Halfway through our shift
We’re in our 40th hour of the 72 hours we have for the call sign, VI6CHOGM. So far we’ve had a fantastic response, when the bands have been open, however, sadly they haven’t been as great as we’d hoped. We’ve had some great contacts though, so if you’ve made contact with us, thank you very much.
A special mention to all of those who have dropped past, and worked the station over the last forty hours. We’ve had a great time seeing you all, and enjoyed your company and willingness to help promote Perth this weekend. Thanks to;
VK6WW Ross
VK6HAM Tony
VK6HWD Colin
VK6GMD Gherhard
VK6SN Rex and his XYL, Maureen
VK6JAE Peter
VK6GA Adam
VK6FLAB Onno
VK6FDX Marty
VK6FAME Davis
VK6FREE Brendan
Regards,
Miles VK6MAB, Bob VK6POP and the team
We’re on air!
A day late I realise, however we are actively on air now, and working stations across many countries on a variety of bands and modes. A great way to find where we are, is to look at the top of the logbook graphic on our logbook page – it shows our current frequency under the animated ‘On Air’ graphic
Help Wanted!
If you’re in Western Australia, and have a few hours spare next weekend, 28th-30th October, we would appreciate hearing from you!
We still need more volunteers to help man the microphone of VI6CHOGM, or help with the logging, which means that either a few of us are going to end up with very tired voices, or we’re going to have less airtime, which means those elsewhere around the world will have less opportunities to work our special callsign.
You don’t need experience with special callsigns or DXpeditions to take part – just be keen, and have the ability to call CQ or type in callsigns and other data into the provided computers.
Sound like fun? It will be! I know from experience how much fun it is to work a pileup and be behind the mic of a ‘special callsign’ that is sought after.
Even two hours of your time over the long weekend will be greatly appreciated – get in touch with us, Bob, vk6pop@wia.org.au or Miles, vk6mab@wia.org.au – we hope to see you there!
Working VI6CHOGM on the birds
Adam, VK6GA has kindly offered his help in activating VI6CHOGM via satellite.
Adam will be operating using FM, and looking for VK^ and other Australian contacts between 1400-1900 local (0600-1100 UTC) on all three days. He’ll be primarily working the AO-51 and SO-50 satellites, which pass over Perth during these times.
A great website to see pass predictions is available at http://www.heavens-above.com/ – we hope to make contact with you.
The equipment will be; Arrow antenna 2m/70cm, Wouxun 2m/70cm and Puxing 70cm handhelds plus a mp3 voice recorder.
Thanks for the support, Adam, and we’ll look forward to having you involved!
Finding us in the Pileups
- I will listen, and listen, and then listen again before calling.
- I will only call if I can copy the DX station properly.
- I will not trust the DX cluster and will be sure of the DX station’s call sign before calling.
- I will not interfere with the DX station nor anyone calling and will never tune up on the DX frequency or in the QSX slot.
- I will wait for the DX station to end a contact before I call.
- I will always send my full call sign.
- I will call and then listen for a reasonable interval. I will not call continuously.
- I will not transmit when the DX operator calls another call sign, not mine.
- I will not transmit when the DX operator queries a call sign not like mine.
- I will not transmit when the DX station requests geographic areas other than mine.
- When the DX operator calls me, I will not repeat my call sign unless I think he has copied it incorrectly.
- I will be thankful if and when I do make a contact.
- I will respect my fellow hams and conduct myself so as to earn their respect.
Five weeks to go!
Only five weeks now, until VI6CHOGM will be on air for three full days. The QTH will be abuzz with activity, when both the team, as well as other hams and scout members will join us to activate this callsign.
We’ll have food and drinks on sale, and expect a crowd to come down to both volunteer to operate, as well as be onlookers, for the event. A number of us will be camping on-site, as well as operators dropping in to run shifts at the club shack.
Thanks to Bob, VK6POP, we’ve featured in the latest issue of WIA’s Amateur Radio Magazine. See Page 40 for details.
We’ll be operating from just after midnight local time Thursday night, through to just before Midnight local time on Sunday night. That makes it 1600z October 27th 2011 through to 1555z October 29th 2011 in UTC time.
The word is out
We’ve started to slowly promote the fact that we’re hitting the airwaves for only three days with this special callsign in just over eight weeks time.
Here’s a few sites that have made mention of our plans…
We appreciate the mentions, and look forward to making contact with many of you over these three days.
73′s!
CQ CQ CQ…
The Scout Member Amateur Radio Team (SMART) in VK6 have been given the special callsign, VI6CHOGM, to celebrate the CHOGM event to be held in Perth in October 2011. This website will be providing information about our activities with the callsign, QSL information and suggestions on how to get involved. Stay tuned for more information!
The plan is to operate as much as possible from the Peter Hughes Scout Communications Centre in East Cannington, although Clubs may wish to book a period to operate from their club QTH.
Regards
The SMART team
