Peter VK3WK recently gave a short presentation to club members and visitors regarding his current project – the construction of a bobtail curtain array antenna for the 30 metre band.
This should provide Peter with an effective, low angle antenna to improve his chances of working the 2026 3Y0K DXpedition to Bouvet Island in the South Atlantic Ocean. The Bouvet project will be the most expensive DXpedition ever undertaken with a budget of US$1.7 million. Since 2018 there have been three failed attempts to activate Bouvet Island which is the most remote, uninhabited island on the planet. Consequently, opportunities to make a contact with a station on the island are rare and highly sought after.
The antenna Peter described to members is a broadside array consisting of three phased quarter-wave vertical monopoles spaced half-wavelengths apart.
30 m Bobtail Curtain Array
The high impedance feed point requires a matching device. Construction of the matching unit is almost finished and Peter brought it to the club for the presentation. The unit includes a substantial rotary variable capacitor provided by a fellow club member with an enviable ‘junk box’.
“Now that’s a matching unit!”
We look forward to hearing more about the antenna’s performance and QSOs logged once the Bouvet DXpedition is complete.
Visitors are always welcome to our meetings, including presentations. Details of forthcoming presentations on Friday evenings can be found on the club’s syllabus page.