Making Airwaves on Norfolk Island 

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Written By Sally Eberhardt

Breaking records, making connections, doing good and having a wonderful time – Caboolture Radio Club will achieve it all on their upcoming trip to Norfolk Island! 

From 22 February until 3 March, a local group of radio amateurs and their wives will be on Norfolk Island with their radio equipment. On the trip, conceptualised and organised by club member Hugh Edwards, they plan to make a few thousand contacts with other amateur radio operators, which will hopefully boost tourism to the island.  

Charles Bonnici, secretary of Caboolture Radio Club, said Norfolk Island would be fully advertised to their contacts around the world. 

“Whenever we transmit, we tell people where we are transmitting from and give a brief description of the place – it’s a great tourism promotion for the island,” Charles said. 

“We will operate around the clock, in shifts. Each of us is taking our own equipment including antennas. It’s not cheap for us to go so we want to make the most of every minute.” 

Record-Breaking Goals and Emergency Preparedness

Club members have their sights set on breaking both personal and world records. Roger Crofts, the current world record holder of the most contacts on the 2200/630-metre band, will be trying to break his own record.  

“Roger has an antenna that is many hundreds of metres long so it will be strung from buildings and trees over quite a distance to achieve his goal,” Charles said. 

“Club president, Alf Blindell, reckons he won’t sleep for the whole week as he attempts a personal record of the number of contacts in a week.” 

Charles added that this trip was also practice for the club in setting up emergency radio equipment.    

“A battery radio and simple antennas is all we need to let people know around the world if an emergency should occur,” he said. 

“If mobile phone towers go down, radio is really the only means of communication in an emergency.” 

As for having a wonderful experience, while the gentlemen spend most of their time attending to  radios, their wives will enjoy the history, beauty and eateries of the island. 

You can contact the club while they are on Norfolk Island on special event call sign VK9QD

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Photo of author
Written By Sally Eberhardt

Read more articles by Sally Eberhardt