DX'ing from the Valley Isle

This is an article I wrote on our very enjoyable experiences staying at the B and B of Terry and Donna Clayton and operating from Terry's QTH which appeared in the July/August 1998 issue of The DX Magazine. Check out their website. For more info on The DXMagazine, see it's web site

After getting back on the air in Nov. 96 (after my 40 year layoff) and resuming my pursuit of DX, it wasn't too long before I began noticing the Ham Rental category in the ads in ham magazines and began thinking about going someplace where I could be DX instead of just another US mainland ham. We had been to Hawaii several years earlier and liked it so when I brought up the idea of a ham vacation to my wife, she was ready to go. We decided to schedule our trip to coincide with the ARRL CW DX Contest since February is generally a good time to take a break from winter.Terry (KH6SQ) and Donna Clayton have a bed and breakfast with ham privileges on the 15th fairway of the golf course at Pukalani, Maui, Hawaii. They are at 1200' on the way up to the summit of Haleakala, an inactive volcano. It is the highest point on Maui, 10,023 feet. The sunrise from here is spectacular and for the adventurous, you can bike down the mountain. Their QTH is nearly in the center of Maui, making touring and sightseeing convenient. Maui has a lot of things to do, including excellent snorkeling from the beach just south of Lahaina. The coral does require care, though, as it is very sharp. There also is a submarine which takes you down over 100' to view the fish without getting wet. The view from the shack features mountains in the background and the Pacific on both sides. They are excellent hosts and make guests feel at home.

Hard not to be happy operating from a place like this!!

View from the shack. Water on the left, water on the right with a mountain in between.

The ham station consists of a Kenwood TS-940 transceiver, Heath SB-221 amp and MFJ keyer. Antennas include a Cushcraft 2 element 40 m beam and Hy-Gain TH-7 on a 45' tower which also supports an 80 m sloper and a Alpha-Delta dipole. The only piece of equipment I brought was my Vibrokeyer since I'm used to a single lever design. The equipment performed great.

Before the contest, I received a lot of 599+ reports from all over the US and was surprised to be called by JA, ZS and other DX. I noticed several things different about operating from KH6: 1. The JA's were louder than at home and the Europeans were weaker. 2. When everyone has their beams pointed towards Europe, KH6's are hard to hear. 3. /KH6 after one's call attracts a lot of attention.

Terry's Antennas worked well!!

The ARRL CW DX Contest was my first real experience in a contest (previously, I have just picked off DX during contests) and it took a while to get used to the pile-ups. I worked 860 stations without putting too much time in (back problem prevents sitting too long) and got up to a rate of 100 QSO's per hour at times, not too bad for manual logging and no automatic keyer with message capability. I mainly used 15 and 20 during the day and 40 at night. The sloper worked pretty good on 80 the first night but a rainstorm was approaching the last night which brought QRN and poor conditions on both 80 and 40. Being on the other end of the pile-up was a fun experience although things can get intense with never a break in the action. I had trouble finding a moment to turn on the lights when it was getting dark. Operating from "SeaQ Maui" was very enjoyable and I'm already planning our next DXpedition.

XYL Elaine and I at one of the posh hotels

Hosts Terry and Donna Clayton

My Hawaii QSL. 73 and Aloha.