The ‘Eye of the Needle’ was the popular name for the western entrance to Bass Strait during the heady days of sail. After rounding the southern end of the African Continent ships bound for Australia faced an easterly run of around 6000 thousand miles to reach the western approaches to Bass Strait. A gap of 52 nautical miles exists between Cape Otway (Australian mainland) and Cape Wickham (King Island). Navigation in these days was difficult in that ships were totally dependent on the sextant and chronometer to establish a positive position fix. In bad weather several days could pass where the ship navigated purely on dead reckoning. This situation was quite risky when steering for a gap 52 nautical miles wide.
In 1848 a lighthouse was commissioned at Cape Otway. This was followed by the establishment of the Cape Wickham light in 1861. Some ships mistook the Cape Wickham light for Cape Otway resulting in several wrecks on King Island’s west coast. This led to the Currie Lighthouse being established in 1880.
King Island is located 95 km to the immediate south of Cape Otway. The island is 64 km long and 27 km wide and surrounded by several hazardous reefs. Over the years many ships have been wrecked on the island in some cases with many fatalities. Major industries are dairy products, beef, fishing, tourism and kelp harvesting. There are two major population centers, the largest being Currie on the island’s west and the second being the village of Grassy on the southeast coast. The current population of King Island is around 1700 persons.
The special event callsign VI7CL was specifically issued for activation of the Currie Lighthouse, AUS-063, and also to mark the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the mineral scheelite on King Island. The event was organised by the Eastern and Mountain Districts Radio Club. The station was operated by six Victorian Hams. Carl VK3EMF, Joe VK3BKI, Glen VK3CAM, Jim VK3PC, Dale VK3YR and myself Dave VK3JKY
Visiting hams were Bryan VK7KBE from Devonport Tasmania and Bob VK7JR who is a local ham from Currie on King Island.
The major operations took place in the support buildings adjacent to the Currie Lighthouse located on the point immediately to the south of Currie Harbor, a fishing port on the West Coast.
The main transceivers were a Ten Tec Orion and an ICOM 775 DSP. The Orion was used to feed one of two antennas. For operation on 80 and 40 meters we used an inverted V with the apex supported by a rope tied to the ‘Widows Walk’ on the Currie lighthouse. An SGC 237 automatic antenna coupler was installed directly at the antenna feed point with the coaxial feed and control/power cables run down to the lighthouse flag room which was our operating position. The second antenna was a 32 foot vertical with an SGC 237 PCB installed in the antenna base. Sixteen radials laid on the ground served as the earth mat. This antenna was primarily used on 20 meters however it definitely made its presence known on many of the 40-meter contacts.
The ICOM 775 was used with a Cushcraft R5 Multiband Vertical. This was installed around 10 meters from the base tuned vertical.
A two-meter SSB link was established to the Cape Otway crew over a path of 75 nautical miles. For this we used an ICOM 706 feeding a six element horizontal beam. I believe similar equipment was used at Cape Otway.
Dale and myself traveled with King Island Airlines from Moorabin and at this point we would like to thank the airline for transporting our equipment (over 50 Kg) to and from King Island at no charge. This type of support is what helps to make events like this possible.
Carl, Joe and Glen traveled from Moorabin in a chartered Beechcraft Travelair, Jim and his wife Pauline traveled from Tullamarine with Jetstar.
The Friday night and Saturday morning gave us a fine example of what the ‘Roaring Forty’s’ are capable of. Southwesterly winds gusting around 50 knots coupled with hail, rain and thunderstorms. We arrived at the Currie Light on the Saturday morning expecting major antenna damage but no, everything was fine. Sunday was quite mild virtually no wind and pleasant sunshine.
At the time of writing the log sheets have not been fully collated so I am making some (hopefully) reasonable guesses. Over 400 individual contacts were made and around 25 lighthouses contacted using both voice and CW. Our only VHF contact was Cape Otway Lighthouse on 144.050 but the Beech Forest repeater could be tripped on occasions.
I suspect better results overall would have been achieved if there had not been a high level of solar activity. Bryan’s (VK7KBE) gyro stabilized binoculars (fitted with solar filters) revealed three very visible sunspots on the Sun’s surface.
Carl, Joe, Glen & Jim activated the Cape Wickham Light, AUS-050, on the Sunday morning using the ICOM 775 with a portable generator. At this stage I don’t know how they went.
In all we all had one hell of a good time!
Dave (VK3JKY)
