• [EARLY REMINDER] –

Holger, ZL3IO will again be active as ZL7IO from the Chatham Islands (QTH: ZL7DX) during October 15-31 and November 19-26, 2024. QRV on HF bands with participation in the CQWW SSB contest (Oct 26-27). Previous activity detailed below.  In addition, Holger’s daughter, Xenia ZL4YL, will be active during the CQWW CW contest (November 23-24, 2024) as ZL7YL. 

  • [DECEMBER 6, 2023] – 

I had a great time in late November. Conditions in the CQWW CW contest were amazing. I operated SOAB LP again and the raw scores show me as #9 World making 3697 QSO’s for 4.78 million points. The CW result is very similar to the SSB part.

If you are interested in some statistics then check this link Club Log: Expedition Charts – ZL7IO. A bit over 29k QSO’s were made in total with 11647 different calls. About 10k Q’s were with Europe. I had moved my home office to Chatham and whenever possible I run FTx on the side to make the most of my time there.

The QSL’s are in the printing process now (Dec’23) and we hope to have them in early January 2024. By then we will open OQRS and DK7AO can start sending out cards. We don’t need your QSL! Do not send QSL requests to New Zealand as I don’t have cards here and can’t answer/reply!

Thanks for all the QSO’s. I may be back…

  • [NOVEMBER 19] –

I’m in my final preparation for the next trip to Chatham. My planned schedule is from Wednesday the 22nd Nov to Wednesday the 29th. This time of the year there it can be very foggy on Chatham impacting the flight schedule. If you followed this and other ZL7 activities you may have noticed that Jacek (SP5EAQ) had to stay a few days longer on the island due to fog and the Japanese group currently active as ZL7A was grounded in Auckland for a few days as no flights were going to and from Chatham due to the weather. Let’s hope I get there in time for the CQWW CW contest. I will be likely operating SOAB LP again. 

  • [NOVEMBER 3] – 

I’m back home after another week on the island. The CQWW SSB is in the books and I’m very happy with the result. I operated SOAB LP and made 3615 QSO’s for 4.8 million points. More details can be found on 3830scores.com.

Jacek ZL7/SP5EAQ was also there during this time and we met twice. While he stayed in Waitangi – the "vibrant” centre of Chatham with a population of 250, both shops and the only pub on the island – his place was no good for radioing and I felt sorry for him. He was only 100 m from the beach but behind a 20 m higher sand dune with limited antenna space.  The dune blocked him to the North. Nevertheless, Jacek managed a few thousend SSB contacts during his two weeks stay. 

ZL7IO & ZL7/SP5EAQ (credit ZL3IO)

  • [OCTOBER 25] – ZL7IO is again QRV. Recording of signals below by Oscar EA1DR who says:

ZL7IO already reached Chatham Island. Funny SP sigs weak, so I turned ant LP 61° and when I got to 10° I receive him great. I got to 61° and he was still weak, so I turned it up to 10° and you can hear how he was heard.

  • [OCTOBER 23] – Holger, ZL3IO / ZL7IO writes:

Everything is packed and ready for my next trip to Chatham. The flight is on the 25th Sep and I will be there for one week. I have to work during the working days and we hopefully can improve on the antennas. The plan is to multiply the radials for both verticals. 6m showed some life the last week with openings to NA/CA & AS from ZL. May be we can get an antenna installed for a few QSO’s. We assume there is a need for ZL7 on 6m. The focus is to operate the CQWW DX SSB Contest as SO AB (single Op all bands). I have a KPA500 available this time but haven’t decided if I go low or high power. The solar flux was down the last few days. Conditions from ZL on hf were OKish but not as good as in September.

Jacek, SP5EAQ is already active from a beach house about 5 km away from our place. I look forward to meeting him soon. Below is a picture of his QTH and antenna.

ZL7/SP5EAQ QTH (credit: ZL7IO)

  • [SEPTEMBER 30] – Holger went QRT on September 29th with 14K QSOs – see table. He mentions that the Wednesday (October 25th) before the CQWW SSB contest he will again be QRV as ZL7IO – with participation in contest.

  • [SEPTEMBER 26 by ZL7IO] – 

The amplifer is working fine if required/possible. I’ve not yet used it.

Weather turned from bad to terrible. The wind is blowing you away when going outside and of course it is raining.

The CQ WWDX RTTY is over. I decided to go low power. Conditions were great and I could work the whole world in CW & FTx. On Friday afternoon while preparing the set up for the contest I got trouble with the breaker with K3 limiting my power to 10W. The 100W module disconnects immediatley after start. Thankfully, I could get another transceiver from my host Chris. As it is with RTTY it can be tricky to get all working as you like. It was not until 10 minutes before the contest started that I got everything working.

In the contest the conditions were amazing, as were the pile ups. Unfortunately, the operation behaviour especially from our European friends limited the QSO rate. I was running twice the rate in RTTY with NA or AS compared to EU. What I did was run QSO’s for the time it worked and swap frequency to gain another few minutes until the non-stop callers and QRMers would be back. In the end I made 1825 RTTY QSO’s in the contest on all bands, 37% with EU. It was the first ever participation in the CQ WWDX RTTY from Chatham and will surely be a Chatham record. It is just above the best ever low power result from Oceania but we better wait for the log checking… The margin is only 4% or so. Result details can be found on 3830scores.com.

The last few days before flying home are full with work. Whenever possible I try to run FT8 on the side. I use 10W now. 

Credit ZL7IO

  • [SEPTEMBER 21 by ZL7IO] –

Yesterday was a very calm day here and we managed to erect the 80m vertical. We had to deviate from the original plan. The inner tube joiners we planned to use did not work as expected. They bend with the top weight. We used a lighter fishing road on the top now and managed to reach 15m total height (11m aluminium tube). The top guy ropes got three meters of wire attached as a capacitive head. The bad news is the noise level on 80m – sticks out from all other bands with an S7 noise level (otherwise it is whisper quiet here).

I really struggle to dig out the stations from the noise. Most CW QSO’s on 80 were with AS/NA/OC. But, in FT8 I managed 50 EU’s during their grey line. Our friends in HL/JA asked to call around 3547 kHz as they have limited access areas on 80m. I’m happy to accomodate this and will be tonight on 3547 kHz FT8 FH mode. Again call above 1000 Hz in FT8 or I can’t pick you!

I’ve reached 5.3 kQ’s now with my small set up. Here is the continent breakdown.

The amplifier is repaired. We’ll retune it today. Let’s hope it agrees to being repaired. Then we’ll see what power we can run/manage on the solar/battery system. The weather forecast for the weekend and next week is not good with rain for most of the time. That limits our power generation and recharging capability. As long as I can attract callers I will operate low power. Expect me in the CQ WWDX RTTY as Single OP All Band entry.

Credit: ZL7IO

  • [SEPTEMBER 19 by ZL7IO] – 

This is the first time I’ve ever used F/H mode as a Fox and I’d like to share some useful hints to understand the other end of your contact. I’m only running about 60 W and won’t be loud especially when using 3-4 streams that split the power. Depending on the situation I will reduce the number of streams.

There are a few settings you have to be aware of as a hound. That was interesting learning to me as well.

1. As a hound you must call above the Fox’s 1000 Hz mark. There is tolerance on each site. You better not call below 1050 Hz. If your tx frequency reads below 1000 Hz on my end I can’t put you into the pipeline. There are plenty of stations calling below 1000 Hz for ages who will never make a QSO. Nothing I can do.

2. I fill/run a pipeline of callers (max 10) which will likely be in front of you when you start. Keep calling when there is a pile up! Even if I add you right away we need to work down the pipeline.

3. The Fox calls a station a maximum of three times. When the station does not reply or I didn’t decode the reply, it gets kicked out of the pipeline. You have to go back to start.

4. I know I’m not strong with low power and you may have missed my RR73 reply. As a Fox I reply maximum three times to your R-db. Consequently, it makes no sense to send more than three replies with "R-db”. Since the Fox doesn’t expect a 73 from you, you have a good chance to be in the log if I was very weak at your end. I may have internet connectivity issues from time to time but mostly I’m online and upload live to Club Log. It may pay off to watch the Club Log livestream when calling me. If your call shows up there you are logged!

Credit ZL7IO


[PREVIOUSLY] – During September 15-28, 2023 Holger ZL3IO will be active from Waitangi, Chatham Islands as ZL7IO. QRV on 160-10m; CW, SSB, RTTY & FT8. Participation in the CQWW RTTY contest. QSL via DK7AO, LoTW.

Return trips at the end of October and November are also planned by Holger, again signing ZL7IO. Note: The QTH is off grid and powered by a solar system with batteries therefore it’s very limited for high power possibilities.