VK0GC – Macquarie island
The sub-Antarctic island of Macquarie lies halfway between Australia and Antarctica, 17 294km from Slovakia, in square QD95KI. It's unbelievable, it is in February 25 years, that I had a connection with this rare island on the 80m band.
Vertical antenna, with which I made this DX connection, we are in 1984 built by the radio club OM3KFY in Stupava. It was fixed on a tall oak tree, on a wooden stick about 22m above the ground. The radiator was made of copper wire with a diameter of 4 mm and four radials with a diameter of 2 mm were fixed about 4 m above the ground. We put the antenna behind 2 hours, it was immediately operational, no additional adjustment was necessary.
Formulas for calculating vertical antenna dimensions:
emitter = 6950/f (18,31m)
radial = 7500/f (19,76m)
coaxial cable 50 Ohm quarter-wave section (13m) for the operating frequency 3,795 MHz
At that time, I set a record on the 80m band, for 1 throw. 50 min. I had connections with every continent (6) and that without the help of a DX-cluster and a mobile phone !
you 73 ! Fairy, OM3CAQ
