Update November 19, 2023: 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. 

Update October 23, 2023: 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.

Update September 30, 2023: Holger went QRT on September 29 with 14000 QSO in the log. The Wednesday (October 25) before the CQWW SSB contest he will again be QRV as ZL7IO , and also during the contest.

Update September 21, 2023: 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.

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.

Update September 18, 2023: I arrived well and the expected windy weather of the Chathams welcomed me. We managed to erect a hexbeam and a DX Commander vertical (40-10m version). We had to compromise with the height for the hexbeam as safety/handling of the installation in the wind did not allow us to go higher with a tube mast. The wind bends the DX commander and we will need to add additional guy wires as the elements flipping around impacts the SWR. As a result our signal looks distorted at times.

The next job is the 80m vertical and we may have to reduce the height of it as well. It must be safe for one person to manage the antennas. We will try to get up an 11m vertical part plus top load. It must happen soon as the forecast promises gale force winds and lots of rain for the end of this and next week.

Update August 23, 2023: DX-World publishes that return trips at the end of October and November are also planned by Holger. 
Note: The QTH is off grid and powered by a solar system with batteries therefore it’s very limited for high power possibilities.

Update August 18, 2023: Dates set to September 15-28, 2023

Holger, ZL3IO will be QRV on 160-10m (CW, SSB, RTTY and FT8) as ZL7IO from Chatham Islands in September.

QSL via DK7AO and LOTW.