- Jun 29
- 2 min read

VK9CV - Cocos-Keeling Isl.

VK9CV Update (Sep 22)

Preparation Update from the VK9CV Team's Australian Base

Island expeditions into the deep Pacific or Indian oceans often face risks as to whether the luggage and equipment will actually make it to the destination on time with the operators. The flights are often long (in the case of Cocos more than 2500km) and on the type of aircraft (eg A320) used on these over water routes, we find that there are often weight restrictions so that the airline has enough fuel to fly out there and return without landing should the weather turn bad. Such is the case with our flights from Perth to Cocos Island.

To this end, we have been warned that often some luggage may be offloaded and left behind in Perth to be sent out on the next flight 4 days later! That would not be a great outcome for us being able to hit the ground running and getting the stations on air quickly.

To help remove this risk, the team is arranging to pre-ship 6 of the antennas and feed lines to the island from our Australian team base, prior to the expeditioners leaving home. This amounts to nearly 120kg of gear, and includes a mix of verticals and beams plus suitable feed lines. In this way, we should be able to get on the air with at least 4-5 stations accessing all bands from 80-6m quickly, even if some of our luggage does get delayed.

This "insurance" is not cheap, costing in excess of $2,000 AUD, but we feel it is worth it to ensure we have the best opportunity to work you all from Cocos Keeling Island as VK9CV. We hope you appreciate the efforts being made here to minimize the risks to this project. If you haven't already done so, why not consider making a donation to the project, to help us help you get VK9C in your logs!

Source: https://www.facebook.com/groups/489325376829131

VK9CV Update (Sep 18)

Preparations continue. Today we erected 22m low band vertical for 80/160 m with capacity hat. Everything looks fine, now stay tuned.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/groups/489325376829131

VK9CV Update (Aug 26)

Our QTH during DXpedition

Cndx to the USA on the upper bands last very short, that’s why we decided to use 3 QTHs so that we could simultaneously be on one band at one time CW/SSB/DIGI.

Distance between them is app. 700m so we hope as little QRM as possible