About this episode

Nick Hacko VK9DX discusses the evolution and future of ham radio, contesting culture, and his experiences building a contest station on Norfolk Island.

Nick Hacko VK9DX is one of ham radio’s most colorful voices, an elite contester, watchmaker, refugee-turned-builder, and unapologetically opinionated character who somehow manages to be equal parts philosopher and entertainer. Broadcasting from Norfolk Island, a tiny speck in the South Pacific with a population of just 2,000, Nick joins me for a conversation that ranges from Cold War-era Yugoslavia to CQ WW strategy, remote island station building, and why contesting still matters in an increasingly automated world. Nick traces his ham radio roots back to the golden age of Yugoslav contesting, where domestic 80-meter battles were treated with the intensity of world championships. After fleeing the Balkan conflict in the early 1990s, he chose Australia over Canada for one simple reason: ham radio. Decades later, during the COVID lockdowns, he bought property on Norfolk Island sight unseen and moved there with little more than an IC-7300 and a wire antenna. What followed was a one-man effort to build a serious contest station under extreme logistical constraints, shipping delays, antenna height limits, and near-total self-sufficiency. But what makes Nick fascinating isn’t just the…

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