J8 on the air !
Saint Vincent & The Grenadines
From last March 21st until April 1st, 1.998 this country was activated by EA2BP, EA2CLU, and EA2ADJ.
They worked on all the HF bands, including the WARCs in CW, SSB and RTTY.
The operation included working the CQ WPX SSB contest held between March 28 and 29.
quick reference
propagation forecast
the team
the frequencies
the log book
QSL information
a quick glance at the country
some links and acknowledgements.
Quick reference
| DATES | March 21st to April 1st, 1998
|
| CALL SIGNS | for the whole stay: J8/EA2BP
for the CW WPX SSB contest: J80R
| QSL manager | EA2BP
| | QTH | Indian Bay, St.Vincent Island
13 08 N - 61 13 W
| | ZONES | CQ: 08
ITU: 11
| | IOTA | NA-109
| | GREY LINE | Sunrise 10:12 UTC
Sunset 22:12 UTC
| |
Propagation forecast
The following graphs are an example of those that can be obtained at the wonderful HF Propagation Predictions site by Jerry Hall, K1TD. They cover the duration of the expedition.
The different lines show the probability to make a contact between two areas (and not two specific points) depending on the time (in UTC) and the frecuency used.
For this purpose one end was taken in the Caribbean. The other end is shown above the graph.
| brown continuous line: | MUF for 10% of the days
|
| green continuous line: | MUF for 50% of the days
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| dotted magenta line: | LUF for 1 W, CW
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| dotted red line: | LUF for 1.500 W, CW
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| to Western Europe
| to Japan and S.E. Asia
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| |
| to the USA (East Coast)
| to Southern Africa
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| to the USA (West Coast)
| to Australia
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The team members
| Juanjo | EA2BP | (SSB) | ex-8Q7BP,S0,EA8
| | Jose Ignacio | EA2CLU | (CW, RTTY) | ex-8Q7LU,S0,ED8CLU,TT8
|
| Josemi | EA2ADJ | (SSB, RTTY) | ex-9Q5JM,9X,5H,5V
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Frequencies used
According to IARU Region 2 Band Plan the central frequencies used during the operation were the following
| mode | frequencies
|
|---|
| SSB | 1840, 3785 o 3797, 7084, 14195, 18140, 21295, 24945, 28495
|
| CW | 1832, 3505, 7005, 10103, 14005, 18075, 21005, 24895, 28005
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| RTTY | 14080, 21081
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The Log
Now you can look up a callsign in the logbooks of the two callsigns used in the expedition.
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Getting the QSL card
| QSL cards can be obtained the usual ways:
|
directly
from our manager, | via the
bureau,
|
EA2BP
Juanjo Ormaetxe
P.O.Box 530
20080 Donostia - S. Sebastián
Spain
| 
| | Unión de
Radioaficionados
Españoles
|
You can also request your QSL card via e-mail, sending a message (title: J8/QSL) to
EA2CLU with the relevant QSO data.
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A quick glance at St.Vincent and The Grenadines
Youngest of the Eastern Caribbean mini-nations, this cluster of islands became independent from Britain in 1.979.
It is made up of more than 30 islands expanding over around 150 sq miles along a NNE-SSW line that recalls a kite's tail.
A part of the Lesser Antilles the country is located in the south side of the Windward Islands so called for they directly receive the Trade Winds from the Atlantic.
Closest neighbours are Grenada 75 miles to the South, St. Lucia 24 miles to the North and Barbados 100 miles to the East.
Its population is about 120.000 people of which about 25.000 live in the capital, Kingstown. The official language is English and the country belongs to the British Commonwealth.
Tourism is the main industry. Export crops include bananas, nutmeg and arrowroot, formerly a staple food and today of application in the manufacturing of carbonless copying paper.
More information about this wonderful country can fe found in the SVG Department of Tourism site.
Some interesting links and acknowledgements
This expedition wouldn't be the same without the help of
...and that of Volkmar, DF2SS whose informations on SVG made our life much easier; Bixente, EA2BAP who trusts our clumsy hands by lending us some nice pieces of rig; Jon, EA2ARD who is not affraid of his 3 element tribander travelling so far; Alberto, EA2ABF for his tiny but performant laptop; Iñaki, EA2DDG our cyber-manager; and Angel, EA2BNU keen CW teacher and whose pedals will make it around the World.
We also want to thank the nice people at the Department of Tourism of St. Vincent and The Grenadines. Special thanks to Mr. Donnie De Freitas, Deputy Chief Engineer with the Ministry of Communications and Works of SVG for his kind attention.
More information on active DX stations in the Internet DX-Clusters:
