Over the past few weeks I was privileged to use the special call of VI5MARCONI. The special Marconi calls which will be heard during the month of September, are all part of the 100 year celebrations of the first direct wireless transmission from the United Kingdom to Australia, which occurred way back on 22nd September 1918. For full information on this very interesting piece of radio history, please check out my previous post at……….
https://vk5pas.org/2018/09/04/vi5marconi-and-the-monarto-conservation-park-vkff-0828/
I jumped on air whenever possible, between work committments. I also activated a total of 5 parks using the call. I ended up with a total of 424 contacts. This included 19 different DXCC including the following……
- Asiatic Russia
- Australia
- European Russia
- Germany
- Fiji
- India
- Italy
- Japan
- Montserrat
- New Caledonia
- New Zealand
- Korea
- Kosovo
- Slovenia
- South Cook Islands
- Spain
- Tuvalu
- USA
- Vanuatu
I found the band conditions pretty challenging, with very few DX opportunities. However, on Sunday afternoon I was really pleased to log a number of European stations on 20m on the long path.
The majority of my contacts were on the 40m band (215), followed by 2m (118), then 80m (77), and finally 15m (14).
Of the 424 QSOs I made, 303 of those were made whilst I was out in the field.
My portable activations were at the following parks……..
- Scott Creek Conservation Park VKFF-0788
- Totness Recreation Park VKFF-1754
- Mark Oliphant Conservation Park VKFF-0782
- Kenneth Stirling Conservation Park VKFF-0781
- Monarto Conservation Park VKFF-0828
John VK5BJE joined me for my activation at the Scott Creek Conservation Park.
I have now provided my log and in the next few days it should appear in the on-line log which can be found at……
https://www.silvertrain.com.au/
You can download a special QSL card for VI5MARCONI from that site. The QSL card below is an example, showing my contact with VI4MARCONI.
Thankyou to everyone who called me, and thankyou to Fred VK3DAC for giving me the opportunity of using the call.
VK5PAS 
Hi Paul
A really great contribution to the special call and the memory of Marconi. Thanks for your efforts.
John D
VK5BJE/VK5PF
G’day John,
It was a fun day out. I was really pleased to be able to log a few Europeans on 20m, something I haven’t done from out in the field for a while now. Thanks for coming along and taking part.
Cheers,
Paul VK5PAS.