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(this first appeared in May 2000 CDXC Digest)

Once upon a time UK stations could dream of winning the Bermuda contest and being rewarded with a trip to Bermuda to collect their winner’s trophy. That was always my dream, but never a reality! Bermuda seemed destined to remain a dream, as it’s pretty expensive to travel and stay there under your own steam.

However, the dream became reality this March when I was sent to Bermuda for a ten day business trip. As this meant spending a weekend on the island I obviously made a quick check of the contest calendar and discovered I would be there for the Commonwealth Contest, which was fortuitous, to say the least. A few e-mails to friends who had operated from VP9 elicited useful information about licensing, plus some local contacts on the island who might prove useful. The immediate concerns were to set the licensing process in motion and to consider what I might reasonably take along by way of equipment and antennas.

As far as the former was concerned, I FAXed an application to the telecomms people in Bermuda, but only a few days before my trip with the result that I had heard nothing by the time I left the UK. I was assured by those in the know that this wouldn’t be a problem as licences are issued on the spot. Indeed, the licensing people pride themselves on being able to issue licences in 15 minutes or less, mainly for the benefit of visiting cruise ship passengers who have only a few hours ashore and want to be able to say they operated from Bermuda.

With regard to equipment, I was planning on taking my IC-735, but the power unit doesn’t readily modify for 110 volt operation (most things in Bermuda follow the US standards, though they do drive on the left!). However, fortune once again stepped in and I was able to relieve Gwyn G4FKH of one of the IOTA FT-900’s which he had just been using in 3B8. This was the first time I had seen one of these IOTA stations, which comes in a waterproof (indeed, pretty much everything-proof) carrying case, which also contains a Bencher paddle, microphone, headphones, etc; everything you need, in fact, other than the antenna and feeder. For the latter I took along my 10m fibreglass pole (as sold by DK9SQ), a reel of wire and miscellaneous tools, connectors, etc. Logging would be on my laptop, using CT.

We (I was with several colleagues) arrived in Bermuda the weekend before the contest, and I had little opportunity for the first few days to think about radio, as we had a full programme of meetings. In fact it was Thursday, just two days before the contest, that I managed to get to the licensing office. Lo and behold, the lady on the front desk said she had been expecting me, and had my FAX in her in-tray! She was then most apologetic that it took a full ten minutes to issue my licence – it was only the second she had issued with her new computer system, which was giving her problems. Incidentally, there is no charge for the licence.

All I needed now was a QTH. As I was on the 6th floor of one of the smartest hotels in Hamilton I felt that this would not be ideal. I was half hoping I could operate from the home of one of my colleagues who is now working in Bermuda and has a lovely waterfront house with large gardens, but this was thwarted when I discovered that he was flying back to the UK for a short holiday. In the event I called Ed Kelly VP9GE, who has a couple of apartments which he rents. Several people who had operated from Bermuda had recommended Ed to me, and he proved to be an ideal choice. Ed lives in Hamilton Parish (not to be confused with the town of Hamilton, which is the capital of the island). Ed’s QTH is on the north coast of Bermuda, with a wonderful sea take-off to Europe and North America. He has a station of his own, but there are separate antennas available for use by visiting amateurs.

Ed collected me from my hotel on the Friday evening and we drove out to his QTH. I was amused at the number of people who seemed to know him, from the porters and taxi drivers at my hotel to various people who waved as we drove across the island. I suppose someone as outgoing as Ed, who has lived all his life in this small community (60,000 population), is bound to know a fairly high percentage of the population. We stopped en route so that I could buy some supplies for the weekend, and I was all set. The apartment was ideal, with plenty of space, an operating desk, and a Carolina Windom which just needed hauling back into the air, and I was all set to do some operating. The antenna showed a low SWR on all bands, so everything looked promising for the Commonwealth Contest. Naturally I couldn’t wait to get on the air, and was soon running some lively pile-ups on 17 and 20 metres.

I didn’t want to wear myself out, so turned in at 0200 (1000pm local) with 350 QSOs in the log.

The Commonwealth Contest starts at midday GMT, which was 0800 local on the Saturday. I got off to a lively start on 20 metres, with plenty of VE activity, some VKs, etc, and eventually an opening to the UK. Bruce, ZF2NT, was an early bonus on 10m, and we QSYed to 15, 20 and 40 in quick succession.

My morning activities did receive one interruption, albeit very welcome. My colleagues had rented scooters for the weekend (car hire isn’t available in Bermuda) and decided to drop in on me and see how things were going. They weren’t able to follow the CW, so I took time out to work a couple of US stations on SSB, to demonstrate amateur radio. Once my colleagues went on their way it was back to the contest.

I don’t intend to give a blow by blow account of the contest, just some general impressions of operating from that part of the world. The major activity in the Commonwealth Contest is, of course, from Canada and the UK, and I was ideally located. With 100 watts and a simple antenna I was obviously making a decent impression on the bands, though it was obvious early on that 5B4AGC, VP5C and ZF2NT, at the very least, were going to be unbeatable from my modest station.

I was particularly struck with the strength of the G stations an hour or so before my sunset on 40m. G3LIK was first into the log, at 2134, followed rapidly by a bunch of others.

All went swimmingly until I tried to QSY to 80m. Although the SWR had looked, and still looked fine, the rig just wouldn’t load into the Windom. I can only assume that there was some sort of complex impedance which it didn’t like.

What to do? Well, it looked as though the fishing pole was going to come in useful after all. I assembled it, cut a wire for the radiator and a bunch of radials, and set the whole system up in the dark. I was convinced that this makeshift arrangement wouldn’t cut the mustard. In the event, though, I made 81 QSOs on 80, despite heading off to bed for a few hours in the middle of the night. I still didn’t rate this achievement until I got home and compared notes with Bob, who was collecting claimed scores. It seems I did a lot better on 80 that many entrants, including Bob himself. I was obviously far enough away from the Caribbean to have less trouble from static, though it didn’t seem like that at the time, especially as one US station called me and berated me for not having a receiver – apparently there were several VK/ZL stations calling me at the time, and I simply couldn’t hear them at all.

Even on 40 I appear to have given Bob a good run for his money, and I do wonder how I would have got on with a higher antenna and a linear. However, where I lost out was on the high bands where a beam (as well as a linear) would have made a significant difference. A beam, anyway, as it’s worth noting that the power limit in Bermuda is 100 watts.

QSO count in the contest was as follows (band QSOs, bonuses):

80. 81 21

40. 147 35

20. 224 49

15. 140 37

10. 130 20

Total 722 162 claimed score 6850

After the contest I had a last little fling on 17 metres, before dismantling the station and heading back to Hamilton to join my colleagues (one was celebrating her birthday, and we were all heading out to lunch together).

I ended with just over 1100 QSOs in total, so it felt as though the effort involved in taking the rig all that way had been worthwhile. And even by the time I arrived home a few days later the QSLs had started to arrive.

Incidentally, it was interesting to see how many logging programs seemed to have difficulty with the callsign, with cards arriving, often with an apologetic note, printed out for VP9/G3XTT even though I had at all times signed G3XTT/VP9 which was quite clearly what appeared on my licence (Ed VP9GE told me that many visiting hams do sign VP9/homecall to overcome any confusion, and the licensing authorities and Bermudan hams are happy to accept this, but the licence itself is quite clear).

If any of you do get the opportunity to operate from VP9, then go for it. Licensing is easy, propagation is great, and Ed is the ideal host.

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