LOCATION

The Isle of Man is located in the Irish Sea between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.  The Island measures about 50 by 20 kilometres (32 by 12 miles)  For DXCC Awards the Isle of Man counts as an entity under Rule 1 - Political Entities.


POLITICAL

The Isle of Man is NOT part of the United Kingdom even though geographically we are located in the middle of the British Isles.  Our country is a British Crown Territory.  The relationship with the United Kingdom is complicated.    Our Parliament has been in existence for over 1000 years.  We have a rich social and cultural history with our own Manx language and independent spirit.  The Government of the Isle of Man controls our laws, taxes, social services, education system and currency. The government website has lots of information and links to tourism, history and our famous TT Motorcycle races.  The people of the Isle of Man are called Manx.  Around 85,000 people live here.

We have no political representation in the Parliaments of the United Kingdom or the European Union but we enjoy free access to European Union markets.  The Isle of Man Government actively supports ham radio with, amongst other things,  repeater sites and QSL cards. 


GD ACTIVITY

Many callsigns with our GD, MD and 2D prefixes can be heard each day on the HF and VHF bands. The club callsigns can switch from GD to GT and MD to MT for special events.  Most hams live in towns and have modest wire antennas.  Only about ten hams have good permanent HF stations located in rural areas.  There are few organised radio events. 


The GD6IA STATION and QTH 

The station is located on top of a 200 metre high ridge about 10 km (6 miles) from the sea.  The property is surrounded by farm land.  The HF takeoff is excellent in all directions.  There are great views over the Isle of Man and across the Irish Sea to the coastlines of Wales and England.  The coasts and mountains of Southern Scotland and Northern Ireland can be seen from a nearby vantage point.


ANTENNAS and EQUIPMENT

The main HF antenna is a standard SteppIR 4-element beam for the five bands 20 through 10 metres.    Other HF monoband multiband yagis have been used here from time-to-time but the SteppIR is much more effective and convenient. Other wire antennas are available for 80, 40 and 30 metres operation.  Antenna selection is automatic or manual using a remote  Six Pack from Array Solutions

The 50 MHz band station has successfully  used a stack of five element M-Squared 6M5X beams for some years.  This will soon be replaced by a stack of  6 element LFA yagis by G0KSC. An ICOM 756 PRO II transceiver drives an OM 2006 power amplifier up to 400 Watts output.  

The 4 metres band (70.0 to 70.5 MHz) is used here. A new stack of 7 element LFA yagis is planned for this band.  The station runs 150 watts from a  transverter and solid state amplifier. The 4 metres band is becoming increasingly popular but is not available in North American countries.

The 60 metre band (5.2 to 5.45 MHz) is used here with a special permit.(NOV)  Extra 60 metres channels were made available in January 2013 with reduced power.  The callsign GD3UMW is used with an effective 100 Watt station.  A novel rotary dipole using the outer elements of the 4 L SteppIR yagi is available for NVIS work and a wire delta loop is used for low angle work.

The crank-up, tilt over towers are fitted with manual autobrake winches with power assist.  This enables one person to lower and tilt over the structures in under 7 minutes while keeping the HF yagi intact.  This  avoids tower and antenna damage from the severe winds experienced each winter.

Additional temporary antennas for HF can be erected in the adjacent field (when it is available) for contest operation and experimental work.. These may include dipoles, loops and verticals for the low bands and other monoband beams for 20, 15 and 10 metres.  A second multi-element SteppIR can be erected on a mobile trailer tower for contest work.  

The shack is configured for Single Operator 2 Radio operation (SO2R) on the HF bands.  The equipment comprises Icom IC756 PROII transceivers and switched band filter units controlled by either a DX Doubler or EZMaster station controller.  It is intended to replace the old (and currently manually tuned)  Alpha 76CA and  Kenwood TL922 amplifiers with user-friendly autotune amplifiers in 2013.  

The normal DX operation software is Logger32.  For contesting Writelog, WinTest and N1MM Logger are available on the station laptops with WinTest is the favourite contest logging program.

VISITORS AND HOSTING

A warm and friendly welcome is given to all including the occasional tourist visitor who drops in to see the station.  In the past, the station has been used by visiting hams for expeditions and contests, but unfortunately it is not possible for now.

QSL DIRECT ONLY

IRCs
The Manx Post Office has reinstated accepting IRCs during 2013 so GD6IA will accept IRCs until 30 November 2013

US DOLLARS
One IRC is OK for one QSL to anywhere in the world. Please include a normal airmail addressed envelope. Add an airmail sticker if needed.

For up to two QSL cards (USA and INTERNATIONAL) send 3 US Dollars and a normal airmail addressed envelope. Add an airmail sticker if needed.

For up to two QSL cards (EUROPE and UK only) send 2 US Dollars and a normal airmail addressed envelope. Add an airmail sticker if needed

One QSL Card can have up to 4 band credits

Please make my life easier. Make sure the envelope is big enough for a standard QSL cards but not too big. Add an airmail sticker if needed.

Best envelope is C6 size162 x 114 mm.

The A6 USA size envelope 148 x 106mm is almost as good as a C6. A standard QSL card is 142 x 92 mm

Please do not use long envelopes. They twist and fold with one QSL card inside at one end and can jam up automatic mail sorting machines.

C6 and A6 envelopes in gummed airmail and white peel-and-seal are available all over the world from all good stores like Tesco and WallMart.

Be proud of your country!! Print the name of your COUNTRY below the address. Our postal workers are not telepathic.

Please note that Isle of Man is NOT in United Kingdom. Their UK stamps are no good here. Only Isle of Man stamps are valid here. (Manx stamps)

Please do NOT send envelopes with stamps of any kind.

GD6IA
PO Box 1 
PEEL City
Isle of Man  IM5 1XG
British Islands.  

FINALLY

See you on the ham bands.   73 from GD6IA