Troubridge Island (VK5TIL) - 2023 - Paul SIMMONDS (VK5PAS)

TROUBRIDGE ISLAND - 2023

In February 2023, I travelled to Troubridge Island for a VKFF/IOTA DXpedition.

The operating dates were:-

Tuesday 7th, Wednesday 8th, and Thursday 9th February 2023

REFERENCES

WWFF - VKFF-1108
IOTA - OC-139
VK5 Parks Award - 5CP-234

TEAM MEMBERS

Team members were:

Paul VK5PAS
Marija VK5MAZ
Ivan VK5HS
Andy VK5LA
Chris VK5FR
Adam VK2YK

WHERE IS TROUBRIDGE ISLAND?

Troubridge Island is located in the southwestern corner of Gulf St Vincent in South Australia. It is a small sand atoll, only 2 hectares in size.

The island is about 8 km offshore from the town of Edithburgh on the Yorke Peninsula, and about 80 km southwest of the city of Adelaide across the water.

TROUBRIDGE ISLAND CONSERVATION PARK

The island is part of the Troubridge Island Conservation Park. The park was proclaimed in 1982 to conserve sea-bird rookeries and to preserve the heritage values of the lighthouse and the associated keepers’ cottages. About 60 native bird species have been recorded on Troubridge Island. This includes 21 species of conservation significance and 22 species listed as migratory.

Troubridge Island has been nominated as an Important Bird Area (IBA) known as the Troubridge Island Important Bird Area by BirdLife International. The area supports over 1% of the world’s populations of both black-faced cormorants (with up to 4000 individuals) and silver gulls (with up to 10,000 breeding pairs) as well as supporting significant numbers of the vulnerable Fairy Tern.

Below are some videos on Troubridge Island.

HISTORY OF THE ISLAND

The Narungga Aboriginal people have a traditional association with Troubridge Island and other islands in the area. The island and shoal were first named by British navigator and cartographer Captain Matthew Flinders on the 24th day of March 1802, after Admiral Sir Thomas Troubridge.
Troubridge was a Royal Navy officer who served during the Anglo-French War, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.

Numerous ships were wrecked or grounded prior to the installation of the lighthouse on Troubridge Island. Official records state that 33 crews travelling west from Adelaide became shipwrecked in the early 1800s. It is believed there were many more.

In 1855, the lighthouse was constructed. The lighthouse was constructed of ten cylindrical cast iron segments which were shipped out from Britain and were bolted together on site. It is believed that Troubridge Island lighthouse is only one of two towers of this type constructed in Australia. The lighthouse is 24 metres (79 feet) in height and is 340 tons. A cast iron spiral staircase runs between the outer and inner walls connecting five rooms at its core.

GETTING TO THE ISLAND

To get to the island we travelled by boat from Edithburgh with Mark and Lois of Troubridge Island Escape. We met Mark and Lois at their property at Wool Bay where we loaded the boat.

We then travelled down to Edithburgh in one vehicle towing the boat and the remainder of the team in a courtesy vehicle. We cannot speak highly enough of Mark and Lois. They were extremely friendly and helpful, not only during the trip but leading up to the trip.

Once we arrived in Edithburgh Ivan and I boarded the boat with Mark and Lois and headed to the island. The remaining four team members, Marija, Chris, Adam, and Andy headed off to get a coffee.

It takes just 15 minutes to get out to the island from Edithburgh. It was a beautiful sunny day and the water was quite calm.

Below is a view of Troubridge Island from the boat as we approached the sandbar. What a beautiful view!

WE HAVE LANDED

Once the boat was anchored, Mark walked to the island and collected a tractor and trailer and drove back to the boat. We loaded all of our gear onto the trailer and Lois drove us across the shallow water and sandbar to the island while Mark headed back to Edithburgh with the boat to collect the remainder of our team.

Upon arriving on Troubridge Island, Ivan and I offloaded the radio gear. Lois also took us for a tour around our accommodation. One of our first jobs on the island was to clean all the bird poo from the solar panels. Solar is the only power on the island.

It is about a 15-minute boat ride from Edithburgh to Troubridge Island. So after about an hour, the remaining four team members Marija, Adam, Andy, and Chris arrived safely on the island.

ACCOMODATION

Our accommodation on the island was one of the old lighthouse keepers’ cottages.

SETTING UP ANTENNAS & STATIONS

Once on the island, we commenced setting up. We set up four operating stations.

We established four separate stations located in both of the cottages and erected an array of antennas including linked dipoles, a vertical, an end fed, and a small 2-element beam.

Below is a photo of the end fed and the 30m vertical on the beach.

Below are some photos of the 2 element yagi.

Below are some photos showing the 20/40/80m linked dipole.

Below is a view of the island showing our antennas.

Improvisation was the name of the game. We had not been to the island before so we had to play everything by ear. The lighthouse keeper’s cottage that we slept in was clean and tidy. But the second cottage which is normally used for storage was not ideal, so we just set up one station in there.

OUR FIRST CONTACT

HOW MANY QSOS DID WE MAKE?

Our first QSO was with Peter VK3PF.

Our final QSO was with Ted VK6NTE.

During our stay on the island, we made a total of 2,123 QSOs and worked 65 different DXCC entities.

Below is a map showing our contacts around the world.

We had some nice openings into Europe and the United Kingdom on Wednesday and Thursday on the long path on SSB, along with numerous FT8 & CW contacts into Europe.

We also made numerous contacts into North America

And of course we made numerous contacts around Australia.

20M PILEUP

QSO WITH DAVE G4AKC BICYCLE MOBILE, STEVE G4NVF BACKPACK PORTABLE, DAVE M0DAD PEDESTRIAN MOBILE

160M

6M CONTACT

ON AIR PHOTOGRAPHS

WE ARE UNDER WATER!

In the early hours of Wednesday morning (our first night on the island) I was awoken by a large bang. A few of us went out to investigate to note that the wind had significantly picked up and had knocked over the 6m yagi. But worse, our 30m vertical was lying on its side flapping about in the water, and the end fed was also underwater, but was still standing. The tide had come in a lot further than we had believed it would. Fortunately, no damage was caused to the antennas.

MEALS AND DRINKS

We did not starve on the island. Meals were all part of the planning before the trip. We had three meetings together on Skype to discuss logistics.

Marija prepared some beautiful chilli con carne and a pasta meal and brought those over to the island with us. On the remaining night we had a BBQ.

A significant amount of red wine and other beverages were consumed.

LETTERS RECEIVED

HEADING HOME

It was now Friday 10th February and it was time for us to leave beautiful Troubridge Island. We were able to make a handful of contacts using a battery on Friday morning on the 40m and 15m bands, before packing up all of our gear and awaiting the arrival of the boat.

Mark and Lois arrived with the boat at about 1.00 p.m. and we loaded all of our gear onto the trailer. Ivan and I made the first trip out to the boat and loaded our luggage and radio gear onto the boat.

We headed back to Edithburgh enjoying another beautiful sunny day.

Once back at Edithburgh, we drove back to Wool Bay and loaded our vehicles. We all then drove down to Port Vincent where we had something to eat at the Port Vincent Cafe, which we highly recommend. We then all made our own way back home.