Many because of Bob K4RLC who shares this report on mixing trip with ham radio with us. When you’ve got an article in your head and need to have it posted right here, let’s hold this group going whereas our buddy Thomas continues to assist his neighbours within the wake of Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina. Draft up your story in an electronic mail with reference factors to the photographs you need embedded and their captions, connect photographs to the be aware and ship it my solution to vincedeon at gmail dot com and be aware QRPer within the topic line to get my consideration.
By Bob Conder K4RLC and V4/K4RLC
Our curiosity in a visit to Saint Kitts started pre COVID, after my buddy Dale W4AUV and I noticed an advert behind QST journal by W5JON, John, for his rental villa with a whole ham radio station on this Caribbean island. What might be improper with this situation? Being on a stupendous Caribbean island with a whole ham radio station?
Quick ahead nearly 5 years later, when Dale and I, together with our spouses, go away Raleigh for St. Kitts. The timing was actually unhealthy for me, as on the identical time Western North Carolina was devastated from Hurricane Helene. Previously, I labored with the American Crimson Cross Catastrophe Providers after hurricanes and tornadoes in my dwelling state, in addition to being deployed to the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and Louisiana instantly after Hurricane Katrina. We’ve got family and friends who stay in upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina Together with my greatest buddy from highschool and his household. All we may do was attain out to them with help, and donate cash via respected organizations comparable to Samaritan’s Purse Catastrophe Aid and the American Crimson Cross.
St. Kitts solely has three POTA websites and no SOTA websites. I had hoped to activate no less than two of the POTA websites. CW is my most popular modality. These POTA websites had solely been activated by telephone and doubtful digital.
Saint Kitts is an unquestionably stunning tropical island, however it’s nonetheless a 3rd world nation. The driving is British model, additional sophisticated by having solely three stoplights on the island and roundabouts each few miles. We rented a Honda CRV from Bullseye Leases, really helpful by John W5JON, the proprietor of the villa. Given the traditional small roads the place all people drives like your drunken previous aunt with dementia, this was an excellent car selection. Since my first and first activation was to be Brimstone Hill Fortress Nationwide Park, a UNESCO web site constructed beginning in 1690 with guarded entryways made to suit horse drawn wagons within the 1700’s, we have been relieved to have handed up the massive Ford Explorer rental in favor of our little Honda SUV that hardly made the entryway.
Brimstone Hill Fortress, also referred to as the Gibraltar of the Caribbean, is an expansive stone fort initially constructed by the British in 1690 with African slaves. It has been via many modifications through the years, and completely different homeowners, however is basically British. The truth is, its development jogged my memory of Edinburgh Citadel in Scotland. (I used to be later instructed that Brimstone was designed and constructed by the Royal Engineers from the UK). Now, it’s a Nationwide Park, a POTA web site (KN-0003), and a UNESCO World Heritage Website.
With Dale driving and me navigating, it took about an hour from our villa on Frigate Bay to search out the flip off. (Google Maps has a very long time latency there, so you’ll be previous main turns and intersections when Google proclaims them as forward !) Then there’s a lengthy, slim winding and climbing highway that permits you to know you’re gaining altitude. We needed to give solution to a big dump truck doing development on the web site, and heading down the mountain highway immediately for us. And please, drive cautiously round hairpin turns, honking your horn, as really helpful.
However it was value it to get to the highest. The view is spectacular over the encompassing sea, and you may see why the British and French fought over this strategic place for his or her forces. There’s an orientation film that explains the historical past and structure of the fortress, after one pays a modest admission payment to the location. I had seen images earlier than our go to and knew the place I needed to take my KH1. I went as much as the artillery batteries with the massive cannons that shoot 5 inch balls miles into the ocean, presumably right into a French ship. I pulled out the Elecraft KH1. I ran its inventory configuration, aside from wrapping the counterpoise round one among Her Majesty’s cannons to get a little bit sign punch. Whereas the KH1 has unimaginable benefits, it’s no match for the photo voltaic flares and ionospheric instability of late, with A indices as excessive as 57 and Kp at 7+. After a number of weeks of ionospheric quietude and good HF propagation earlier than we travelled, Ole Sol cranked up and began misbehaving simply as we bought to Saint Kitts. However, Brimstone Fortress was a stupendous historic web site from which to name CQ and attempt to snag stations again within the States.
I didn’t notice that the operation would result in assembly fascinating folks on web site. One was a younger tour information who talked with Dale’s YL, Vianne, and was very interested by what I used to be doing whereas calling CQ. I used to be glad to point out John the radio and clarify ham radio, as he expressed curiosity in getting licensed. Then, whereas strolling right down to the enclosed parade floor, two official-looking gents approached me and requested about ham radio. One was the Park Supervisor, whereas the opposite was the Administrator of the UNESCO web site, Percival Hanley. This was a really fascinating interplay. Percival’s brother Winston, V44AA works with Saint Kitts Emergency Administration and is a licensed newbie radio operator. Percival and I had a really excessive degree dialogue about newbie radio, particularly throughout emergency operations that his brother does when there are hurricanes and tsunamis brought on by earthquakes on this and close by volcanic islands (eg, Monserrat). Solely later did I discover out that Percival can be the island’s main astronomer. I gave him a duplicate of my QSL card, as I did with younger John, and Percival stated he would cross it on to his brother, who was in Cuba that week.
Not solely did our keep sadly coincide with an uptick in photo voltaic flares, but additionally with a considerably uncommon warmth wave. When the locals on a tropical island say they’re having a warmth wave, you possibly can imagine there may be some severe warmth. As somebody who’s dermatologist instructed me “You must stay in a bathroom in Scotland,” this hampered my out of doors radio exercise. We didn’t make the Nationwide Park, which mysteriously homes a small carnival such as you would see in a county honest. We did go to the Romney Manor Plantation, a former sugar cane plantation began by Thomas Jefferson’s 3rd Nice Grandfather Sam. I had enjoyable taking part in with the KH1 and viewing the luxurious overgrown plantation.
Later, I did take the KH1 throughout the Bay referred to as “The Narrows” to the island of Nevis, accessible by way of a one hour ferry experience, touchdown at their capitol metropolis of Charlestown. The smaller island is a part of the dual-island authorities federation and we discovered it to have considerably extra appeal than the bigger island of Saint Kitts. Alexander Hamilton was born there and we visited his birthplace. As a substitute of strolling a good distance within the warmth, we employed a driver who took us to the ornate Botanical Gardens, which was a stupendous rain forest backyard with sculpture from India and the South Pacific.
To stand up the very steep mountainous incline, our driver and information Samuel needed to flip off the air conditioner in his small Toyota van. However we made it. Dale V4/W4AUV introduced his HT alongside. From the Gardens, he introduced up the native Nevis repeater….solely to search out that it’s an IRLP repeater. He had a pleasant QSO from there with a ham in Portland, Oregon! Simply past the botanical gardens is the luxurious Montpelier Resort the place Princess Diana and “the Boys” stayed. On the way in which again to the ferry, Samuel took us to the well-known Sunshine Bar on the seashore for lunch. That is the place one samples the notorious “Killer Bee” Rum punch, as robust because it sounds. Samuel was born on Nevis and really proud to inform us of his beloved island and it’s historical past. For sure, there was not a lot radio exercise that day.
In our travels to locations like Greece final 12 months and Cape Breton Island this 12 months, I spotted that my YL, Alanna, was not simply tolerant of my radio actions, she was additionally supportive and inspiring. Sadly, not all YLs share this angle, particularly when radio actions take time away from excursions. Accordingly, I lower my moveable outdoors radio time shorter than I might need preferred. Again on the Villa, John had a Yaesu FTdx3000D HF/6m Transceiver, a 43 foot vertical, a 20/15/10 beam, and a 6 meter rotateable dipole. There have been issues with the beam which want addressing. However the efficiency of the vertical was wonderful! Dale and I labored simply into Europe, together with Russia and Lithuania on 40 meter CW and Europe and North America on 20 CW through the day and early night.
Since I may not likely activate POTA, I made a decision to be a hunter for POTA stations within the US and Canada on 20 meter CW. I may hear and work QRP moveable stations operating 3 to five watts and a small vertical or compromised wire antenna in a park in Quebec and upstate New York. My buddy Gary AE4GS has a behavior of following up a POTA QSO with an e-mail and steered I do that. The stations I labored and contacted have been very glad to listen to from me. One downside was the decision signal V4/K4RLC was principally unknown to the hams I labored. HAMRS wouldn’t settle for this as a legitimate name signal. This included VE2AW in Quebec who stated he had been licensed for 60 years and had by no means heard that V4 name. It took plenty of work for people to repeat the V4/xxx callsign accurately. Additionally, sending V4 stroke was actually a bear. I flubbed it up as usually as I bought it proper. It was even laborious for Dale, who’s a musician and may ship errorless at 30 phrases and up.
The warmth by no means abated and solely bought worse. It was so sizzling, in truth, that my iPhone stop working as a consequence of overheating at one open-air restaurant. So we by no means bought to activate the opposite two SOTA websites. Staying cool within the villa’s Infinity Pool or on a few of the close by stunning Caribbean seashores was a greater choice. The meals was implausible. The costs have been affordable. The native beer was good. And a lot of the locals have been extraordinarily pleasant and enjoyable to speak with, seeming to be proud of dwelling on an island Paradise. There have been a number of uncommon exceptions, principally on the native RAM grocery retailer. John W5JON has an unimaginable “ham radio fee” for his villa – for particulars, see his QRZ web page.
So whereas my POTA activations fell in need of expectations, I used to be actually glad to be a hunter for the QRP moveable stations again within the US and Canada, who have been glad their weak sign was labored by an actual DX station. Activating two islands in simply two months is uncommon for me, however it simply labored out that we have been on fantastic Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia in August. The following islands on our bucket checklist are the Orkney Islands north of Scotland, the place my DNA and I’ll really feel rather more at dwelling.
Nonetheless protecting family and friends within the catastrophe areas in Western North Carolina and upstate South Carolina in our ideas and prayers, and hoping to volunteer to go up and assist with clear up and restoration, like I did after Hurricane Katrina within the Gulf with Crimson Cross Catastrophe Providers. Sadly, as a consequence of medical points, I can solely give cash proper now to assist official charities who’re serving to within the catastrophe areas. I hope and anticipate a lot of you studying this are doing the identical.
73 de K4RLC V4/K4RLC Bob
