Topband: VK9XG QRT on 160/80

[Steve Ireland]

G'day 

Bad news I am afraid for those still wanting VK9XG on 160/80 - Charlie has
had to QRT on these bands.

After a construction truck had a smash-up nearby, the 50m-high crane
Charlie was using as his main antenna support had to be removed to remove
the truck.  This came shortly after he had taken down and packed up his
free-standing vertical antenna, as part of early preparations for quitting
Christmas Island... 

This means that Charlie now has only a small antenna for 14 and 21MHz left
standing.

The major part of Charlie's operation was to provide QSOs with VK9 on
160/80, particularly with North America where it is one of the most wanted
countries.

Charlie writes:

"I am currently packing up all the receiving antennas and preparing 
them for storage.  If anyone else wants to try their hand out here, be my 
guest.  I have almost a complete station here less amplifier and 
transceiver.  Hopefully someone will hit it here when this antipodal QTH 
will produce results back to the States.  However I want to warn anyone 
coming this way, be prepared for heat, humidity, solar flares, crabs and 
sweat.  Nothing here comes easy.  That only formula - energy input equals 
results achieved - certainly does not apply on Christmas Island."

__________________

For those who don't know, CI is a steep-sided, rainscrub-covered extinct
volcano, with little infrastructure, ancient noisy power lines and tropical
humidity (plus 30 million land crabs).  Its main asset is wonderful people
and wonderfully weird animal/bird life - but it is very hard proposition
for low-band operation.  

Maybe a lowbander will get to live there again one day (I'd like to, but
getting work up there is hard and my family might protest...).  This is
probably the best hope to remove it from the lowband wanted list.

Vy 73

Steve, VK6VZ (ex-VK9XZ)