The high quality of Australia based DA-RCies continues to grow with the inclusion of new member 43DA040 Gary to the Dx Adventure Radio Club (DA-RC) in late January, 2021.

A former part of the Alfa Tango and Sugar Delta groups respectively, 43DA040 Gary is a popular and well-established 43 Division operator whom is located in the south-east Australian state of Victoria.

Gary satisfies rigorous DA-RC Membership requirements via the DX Hunter category with more than 50 DXCC worked and confirmed.

Returning to the 11m DX Community after a period of absence, 43DA040 Gary is excited to be part of a professional club on the threshold of Solar Cycle 25 and the imminent propagation it will bring.

43DA040 Gary lives in a country town, south-east of Melbourne, on the banks of the Latrobe River, a waterway said to be teaming with huge brown and rainbow trout, short-finned eels, river blackfish/ bream and Australian Bass.

This perfect for Gary who’s a keen  fisherman!

As well as targeting some of the Latrobe’s resident fish species for his backyard BBQ, 43DA040 Gary will often venture south to the state’s beaches, overlooking Bass Strait, for surf fishing.

Species such as Australian salmon, tailor, silver trevally, flathead, garfish, squid, whiting, mullet and bream can all be caught from Victoria’s bayside and ocean beaches.

In the background of 43DA040 Gary’s town in rural Vic, however, are the Strzelecki Ranges, a set of low mountain ridges located in the West Gippsland region.

Known affectionately as the “Land of the Lyrebird”, the Ranges are named after Paweł Edmund Strzelecki, a Polish explorer, who with the assistance of Charley Tarra the small party’s Aboriginal guide, led an expedition through this region in 1840.

The main industry in Gary’s part of Australia is agriculture.

Places of interest include goldfields, wineries, an international speedway, beautiful parks, historic walking trails, national parks, wood carving displays, a famous bakery, heritage listed buildings, handmade metal sculpture displays, a life size statue of former Melbourne cup winner Patrobus, Canoe trees and Bunya Trees.

Like many DA-RC members, 43DA040 Gary enjoys relaxing in the great outdoors and in this part of the ‘Land Down Under’ there are some wonderful spots.

In addition to an interest in recreational fishing, Gary loves camping.

In addition to being a valid entity in the VK Flora & Fauna Program for ham radio operations,  Holey Plains State Park (VKFF-0758) and Wellington and Willow parks and are said to be popular spots to park an RV or pitch a tent with the locals.

While portable DXing from a camp site in the countryside is a common occurrence, most work on the 11m band is done from the home QTH.

Here, an Icom IC-7610 HF/50 MHz transceiver is the standout feature of a radio shack which is dwarfed by a home-made 3 element delta loop towering high above his home outside.

This impressive station ensures his TX signal is always well-heard on any one of the 27 MHz call frequencies where he’s a regular in the logs of Europe, Asia, Oceania and Americas based DXers.

QSL INFOS

“Will QSL First”