On this page you'll find updates of the planned activity for Shag Valley Station later in 2024.

For ZM100DX, see at end of page.

Current schedule of activities.

Saturday 5th October Working bee on site to raise the various antenna and layout feeders and related preparations.

Thursday 10th

ZL4JH team installing cross-banders and talk-in repeater

• 690 Crossbanding to UHF - This brings Allstar access to the site ZL4MD 61891 Node
• 665 crossbanding to UHF - This bring IRLP Node 6507 to the site.
• Local repeater 6675

Saturday 12th

Large team on site to install radios, finish set up, arrange accommodation and then ZL4AA starts operating on many bands late in the day. 80, 60, 40, 30, 20, 15 10 and possibly 6m

• 80m will be on a vertical tuned whip.
• 40m will be on a quad.
• 60 and 30 will be on dipoles.
• 20, 15 and 10 on a rotatable tri-bander.
• Also in use will be a DX Commander for all bands.

Sunday 13th to Saturday 19th

Near continuous operating of ZL4AA on all bands. Please be patient when making contacts - some operators will be very experienced DX operators, some will be learners. FRIDAY 18th

At around 0630 UTC, 1930 NZDT the reenactment of the original QSO. SATURDAY 19th

Re-dedication of the memorial Cairn with an upgraded plaque to represent the Centenary. Followed by family dinner with all amateurs and the extended Bell family. SUNDAY 20th

Possible Jota activities followed by another major working bee to dismantle the installation and pack up.

Shag Valley Station-Wireless and Wool event OCTOBER 2024 Planning is now well underway for this years event to celebrate the Centennial anniversary of the first ever Trans-World communication between Frank Bell at Shag Valley Station and Cecil Goyder at the Mill Hill School in London. Full information will be forthcoming in due course as we nail down all the planning. The intention is to have working bees prior to the event to prepare the site and the equipment. The site layout will be different this year as the Shearers Quarters are not available this time around so we will be operating from the shelter of the shearing sheds and using caravans and tents for accommodation.

Here is a Press Release issued today Press Release 06/08/24 No Embargo Otago Branch of the New Zealand Association of Radio Transmitters Inc. Celebrating the Dawn of Mass Global Communication An important centenary to be celebrated and re-enacted in New Zealand and UK In October 2024, Radio Amateurs in New Zealand and the UK will be celebrating and re-enacting the very first trans-global two-way radio communication. Special callsigns will be active, and awards and QSL cards will be available for those who make contact with these special stations. At the turn of the last century, radio communication was in its infancy. The properties of “Hertzian Waves” – what we now call radio waves - were only just beginning to be understood. Starting with Marconi, the use of a crude form of radio communication began to evolve. The development of the thermionic valve then opened up opportunities both in radio transmitter and receiver design. However, the “conventional wisdom” remained that the longer wavelengths of radio signals (as used by Marconi) were those most suited to long-distance radio communication. In that age of technical discovery, many every-day people experimented with radio. These people were the early “radio amateurs” and their work was at first largely unregulated. When it became clear that “radio amateurs” could cause interference to emerging commercial radio services, the decision was made to restrict their experiments to wavelengths shorter than 200m - corresponding to a frequency of 1.5 MHz and above, as it was felt that such frequencies were worthless for long-distance communication. And so radio amateurs began to experiment at these “short waves” It was not long before they began to realise that, far from being worthless frequencies, they in fact held the key to low power long distance communication. In 1923, tests were conducted to span the Atlantic with radio. In 1924, as both transmitter power and receiver sensitivity improved, the dream was to span the globe by radio. Then, on 18 October 1924, that two-way antipodean communication dream was finally completed between two radio amateurs, Frank Bell, callsign 4AA, a sheep farmer in Shag Valley, South Island New Zealand, and Cecil Goyder, callsign 2SZ, a student operating from Mill Hill School, North London. The world had been shrunk, and things would never be the same again. To commemorate the centenary of this historic contact made between Bell and Goyder, radio amateurs in New Zealand and the UK will be operating four special event stations. Celebrating the Dawn of Mass Global Communication 06 August 2024 Page 1 of 3 Two amateur radio stations will operate from the original locations in New Zealand and the UK, contacting other stations around the world and re-enacting that historic first radio communication: - The callsign G2SZ, reflecting the callsign Goyder Used will be aired from 14 - 20 October, including operation from Mill Hill School London. - The callsign ZL4AA, reflecting the callsign Bell used will be aired from 12 - 20 October, from Shag Valley Sheep Station, New Zealand. At Mill Hill and Shag Valley station on 18 October, radio amateurs will recreate and re-enact the first contact, hopefully on a wavelength close to that used in 1924. In addition, two other amateur radio stations with callsigns reflecting the centenary will be active: - The callsign GB2NZ will be operated from 29 September 2024 to 26 October 2024 from a number of UK locations. - The callsign ZM100DX will be operated from early September 2024 to 26 December 2024 from a number of New Zealand locations on CW SSB and a number of other modes. Special awards will be available to radio amateurs around the world making contact with these stations managed by charles.wilmott@m0oxo.com. For details see www.gb2nz.com or www.zl4aa.org.nz The Radio Society of Great Britain, which is the national society for amateur radio in the UK, will be providing the G2SZ stations and much of the supporting documentation. Mill Hill School will be using the facility provided by the RSGB as a learning workbench. The Otago Branch of the New Zealand Association of Radio Transmitters inc, will be providing the re-enactment station ZL4AA and all on-site station facilities. For more information, contact: Stephen Scandrett (ZL4BN) for ZL4AA Convenor : Shag Valley – Wireless and Wool Centenary Project Email : notracker@duck.com WHATS APP : +64225067751

ZM100DX Here is the background to the use of this special event callsign and a link to the booking sheet ZM100DX