OC-265 Cato Reef 23° 15'S 155° 32' E
Coral Sea Islands Territory South
2100 qso's 90 countries 6 continents

The VK4WWI/P operation involved a lot of planning and preparation. After working on this for about 4 months we were ready to sail from Hervey Bay ( north of Brisbane ) on the MV Odyssey.


MV Odyssey



10 days of supplies for 6 men



approaching Cato Reef after sailing for 50 hours against the 5 knot current and being very seasick all the time



approaching Cato Reef



the solar powered weather station on Cato Island, Cato Island is a small island in the middle of the lagoon of Cato Reef



the GPS reading on Odyssey anchored outside the lagoon, the safe entries into the lagoon indicated on the map did not exists and most parts were not surveyed yet so we had to enter the lagoon in a small boat



the operation site on the beach, I operated during the evening and night when propagation was good with a Kenwood TS-50 and an Outbacker Tri-split



the Outbacker Tri-split on the beach a few meters from the sea turned out to be an excellend antenna and worked better then a dipole on 8 meter fishing rods



one of the thousands of birds living on Cato Reef



the only vegetation on Cato Island



wreck of a fishing ship stranded on the reef


Cato Reef's lagoon