This professionally-produced video is arguably
the best amateur radio video yet made. It tells the story of the
January 1999 amateur radio expedition to Campbell Island, one of
New Zealand-s sub-Antarctic islands in the Southern Ocean.
The expedition became a record-breaker, making over 96,000
contacts, more than on any previous such expedition.
The expedition group was fortunate indeed in
having James Brooks, 9V1YC, amongst its number, for James,
in addition to being a top CW and SSB operator, is a professional video
producer and cameraman based in Singapore. And it shows. The
technical quality of the video is excellent; there are no
jerky hand-held sequences on this film! The audio quality
is excellent throughout too, with every word of the
actuality footage clearly audible. Often one thing which
lets down an otherwise well-made amateur video (amateur in both
senses of the word) is the narration. Again, top marks to the
ZL9CI team, who used what sounds like a professional New Zealand
voice-over man for the job (sadly, he wasn't-t named in the final credits).
The group traveled to Campbell Island from
Wellington, New Zealand, on board the Braveheart,
a converted Japanese research vessel which was refitted especially
for the expedition. She is the veteran of a number of National
Geographic expeditions to remote parts of the world, and the
group was in safe hands with the very experienced captain and crew. One of
the film-s lighter moments comes when the captain, affectionately
known as Captain Ahab, shakes his head in disbelief at the
antics of the expedition operators, saying he-d never understand
radio amateurs - yet apparently still quite admiring their skills.
One of the restrictions placed on the group-s
permit to land on Campbell Island was that the island must not be
occupied over night. Every night, before midnight, the group had to
take the tender back to the Braveheart, only returning
to the island at first light. To monitor this, and to ensure
there was a minimum of disruption to the island-s wildlife, one
of the expedition members was Jason Christiensen, an employee of
the New Zealand Department of Conservation, which administers
the island. Although a licensed radio amateur in his own right
(callsign ZL2URN), Jason is not a DXer and in one scene he is
shown attempting to cope with the -pile-ups- which result each time ZL9CI
went on the air. His plaintive cries of "come on guys, give
me a break!" as he struggles with numerous simultaneous callers
should make everyone realize that there-s a lot more to this
DXpeditioning lark than just taking a radio and antenna to a remote island.
Of course not all radio amateurs are interested
in DXing, and it-s fair to say that most amateurs who are not interested
in DXing would not want to read an article on a major DXpedition in a
magazine like this one. Yet I defy any radio amateur not to be held in
thrall by this video. For it is not just the story of an amateur radio
expedition. It is also a true life adventure story, a story of a
disparate multi-national and multi-ethnic group (the members came
from New Zealand, USA, Canada, Japan, and Ireland, both North and South)
working together to achieve a common goal. It-s a history film, explaining why
Campbell Island, once inhabited by sheep farmers, whalers and sealers,
became uninhabited. It-s also a wildlife film that wouldn't-t discredit
Sir David Attenborough, with one extraordinary sequence showing a
shot of a one-tone elephant seal-s trunk and mouth up so close up
you can almost smell the stench of fish on his breath!
The video gives a far better indication of the
sheer scale of such an undertaking than any magazine article ever
could. ZL9CI had up to eight stations, each with linear amplifiers,
operating simultaneously. There were two antenna fields, one for SSB
and one for CW, separated by some 300 meters, and covering each band
from 6 to 160 meters with monoband or duoband antennas. When ZL9CI
came on the air, with six stations at once, over 11,000 contacts
appeared in the log on the first day alone! That-s more than most radio
amateurs will make in a lifetime of operating. There must
have been an enormous amount of planning necessary to pull
off such an operation.
There are one or two scenes which are, perhaps,
slightly too long. For the radio amateur these may include the
outward journey to the island (although this does give a very
good impression of the distance involved and the sheer remoteness of Campbell). For
some (including many radio amateurs, it must be said!) periods of
Morse code at 30 - 35WPM may not make a great deal of sense.
That aside, whether or not you-re interested in DXing, this is a
beautifully-made film, capturing the stark wild beauty of one of the
last-remaining truly remote places on earth. The video is a -must- for
any radio amateur interested in DXing. It would also be ideal for a
radio club. There-s sufficient historical and natural history
content to make it of interest to the whole family - the kids
will love the scene-stealing seals!
For me, the best bit was when G4JVG worked
the expedition - yes, of the 96,000 contacts made, the only
European SSB QSO captured on the video was the single contact made by your
editor, on 20 meters long path one morning. So now there-s no excuse, I've really got to go out and buy the video!