k3trm

KP4/K3TRM Puerto Rico 2006

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Date: April 8-17. 2006 Grid: FK78ci IOTA: NA-099 Zone: CQ-08, ITU-11

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Who is this Murphy fella and why won't he leave me alone??? There wasn't much else that could have gone wrong on this trip. For starters, our luggage, including the antennas, was lost and didn't arrive until late afternoon on Day 2. By the time it arrived, I had to leave the island briefly to attend a job interview. On the morning of Day 4 I was back and assembling the antennas. But, no sooner did the Spiderbeam go up, it came back down again because one of the fiberglass tubes broke after it had been damaged in transit. Finally on Day 5 I figured out a way to fix the antenna...just in time for the bands to go flat! Oh, and did I mention that the hard drive on my laptop crashed too?

I originally planned to operate SSB, CW and RTTY on 80-10M. Since Puerto Rican hams are very active, I intended to spend more time on the WARC bands, in hopes that there would be more need. However, given all the problems I experienced earlier in the week, I was just glad to work anyone who could hear me!

Results

Band	SSB	RTTY	Total
80	0	0	0
40	0	0	0
30	0	5	5
20	32	42	74
17	83	21	104
15	0	0	0
12	0	0	0
10	0	0	0
Total	115	68	183

I was only able to make 183 QSO's in the last four days of my trip, which was rather disappointing. Band conditions were not very good those days, so I spent most of my time on 17M and 20M. Most of the stations I worked on those bands were in the southeast United States. I ended up with only one very brief opening to Europe and I managed to log a few others from the Caribbean and Central America. Because I had to buy a new laptop in Puerto Rico, I was never able to get the CW keyer working correctly and made all my contacts on SSB and RTTY.

Equipment

My portable station consists of an Icom 706MkIIG, LDG Electronics AT-100Pro antenna tuner and Alinco DM-330MV power supply. WriteLog v10 was used for logging and for this trip I added a K1NU Rig/CW interface.

Because this QTH did not have an antenna farm, I had to bring my own. My main antenna, covering 20-10M, including the WARC bands, was the 5-band Spiderbeam. Despite the poor band conditions, the Spiderbeam performed great! Many times I had heard that I was the loudest signal on the band. On the lower bands I rigged up an Inverted-V dipole using the Spiderbeam Fiberglass Pole as a support. The low band antenna did not work very well and I'll need to go back to the drawing board before my next trip.

QSL Information

QSL's can be sent to my home call with SASE or through the US bureau. Non-domestic SAE's should include $1 US or 1 IRC. Cards with insufficient postage will be returned via the bureau. Additional information can be found on my QSL Information page.

Accomodations

We stayed at the Rainforest Home in El Verde, Rio Grande (map - great circle map) which is on the northeastern corner of the island between the cities of San Juan and Fajardo. The home sits on 5 acres in the foothills of the El Yunque Rainforest National Park. It was a beautiful place to relax and the home is well-stocked with almost anything you may need.

This Rainforest Home is not a "rent-a-QTH" and the owners, Walter and Nilda, are not hams. However, they were very accommodating and permitted me to install temporary antennas during our stay. The home offered great exposures in nearly all directions, except the south, and there are several mounting points for masts and trees for wire antennas. Walter and Nilda are more than willing to permit future guests to operate from their home and I would be glad to discuss possible antenna installations with anyone considering a visit.

Conclusion

Despite the many "trials and tribulations" of this trip, I still had a fun time on the air and a great week away with my family. Staying in Rainforest was quite an experience, especially for my kids who like chasing around all the lizards!

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