ZD8SIX on Ascension
	Wednesday, 2nd November

To come up to date, it is now Wednesday morning and we’ve gone through the alphabetic "will the A to E now come forward" customs bit again at Brize Norton. You will have gathered by now that I have decided to go. How could I cancel? That would be plain stupid. I’ve always wanted to go to Ascension and if I have just one fabulous radio opening from ZD8 then it will make the entire trauma worthwhile. I’m sitting waiting to take off, hopefully on time today. 

The coast on the east side of the island north of the Ariane tracking station

Before I left home this morning, I saw on the UKSMG Announcement Board that Johnny has offered to let me use his shack this evening if there is 6m propagation. This will be great, however I guess I won’t be arriving until pretty late in the evening Ascension time (which is GMT by the way). On my trip to the Falklands, many asked me what it was like travelling on an RAF flight. Well, it’s pretty good really when they actually take off. The stewards and stewardesses are dressed in RAF uniforms, the seat spacing is better than on British Airways and the food was very British (read as ‘wholesome’). Why is it that the RAF are still living in the 1950s with watery ‘Kia Ora’ type orange juice (anyone who used to go to the cinema in the ‘60s in the UK will remember this) served with Cumberland pie (don’t ask…) with mixed peas and carrots. It was not too bad however, and I mustn’t complain as I forgot to say that we took off ‘on-time’ 36 hours late. Ascension here I come!

A lush moss-covered gully near in the Devil's Ashpit

One of my tasks while on Ascension is to locate the ZD8VHF beacon that seems to have been lost in recent years in the absence of a regular beacon keeper. Nobody I talked to knew where the beacon actually was and whether anyone was actually looking after it. According to Ted, it was located in a small shed next to the reservoir on the top of Green Mountain. The challenge, if I decide to accept it, will be to locate the beacon and get someone to maintain it.

Well I’ve watched the film, consumed a couple of (small) bottles of red wine and I still have three more hours before landing at Ascension. I had hoped to arrive in daylight so I could take a decent photo of the island from the air but as we are landing at 21:30 p.m. at night it’ll be dark.

I follow the 'sun' rather than the 'penguin' this time around!

Well, we've arrived OK and a short taxi at Wideawake airport brought us to the terminal. Lenny picked me up at the airport and took me to the island guesthouse in his car. The 30-foot mast was already bolted to the side of the guesthouse – very convenient! What was the first thing I did? Nip over to the Saints Bar on the other side of the road in Georgetown to have a bottle of Becks. Very nice too I might add but no English bitter! Looks like a week of bottled lager. Upon returning to the guesthouse, I assembled the station and found the electronic keyer had been broken in transit. Somehow the speed potentiometer had been banged. I soon found that jamming a piece of paper in just the right position sorted the problem out temporarily. So off to bed I went only to be woken up by loud buzzing sounds – no not 6m video but mosquitoes! I wondered what the mosquito net was for so I quickly pulled it around the bed.

My arrival passport stamp