[HIham] Kalaupapa trip, March 2012 - A brief report

[Bev Yuen]

Hawaii hams,
The following is a report of our March, 2012 trip to Kalaupapa, Molokai.

Many hams statewide assisted us in various ways, both before the trip 
and on the air while we were there.  We are very appreciative of all of 
the help we received and all of the time you so generously gave to 
assist us.

We are sending this report out via the reflectors to try to reach all of 
you as we may not have everyone's individual e-mail address.  Our  
apologies if you receive this several times.  Feel free to forward this 
to others who may be interested.

Mahalo and aloha,

Bev, AH6NF
Bart, WH6AA,
Jim, WH6GS
Kimo, KH7U

*March, 2012 ham radio trip to Kalaupapa:A brief summary.*

In August , 2011, 5 Oahu hams traveled to Kalaupapa, Molokai for HF 
operations for the Hawaii QSO Party and to help re-establish ham radio 
on the Kalaupapa peninsula, especially for emergency communications.As a 
component of that trip, 3 hams were licensed and equipment was 
purchased.These 3 hams have been checking into nets and learning about 
emergency communications and how to use the radios since that time.

This current trip, March 24 to April 1, 2012 was a follow-up to further 
solidify and upgrade ham radio operations in Kalaupapa, while at the 
same time, do some more DXing from rare Kalawao County.We, Bart, WH6AA, 
Jim, WH6GS, Bev, AH6NF and Kimo, KH7U (for the last 3 days), set out 
with a list of items we desired to accomplish.We managed to complete 
most of them. Many of you assisted us in a variety of ways.We couldn't 
have done much of it without you.

Here's a brief summary what we achieved in our 9 days there:

1.UHF/VHF testing of repeaters to determine what further repeaters would 
be useful to Kalaupapa hams in an emergency.

During the previous trip, we identified 2 repeaters on Oahu as usable 
from Kalaupapa.This trip we tested many more repeaters, mostly on Oahu, 
but also on Molokai and Maui to determine further usable ones using 
their 50 watt mobile transceivers and a 3-element (VHF) or 5 element 
(UHF) yagi.

The best ones are:

146.880 Diamond HeadEARC

147.060Diamond HeadState CD (usually linked statewide)

146.680KaalaNH6XO

444.775KaalaNH6XO (linked statewide)

444.350AH6CP

(The 146.880 and 147.060 repeaters were identified on the first trip as 
being easily accessible.)

Less Strong, but usable:

442.775Koko HeadNH6XO

443.100LeahiNH6WP

147.36LeahiRed Cross

The Kalaupapa radios were programmed with all of these additional repeaters.

We found that Molokai and Maui repeaters cannot be accessed from 
Kalaupapa peninsula (even from the lighthouse) using 50 watts and a 
3-element (VHF) or 5-element (UHF) yagi.

2.HF testing to determine the best antenna to reliably provide 
communications on 40 meters from Kalaupapa around the state.

We checked into several of the morning and afternoon HF nets, using an 
Icom 7200 transceiver and 100 watts, seeking signal reports as we tried 
a variety of vertical antennas and a dipole.The home-made 40 meter wire 
dipole at 8 -- 10 feet in the air (NVIS configuration) outperformed all 
of the others and produced consistent S9 to S9+15 reports from hams 
statewide.

A demonstration HealthComm HF net gave NPS and DOH officials a sense of 
what can be done on 40 meters.

As well, we used a digital protocol (MT-63) to transmit a formal test 
message to Oahu and receive a reply on an ICS 213 message form.

3.We packed up our equipment and drove out to the evacuation area (where 
the population of the peninsula would move to in the case of a tsunami) 
and re-tested there, using the Icom 7200 and 50 watts, under generator 
power.

Results showed similar performance at that site for both the UHF/VHF 
repeaters and HF.

4.We spoke with several Kalaupapa residents who are interested in 
knowing about ham radio and possibly being licensed.Several came to see 
our operations at Paschoal Hall (in the middle of the settlement).We 
also spoke with several NPS staff who planned to take the Technician 
exam, offered assistance and gave them extra study material.

4.We did a VE exam session on our last day there.Three additional NPS 
staff earned their Technician licenses.

5.We did some DXing on 12, 15, 17 and 20 meters, using SSB, PSK, Olivia 
and RTTY in our spare time.This included short times during the CQWPX 
SSB contest and the Lighthouse Spring Lites event (operating from the 
Lighthouse), making a total of 388 contacts, including a total of 78 
contacts on the 3 digital modes .

During much of our testing and our DXing one or two of the current 
Kalaupapa hams were with us, watching, helping and learning.One of them 
has set up a radio room in the settlement (with their UHF/VHF and HF 
equipment) accessible to all of them from where they check into nets.He 
also mounted their UHF/VHF yagiin a permanent location.Another now has a 
UHF/VHF donated mobile rig and vertical antenna at his house to use.He 
has begun checking into the HealthComm monthly nets.

The NPS and DOH staff were wonderful and supportive. It was a pleasure 
to be there.

In order to accomplish some of our goals, we relied on hams, both on 
Oahu and statewide, giving us reports as we tested.A sincere thank you 
for spending so much time to help us.We appreciate your assistance.So 
all of you were really a part of this operation.We also received advice 
and equipment from others for which we and the Kalaupapa hams are very 
grateful.Thank you all.