Check the log

 

Background: Early in 2001, as the grip of Winter torqued down upon Central Oregon, I had a hairbrained idea: "Next winter, I'm going to get my butt someplace warm, no matter what!" So, I scrimped and saved and sold stuff in order to afford what I thought would be three glorious months in the Caribbean. Little did I know that $3,000 -- before air fare -- doesn't go all that far in the expensive islands for a tourist.

Still, I was determined to go. After paying off some bills, buying supplies, and buying plane tickets, I had about $1,500 left and I was going to use that sum to its full potential during February 2002, while visiting the Dutch West Indies, aka the Netherlands Antilles.

 

The Equipment: The radio and antenna had to be as small and lightweight as possible, as I would be putting them in a backpack (along with everything else I was to take -- I travel light) and hauling them around. While my ideal radio to take would have been the SG-2020, I couldn't afford it. So, I went with the MFJ-9420 20 Meter SSB Travel Radio. I went with it for several reasons: the filtering and DSP in it are good, it's small and light, 20 meters is usually open to somewhere in the world at least 18 hours a day, and it was within the budget. I picked up a used rig, plus an MFJ-971 tuner, from a local ham for a more-than-reasonable price. I think I could have gone lighter than a Pyramid 3A P/S, but the price ($4) was right. For an antenna, I built an end-fed Zeppelin, cut for 14.290 Mc. I guess I could have just attached any old hunk of wire to the back of the tuner, but I was worried that the tuner would fail and I wanted to have the antenna more-or-less resonant/efficient as possible.

Sint Eustatius. From left, north coast, The Quill, caldera jungle.

Operating: Well, I'd say that -- overall -- operating in PJ 5,6,7 was okay. Sint Eustatius (PJ5, locally known as Statia) worked out best. I was several miles from the volcano (Mt. Mazinga, locally known as The Quill) and could easily orient the end of the Zepp northwest toward W-Land by putting the wire up into the 'correct' palm tree (!). With just casual (like 60 minutes or so an evening), I made 33 QSOs in six days. The rig puts out only 12 watts at peak, but the ConstantCurrent circuitry worked very well, indeed. I got a lot of surprise that I was working sideband over 1,000 miles with a 10 watt rig. The best contact was to Italy, I1ODP, and I had two contacts west of the Rockies. My radio had the CW option installed, but no one wants to hear my ugly/slow fist on the air, so I left the key at home. I'm sure the MFJ, at 10w, would have done very well in that mode.

From left: me atop Mt. Scenery, village of Windwardside on Saba, Philipsburg on Sint Maarten.

The days were spent relaxing, reading and writing, walking beaches, climbing cliffs, exploring volcanos, eating and drinking and meeting new friends. One new friend is Han, PJ7BK. I had a QSO with him while on Statia, and when I got to Sint Maarten, Han and his family were kind enough to invite me over to their home several times, and Han gave me a great tour of the island. It was wonderful that I had so much social activity on Sint Maarten, because I couldn't operate there. I was on the south backside of a hotel that was socked up against a hill. Just one QSO. Saba, PJ6, was a little better, but not much. Again, I was on the side of a hill, but could look out to the west over the Caribbean Sea; Mt. Scenery was to the north. The only way the antenna was going up was to the southwest, due to the location of the trees and other cottages that I was strongly encouraged not to interfere with in any way. With gain just coming off the end of the Zepp, well, you get the picture. Heard tons of Spanish-speaking stations I couldn't understand, though!

 

Conclusions: Although I got the flu while on Sint Maarten, overall it was a good trip. Yes, I could have taken the money, bought a 746, tower and 9 element yagi (or a serious down payment on a Mazda Miata), but then again, I'll probably never have the time/money/energy to do anything like this again. I had a ball on Statia, could have done without Sint. Maarten -- and not just because of the operating -- and Saba was extremely relaxing, just what I needed to polish off the trip. I met some great people, had a good measure of fun, and just had some much-needed downtime. If you are a diver or snorkeler, I would very highly recommend visiting Statia and Saba. It's actually relatively cheap to stay on Statia (they don't market themselves for tourism much at all there) and you can easily spend a whole week there, and I could have spent two. Would I do it again? Sure, but I wouldn't go alone again. It's always better to have someone to share the adventure with. And I think I'd go for a 706-MkIIG, 10-20A power supply and a couple dipoles in the rig department -- if I can lug a 50 pound pack around, I can lug 55!

Typical road hazard / yard guest on Statia....