Over the March 14 – 15 weekend, members of the Shepparton and District Amateur Radio Club (SADARC) in Australia will be on the air as VI3RA (Radio Australia), connecting their transceivers to the curtain array and rhombic antennas at the former Radio Australia site in Shepparton. Radio Australia ceased transmitting from the site in 2017. VI3RA will operate on 40, 30, 20, 17, and 15 meters.

“Local amateurs will be given the unique opportunity to explore the use of high-gain antennas whilst giving amateurs throughout the world a unique opportunity to contact a station using such high-gain antennas,” said SADARC President Peter Rentsch, VK3FPSR (Australia’s call sign structure accommodates four-letter suffixes). “This is a rare opportunity for amateur radio operators, who are only allowed a peak output power of 400 W in Australia when compared to 100 kW of Radio Australia transmitters to hopefully achieve some remarkable communication outcomes. We expect to get a gain of 15 dB on the lower frequencies and at least 20 dB on 21 MHz.”

The special event is being conducted in cooperation with BAI Communications (Broadcast Australia). More information is on the club’s website.