On the 24 June 2013 I will be travelling to Perth Western Australia for the WIA Annual General Meeting. On Tuesday 28th following the WIA Annual General meeting I will travel to Christmas Island for some rest and relaxation. The main reason for the visit is bird watching. Christmas Island has some unique bird species and is a very interesting location for beautiful scenary and wildlife. It would be impossible to travel to such a unique radio location without taking some radio equipment along on the trip. It is not a DX holiday but it does give the opportunity to make some contacts from this location. Christmas Island is a beautiful location off the north west coast of Australia between the Australian mainland and Indonesia , http://www.christmas.net.au/
From May 28 until June 4 2013, I will be on the island, and will be operating as VK9DAC. Christmas Island has the Amateur Radio stauts of a DXCC recognised country with a VK9 prefix. The continent is OC, ITU 54, CQ 29 and entity code 035. The Yarra Valley Amateur Radio Grooup will be my back up in Australia and the link to their web site is www.yvarg.org.au. If you have any queries please call Steve VK3TSR. See the YVARG web site for contact details
Christmas Island Operations
Operations at Christmas Island VK9DAC, Fred SwainstonThe equipment will be an IC706 operating at 100 watts using an ATU with a dipole wire antenna and a squid pole vertical. VHF and UHF will be 2 element yagi.
Operating Times
40m operations will commence at about 4pm local time (UTC +7) and continue until 6 pm local time (UTC +7).
80m will commence operations at 8pm local time (UTC +7)and continue until 10 pm local time (UTC +7).
10m, 15m and WARC bands will depend on interest.
The calling frequency for 40M with 7.095MHz.
The calling frequency for 80m will be 3.595MHz.
20m operations will be later in the evening.
.A bit about Christmas Island
Christmas Island is one of natures most impressive locations, an island full of natural wonders: from the unique annual red crab migration to rare and unusual birds. There are glorious deserted beaches where the only footprints in the sand are those made by nesting turtles.
With so many endemic species, the island is often referred to as the Galapagos of the Indian Ocean. Yet it also displays a curious amalgam of cultures, history and industry, emerging as a place where all these elements create a truly unusual experience.
Christmas is also the the location of the detention centre where asylum seeker refugees are located until they are processed.
Some background information
Fred VK3DAC is a WIA director and has been a radio amateur for more than 40 years.
He wrote the Radio Theory Handbook for Amateur Operators which has been in print since 1988 and is now in its 5th edition. The book is available from Silverdale Publications, web site www.silvertrain.com.au
Fred manages the Australian amateur radio training and assessment system, accrediting the assessors who conduct amateur radio assessments on behalf of the Australian Communications and Media Authority through the WIA.
As a consultant to the manufacturing industry Fred has had life long association with the electronics and electrical industries and also with aerospace.
Fred has an active interest in astronomy and in particular radio astronomy
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