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C6A/NE7X

New Providence Island

QRP CW DXpedition

June 22^nd through 29^th, 2002

By: Tom Boza – NE7X

Actually this wasn't a DXpedition at all; it was a family vacation with my wife Deborah and stepson Brad. I operated amateur radio in-between family events, snorkeling on the reefs, swimming with the Dolphins, dining in fine restaurants beach side and sleeping in a hammock. Amateur radio operations occurred only when free time allowed.

All amateur radio operations took place from our hotel room, Comfort Suites, 5^th (top) floor, northern exposure. I used an Elecraft K1 5 watt CW (Continuous Wave, ak: Morse Code) transceiver into a MP-1 center loaded vertical antenna which was mounted to the outside hotel patio rail via a “C” clamp. Ground counterpoise wires for 20 and 15 meters were freely hung downward from the antenna feed point. Fishing weights were tied to each counterpoise to keep them taunt and straight. Surprisingly, there was very little QRN or interference from anything in the environment resulting in very good quite receiving conditions.

Blue Lagoon Island

Running QRP (5 watts) was tuff at times! I got “pushed” off my calling frequency on multiple occasions by “The BIG Guns” who didn’t hear me. However All-In-All, if you check the log, for just a causal operation, I was able to work quite a few stations all around the world with just 5 watts and a small shortened loaded antenna. Very impressive if I do say so! I did not hear any Asian stations, however I did work Hawaii and New Zealand. Big 599+ signals were heard coming out of Europe, with only a few South American signals heard. The hotel room had a northern exposure, so South American was through the building.

I didn’t have any problems or issues getting through customs or airport security hand carrying the radio equipment in my carry-on. The only issue I had was in the Miami Florida airport on the return trip, when security looked at my solar panel and couldn’t figure out what it was. A good source for information about traveling overseas with amateur radio equipment can be found on the W0CH website.

To keep it legal, I applied and obtained a C6A/NE7X amateur radio license. Full information on how to obtain a C6A license can be found on the OH2MCN_C6A website.

QSO confirmation QSL cards, as seen below, can be obtained by sending either a SASE or one “Green Stamp” to my callbook address, NE7X , which can be found on the www.qrz.com website.

QSL Card: