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VK9WA Middle Island Willis Islands

An international team of amateur radio operators, Rob N7QT, Jared N7SMI, Sandro VE7NY, Adam K7EDX, Hawk SM5AQD, Gus SM3SGP, Allan VE7SZ, will be active from Middle (Mid) Island, Willis Islands (Willis Islets) 14 - 23 November 2015 as VK9WA.
They will operate on 80 - 10m (possibly 160) CW, SSB, RTTY.
The team will depart Cairns, Australia on the MV Phoenix.
Middle (Mid) Island is only 4 acres in size and uninhabited.
Middle Island and Willis Islets are part of Coral Sea Islands Territory, Australia.
Willis Islets is currently Nr 34 on the Club Log most wanted list and not activated since 2008.
DXCC Country - Willis Islets
WAZ zone - CQ 30.
ITU Zone - 55.
RSGB IOTA - OC-007.
QTH Locator - QH43xs.
The Mid Islet landing and operating permits are in hand. The VK9WA license in in process.
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Video DX Pedition Willis Islets VK9DWX

VK9WA Willis Island DX Pedition Video.

Where Willis Islets are located. Map.

VK9WA Middle Island Willis Islands. Sunrise 12-15-2024 at 19:21 GMT sunset at 08:29 GMT
VK9WA Middle Island Willis Islands comments forum

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18 Comments

100%
Rating: 5 of 5
Team
  • Callsign: VK9WA
  • 2015-11-23 05:07:32
November 23 0015 - Rough seas and expected to get worse, so we're expediting our station break down. 2 stations going off the air within an hour. We'll reevaluate in a few hours, but current plans are to keep two stations on the air through the night with QRT at first light tomorrow - around 2200UTC.
100%
Rating: 5 of 5
Team
  • Callsign: VK9WA
  • 2015-11-22 23:06:11
November 22 2200 - They say about 24 hours left. QRT sometime after sunrise tomorrow 1915 GMT> 4 stations for maybe 8-10 hours and then down to 2 stations. The condition of the seas for departure witl affect how quickly teardown is done. I would not expect to see any more 160. Possibly some 80 SSB and CW plus 40 CW well after their sunset. They are very close to 60 K QSOs and should make that with no problem.
100%
Rating: 5 of 5
Team
  • Callsign: VK9WA
  • 2015-11-22 05:28:52
November 21 0200 - They are trying to repair the 160 antenna to try in the morning but I am not sure of the present status. If I hear further info I will pass along.
100%
Rating: 5 of 5
Team
  • Callsign: VK9WA
  • 2015-11-20 11:14:21
November 20 0430 - They are having a lot of problems with antennas with winds and salt spray. They plan to use 12 and 17 M to do a lot of ALL TIME NEW ONE while the SS is in session this weekend to avoid conflicts with the contest. I assume both modes but will get more info. They are not sure if the 160 ant is repairable.
100%
Rating: 5 of 5
Team
  • Callsign: VK9WA
  • 2015-11-19 23:34:38
November 19 2130 - This is from Jared N7SMI at VK9WA - 5 of 7 antennas were damaged last night due to corrosion and wind, turtles yanking out coax, guy lines, or the antenna itself, and birds breaking verticals. Much down time for repairs (and a bit of much needed sleep). Winds are starting to subside a bit. Going to work 20m RTTY for as long as we can. It typically goes dead in a few hours - which is really odd to me. Probably won't do RTTY much on other bands than 30, 20, and 15 - 90% the same people logged when we change bands. Rob has 10 going to NA again now that all antennas are back online - except TB - a turtle did a real number on that one so not sure of status until this afternoon. I made a note of the ZS opening, and will also try for UK on 10m at 0900 if open.
100%
Rating: 5 of 5
Team
  • Callsign: VK9WA
  • 2015-11-19 14:10:00
November 19 1200 GMT - They had radar noise in the xmit area 3524 this morning and had to shift the QSX freq to 3560 to get away from it.
100%
Rating: 5 of 5
Team
  • Callsign: VK9WA
  • 2015-11-19 06:57:10
November 18 2300 GMT - Unfortunately they had 4 antennas break during the night time which they had to repair in the dark to remain on the air. This made them late getting to 80 M for EC. They are going to try again in the morning start 10 GMT. They will try 30,40 starting after 08, their sunset. Still having trouble hearing on 160 due to QRN being the start of summer on their end. They plan to do more RTTY tomorrow. They are at 32 K QSO right now.
100%
Rating: 5 of 5
Team
  • Callsign: VK9WA
  • 2015-11-18 10:46:29
November 18 0400 GMT - They said tonight they would get on 30 and 40 around their sunset which is 0815 and by 1000 try 80 and 160. If they cannot work anyone on 160 they will revert to 80 and 40. They promise RTTY tomorrow on some bands. 3 hours ago the were at 26 K QSO. They will be there up to around Sunday so at least 4 or 5 days to go and will try to get exact departure time. They plan to tear down all but 2 stations the afternoon prior to leaving and leave 2 stations to run overnight. To repeat myself, 19-23 GMT they are coming via longpath to the US on 17 and 20 and via short path on 15, 12, and 10. They are using verticals and do have one 2 ele yagi so the verticals pick the propagation path.
100%
Rating: 5 of 5
Team
  • Callsign: VK9WA
  • 2015-11-18 10:45:53
November 18 0015 GMT - Sorry they did not make it to RTTY today at least for east coast. They are still planning RTTY soon so stay tuned. They had some confusion on 80 M CW and later 17 M SSB with the wrong VFO being used to tune with but have it under control now. They have corrected the 15 M log from several days ago where SSB QSOs were put in as CW. They are over 24 K QSO at 2000 GMT. Signals into SA and southern AF have not been good.
100%
Rating: 5 of 5
Team
  • Callsign: VK9WA
  • 2015-11-17 18:30:06
November 17 1530 GMT - They plan to get one or two stations onto RTTY today. They apparently were having some issues on the low bands this morning but not sure exactly what was going on. They were on 20 and 17 M long path to the USA yesterday and 12 and 10 M short path during the 19-23 GMT time frame. Hopefully they will get the low band situation fixed.
100%
Rating: 5 of 5
Team
  • Callsign: VK9WA
  • 2015-11-17 05:05:33
November 17 0400 GMT - They believe the problem with the low band rx antenna system was a bad preamp.. Antenna checks out so they hope to be trying 160 some tonight. 1827 will be the new frequency due to reports of birdies on 1825. They will listen up for all but JA which they will listen down when indicated. If the rx antenna is okay then they should also hear better on 80 also. Everything seems to be running okay and still trying to keep continents balanced QSO wise.
100%
Rating: 5 of 5
Team
  • Callsign: VK9WA
  • 2015-11-16 13:41:12
November 16 1200 GMT - . They reported that the receive antenna for 160 is not working and will have to wait until daylight to see what the problem might be.
100%
Rating: 5 of 5
Team
  • Callsign: VK9WA
  • 2015-11-16 03:37:33
November 15 2200 GMT -They have the 160 antenna and receive antenna system installed now and hope to be on every day forward. For NA/SA watch 10-13 GMT. I'm sure they have some times for EU and JA but have not received anything to post on that. They will adjust times accordingly. They have had some antenna damage that they have been able to repair. It is extremely hot with lots of bird guano. There was a log error it appears from 11/14, 2300 to possibly 0100.. 15 M SSB QSOs were entered as CW. They will clear all of that up when they return if not before. Everything seems to be running smoothly. They are keeping Clublog updated twice a day when possible. Their Statistics on Clublog show fairly even percentages on the main continental areas, AS, EU, and NA.
100%
Rating: 5 of 5
Team
  • Callsign: VK9WA
  • 2015-11-14 21:30:48
November 14 2000 GMT - . They have been on about 12 hours now and everything running good. They have had good sigs on the bands I have heard them, 40,30, 20 and 12. They are working on the 160 M antenna and a low band receive antenna. Also a 2 ele yagi to supplement their SteppIR verticals.
100%
Rating: 5 of 5
Team
  • Callsign: VK9WA
  • 2015-11-14 13:23:37
November 14 0400 GMT - All equipment is ashore, tents up, generators all operational. Presently putting up antennas and plan to be operational with all 4 stations after their sundown. They will work on the 80 and 160 antennas tomorrow.
100%
Rating: 5 of 5
Team
  • Callsign: VK9WA
  • 2015-11-14 13:23:03
The group has arrived Middle Cay and having breakfast . They will be off loading shortly and will take about 22 trips in the dinghy. Trip was smooth getting out there. They do not plan to get on until most all the stations are set up. I would think they would work until around their dark, sunset being around 0800 GMT. They should be able to make a lot of headway by then.
80%
Rating: 4 of 5
Hiram
  • Callsign: W1AW
  • 2015-11-13 02:54:16
Good luck to you all! This would be an ATNO for W1AW! We look forward to working you. 73!
60%
Rating: 3 of 5
Mauro
  • Callsign: iz2ipf
  • 2015-11-08 05:07:51