In 1996 I spent 12 months as the Radio Technician on sub-antarctic Macquarie Island.
Communications with Australia consisted of an Intelsat earth station that carried voice and data back to Sydney and VHF and HF radio which was used to communicate with a network of field huts around the island and ships and aircraft in the area.
In what little spare time I had, I used the commercial HF radio system installed on the island to speak with Ham Radio enthusiasts via voice(SSB) or morse code.
My callsign was VK0WH and radio enthusiasts swap QSL cards(see above) via post to confirm their communications actually happened.
We travelled to Macquarie Island on the US oceanagraphic vessel the R/V Discoverer operated by NOAA. The trip from Hobart takes 3 days depending on sea conditions and covers a distance of 800 naultical miles.
Royal Penguins are unique to Macquarie Island and only breed there. They are related to Macaroni Penguins which are found on Heard Island in the Indian Ocean.
Images on this site are published under a Creative Commons Licence CC by SA 4 Warren Hull
Last updated 16th Mar 2023