PJ2/DDXA Updates

News & Pix

Wrap-up: The operartion ended 17-March-2011.
 
10-Mar-11 After a travel day that began at 0900 UTC on 10-Mar, we arrived at the station after 0000 on 11-Mar, and two stations operated for a short time between 0330 and 0430 on 80 & 30m CW before fatigue set in. Antennas (left) are seen in the front yard, and in the rear, a scenic view of the western Caribbean (right)..
 
11-Mar-11 What antenna did you want?? Familiarization with station took longer than expected, but got all 4 stations on the air. Also finally able to do website updates and online log uploads
12-Mar-11 Logged a bit over 2,500 QSOs yesterday, but today was much slower as we were trying to get at least one station up on RTTY. Also, took time off to enjoy a great dinner with Jim's friends, Ingrid & Hans (left) in Willemstad on their beautiful patio (right).
   
13-Mar-11 Sunday was a day for touring & visiting. We spent several hours touring Willemstad, seeing the sites, and enjoying a nice lunch. The upper-left is the outer harbor, with a cruise ship in the background. Upper-right and lower-left are views of the inner harbor from old fort Nassau above the city. Later, we visited the ham icon of Curacao, Jose/PJ2MI, shown at his station. Later, we caught up a bit with ham activity, enjoying some good openings on all bands, including 160m, and adding another 2K Qs to the logs..
14-Mar-11 Rained most of the day. We all had several good runs on the bands. Coming from a noisy urban environment, it was a great pleasure to have quiet listening on the low bands! Now more than half-way to our goal of 10K QSOs, we're fairly confident of making it.
 
15-Mar-11 We had a visitor today (iguana above), stalking a smaller lizard. Meanwhile, we were busy adding Qs to the log and enjoying the pileups, with occasional leg-stretching to enjoy the beautiful views of the Caribbean.
   
16-Mar-11 Another day of nice runs, especially on 80 & 160, which were great each evening, but noisy in the morning. Had interesting visit from neighbor Dr. Howard Stone (left), giving us some details of the local history. Before dinner time, the California YLs came over for another orientation in using the stations, then we all went out to enjoy some delicious food at a local restaurant (right) before our last run on the bands.
 
17-Mar-11 Before dinner last evening, we posed for our 4Amigos picture (left), and viewed a beautiful sunset from the patio (right), a fitting ending to the operation. After winding up our operations early this morning, especially doing a final 30m run as requested, we saved the logs and hit the sack for some rest before getting up to prepare for our trip back home.
   

23-Mar-11

Wrap-up !

We returned home to each find piles of QSLs already waiting. LOTW uploads will be done ASAP (W5FKX & W5ZPA completed). The QSL card design is almost complete. It was a great trip that we all enjoyed immensely.

Thanks to all who worked us!

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