Between Saturday, 13th September 2025, and Monday, 29th September 2025, I operated with the special event call of VI8POL to celebrate the 8th annual National Police Week in Australia.

Police Week is a celebration of Australia’s police. It includes National Police Remembrance Day, where we honour the 832 Australian police officers who have been killed on duty. It is also a time to remember police officers who have lost their lives through illness or other circumstances.

I made a total of 6,934 QSOs on 2, 5, 10, 15, 20, 40, & 80m SSB, AM, FT4, and FT8.

Below is a map showing my QSOs around the world.

• yellow – 80m
• green – 40m
• purple – 20m
• light blue – 15m
• purple – 10m
• dark blue – 6m
• red – 2m

I worked a total of 152 DXCC entities, and have qualified for DXCC.

• Alaska
• Angola
• Antarctica
• Antigua & Barbuda
• Argentina
• Aruba
• Asiatic Russia
• Australia
• Austria
• Azores
• Bahrain
• Balearic Islands
• Bangladesh
• Barbados
• Belarus
• Belgium
• Belize
• Benin
• Bosnia
• Botswana
• Brazil
• Bulgaria
• Cameroon
• Canada
• Canary Islands
• Chile
• China
• Christmas Island
• Colombia
• Corsica
• Costa Rica
• Crete
• Croatia
• Cuba
• Cyprus
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Dodecanese
• Dominican Republic
• East Kiribati
• East Malaysia
• Ecuador
• England
• Estonia
• European Russia
• Faroe Islands
• Fed Republic of Germany
• Fiji
• Finland
• France
• French Guiana
• French Polynesia
• Georgia
• Ghana
• Greece
• Guam
• Guernsey
• Hawaii
• Honduras
• Hong Kong
• Hungary
• Iceland
• India
• Indonesia
• Iran
• Ireland
• Israel
• Italy
• Jamaica
• Japan
• Jersey
• Kaliningrad
• Kazakhstan
• Kenya
• Kyrgyzstan
• Latvia
• Lebanon
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• Madeira Islands
• Maldives
• Malta
• Mauritius
• Mexico
• Micronesia
• Mongolia
• Montserrat
• Morocco
• Namibia
• Nauru
• Netherlands
• New Caledonia
• New Zealand
• Norfolk Island
• North Macedonia
• Northern Ireland
• Norway
• Oman
• Pakistan
• Palestine
• Panama
• Peru
• Poland
• Portugal
• Puerto Rico
• Qatar Rep of Korea
• Reunion Island
• Rodriquez Island
• Romania
• Rwanda
• Saint Pierre & Miquelon
• Saint Vincent
• Samoa
• San Marino
• Sardinia
• Saudi Arabia
• Scotland
• Serbia
• Seychelles
• Sint Maarten
• Slovak Republic
• Slovenia
• Solomon Islands
• South Africa
• Spain
• Svalbard
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Taiwan
• Tajikistan
• Thailand
• Trinidad & Tobago
• Tunisia
• Turkey
• Ukraine
• United Arab Emirates
• United States
• Uruguay
• Uzberkistan
• Vanuatu
• Venezuela
• Wales
• West Kiribati
• West Malaysia

I worked all 50 States in the USA. The last 2 States I logged were North Dakota and Montana. I have qualified for the Worked All States Award.

I worked 38 of the 40 Zones. Just Zones 2 and 34 eluded me, which are quite rare.

I worked all the Continents, and have qualified for the Worked All Continents Award.

The majority of my QSOs were on the 20m band, followed by 15m, and then 10m. There were some excellent openings on 15m on the long path into Europe and the United Kingdom.

The majority of my QSOs were on FT8. However, SSB was very close behind. I had some rather large pileups on 20m SSB & 15m SSB at times, having to resort to operating split frequency.

Below is a map showing my contacts into Europe.

Below is a map showing my QSOs into the USA.

Below is a map showing my QSOs into Japan.

Below is a map showing my contacts around Australia and in to New Zealand.

THANK YOU to everyone who called.

It was an honour to work dozens of serving and retired police officers around the world.

I am still awaiting the arrival of the VI8POL QSL cards. Once they are received, I will start sending out cards to those who have already sent me theirs.

On Sunday, 7th September 2025, the VKFF program offered a special certificate for anyone who activated a VKFF reference on National Threatened Species Day.

Marija and I were very busy that day on grandparent duties, so we did not get out into a park until very late in the afternoon. We activated the Totness Recreation Park VKFF-1754, which is located near Mount Barker in the Adelaide Hills, about 25 km southeast of Adelaide.

Above: Map showing the location of the Totness Recreation Park. Map c/o Google Maps.

The Totness Recreation Park was formerly known as the Totness National Parks Reserve. It was declared as a reserve in 1970, and then in 1972 it was re-declared as a recreation park. (Wikipedia 2024)

The reserve is divided into two distinct sections. One on the northern side of the South Eastern Freeway, and one on the southern side of the South Eastern Freeway. The area to the north comprises 9 hectares (22 acres), while the southern section is 32 hectares (79 acres) in size. The total area of the park is 41 hectares (101 acres). The southern section was completely burnt out during the Ash Wednesday bushfires of February 1983. (Wikipedia 2024)

Above: An aerial view of the reserve. Image c/o Google Earth.

The park contains a large dam in the northern section. The dam was constructed in 1884 and was used by the South Australian Railways to refill steam locomotives. Water was pumped from the dam to the Mount Barker Railway Station, about 2.5 km away. This continued until about 1944. The dam in the reserve also served as a water source for the people of Mount Barker. (Wikipedia 2024)

The area which is now the southern section of Totness was originally granted to John Dunn in 1853. Dunn was born in 1802 in Devon, England, and emigrated to South Australia in 1840. He became a flour miller, parliamentarian and a prominent citizen of Mount Barker. (Wikipedia 2025)

Above: John Dunn. Image c/o Wikipedia

The area was named Totness by William Hannaford, who was born in Totness, Devon, England, in 1825. He arrived in South Australia aboard the Emma in 1845. The surrounding area was known as Little Totness. (slsa.sa.gov.au)

Above: William Hannaford. Image c/o MyHeritage.

The area around the dam was leased by the Mount Barker Council and was used for wood and bark harvesting. The bark from Golden Wattle was used in the Mount Barker tannery, while Messmate Stringybark was cut for firewood. (Wikipedia 2024)

The park’s vegetation includes Messmate Stringybark woodland, South Australian Blue Gum/Manna Gum woodland, and River Red Gum woodland. More than 180 native plant species have been recorded in the park. A total of 36 bird species have been recorded in the park, including Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, White-throated Treecreeper, Adelaide Rosella, and Laughing Kookaburra. Native mammals located in the park include Western Grey Kangaroos, Common Ringtail Possums, and Echidnas. (Dept. Env & Heritage 2007)

Marija worked the following stations on 40m SSB:-

1. VK5KPR
2. VK5VK
3. VK5WU
4. VK5LA
5. VK5KAW
6. VK2EXA
7. VK3TDX
8. VK2YL
9. VK7PJM
10. VK3ACZ

I worked the following stations on 40m SSB:-

1. VK5KPR
2. VK5VK
3. VK5WU
4. VK5LA
5. VK5KAW
6. VK2EXA
7. VK3TDX
8. VK2YL
9. VK7PJM
10. VK3ACZ
11. VK4SMA
12. VK3KRL

I worked the following stations on 20m SSB:-

1. VK3ALF
2. VK4XO

This was just a quick activation for us, as we had endured a long day and were keen to get home.

References.

1. Department for Environment and Heritage, 2007, Totness Recreation Park Management Plan
2. published.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au. (n.d.). A Compendium of the Place Names of South Australia. [online] Available at: https://published.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/placenamesofsouthaustralia/.
3. ‌Wikipedia Contributors (2024). Totness Recreation Park. Wikipedia.‌
4. Wikipedia Contributors (2025). John Dunn (miller). Wikipedia.‌

Unfortunately, August was a busy month for me, and I did not activate any VKFF parks, nor did I undertake a lot of hunting.

However, I did manage the two certificates below for the World Wide Flora Fauna (WWFF) August Activity Month.

Thanks to the organisers and those who headed out to activate.

Yesterday, I received via email the Certificate of Appreciation below from the Voice of Indonesia.