# Pitcairn Island



## Hugh Ferguson (Sep 4, 2006)

Apparently, the most sought after QSL (the acknowledgement card of "ham" radio enthusiasts) is that of the Pitcairn Is. radio. Only one of the islanders manages the station and his name is Tom Christian (6th generation of Fletcher Christian's off-spring). The following is taken from the book, Pitcairn: Children of the Bounty by Ian M. Ball:-

If Tom is a man in demand on the island, he is also in demand on the international airwaves. His QSL card is the most sought after one that exists among _hams_. His radio shack is wallpapered with them. They are an impressive and cosmopolitan collection, but Tom dismisses them with a wave of an arm. "These are only the very early ones, the QSL's that came in over the first couple of months," he says. "Then I ran out of wall space. The rest are in crates, boxes on boxes of them, stored somewhere in Betty's (his wife)parents' home. I tried once to work out how many different _hams_ I talked with, and it came to well over ten thousand. Siberia, Persia, India, Africa, little places in South America, everywhere."

I wonder if any of our R/O's are of that fraternity!?


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## bert thompson (Nov 28, 2005)

Fascinating story. Always hoped I would visit the island Too late now
Best wishes
Bert.


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## Andy (Jan 25, 2004)

Apparantly Tom and Betty moved to New Zealand recently, so it's a bit rarer now  
VP6 (ex VR6) Pitcairn is a very desirable country/entity but currently only ranked at #61 in the dx chaser's 'most wanted' listings 
P5 North Korea heads the list, with 7O Yemen next, but 7O should fall down a bit by next year, as a fairly recent activation (and the qso's and qsl's from it) has just been declared valid.

QSL cards from the famous and the interesting are obviously popular for other reasons than country rarity. JY1 (the late King Hussein of Jordan) was probably the most desirable QSL card as far as an individual, I count myself lucky to simply have heard him!). There's even rumours of a few QSL cards from Priscilla Presley, as she was a licensed radio amateur... although now lapsed. Marlon Brando's was another very desirable qsl card, along with King Juan Carlos of Spain.


For those unfamiliar with amateur radio qsl cards, here's a few of the ones I've received.
http://www.andybright.com/qsl.html

cheers,
Andy


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## Hugh Ferguson (Sep 4, 2006)

That's an amazing collection, Andy. I didn't even know what they were an hour ago!


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## Hugh Ferguson (Sep 4, 2006)

bert thompson said:


> Fascinating story. Always hoped I would visit the island Too late now
> Best wishes
> Bert.


 Go read the book, Bert, it's fascinating - it was written by Ian M.Ball when he spent most of a year there in the 70's with his wife and kids.


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## K urgess (Aug 14, 2006)

I QSO'd ZBP and got a QSL but I don't suppose that counts.
Regular contact when transiting the big peaceful pond to check if they needed anything was normal practice.
The only record of the QSO, apart from my note, has either been burnt already or resides in a mountain of mouldering used proces verbal somewhere. (Sad)


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## IMRCoSparks (Aug 22, 2008)

In the Pacific in the early 60's, I was idly scanning the ham 14mhz band one day and heard quite distinctly "Pitcairn" & "Christian" mentioned.
I listened in and found I was listening to Pitcairn communicating with an American Ham "manager". He was stacking up literally scores of would be communicators anxious to QSL . It must have been a pre-arranged sched. Like GKA, he allotted turn numbers and allowed only about 20 seconds for each QSL. Anyone who was slow lost his turn.
I figured he must have got through over 200 QSL's before Mr Christian had had enough and politely switched off. He was very patient.


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## tunatownshipwreck (Nov 9, 2005)

Tom Christian was also operator of the ship-to-shore station in Pitcairn. I tried to get a QSL for that around 1989, but no reply, hope he or the postman enjoyed the return postage I included.
Pitcairn radio came in quite well here on the US west coast, as they were in the same time zone.


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## tunatownshipwreck (Nov 9, 2005)

Andy said:


> Apparantly Tom and Betty moved to New Zealand recently, so it's a bit rarer now
> VP6 (ex VR6) Pitcairn is a very desirable country/entity but currently only ranked at #61 in the dx chaser's 'most wanted' listings
> P5 North Korea heads the list, with 7O Yemen next, but 7O should fall down a bit by next year, as a fairly recent activation has been declared valid.
> 
> ...


Other well-known ham operators were Senator Barry Goldwater, an astronaut whose name I can't recall right now, and still-active rock star Joe Walsh.
Those are some impressive QSL cards, Andy.


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## Andy (Jan 25, 2004)

tunatownshipwreck said:


> I tried to get a QSL for that around 1989, but no reply, hope he or the postman enjoyed the return postage I included.


I never begrudge a couple of $ to a rare dx for the card, they get thousands upon thousands of cards, that they don't really want... they're not all rich and famous, so the postage costs can really add up to serious money for them unless those chasing the card pay return postage.
But $ still go missing, mostly dodgy postal workers, sometimes a dodgy op.




tunatownshipwreck said:


> Other well-known ham operators were Senator Barry Goldwater, an astronaut whose name I can't recall right now, and still-active rock star Joe Walsh.


I was going to mention Joe Walsh (of the Eagles)... never seen one of his qsl cards, although he wouldn't do it himself. One of my local radio amateurs is Sean (Feargal) Sharkey a front man vocalist for a famous 'rock' band in the late 70's & the 80's called the Undertones.

I use both of the above 'personalities' to try to prove to my other half that amateur radio can't be that sad... but it doesn't wash with her or anyone else 

cheers,
Andy


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## pensioner (Apr 29, 2009)

Called at Pitcain when on the Port Albany. One of the elders had fallen and broken his leg/hip we had a doctor onboard who administered medical aid. Tom Christian, along with other islanders, came aboard and as already stated by others I found him a great guy.

Rgds


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## Billieboy (May 18, 2009)

Only ham working I ever did was from GB3BPH in 1961 it was my 21st birthday and I stayed at the new Baden Powell House for the weekend. The Jamboree on the air was running and I was keeping one of the logs and writing QSL cards. Never got into ham radio, now with computers I can talk to people all over the world without a GPO license. (How did I remember the callsign after 48 years?)

Sparkies were mostly nice blokes at sea, and I did fix one radar, it had water in the wave guide, all it needed was a chartpaper joint with some vaseline, on the scanner!


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## G4UMW (May 30, 2007)

I had the pleasure of meeting Tom Christian when the Wellington Star called at Pitcairn en route from London to Auckland early in 1976. We were delivering a new boat to the islanders, most of whom came out to meet us. Didn't get a QSL though!


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## Eddie Wallace (Nov 1, 2005)

Hi Hugh
reading your post got me checking my qsl cards and I find i worked VR6JR
march 90 have it confirmed have 324 countries confirmed P5 was on 14300 on monday but the qrm was horendus so I didn't even try.
De Eddie gm4xlu 73


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## Graham P Powell (Jun 2, 2007)

One of my fellow GKA operators went there on a Bank boat. There might have been others but I only know of one.


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## Graham P Powell (Jun 2, 2007)

Apologies, talking of remote islands, I had the chance to go to Tristan da 
Cunha as postmaster/radio operator and my wife as a teacher. Before it was all sort of settled we found that a baby was on the way so didn't go.
Anybody else do that job on Tristan?.


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## lagerstedt (Oct 16, 2005)

I have a Pitcairn Island QSL card when I had my Ham Licence (ex ZL2BFO). Must renew it one day as it is well expired. The operator was mot a true Pitcairn Islander but a Radio Tech from the NZ Post Office who was sent up there to set up a new antenna and Radio system. When I find the card I will post it here.

Regards
Blair
Central Hawkes Bay
NZ


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## Bob McColl (Feb 20, 2007)

Just read an in depth book on the Mutiny on the Bounty....one interesting mention that I had never heard before...Fletcher Christian was alleged to have been shot by one of the Tahitians as he took a woman off them when his wife died....but Peter Heywood (one of the mutineers who went back to Tahiti before the rest of them set off to Pitcairn) swore that he was walking along a road in London years later and a figure in front of him was Fletcher Christians double...he shouted to him and the person turned looked at him and took off. Heywood chased him but he disappeared....the last survivor on Pitcairn... John Adams would not show where Christians grave was ...and also the ducats that was on the Bounty disappeared along with the Bounty's cutter...theory is that Fletcher took off on the cutter and bought himself passage on a dutch trader...he did have a son with his wife Mauatua called Thursday October Christian 1790-1831...who also had a son Thursday October Christian 1820-1911 who was a magistrate on Pitcairn


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## 40907 (Sep 26, 2009)

QSL, QTH? What does it all mean? I'm QuiTe confused!


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## Papa Bear (Apr 15, 2007)

I served on the Ceramic late 67 early 68. Due to the strike at home , we loaded in Rotterdam. Upon sailind we found we had the Governor General designate for Kiwi and his party on board. Made the Kiwi papers when we arrived. Governor General arrives on Ceramic/Foot and Mouth ship arrives. It was also the only time I ever received a gram from Portishead with the o.o.o. of Buckingham Palace. First thought, second trip junior, Geez don't screw this one up. On leaving Balboa after transit of the Panama found we had the pleasure of Tom and his wife returning to Pitcairn after a holiday in the States. We enjoyed their company and Tom was a regular visitor to the Radio Room especially when we were trying to contact Pitcairn to advise ETA. Upon arrival Pitcairn we said our goodbyes but before we left, Tom dropped a large basket of fresh island fruit in the Radio Room. Made for a very pleasant and tasty memory. Would have loved to have gone ashore but that did not happen.

Cheers John L.(Thumb)


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## Eddie Wallace (Nov 1, 2005)

Hi Ken
the term qsl is a term used to confirm a contact on the ham bands.
qth is the term used to indentifie your home or house.
hope that answers your question


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## Andy (Jan 25, 2004)

Ken Schafer said:


> QSL, QTH? What does it all mean? I'm QuiTe confused!


I think there's a thread about q codes somewhere on SN from the distant past...but wiki does a fair job of explaining here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_code

You may also see '73' as a farewell from those involved in radio...an old tradition from the early days of telegraphy, simply meaning 'best wishes'.

They can sound very silly when used in phone (voice) modes... radio amateurs often over-use them when not needed, ie. two English guys talking to eachother on FM!! But fair enough with weak signal contacts on ssb where there may also be language problems.

And whilst writing this, the postman has just delivered a qsl card  3B8DB (Mauritius) on 24mhz.

cheers,
Andy


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## 40907 (Sep 26, 2009)

Very interesting but PHEW! Thank heavens I don't have to remember any of those. (EEK)


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## ssr481 (Feb 2, 2008)

Speaking of QSL cards..just curious if anyone out there ever came across a ham operator *W3ZPM*.. that was my father's callsign back in the mid-50s to early 70s when he was active on the ham bands (Dad had an old crane gantry planted in our backyard as his antenna)..


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## Andy (Jan 25, 2004)

ssr481 said:


> Speaking of QSL cards..just curious if anyone out there ever came across a ham operator *W3ZPM*.. that was my father's callsign back in the mid-50s to early 70s when he was active on the ham bands (Dad had an old crane gantry planted in our backyard as his antenna)..


It would be excellent if an SN member has spoken to your father in the past. Other than FCC data, I can't find any references on the web. If you posted this at QRZ.com, then I'm sure you'd have plenty who remember W3ZPM. 

BTW: Nice signature... I try to get in at least one quote from 'Oddball' in the course of a week (Thumb) 

cheers,
Andy


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## Hugh Ferguson (Sep 4, 2006)

For anyone who has a keen interest in the HMS Bounty saga, from beginning to the end (which was the trial of those brought back from Tahiti by HMS Pandora), I would strongly commend the account by Caroline Alexander, Rhodes scholar, Doctorate in Classics from Colombia University. She was born in Florida of British parents. An almost five hundred pages long account, meticulously researched book of that most extraordinary episode in the history of British seafaring.
My interest began through coming to live in Cornwall where in his early career in the R.N., Bligh had the misfortune to fail to convince some excise officers of his identity-they arrested him and imprisoned him in the coal cellar of the vicarage, where he was confined until the vicar returned and the situation was clarified. I have stood in that self-same coal cellar no more than a half a mile from where I live.
Additionally, my neighbour happens to possess two magnificent leather bound facsimile volumes of Bligh's journals-it took me a year to get through them. And to add to this I happened, years ago, to notice a letter in a newspaper signed Maurice Bligh. I was able to contact him and we had a long chat. He has long tried to reverse the impressions so many have of his famous ancestor, with little success.

The book is entitled, The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty, by Caroline Alexander: Harper & Collins: published 2003; ISBN 0-00-257221-4


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## Brandane62 (Sep 1, 2008)

Re Pitcairn Island, I was lucky enough to visit whilst on P&Os' Taupo in 1980. We were sailing from Bluff NZ to Avonmouth via the Panama Canal, and called in at Pitcairn with their stores delivery and mail etc. on 9th Feb 1980.

I still have my "Guide to Pitcairn" stamped and signed by Ivan Christian.

We were only at anchor offshore for a few hours, so unfortunately none of us actually got to set foot on the island, but a memorable experience none the less.


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## Naytikos (Oct 20, 2008)

Andy (post 3): Very pretty collection; makes my own cards look very dull. Will have to get colour versions printed. I notice you don't have ZF9.....!

Graham (post 16): Like you: almost, not quite, but very nearly. The job came up sometime in the 70s and I applied only to find out that the successful applicant would have to depart on the St. Helena two weeks later. I was in the PG at the time, so no chance. 
Funnily enough when I first came to this island, the doctor who was here had spent a couple of years on Tristan, and told a story of the resident R/O faxing an x-ray on ham frequencies to Edinburgh university for a consultation.

To maintain the thread topic: I never had the fortune to hear Pitcairn, either on ham or marine frequencies. Did see the Errol Flynn and Marlon Brando films though!


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## Andy (Jan 25, 2004)

Ah, very well timed. 

DXNL 1651 - Nov 25, 2009
DX Newsletter
_In December two old friends, Tom and Betty Christian (VP6TC and VP6YL),_
_will return to Pitcairn after staying in New Zealand for some time._


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## spongebob (Dec 11, 2007)

My experience of Pitcairn was to arrive there ex Auckland about midnight on the passenger ship Rangitane. We dropped off cargo including baulks of framing timber and sheets of corrugated iron roofing, their staple building materials and it was a tricky job lowering this bulky material into their long boats for the short trip ashore.
Islanders came aboard to sell hand carved trinkets etc , made from sandalwood from the nearby Henderson Islands? group.
All NZSCo passenger ships called in at Pitcairn and posting and receiving mail at the Island was big business in local postage stamps.
Highlight of that trip was getting underway to meet the Rangitiki southbound at about 0400 hours and the two fully lit ships passing mid ocean at relatively close quarters while each doing perhaps 18 knots was quite a sight.

Bob


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## Mike S (Dec 27, 2005)

Those Southern Ocean NZS ship meetings were something else....
Hours of anticipation and careful approach.......
Split second timing on the flag dipping and lots of air used up on the whistles and in seconds it was all over.
Within minutes the ocean was empty again.......
Mind you some of those ships were beauties to the eye and to see them working the southern ocean swells is a memory I will always treasure.
ah nostalgia...............


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## spongebob (Dec 11, 2007)

Mike, you describe it to a tee, the blowing of the whistles and the dipping of the flags I had overlooked.
I guess it must have taken a lot of careful navigational planning to pass so close yet safely and with almost every passenger on deck, even at that hour, it was a special occasion.
As you say a fleeting moment though.

Bob


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## Barber Hector (Jan 13, 2008)

Spoke to Tom Christian on occasion when passing off Pitcairn and met him in the Isle of Man [where Fletcher Christian originated from] when he was VIP at the Island's Tynwald Day celebration some years ago. Nice chap, pleasure to meet him.


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## John J (Sep 21, 2007)

Hi Everyone
Had the pleasure of calling to Pitcairn in 1961 while on board Mv Waiwera (Shaw savill) callsign GBJB serving as 2nd R/O on my first trip to sea. we were on our way from Auckland to Liverpool and had to pick up the film crew that were filming Mutany On the Bounty.During the day before we arrived I Qso with the island and arranged the pick up at anchor.I dont know if it was Tom but he asked me if I had any old newspapers and luckily I had retained the previous 3 months papers from Newzealand. He came on board and was very thankful and left me a good supply of bananas for the trip home.Long time ago and memory fades but remember it was 14th October 1961
John J


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## Andy (Jan 25, 2004)

John J said:


> we were on our way from Auckland to Liverpool and had to pick up the film crew that were filming Mutany On the Bounty.


Hi John and thanks for posting, better late than never (Thumb)
Ironically, that would've been the version with Marlon Brando, who I mentioned further up the thread, who was also a keen radio amateur... and he eventually ended up residing in French Polynesia, and operating from there as FO5GJ.

Cheers
Andy


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