[ADXA] [Fwd: VK9ML MELLISH REEF 2002 NEWS BULLETIN 16-Mar-02]

[Earl]

FYI !!
===============================================



In only four weeks time Mellish Reef will be active on all bands
160-6M, including WARC, on CW, SSB and RTTY.  If you need VK9M for a
new one then get your station ready!

Joining the team is Frank Hunt, ZL2BR, who replaces David "Harry"
Holton, VK4DH.  Unfortunately Harry's leave was cancelled due to a new
business commitment be he still continues as a support member of the
team.  Welcome aboard Frank whom you can meet and all the other team
members on the website.

Antennas:

Our locally built Battle Creek Special low-band antenna clone for 160,
80 and 40M was setup and tested for the first time just a few days
ago.  It was tweaked for the frequencies we'll be using and should
work very well !  Low-banders can rest assured that Eric, K3NA, and
his low-band team will put the Yaesu FT-1000MP + VL-1000 Amp and the
Battle Creek Special, along with the rest of our low-band antenna
arsenal, to good use!

We welcome Force 12 aboard as a sponsor.  The highly successful SVDA's
(Switch Vertical Dipole Array's) that were used at K5K and more
recently on VP8 will also be used on Mellish Reef.   See
http://force12inc.com/k5kinfo.htm for more information about he SVDAs
we'll be using.

Significant planning has gone into the architecture of the VK9ML shack
and antenna farm so that we (and you!) can enjoy maximum versatility
with sharing resources.  We'll be able to flog the bands that exhibit
good propagation at any given time with our five Yaesu stations.

Websites:

Apart from the original website on qsl.net there is now a full mirror
site in Australia on Bigpond.  VK's in particular may find this site
quicker to load.  Having a full mirror site means that if one goes
down you'll still be able to catch up on all the news, not to mention
checking the all-important on-line log for your QSO.  Logs will be
updated twice a day, sometimes more often if we can!  Our Japanese
team members have been busy lately too, translating the VK9ML website,
and we can now offer a version in Japanese!

The urls are:

(US) http://www.qsl.net/vk9ml/2002

(VK) http://www.users.bigpond.com/vk4cp/2002/

(JA) http://www.pedi.jp/

Please note that the JA site points to the Australian server for
on-line log information - which - will be the same as the on-line log
on the US server.  Both servers will be updated within minutes of each
other, so, if you're not in one log you won't be in the other!

Pilots:

We now have four Pilots to handle any queries and, more importantly,
get feedback from the DXers to see where we can improve on any aspects
of the operation so that we can work as many of you guys as possible.

Europe/Africa - Bill Rothwell G0VDE

North/South America - Don Greenbaum N1DG

Japan/Asia - Hisato Kobayashi 7K1WLE

VK/ZL/Oceania - Adam Maurer VK4CP

Contact e-mail addresses for these guys are on the website!

One thing we do ask.  If you worked us only last year during our brief
Site Survey Trip then do the right thing and resist working us again
this year - you've already done it!  We would like to work as many new
stations as possible, the ones that really need Mellish for a new one.
  Sounds fair enough?

Visit the website for further updates hereon and expect more frequent
news as it get closer and closer to the biggest DXpedition to Mellish
Reef in history so far!

on behalf of the entire VK9ML team

Adam, VK4CP
(VK9ML Webmaster & Pilot)



-- 
Earl F. Smith - N5ZM
PO Box 20065
White Hall, AR  71612-0065