ZD9ZM Low Band Antennas Destroyed Just Prior to Departure

ZD9ZM ANTENNAS DAMAGED BY STORM

Bob Henderson, G3ZEM/ZD9ZM.

Since early September, Bob Henderson, G3ZEM, has been making rare Tristan da Cunha available to the DX community as ZD9ZM. Now, that DXpedition has run into some rough weather, and the news is not good for operators who had hoped to snag ZD9ZM on the low bands.

According to Steve Wilson, G3VMW, the island suffered a severe storm the evening of September 20. Both ZD9ZM's Titanex vertical and WARC beam were badly damaged by high winds. Only an HF tribander and a 30-meter vertical remain in operation, limiting his activity to 30, 20, 15, and 10 meters.

Edinburg Settlement, the site of ZD9ZM. [G3ZEM/ZD9ZM Photos]

The 53rd most-wanted DXCC entity, Tristan da Cunha is comprised of a group of small volcanic islands in the South Atlantic Ocean, midway between Africa and South America.

Henderson has been handing out especially-sought-after 160 and 80-meter QSOs over the last few days. Unfortunately, further activity on these bands is not anticipated for the remainder of Henderson's operation, which is scheduled to end on September 25. As of September 20, ZD9ZM had racked up 17,600 QSOs. Stations wanting to know if they're in the log may visit the ZD9ZM On-Line Log. For more information, visit the ZD9ZM home page

.--Bill Feidt, NG3K, Contributing Editor, ARRL Letter

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