Georg Muench <georg.mue...@gmx.de>

Hello fellow HAMs down under,

I will be in VK4 last week of August and first 2 weeks in September. We
will go from Brisbane to Cairns  in a Camper and stay for 5 day in Port
Douglas in a hotel at the end of our trip. I´m am wondering whether it
makes sense to take along amateur radio equipment.
I have an Elecraft QRP TRX (3..5 W) for 80/40/30/20m CW. Antenna is a
wire of about 16m length. Travelling around in Europe, I usually take
along this rig. It´s tiny and fits between two towles in the suitcase.
Range is about 1000...2000km, so I can work almost all over Europe. Last
year I was in SV9 for a week and even managed to work 3 stations in the US.

Alternatively I could take along my FT-897 with ATAS-120 mobile antenna.
This rig works fine from a car and often DX is possible. Drawback would
be that effort is much higher to take it along, as I need PS, Tuner,
Mike, etc. I would need an extra suitcase and weight would be some 8 Kg.

Taking propagation into account (sunspots and season), what would you
recommend ? I plan holiday style operation, so not more than an hour per
day (although a whistle-stop to Mellish reef would be attractive).