FG5BG CQWW 2000 SSB

When most reader’s glance at an article about a CQWW operation from the Caribbean they think of plush accommodations. However read on and you will see this is not always the case!

For CQWW SSB 2000 four members of the Florida Dxpedition group (FDXPG) opted for an operation from FG-land, Guadeloupe in the French West Indies. The members of Team Guadeloupe 2000 were BILL W4WX, Dxpedition leader, CLARENCE W9AAZ, WILLIAM N2WB, and BOB KR4DA. We found a site on Guadeloupe that catered to hams. It is the DX Shack, which has Ham rentals all over the world. We contacted the owner of the DX Shack on Guadeloupe, Mr.Georges Santaliken FG5BG for further information and prices. The DX Shack on Guadeloupe looked like a very Spartan location, and we later found out that was an understatement! However it was the only game in town as the saying goes, so we rented it for one week to coincide with the CQWW SSB contest, which takes place during the last full weekend in October. The rental was $800.00 USD for the four of us for a week.

After 6 months of planning and waiting, the morning of October 24^th finally arrived and the four of us flew out of Jacksonville, Florida International airport to Miami, and then to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Finally to Le Raizet International airport in Point a Pitre, Guadeloupe. We touched down at 7:15pm in total darkness. We cleared immigration and had our passports stamped and then moved on to Customs with our small mountain of luggage and gear. We told the Customs Officer we were in Guadeloupe for ham radio, and gave him a complete list of all our gear including serial numbers so it could all be checked when we departed to make sure we did not leave any behind as there 40 percent excise tax on any goods brought into Guadeloupe. The list satisfied him and he quickly cleared us and we left the customs area and were met by our congenial host Sir Georges Santaliken FG5BG. Georges was Knighted by the French government for his work as a school teacher; working with children with Learning disabilities. We all took an instant liking to Sir Georges!. All of our luggage and us would not fit in Georges Peugeot, and he wisely brought along a friend, Guye, with a four-door BMW sedan. We quickly loaded up both cars and headed south toward the DX Shack, which is about 30 kilometers from the airport.

Guadeloupe is made up of two main islands, Grande Terre, where we landed is the most populated of the two islands. We crossed the bridge onto the other main island, which is Basse Terre. It is much more rural in nature. After a very smooth ride on the excellent highway system at speeds of 100 KPH we passed the village of Sainte Marie, and after a few kilometers turned off the main road toward Roseau Beach and The DX Shack. We could tell we were getting close, as we could smell the salt air of the nearby ocean. We arrived at the DX Shack in complete darkness. Georges unlocked it, and turned on some lights and turned over the keys to us for our home away from home for the next week. We unloaded our luggage and gear and settled in as best we could in the dark. The DX Shack on Guadeloupe is very very small, measuring only 20 by 20 feet with an overhanging porch on 2 sides. By this time we were all getting pretty tired, as we had gotten up at 5:00 am for our flight out of Jacksonville International. The DX Shack only has two single beds, but Georges supplied an extra folding cot, and a mattress to put on the floor. We now all had a place to sleep, and were all soon sawing logs!

Guadeloupe is in the Atlantic Standard Time zone and daylight comes about 5:15am. We were all up shortly after daybreak, and after a cup of coffee were checking out our location in the light of day for the first time. To the west we could see the cloud shrouded peak of the volcanic mountain La Soufiere. The sun had just come up and the emerald green peak was breathtaking to say the least!. We looked east and found

We were just a stones throw from the beach and ocean. Old Sol was coming up over the horizon, and the view was almost beyond compare! We could now see that the DX Shack was in a very rural area, there was a large cow in a pasture across the road, and we could hear roosters crowing. One thing we noticed right away was the antenna farm at the DX Shack was more than ample. There were two towers, one a 100 footer with a Mosley TA-34M tribander. The other tower is a 75 aluminum crank up job with a Force 12 C4XL with 40 meter add on kit. There were also full size 40 and 80 meter dipoles as well as a full size sloper for 160 meters. We figured that all these antennas would really play well so close to the salt water, and we were not disappointed.

Then we checked out our lodging at the DX Shack, and as I said before the place is very small. It does have a indoor flush toilet which is located in a small block building behind the DX Shack. There is a four burner gas stove on the rear porch of the DX Shack, and all the needed cooking utensils and dishes are supplied. The main drawback is obvious; there is NO running water, NO shower, NO sink to wash dishes, and also NO air conditioning. Georges supplied us with large plastic jugs of fresh drinking water from his home which is about 10 km from the DX Shack. Along one side of the DX Shack is a steep hill, which goes down to a small spring, which is next to a field of Banana trees. Georges has rigged up a Mitsubishi gas powered water pump with a hose which goes up the hill to a 55 gallon drum on the porch of the DX Shack. We pumped water up to this to use for washing ourselves, and our dishes and clothes. On the roof of the toilet building is another 55 gallon drum which we pumped water into to use for a gravity flush system for the toilet. As I said earlier these are not plush accommodations, but with a little effort we were very comfortable, besides the DX was just fabulous to say the least. We walked down to the beach, and it was just beautiful, the water was aquamarine blue and very warm. We found a block building with a sign that read toilettes, and as luck would have it, in the rear, outside of the building were some real honest to goodness showers! More on this later.

We returned to the DX Shack and our real mission in life, Ham Radio! William FG/N2WB climbed the one hundred-foot tower and we pulled a five-element six-meter beam up to him. He secured it at the fifty-foot level and aimed it towards the states. We then broke out all the radio gear we had brought with us. We would have 2 complete stations for casual operating, and during the CQWW they would become the running and the multiplier stations. The rigs were both Kenwood TS-570’s which were both outfitted with a Kantronics KAM Plus for RTTY. The running station had an Alpha 76 amplifier to add a bit of a presence to our signal. Sir George’s supplied this amp. The Multiplier station had a Ten Tec Centaur amplifier, which we had brought with us. William FG/N2WB had the honors of our first QSO from FG land, and we all followed in short order in generating a pileup by just calling QRZed from Guadeloupe in the French West Indies.

 

We also brought along an ICOM IC 706 to which we hooked up the six meter beam. We monitored the frequency 50.110 all week, and called CQ until we were all blue in the face. We never even had a signal break the squelch. As luck would have it we never had any six meter opening the entire week we were on Guadeloupe. This was very disappointing to us, as well to a large group of six meter enthusiasts who were looking for us for a QSO from FG land which is very rare on 6.

We tried to use the Ten Tec Centaur amplifier, but had problems from the get go. The amplifier would not key up. We had had this trouble two months earlier during a FDXPG club operation from Amelia Island, Florida during International Lighthouse Weekend. William N2WB who owns the Centaur sent it in to Ten Tec for repairs, and had just gotten it back a few days before we left for FG land and figured Ten

Tec had fixed it, and it was OK. But it was not, and this was very disappointing, and was certainly not up to par with the usual legendary Ten Tec service. So our multiplier station would have to run barefoot with 100 watts, but with our superb antennas and location we would not do to bad at all.

After we got all the rigs set up we all began operating and had big pileups almost at will just by calling CQ. We then started to do a little RTTY with the KAM’s. The RTTY pileups got so bad, the only way we could copy anyone was to work split. Conditions were just fabulous to say the least. For DXers like us this was like dying and going to heaven! Something like this just has to be experienced to be believed. Georges stopped by, and Bill FG/W4WX and I went with him to do some grocery shopping at the local market in Capesterre. It’s a good thing Georges was with us, as no one spoke a word of English, and we spoke not a word of French. Everything was in French, we told Georges what we needed, and he found it for us. Thankfully Georges brought along some Franc’s for us to buy to pay for the groceries with. We bought 1400 French Franc’s from Georges for the going exchange rate of 7 Franc’s to the dollar. So the 1400 Franc’s cost us $200.00 USD. We then returned to the DX Shack for a gourmet supper cooked out on the charcoal grill using locally made charcoal, which you buy in bulk. Nothing ever tasted better. After a few bottles of Corsair Guadeloupe beer, we again hit the pileups until we got tired, and then pulled the plug and hit the rack for a good night’s sleep.

Thursday Morning dawned early as usual, and after a hearty breakfast, it was once again back to the bottomless pileups. We worked Roger K9RB, our pilot station back home in Florida. He called all our wives and passed along that we were all fine. There were no telephones at all in the rural area we were at. Just down the road a bit a man raised donkeys and we saw more than one person using one for getting around on, or for transporting goods on. Another farm down the road had a lot of pigs, and one particular large pig decided to give us a visit and strolled over to the DX Shack. I got a great picture of Bob FG/KR4DA chasing it out of the yard with a stick! By afternoon it was really getting hot. Bob had brought along his MFJ indoor/outdoor thermometer. It read 95 degrees outside, and inside with the radios and amp running it registered 107 degrees, the DX Shack was like a sauna! I walked down to the beach to take a shower in my shorts to cool off. As I was, a woman walked to the shower next to me and took off her bathing suit and proceeded to take a shower in the nude. FG is a French Possession and most of the beaches are either nude or topless. As the old saying goes, when in Rome do as the Romans do. I stripped and got a bar of soap and took a very enjoyable shower myself! Then it was once again time to get back to the pileups signing FG/W9AAZ. Guadeloupe, French West Indies. A French ham ticket is not required as France and its possessions are party to the CEPT reciprocal operating agreement. Also during the contest Sir Georges kindly agreed to let us use his call, FG5BG, which would make getting a lot of contacts much lot easier to do.

Finally Friday morning rolled around. It was my turn to go down the hill and start the gas powered pump to fill up the 55 gallon drum for washing, as well as the 55 gallon one for flushing the toilet. It had rained very hard all night and things were very wet. I got part way down the hill and slipped on the wet mud and slid all the way down to the bottom and into the water. I skinned up my arm pretty good and was covered with wet sticky clay like mud. Luckily I did no other real damage to myself.

After the usual daily schedule of working down pileups on SSB and RTTY, the nude beaches, and the oppressive heat and humidity, the time for CQWW SSB 2000 was drawing near. We had a rotating schedule of 3 hours on and 3 hours off for the entire contest, alternating between the run and multiplier station. William would get first blood on the run station, and I would get the first crack at the multiplier station to start the contest. We had two Packard Bell Statesman laptop computers both running CT version 9.50 to do the logging chores. They were linked with a null modem cable.

Finally all was in readiness and the clocks on CT rolled over to 0000 Zulu and the bedlam erupted, the CQWW 2000 SSB contest had begun. William staked out a clear frequency on 15 meters and called CQ Contest from FG5BG, he was rewarded with a gigantic pileup almost instantly. I was on 10 meters looking for multipliers. When the contest first starts almost everyone is a needed mult, so I was really busy tuning and logging news ones very rapidly. The three hours of our shift went by in what seemed like the blink of an eye. We were then relieved by Bill on the run station, and Bob on the multiplier station. William and I both stretched out for a quick nap. Our naps ended all to soon, then it was back to the pileups. I was on 20 meters with the run station, and William manned the multiplier station. The pileup on 20 was very deep, it seemed to have no end. I worked and logged needed calls as fast as I could type. Then mercifully we again had 3 hours off to rest, as Bill and Bob took over the pileups for us. When William and I got back up it was now the middle of the night. This time I manned the multiplier station and went from band to band looking for new ones. William was on the run station on 40, then 80, and then 160 meters, finding big pileups and almost unbelievable QRM on the lower bands. I combed the bands one at a time for multipliers and the lack of an amplifier did not seem to hinder working any new ones. If I heard one I would give a call or two and enter them in the log! By now it was close to daylight when we were again relieved and after a short rest it was again back to the pileups. It was my turn for the hot seat of the run station, and things had changed dramatically, it was now Saturday morning and 10, 15, and 20 meters were now wide open to the world. I quickly fought for and held onto a clear frequency on 10 meters and called QRZED contest from Fox Gulf Five Bravo Gulf. The resulting pileup was beyond words to describe. Ten meters proved to be our best band for the entire contest, We made over 2500 QSO’s on this band alone.

We followed 3 hours on and 3 hours off during the day Saturday and into the evening. Saturday night I got on 80 meters and had the devils own time finding a frequency to work on with the run station, the QRM was awesome. The entire band was wall to wall with big kilowatt stations! I finally held onto a frequency and got a good run going right away. I kept this up until Bill relieved me. He went to 160 meters and had the biggest pileup he had ever experienced on the top band, around 0500 Zulu 160 opened to the world. Bill worked almost 100 stations that night on top band including dozens of Europeans, and even got CN8WW who had a really big signal into Guadeloupe. I relieved Bill and went to 40 meters and was lucky enough to find a clear spot on 7.068 and started calling CQ contest listening 7.224. I was rewarded with hundreds of stateside QSO’S on 7.224 and would also listen on 7.068 for the rest of the world. I even worked several VK and ZL stations on 40 that night. My shift ended and Bob who continued on 40 working split relieved me. Bob also worked thru a large pileup. After a short nap it was back to the multiplier station. We were now into the last 12 hours of the contest and working 10, 15, and 20 meters exclusively. On Sunday afternoon with 5 hours left to go we really hit 10 and 15 meters hard. The pileups were almost totally out of control with the USA and EU all calling at once. It was almost impossible to pick out a call sign, and our rate really started to sag. We then had a brainstorm. We took the 160 meter wire antenna and put it on the multiplier station. With the auto tuner on the TS 570 it tuned great on all bands. We then took the tribander and the Force 12 C4 and put them both on the other TS 570 thru an antenna switch. We turned the Mosley toward the USA, and the C4 towards Europe. We could now switch from one to the other, and it did a fantastic job of cutting down the QRM on the run station. We started making contacts a lot quicker and our rate started to climb! The pileups were still awesome, but somewhat more controllable now. Even near the end of the contest we were still finding new multipliers. During the last 4 hours of the contest we split the shifts to 1 hour each so we could all get a last chance to sit in the hot seat of the run station and work the never ending pileups down. Then just as suddenly as it began it was over and the bands fell silent. We backed up our logs and stored the disks away in a safe place. We all breathed a collective sigh of relief, we had survived another CQWW.

We then QSYed to 3.800 KHZ and met our pilot station, Roger K9RB. We told him our final score, and also told him to call our wives and tell them we were all well and would be home on Tuesday afternoon. We then cooked steaks and chicken and beans on the grill along with French bread. A better meal could not have been enjoyed anywhere! Bill, Bob, and I then took it easy and stretched out for a rest. William FG/N2WB got back on the air and called CQ on 20 meters and got a pileup going. Some people are a glutton for punishment! The pileup kept him busy until midnight, but the 3 of us never even heard it as we had fallen fast asleep.

We slept in the Monday morning after the contest, and got up around 630am and cooked a gourmet breakfast of eggs, sausage, and toast, and coffee, boy was it ever good! Then with no contest to work everyone did whatever he wanted. As usual William FG/N2WB got a nice pileup going on 15 meters. I got on 10 meter RTTY and worked a whole bunch of stations, and had a ball doing it too. Bill and Bob went to the beach. About 2pm Guye came by with his Beamer and said he was taking us site seeing in Point a Pierre. Bill FG/W4WX stayed behind to do a little RTTY. The 3 of us had a great time in Point a Pitre. We roamed the streets and looked in many shops and all bought perfume and jewelry in the duty free shops for our wives. Guye gave us a tour of the city and harbor. He even took us thru the red light district where even in the afternoon several ladies of the night were plying their wares! We then returned to the DX Shack and cooked leftovers for supper. We then got on the air and all made our last contacts from Guadeloupe. Then we tore down the stations and packed everything and got a good nights sleep. Guye and Sir George’s picked us up at 5:30am and took us and our luggage to the Le Raizet International Airport in Point a Pitre. There we boarded an American Airlines ATR for the flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and then on to Miami, and finally home to Jacksonville, Florida.

In retrospect we all had a great time in Guadeloupe. The accommodations at the DX Shack left a little to be desired, but we rose to the challenge and ended up having a really good time. We all have many wonderful memories that will stay with us for the rest of our days on this earth. Sir Georges was a wonderful host, he did whatever he could to make us comfortable. One Ham we worked asked us what luxury hotel we were staying at, we told him we were at the Guadeloupe Hilton! Would we go back, you bet we would! Sir Georges said before long the DX Shack will have running water and a shower, this will be a vast improvement, but we adjusted and got along fine without them. To get together with a group of really good guys and all pull together under tough conditions is something that you just have to experience to understand! Camaraderie just doesn’t get any better than this!!

Further information on the DX Shack can be found on the Internet at WWW.QTH.COM

FG5BG CQWW 2000 Team Guadeloupe SSB Operators

Bill Gallier FG/W4WX Dxpedition Leader

Clarence Kerous FG/W9AAZ

William Beyer FG/N2WB

Robert De Grippo FG/KR4DA

Roger Borowski K9RB Pilot Station for Guadeloupe Team 2000

Qsl all above calls to home call, except for FG/N2WB which goes via N2OO

Qsl FG5BG contest call via KR4DA

Written by: Clarence J. Kerous W9AAZ

1104 Buggy Whip Trail

Middleburg, Florida 32068-3312