Trinidad and Tobago Is a twin island state, and an independent republic within the Commonwealth. Trinidad is the Southernmost of the tropical Caribbean islands and the larger of the two islands. Tobago sits to the North East of Trinidad and is a beautiful tourist destination. Located only 11 Km East of the South American country of Venezuela, Trinidad is just south of the hurricane belt and a favourite stop for yachts. The combined population of the two islands is 1.3 million people. Ethnically and culturally diverse, we are blessed with a tolerant and stable society that has defied the norms, and the rigours of a rich but tragic and sometimes unsettled history. Our diversified and robust economy is supported by an active and progressive Oil and Energy Industry. Already the world's largest exporter of ammonia, Trinidad is establishing itself as a major world source of liquefied natural gas and a major methanol producer. A colony of Great Britain up until independence in 1962, we have a stable system of government based on the Westminster system that has seen some nine peaceful government elections, in which the last three have seen smooth changes in the ruling political party.
A photograph of Nigel, 9Z4CT in his radio room. From this simple station he has made more than 10,000 contacts into 230 countries over a period of 36 months starting in February 1997. He has made many friends all over the world and looks forward to making many more as Sun Spot Cycle No23 becomes stronger. He has just confirmed 217 countries on 09 February 2000, just 35 months after getting his license, most at the bottom of SS Cycle 22......good location, good antennas, and a unique callsigns.
The antenna system of the station is seen above, with the higher antenna on the tower a Cushcraft A3S for 10, 15, 20 and 40M. It is up 65 feet or 22 meters above the ground. The lower antenna on the pipe mast is a Cushcraft A3WS for 12 and 17M and is about 35 feet or 12 meters above ground. As you can see the old Samaan tree that is probably 100 years old has provided a real challenge for placing the antennas in a lot of land that is only 7,000sq feet in area. One antenna looks out over the top of the tree, and the other peeps out through the lower less bushy part of the tree. If you look very carefully at the point between the tower on the right, the electric cables at the top, and the line of the roof at the bottom, you will see the wire inverted "V" di-pole antenna for 80m sloping from the tower, left and downwards, towards the roof.
This graph shows a comparison of smoothed monthly solar flux numbers plotted by month by year for ease of comparison, and it shows that Cycle No23 is alive and well, and heading for its peak in mid-2000.
A graph taken from my logbook records and showing in picture form the number of months taken per 1000 contacts since I started ham radio three years ago. It tracks the solar conditions to a great extent, but also the amount of time that I spend on the radio. Conditions though are the greatest influencing factor.
People have visited the page since February 14th at 0015 Z
Is the current time and temperature at Piarco, the Trinidad airport .
Is the current date.