Sun-drenched Dutch St.Maarten has been our destination of choice for winter getaways since 1995. We have
regular radio skeds with our friends in Michigan and always report that the temperature is 83, but in
actuality it doesn't vary too far from that.
There is a uniqueness to this island in that it is the only island in the world shared by two parent
countries. The northern part of the island is French and is part of the French West Indies. The southern
part of the island is Dutch and is part of the Netherlands Antilles.
The French side of the island is heavily influenced by French culture, you can hear French being spoken by the
children as they play. On the island you'll find some of the best restaurants in the Caribbean. It is said that
you can dine on the island every night for a year and not repeat restaurants. If you're a real gourmand you must
visit Grand Case where you'll find everything from rib shacks to haute cuisine.
The image at far right is the harbor front at Marigot, the capitol of the French side.
High atop the hill overlooking the harbor is historic Fort St.Louis built in 1767. The red-hulled boat at
the pier is a water taxi used to get to the neighboring island of Anguilla.
The Dutch side of the island is more international in flavor and is home to
several Casinos and the major airport, Juliana International. There are 35 beautiful beaches surrounding this island
and all are public access; private ownership of the beach is not allowed. Dutch is the official language
on the Dutch side of the island but it is very obvious that English is the preferred language. In all the years
going to the island I have rarely heard conversations in Dutch.
The Wyndham Sapphire Beach Club, where we own
time-shares, is located in the Lowlands section on the Dutch side, at Cupecoy Bay. The Sapphire is a deluxe
9 story structure situated northwest of Juliana Airport.
The photo on the left was taken from the top of Pic Paradis 424 meters (1390 feet) above sea level.
Quartier D'Orl�ans is seen left center and Philipsburg is seen upper right. Two cruise ships are at
the pier. Barely visible on the horizon is the island of St. Bartholomew (St. Barth's).
In the photo on the right are the gorgeous cliffs of Cupecoy Bay, a favorite photo spot on the island.
ANTENNAS . . .
It's no accident that our time-share dates coincide with the ARRL CW DX Contest.
When we purchased here, we were up front about our radio activities and it was understood that
we would be putting up antennas. This has not gone without challenges in the past, but we have been operational
every year.
The antennas are located in an open top, walled, elevator service well on the roof. The antennas keep a
very low profile when viewed from street level. The size of this well is approximately 12 X 20 feet. Two 250-foot
coax runs (RG8X mini) conveniently follow a ground wire down the building and are hardly noticeable. Two
antennas are used for our operation. The MA5B Cushcraft 5 band 3 element beam has two active
elements on 10, 15 and 20, and a dipole on 12 and 17. We point this antenna north northwest
and leave it there for our operation. No rotator is installed. I have thousands of Europeans in the
log for our operation even though they are "off the side" of this antenna. There's a good bit of RF on this roof.
You can see 2 satellite receive dishes in the lower right portion of the picture and out of the picture to my back are cell phone antennas
and VHF/UHF antennas. Since this picture was taken, two very large satellite dishes have been added to the left
side of the well. We have been very lucky to have avoided intermod.
A Butternut HF2V with a 160 retro-kit is used for the low bands. This antenna works out great on all
3 bands (160/80/40) and also serves as an effective
radiator on 30 meters through an antenna tuner. Because of the nature of the roof, running radials would be
difficult for the HF2V. Luckily this building
has a substantial network of 1/4-inch solid copper wire running
along the entire perimeter of the roof and traveling down the building to ground. Scrubbing off the
considerable weathering on the wire with steel wool provided nice bright copper to which I ran a very
short 18-inch ground braid for the vertical (red clip).
Both antennas break down and fit into a single hard-sided golf bag case. The reflector of the MA5B
was too long for the case, so my friend Roger (K8RS) cut the reflector in half, reinforced the element
pieces where they join with proper sized aluminum, then fashioned a connector out of solid aluminum.
Thanks for a great alteration Roger! Random size blocks of foam rubber are used in the case to stabilize
the aluminum to prevent shipping damage. The two antennas and the golf case weigh in at 53 lbs. With the new
airline limit of 50 pounds for a checked-in bag, the fastener container and a couple of the heavier pieces
had to be transferred to our other bags. The new weight requirements really present a challenge to mounting
a vacation ham radio experience but can be done with careful planning.
A consideration for temporary antennas, unlike permanently mounted antennas, is that they will go
through many cycles of assembly/disassembly. After tuning the antenna to my satisfaction, I used a scratch
awl to mark the aluminum for consistent reassembly. I also labeled the parts as L1/R1 (left element one,
right element one), L2/R2 etc., for the antennas to speed up identification. A very important consideration
for stainless steel hardware is anti-seize prevention. Petroleum jelly applied to the threads works well for
this and isn't as messy as anti-seize compound, although anti-seize compound is a better choice for home installations.
Carrying extra heavy-duty zip lock bags for small parts is also a good idea as the shipping process takes its toll.
EQUIPMENT . . .
My vacation shack from left to right
- Two position Alpha Delta switch for convenient selection of my low band Butternut HF2V vertical (30/40/80/160) or my
high band Cushcraft MA5B mini-beam (10/12/15/17/20)
- Alinco DM-330MV 30 amp switching power supply
- LDG AT-11MP automatic antenna tuner
- Heil Pro headset
- Icom 706MKIIG
- Homemade interface for FSK RTTY, CW keying and PTT lines sharing a single Comm port.
See details
- HP Laptop computer
- Software - Writelog and MMTTY
- K1NU rig to computer interface
- SIIG brand PCMCIA Comm Port adapter plus the computer on-board Comm Port
- With 2 Comm ports and the internal soundcard I have full rig control on Comm 1, and keyboard CW, keyboard
FSK RTTY, PSK32 and PTT control on Comm 2
- All equipment fits into a single carry-on bag
2006 ARRL INTERNATIONAL DX CONTEST - CW . . .
|
QSOs |
MULTS |
BAND |
2006 |
2005 |
2003 |
2002 |
2006 |
2005 |
2003 |
2002 |
160 |
271 |
172 |
110 |
237 |
48 |
43 |
32 |
41 |
80 |
516 |
433 |
405 |
325 |
54 |
51 |
53 |
50 |
40 |
538 |
622 |
593 |
378 |
51 |
56 |
54 |
48 |
20 |
486 |
625 |
605 |
239 |
51 |
54 |
50 |
48 |
15 |
699 |
538 |
733 |
531 |
55 |
53 |
54 |
53 |
10 |
- |
646 |
427 |
550 |
- |
52 |
53 |
56 |
TOTALS |
2510 |
3036 |
2873 |
2260 |
259 |
309 |
296 |
296 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
SCORES |
1,950,270 |
2,814,372 |
2,551,224 |
2,006,880 |
123 |
123 |
123 |
123 |