Update 21 August 2003

*ALL DIRECT CARDS RECEIVED HAVE BEEN ANSWERED POSTED ON 20-08-2003 *

The VK6 DX Chasers Club will travel to Thevenard Island (Mackerel Island group) IOTA OC-140 and be active for 1 week starting 15th June 2003. The Mackerel Islands group, comprising 10 islands is situated 22km offshore from the town of Onslow, 1400km north of Perth, on the coast of the spectacular and ancient Pilbara region of Western Australia. The callsign for the DX-pedition will be a special one VI6TI to commemorate the naming of the island by the French Captain Baudine who led an expedition in 1801-1804 in the ship "Casuarina". Captain Baudine named the island after the Vice Admiral and Minister 1732-1815 - Antoine John Mary France Thevenard.

The 8 member team all VK6's APK,EI,JX,KCC,KTN,NE,NU,YEL will leave Perth on Friday 13th June. It is over 1400km by road and the group will travel about 10 hours to Carnarvon on Friday where they will stay the night before travelling on to Onslow on Saturday. They stay in Onslow on Saturday night and get transported to the island on Sunday morning and hope to be active from the island on Sunday 15th June around 07:00 or 08:00 UTC. Activity will be on or near the usual IOTA HF requencies. On HF a Cuschraft R7, Butternut HF-6 and a 3 elm 10 meter beam will be the antennas used. Rigs will be Icom 746 and Yaesu FT-847 and FT-100. There will also be activity on 6 metres with a 3 elm beam for this band. They will monitor 50.110 Mhz. The groups previous DX-pedition in Nov 2000 to nearby Direction Isl netted 550 contacts on 6 metres with many contacts into Europe. The group is hoping for similar conditions this time round.

For all the satellite enthusiasts the group will also be bringing along a portable satellite station looking for contacts on AO-40. They will have a Yaesu FT-847 and will operate Mode U/S with a 8 element yagi on the 70cms uplink and 65cms offset dish with K5GNA AIDC 3731AA 2.4GHz down converter. The grid locator is OG78mm.

The qsl Manager is VK6NE, Neil Penfold, 2 Moss Ct, Kingsley, WA 6026, Australia. All direct and bureau cards will be answered and the group hope to have a full colour card available shortly after the trip. For more info look on www.qrz.com/callsign/vi6ti and for more info about the beautiful Mackerel Islands go to the following web site www.mackerelislands.com.au. The weather will be beautiful this time of year on Thevenard and the Mackerel Islands are renowned for their superb fishing it should be a very enjoyable experience and we look forward to working you.