where the heck is st. martin? perfect location: no skip zone in the u.s. and 1 heading (320 deg)...

Where the Heck is St. Martin?

Perfect location: No skip zone in the U.S. and 1 heading (320 deg) covers entire U.S.

Eastern Caribbean Area

St. Martin is 125 miles from the Virgin Islands and 200 miles from San Juan

Nearby Islands

Some of the nearby islands within 200 miles which can be reached on VHF from the mountaintop

Sint Maarten / Saint Martin Facts

Smallest island divided into two countries

Area of 37 square miles –the size of a typical Vermont town!

Divided in 1648 – Border crossings unattended

Netherlands Antilles: Curacao (PJ2), Bonaire (PJ4), St. Eustatius

(PJ5),

St. Maarten (PJ7) and Saba (PJ8)

Saint Martin administered from Guadeloupe (FG) as a department of

France

Population of 70,000 (PJ7: 38,000; FS: 32,000)

Official languages: PJ7: Dutch, FS: French, but everyone speaks

English

Princess Juliana Airport

Second busiest airport in the Caribbean

Built on a thin strip of island between ocean and lagoon

Back end right at Maho Beach – bathers get sandblasted

by jet blast!

Front end only 2 miles from St. Peters Hill – 950 foot

elevation!

747’s use the relatively short (7150’) runway

Take offs and landings can be somewhat exciting!

Looking down runway 9 from the cockpit of a 747. Notice those mountains!

View looking West toward the airport from the top of St. Peter’s Hill (950’)

Flying low over Maho Beach just before landing

W1SJ and W1DEB arrive on March 2nd at 3PM

Maho Beach is a plane watchers delight but a poor place to hold Field Day!

Make sure your speakers are turned on!

When a 747 lands, don’t reach up! The wheels are only 30 feet off the ground!

View of an American 757 looking DOWN from the 8th floor of the Sonesta Beach Resort!

Rare shot – usually this room is a mob scene!

Where we stayed at the Simpson Bay Yacht Club – Unit is at center.

Suzuki Samarai used to climb the mountain. Didn’t try the rollover test!

The Dutch – French border on the island is totally unmanned

Getting Hosed at the Gas Pump

Go-Go Gas in Essex (3/1/06): $2.19

Texaco on Sint Maarten: 1.75 NAF per liter

NAF = Netherlands Antilles Florin. 1.80 NAF = $1, or 1 NAF = $0.55

3.8 liters = 1 gallon

Actual Price = $3.69 / gallon

Calisto on Saint Martin: 0.86 E per liter

1 Euro = $1.06 (accepted at par)

Actual Price = $3.27 per gallon

You can get gas and dinner at this convenience store, but I don’t like chasing dinner!

I didn’t have much of a appetite for goat, either!

Never trust a Burger King which can drive away!

The start of the road up the mountain

It may be Paradise Peak, but it’s the road to hell! This part is very steep!

This section goes up at a 45 degree angle. Hold on to your hat!

Some of the bull you have to deal with on the ride up.

Shack is comfortable, air conditioned 20x25’ room with everything needed to contest!

Tennadyne T8 8 element log periodic at 75 feet. It rocked!

Close up of the Tennadyne and also the 160 meter dipole

Commercial tower with the 80/40 meter dipoles at 75 feet.

It’s 5:00 and the antenna work is done!

Spectacular view to the East looking over Orient Beach

Musical amplifiers I: Alpha 78 – died before contest

Musical amplifiers II: Alpha 374 – didn’t fire up!

Musical amplifiers III: Dentron 160-10L – ran 3 hours, blew cap, emitted smoke!

Musical amplifiers IV: Alpha 87A – no tune, no worries! GREAT AMP!

Station included a Kenwood TS-440S, TS-570, Alpha 87A, Vectronics Tuner

I’m smiling because the contest is over!

Look at those rates – don’t think I can contest from New England anymo’

This fella came in and informed me that he could save me a bundle on my car insurance!

And he’s a avid SSB operator since he headed right for the mic!

Contest Results

Call used: FS5KA Location: Saint Martin

Category: Single Op All Band Mode: PHONE Power: 1500W

Callsign of Operator: W1SJ

Hours of Operation: 42:30

band QSOs points mults-----------------------------------160 102 306 29 80 636 1908 54 40 767 2301 56 20 1530 4590 60 15 2996 8988 59 10 12 36 6-----------------------------------TOTAL 6043 18129 264 SCORE: 4,786,056

Hourly Totals

FIRST DAYUTC 160 80 40 20 15 10 rate total----------------------------------------------00Z 0 0 0 268 0 0 268 26801Z 0 128 0 7 0 0 135 40302Z 6 110 0 0 0 0 116 51903Z 0 73 0 0 0 0 73 59204Z 0 65 3 0 0 0 68 66005Z 0 0 135 0 0 0 135 79506Z 1 0 91 0 0 0 92 88707Z 0 2 63 0 0 0 65 95208Z 1 0 33 0 0 0 34 98609Z 1 10 0 0 0 0 11 99710Z 0 44 0 0 0 0 44 104111Z 0 0 27 8 0 0 35 107612Z 0 0 0 176 0 0 176 125213Z 0 0 0 22 204 0 226 147814Z 0 0 0 0 241 0 241 171915Z 0 0 0 0 234 0 234 195316Z 0 0 0 0 244 0 244 219717Z 0 0 0 0 244 0 244 244118Z 0 0 0 0 250 0 250 269119Z 0 0 0 0 194 0 194 288520Z 0 0 0 0 179 0 179 306421Z 0 0 0 0 180 9 189 325322Z 0 0 0 251 5 0 256 350923Z 0 0 0 239 0 0 239 3748----------------------------------------------tot 9 435 349 956 1975 9 ---- 3748

SECOND DAYUTC 160 80 40 20 15 10 rate total----------------------------------------------00Z 0 0 0 118 0 0 118 386601Z 0 0 100 0 0 0 100 396602Z 0 0 118 0 0 0 118 408403Z 1 91 32 0 0 0 124 420804Z 55 21 0 0 0 0 76 428405Z 3 29 38 0 0 0 70 435406Z 27 28 0 0 0 0 55 440907Z 1 0 51 0 0 0 52 446108Z 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 446109Z 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 446110Z 6 32 0 0 0 0 38 449911Z 0 3 75 0 0 0 78 457712Z 0 0 0 80 0 0 80 465713Z 0 0 0 13 88 0 101 475814Z 0 0 0 33 41 0 74 483215Z 0 0 0 29 57 0 86 491816Z 0 0 0 1 61 0 62 498017Z 0 0 0 0 94 0 94 507418Z 0 0 0 0 174 0 174 524819Z 0 0 0 0 174 0 174 542220Z 0 0 0 0 111 0 111 553321Z 0 0 0 0 121 3 124 565722Z 0 0 1 22 100 0 123 578023Z 0 0 0 263 0 0 263 6043----------------------------------------------tot 102 636 767 1530 2996 12 ---- 6043

Time to put the radios away and

vacation!

DX Contest is over and now the shopping contest begins with W1DEB leading the charge

Front Street - Philipsburg

Great Bay Beach. Notice that the HT is at the ready!

Philipsburg is only 3 blocks wide. In 2003 we stayed in the 3 story building in the center

Philipsburg view from the Repeater site

Marigot in foreground, Anguilla (VP2E) in distance

Grand Case Boulevard

Grand Case Beach, looking north towards Anguilla

Lotsa’ barbecue chicken, ribs and lobster. What a feast!

Orient Beach near sunset

Where old New Jersey highway signs go to retire

PJ7UQ and PJ7A ham shack location. Log periodic and dipole up on the hill

View from PJ7A looking over Simpson Bay Lagoon, towards PJ7R Repeater site

PJ7A Shack. Alpha amps repaired and back in service

Home of PJ7R (146.76) and lotsa radio stations

When this bridge in Simpson Bay goes up, you don’t go nowhere!

Bye-bye at the airport: Mitch W1SJ and Mort PJ7UQ / FS5UQ / W1UQ

Simpson Bay Yacht Club from the eye in the sky

Bye-bye Sint Maarten / Saint Martin