The Team Manager for Alderney Dx-pedition Lite is G1OCN Dave, at the time this idea came about Dave was the Chairman of the Portland Amateur Radio Club and put the idea to the members, Russell G5XW (He’s only 38) was first to join the team, along with Dave’s wife Carol 2E1DQZ. Dave asked Russell if he knew 2 more people that would like to join them, this is where Anthony MW0JZE and myself Tim M3SDE stepped in. Dave outlined the purpose of the trip to activate from Alderney Lighthouse but despite reserving our dates we found that the lighthouse had been double booked and we had to rethink our accommodation on Alderney. A friend of Dave’s on Alderney Island had just built a new house and said that we could use his old farmhouse as our base for the duration of our expedition.

I have a fear of boats after several journeys before to the Channel Islands by catamaran and been quite ill, I was relieved to hear that we were due to fly with Rockhopper Airline direct onto Alderney, although Russell has a fear of flying. Time to do some breathing exercises Russell!! The return flights are £104 per person from Bournemouth Airport, the Rockhopper plane is only very small, holding 8 passengers with a baggage allowance of just 15 Kgs. With such a small amount of luggage allowance the team would have to post all antennas, co-ax, masts and clothes ahead of our arrival. Parcel Force is the carrier the team used to safely carry our equipment.

The plan is to set up to four stations operating simultaneously all bands and as many modes as possible using the following stations:

Tim MU3SDE/P wasl be operating with: Yaesu FT-920 - Palstar PSU. Heil HC4 Pro Set Quiet Phone headset/microphone Antenna - Comet H-422 V Dipole (Sponsored by http://www.nevadaradio.co.uk ) Laptop using Winlog 32 Logging software & DX Atlas mapping software.

Other Sponsors http://www.kenwood-electronics.co.uk

The time soon comes round for us all to meet up at G5XW Russell’s home as we prepare for our trip to Alderney. An early start on 12th October, G1OCN Dave arrives at 06:00z with his wife Carol. We have a short drive to Bournemouth International Airport where our adventure begins, a wet and windy autumn morning is not the start we hoped for, but a clearing in the weather allows our flight to leave on time. Jane from Rockhopper Airline ensures that all of our 130 Kgs of luggage are squeezed into what I can only describe as a coffin with wings. An eight seat aircraft with no isle is cramped and noisy and certainly not quite what we expected.

We arrived at Alderney Airport safely and we were met by Richard our host on the island, we are to stay at Richards home, a farm on the highest part of Alderney at 288 feet above sea level. We started erecting the antenna systems in pouring rain and a howling wind that rarely stopped all afternoon. Soaking and quite tired we had to change out of our wet weather gear and set up the radio equipment to get 4 stations active simultaneously. After about four hours of operating today we retreat to the local bar for some welcome food and beer, Conditions this evening are very poor although contacts to Thailand and Alberta Canada are on the log on 20m.

13th October 2005 Once again today the rain continued while the wind just got stronger. Contacts were made on 20m & 40m to New Zealand, Thailand and North America. We continued to work on 4 stations for as many hours as possible with GU1OCN Dave concentrating on DATA modes and GU5XW on LF bands. With 5 acres of land to put up our antenna systems we can install all the wires well away from each other and keep cross station breakthrough to a minimum. On Friday one of our friends from Weymouth M3VWK Mike flew over for a visit with 15kg of food which was most welcome as the food on Alderney is expensive in the shops. Mike enjoyed his visit and also spent some time transmitting on the bands… Great to see you Mike! Saturday morning arrived and a chance to log many of the weekend only operators. At last we have a short opening to Japan on 20m but we need better conditions to log the many IOTA hunters from JA. Then the WAG contest started and no matter what frequency on every band we were active a German started calling without checking the frequency virtually shutting down our IOTA as our logging rate slowed to 1 QSO every 5 minutes. A break in the weather allowed for some antenna maintenance and a chance to take some photographs of our antenna farm. It was brought to our attention that the last time Alderney was active with any substantial contacts was between 2 - 5 years ago. So this was a chance to really put Alderney Island on the DX map.

Sunday 16th October- The WAG contest thankfully finished at 1500z, our contact rate had reduced to a virtual stop but what a contrast after 1500z the bands exploded with very courteous operators awaiting a call into Alderney. Sunday was by far the best day for the Alderney DX Team with about 1,000 contacts logged and the operating in the pile ups was excellent. Monday for part of the team was a day off radio transmissions and a time to take in the Alderney way of life and explore this beautiful Island and learn about its rich history. We had a visit from Derek GU4GG now this guy has some stories to tell, just look on his biography on QRZ.com and you will see what I mean, Ant and Russell took him to the local pub for an afternoon drink and a chance to chat about radio. The Islanders are very welcoming and friendly, a complete contrast to what I am used to back home in the city.

While Ant & Russell were out, gave me the chance to work on 20m and 40m for the day and another 550 QSO’s were added to my log today with Australia logged on 40m and some short hop sporadic E getting Alderney Island into some difficult areas of France and UK.

If you visit Alderney Island the team can highly recommend The Belle Vue Hotel, their home cooked food is superb and was our stop every evening for a meal and a few beers.

Tuesday was our last full day transmissions from Alderney, good pile ups both on 20m and 40m for much of the day. This gave us a team total of 5,000 QSO’s, all continents worked and 100 DXCC’s working into Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Taiwan, Thailand and the Philippines to name a few.

Wednesday morning and time to pack all the gear away and take the parcels to the Post Office to be sent back home. 130 Kg’s of equipment was sent this way and 130 KG’s carried in the aircraft. Job done and a final chance to drive around the Island so that Dave “Bailey” G1OCN could take some more photo’s. As we were due to leave Alderney a thunderstorm delayed our departure, soon in the air and on our way home.

A few words must be mentioned about our host Richard, we invaded his house for a week, people he had never met before and he had not just welcomed us but allowed to take over the house and grounds with all our communications equipment scattered all over. Thank you just does not reflect our gratitude for our intrusion into his life.

Thanks also to http://www.shortwave.co.uk for their support throughout.

QSL INFO ALL QSL'S direct to G5XW info on qrz.com

Regards Ant

Co founder of PMT dx. www.pmtdxgroup.co.uk