The endless pursuit of staying on air

Yesterday, I arrived at my remote location. Remote means different things to different people: and rightly so. Literally anything you can’t reach by hand. A second radio in a basement – or in an attic. A bunch of gear on a remote network; a receiving antenna a few hundred meters away, or a full setup including a rotary tower on grandma’s farm in Queensland. In my case – remote means a modest radio setup located on a tiny island in the middle of nowhere.

There are two major problems with islands: exuberant shipping costs and harsh climate. Humidity kills radios, mercilessly. Wind, storms, torrential rain. When it rains, it pours. The list ‘to fix’ is endless. And then, there is the unquenchable desire to make as many contacts as possible while physically on the island.

Stocking up with food and water, checking the hot water system, refilling gas cylinders is the first thing to take care of upon arrival.

Then, moving to antennas: connecting the phasing lines to 40m four square. The 160m inverted L needs a new matching unit and would definitely benefit from adding more radials. Which means more slashing and clearing overgrown bushes. Probably two days of work.

And the list of planned activities is a mile long: to get on 432MHz satellite and make a bunch of Japanese happy. To spend as many sunrises as I can on 160m and improve my DXCC standing. To fix the OM Power amplifier which gave up the ghost a few months ago while flashing the ‘no HV’ alarm. It could be just a fuse, or, a dead tube. Or a transformer – something I can’t fix on a remote island, meaning shipping back to the mainland.

And then there are even more ambitious plans: to connect the Flex 6600, and install a new SDR transceiver which I just brought with me, run them on two different computers and compare the WSPR decoding. If I can only find that antenna splitter. The 6m beam is on the ground which is sad because the 6m band is wide open. I do have an unboxed rotor, but no control cable. Also, the last attempt to erect it (by myself) on a 9m tall aluminium mast failed… safety first!

Ham radio is merciless: when you are young and full of energy, finding time to balance a hobby, work and family is simply impossible. But if you leave it for retirement, it’s too late; you’ll find that you no longer have the physical ability to erect antennas, or play radios all night long. Would there ever be a perfect time – for anything? Highly unlikely.

One thing that never fails to impress me: it has been well over two years since the old IC-7700 has been turned on. Used daily on FT8, running 100W, it helped me log tens of thousands of contacts. Despite all the harshness of the remote island, operated remotely, it still goes strong without a single hiccup. Absolutely amazing.

As I type this, I am seeing comments on VU4N, a one man DXpedition to Andaman Islands. Without having the slightest clue of what challenges Krish is facing, hordes of trolls are leaving unfavourable remarks: “He is too weak! Can’t hear me! Go home, you PC gamer! NO FT8!”.  All that to a man who only a couple of weeks ago has successfully activated Lakshadweep Islands operating as VU7A.

Some amateurs are just idiots. To them: if you think you can do better, or more – go and show us. But they won’t. Hiding their identity, under the security of anonymity, they will continue to spread their misery to those who work the hardest to keep the dream alive.

Screw you trolls!

(To be continued…)