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VP2MRM Montserrat 2008

Date: July 3-14, 2008 Grid: FK86vs IOTA: NA-103 Zone: CQ-08, ITU-11

This trip was a year in the making...but well worth the wait! After visiting Antigua last year we made a short, four day side-trip to Montserrat. We immediately realized our mistake in making such a short visit and knew that we would be returning soon. While it's not the easiest island to reach, and we certainly experienced more than our share of "top notch" airline service with delayed flights leading to missed flights, delayed luggage, etc., it is well worth the effort!

Results

The highlight of this operation had to be 6m! Finally, after several years of operating from the Caribbean, I had decent openings to NA and EU netting 632 QSO's. Even with only 25 entities worked, four were "6M firsts" from Montserrat.

HF activity was very good on 20, 17 and 15M. 30M also produced 77 RTTY QSO's in the evening. Low band conditions were not very good, with bad QRN and a weak signal from my barefoot rig. Somehow I managed to get the G5RV to tune at the upper edge of 160M to eke out a new one for my friend Howard, WB4WXE.

Equipment

Rigs:
n 2x Icom IC-706MkIIG

Antennas:
n Spiderbeam 5-band (10-20m)
n G5RV
n M² 6M5X

QSL Information

QSL cards can be sent direct or through the bureau to my home callsign. Direct requests must include an SASE or SAE with either an IRC or $2US for return postage. Additional details can be found on my QSL Information page. All logs have been uploaded to LoTW and ClubLog.

Accomodations

We stayed at Gingerbread Hill, a rental villa in St. Peters, which is on the north-western coast, near Little Bay. The owners, David and Clover Lea, are very welcoming to hams and Gingerbread Hill has been the site of many vacation and contest operations. Although this is not a "rent-a-QTH", David has made it very easy to set-up yagi antennas on the roof of their Heavenly Suite and wire antennas between the trees on the property. Several hams who are frequent visitors have left some equipment and an assortment of antennas which are available to visiting operators.

Gingerbread Hill provides nice paths to Europe, North America, South America and Asia. There's an extinct volcano to the east, although it is still possible to work into Africa. The view from the Heavenly Suite is absolutely amazing, with the sea immediately to the west and lush green mountains to the east.

Conclusion

Montserrat is one of the most beautiful islands we've visited with a very friendly, laid back culture. Although we had a good idea of what to expect this year, our timing provided us with some extra surprises. As soon as we arrived, we schedule our spots on a boat trip around the island. Unlike last year when we were required to remain far offshore, that week the government had lifted the maritime restrictions which allowed us to see the devastation the volcano caused to the former capitol city of Plymouth.

Useful Links

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