Topband: VK9XG report 6/11

[Steve Ireland]

G'day

Bad news from Charlie VK9XG.  He has been on the band every night/morning,
but the QRN has been terrific and the conditions abysmal - making 80m
operation also hopeless. 

Conditions has been so bad that Charlie is considering taking down the 160m
antennas today (Friday) and replacing them with ones for 30m and 40m for
his last night of operation (his Friday night), so he can at least satisy
some of the requests he is getting for operation on these bands.  

On Saturday morning, all the antennas have to come down as the famous CI
cricket oval is hosting a local rugby match that day - even holier in the
English-speaking parts of the southern hemisphere than a cricket match...

It should be noted that Charlie probably has the largest 160/80m collection
of antennas used on CI since the DL expedition to the islands in the
mid-late 1990s, employing inverted vee dipoles at 50 metres on top of a
crane, a 60'-plus Force 12 vertical antenna and phased pennants for reception.

As Charlie is essentially a single man low-band DXpedition, just imagine
how much effort this operation has taken and if you feel disappointed, just
imagine how he feels. 

Vy 73

Steve, VK6VZ