
The team is now just waiting their connection at Perth International Airport!
The VK3 Expedition Crew is leaving Melbourne today!
Luke VK3HJ and Lee VK3GK report from the plane that they are strapped in and raring to go on their adventure into the Indian Ocean and Christmas Island today with Tony VK3TZ!
Thank You to our Sponsors!
As we prepare to depart the mainland the team wishes to sincerely thank our commercial and individual sponsors for their support of this venture!
Individual Donors
Special thanks to the following who have made individual contributions to this expedition
Graham Alston VK3GA
Edgar Callaway N4II
Stephen Masticola WX2S
Neil Carr G0JHC
Chris Bellmont VK3AWG
Commercial Sponsors
Preparations Nearly Complete
Update 2nd October:
By now all of the 200kg+ of equipment will have been repacked and the team is preparing to depart. Wish us luck and hope to work you all from VK9XI and VK9CI over the next 2 weeks!
Dateline 28th September 2017:
With only 7 days to before the team leaves for the islands, equipment is still arriving. The box of HF W3NQN Band Pass filters and the SAL30 were delivered moments ago. A delivery from our friends at DX Engineering arrived via DHL as well. Now to unpack the goodies to configure and test with the SAL30 and IC7300 prior to repacking and departure for the islands in a few days time.
A great big thanks to Tim Duffy and the team at DX Engineering and Jay at Array Solutions!
Array Solutions Gear on its way!
Lee VK3GK reports: “Great news from Jay at Array Solutions…… The AS-SAL30 MK2, RX array is on its way. Our secret weapon for the low bands arriving soon.”
Jay from Array solutions writes:
VK9CI & VK9XI DX-peditions.
Shipping today Friday (Texas) to Australia (Saturday already), VK-land:
1 SAL-30 Mark II, the new aluminum mast SAL-30
18 Bandpass filters
Good luck to all the team working on this effort, have fun and many QSOs!
The team are now getting quite excited and are itching to be on their way. Time to start tuning up your own stations so that you will be able to work them next month!
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