Friday 18th of April 2008

Overcast morning 6am, the alarm went off, I packed the car, had breakfast and by 7:40am I was heading 2 ½ hours down the F3 Freeway to Sydney and out the other side to one of Australia’s hottest DX’ing locations.

By midday I’d arrived and parked on the side of the road where I waited for my mates 43SD593 Peter and 43SD133 Jaye to arrive and admired the picturesque bush setting. Pommy Peter was the first to pull up, and thank god he did because we had lots of work to do before getting stuck into some propagation…

The first few hours consisted of unloading the vehicles of our radios, tools, testing metres, life packs, food, oh and of course the new 5 element beam which sparkled like a silver jewel in the sunlight.

Eager to get on the air as soon as possible, Pete and I got stuck right into building the yagi. By 1pm the horizontal antenna was partially together with loose screws but by 3pm it was complete — all aligned nice and straight and ready for our expert antenna mounter, Jaye 43SD133, to arrive to climb 80 feet up the tower to mount it.

First we had to remove the old 5 element from the tower as it was badly damaged and the reflector was missing due to high winds which are a regular occurrence at a high altitude location such as this one.

Anyway, brave Jaye got in his climbing gear and battling the heavy rainfall and wind. Like a possum on steroids, he was up the tower in a matter of 10 minutes with the old antenna ready to be lowered to Peter and me who watched on in safety from the ground. An hour later, the new 5 element was up and ready to rock and roll, and with one more check of the SWR showing at 1.1:1 we were ready to hit the mics. Yahoo!

By the time we had the rigs powered up, the sun was down and Jaye was drenched so we got stuck into some sausage sandwiches to warm up. After all, if 43SC001 Miss Deb (the Sexy Chef) knew we’d gone all day without a feed and were about to step behind the mic for some DX then she would have spat it BIG TIME!

We were monitoring 27.555 MHz and to our astonishment the band sounded open so we called CQ DX many times over and kept our ears glued to the speakers. Funnily enough, we were hearing weak voices all over the band but unfortunately nothing could get through at readable strength.

Sadly, the band remained dead for most of the night as we monitored Triple 5 from within the comfort of our sleeping bags but after a massive day in the hot Aussie sun we probably needed a good night sleep anyway to recharge our batteries for the next day.

Saturday 19th of April 2008

Early morning we woke, still monitoring the band with eager ears, hoping for a path into the Pacific or Americas. By 9-10pm the band had opened to the United States and to our surprise we were the only 43 division stations being heard in the Americas. After working some stations in Texas such as 2WT432 Gaylon, the band closed once again and the radio slipped into another coma.

It just goes to show that even having an antenna at 80 feet in the air and many metres above sea level the band can still be depressing.

Apart from the odd short opening interstate, the band remained mostly lifeless until dusk, when we were very fortunate to get an opening into Japan (25 Division). After a short QSO with our northern allies, the band didn’t seem to want to open any further and slipped back into another dreamy slumber typical of the recently departed Cycle 23 which has hung around like a bad smell for far too long. Damn! We must be at solar minimum!

That night the DX God was again frowning upon us as it was another tranquil night on the rigs with nothing but a few giggles and swapping exaggerated tales of DX achievement to keep us occupied. Still, it was a barrel of laughs and some of the radio related stories I heard from the boys will stay with me forever!

Sunday 20th of April 2008

Woke up early again after monitoring the rigs all night and were on tenterhooks — hoping that the rising of the sun had brought DX and some smiles to our faces. To our amazement, the band sounded open again and many Spanish voices probably originating from South American countries were SWL around the band including on 27.555 MHz. I made a few calls but no response. Then BANG—the band opened like a virgin on prom night!

Power station 10FAT178 was calling CQ South Pacific, QSY 27.540 MHz and he was 5/5.

Stoked to clear the cobwebs out of my throat for some great DX, I called desperately and he called me in immediately. Obviously, I felt very lucky and very happy as it was the first occasion I’d worked Mexico in quite some time. Also I didn’t notice any other 43 Division stations getting spotted on Cluster.dk or even being heard on the band by Jose. So it goes to show that when the band does open and you are at a high altitude you ARE most likely to be the first in the log!

After three days of not a lot of DX on eleven metres it was time to pack up and head back to our home QTH’s.

It was a good weekend all in all — great to catch up with each other and spend a few days doing what we do best, DXing. I have also compiled some photos to include in my short article of the weekend, so please feel free to take a look.

I’d also like to mention that we were also able to catch up with ex 43SD122 Gary which was also very nice.

This is also a personal thankyou to my grandfather who lent me his GPS so I could get through the chaotic traffic of Sydney and out the other side right to our destination in the stix. Thanks a million Pop!

Of course, my gratitude also goes to the Sugar Delta boys for a terrific weekend away. It was awesome and I hope that we can do it again sometime in the future when the conditions really do open up and say arghhhhhh!

73 de Jordan
43SD280