>LATEST NEWS FROM THE ISLAND
>---------------------------
>
>At 17:30 gmt ON4UN had a long Inmerasat telephone
>converstaion with Peter on Heard island.
>
>Here is the status:
>
>- Amlost all preparatory work kas been finished
>- The SSB operating tent is already equipped with:
> 2 el 40 m yagi
> 3 el 10/15/20 m yagi
> 3 el 12/17 m yagi
> 3 el 20 m monoband yagi
>- The CW tent has:
> a 4-sqauer for 80m with the antennas IN the salt water
> a 4-square for 40m
> a 3 el 20 m yagi
> a 3 el 10/15/20 m yagi with 30m dipole
>- The beacons operates on an R5
>- Tomorrow (Tuesday 14th) morning they will put up:
> battle creek special
> beverages
> 3 el doband WRX yagi
> 2 el vert for 30 m CW
> 3 el 10/15/20 m on the 3rd site
>- when all of this will be done they will come on the air.
> It will likely be around noon local time, or 07:00 GMT.
> They will call me a few hours before starting, and we
> will announce it immediately on the reflector
>- all generators are up and running, as well as all tents
>- they worked from 5 AM till 10 PM local time and are
> exhausted (hope they won't fall asleep when operating...)
>- The beacon station was oof the air for some time this
> afternoon but came back on at 16:07 after having been
> moved from location 1 to location 3
>- The village (the big tent with slkeeping quarters etc)
> is located only 70 m from the sea shore.
>- The NCDXF and the 160 m beacon (+ RTTY station) are
> located approx 300 m from the village
>- The SSB tent is located 300 m from the village on a 50 m
> high ridge
>- The CW and the SSB tents are separated nearly 700 m. This
> should make it possible to operate CW and SSB on the same
> band!
>- WX: perfectly calm, NO WIND (!!), approx 7 deg C (much
> better than South Dakatoa !!!). There was plenty sunshine
> in the morning (covered PM). It gets pretty cold at night.
>- The inverted L for 80 m (ON4UN) will be erected tomorrow
> (Tuesday). The 160 m inverted L will go up 1 day later.
>- VK0IR will be active on ALL bands staring tomorrow. That
> includes 160 m (using the Battle creek)
>- The PACSAT satellite link is operatioonal and the first
> files with communication from the Pilots have succesfully
> been downloaded.
>- The 160 m beacon will be oiperational in afew days (will
> keep you posted)
>- There is little wild life around the camp. A few large
> sea birds, and a small colony of pinguins, and a few sea
> elephants, but they don't seem very much interested.
> Let's jope they stay away from the camp and don't run
> down the antennas!
>- the NCDXF will remain active, if no interference to the
> operating tents (which is unlikely)
>- Arie said he has the first Stellite path around 07:00
> to Japan, and to the States in the evening. He will send
> me more details by PACSAT. Stay tuned.
>
>That's it guys... Start sharpening your pencils...
>73
>
>Your pilots: ON4UN, N1DG, W0EK, K0EU, W4WW, W2IJ, JH1ROJ
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