The Bombing of Darwin 75 years on

This WWII event is to be commemorated including the callsign VI8BOD that has been issued to the Darwin Amateur Radio Club for a month.

There were two bombings of on Darwin, an aircraft carrier used to hit Pearl Harbor in December 1941. It was followed two hours later by 54 land-based bombers from the Dutch East Indies occupied by the Japanese engaged in war in the Pacific.

VI8BOD will be at the old Qantas hangar in Parap, with home of Darwin's first airport and now an inner suburb. The event starts at Noon (0330 UTC) Saturday 18 February until 9pm, and continues 6am to 4pm Sunday 19 February. It will include the warning message in Morse code as used at the time and received by Darwin from the Mission Station Bathurst Island, before it was bombed by enemy aircraft. The message said: “NUMBER OF BOMBERS PASSED OVERHEAD BOUND DARWIN”. This will be followed by an explanation of the message and that Morse code was the communication method of the day.

The station will feed a Triband beam antenna on a cherry picker, 40 metre band dipole from the flag pole for voice communication, with Morse code transmissions using a “squid pole” supported vertical antenna at selected locations. Operating in a public space gives scope for interaction with visitors, and club members able to generate interest and answer any questions about Amateur Radio.
The event is due to start at noon from (0330 UTC) Saturday 18th February until 9pm, and 6am until 4pm Sunday 19th February.

Many VI8BOD contacts both nationally and internationally are expected with the club having the callsign for a month.

More information about VI8BOD and the QSL information can be found at qrz.com

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