QSL'ing: Direct only with SAE + appropriate postage
Got involved with radio (CB) in the early '80 from "ON land". Learned to know my now XYL, Cristina, on 11 meters in the mid '80, she invited me over to "P4 land" on vacation a few years later... got stuck here, and was licenced as a "P4" HAM in 1991 (Cristina is now P43C) Previous call: P43LJP, special calls: P41A and P44A Main intrest chasing DX and some contesting SSB main opperation mode
Worked 328 current DXCC entity's so far... all on SSB!! DXCC # 21859
Cristina and myself are allso the property managers of contest stations "P49V" and "P40L / P49Y"
The antennas:
Mono band Yagis on most bands: 5 elements on 10 meter / homebrew @ 40'; 5 elements on 15 meter / homebrew @ 50'; 4 element cushcraft on 20 meter @ 55', 2 element cushcraft on 40 meter @ 60', 3 element A3WS by cushcraft on 12 / 17 meter @ 45'; 3 element A3 tri-bander by cushcraft, tower side mounted pointed 30~40 degrees. Ground mounted vertical for 40 / 80 meter. Inverted "V's" for 75 meter and 30 meter. To see more of the antennas check out the picture at the "P43C" listing here on QRZ.com
The two towers were originally an insulated vertical 300+ feet (+/- 100m) antenna from a local AM broadcast station. The antenna fell down due to a guy wire failure (actually one of the metal guy wire ends rusted off) and i was ablle to salvage about 130 feet in straight sections from it. The sections are identical to Rohn 45 except that they are 20' long instead of the usual 10' and they are made out of Stainless Steel!! All the other original hardware used (except top shelf and rotor plate) are allso Stainless Steel. The guy wires used are solid 1/2 inch (12 mm) fiber glass rods, allso salvaged from the original antenna. Altough corrosion is a major fact in any antenna set-up here on the Island(s) in the Caribean, the towers themselfs still look the same as when i put them up 10+ years ago!
The shack:
Altough i have some other radio's in the shack, I am a Yaesu guy as you can see!! At the present time my main radio is the FT2000D. The pictured FT101E line is one of 2 complete sets, the second set has the "landliner" speaker and the YO-100 scope. Besides that i still have my original FT301D (the one that allowed me to meet Cristina!!), only missing the FV301 and FT221 to make that into a complete 301 line.
Other hobby:
Actualy, this is what got me into "radio" : TRUCKS, remember "Convoy" & "Smokey & The Bandit"? Altough as a young boy i always wanted to be one of those "long haul" truck drivers, i never made a carreer out of driving big rigs, but instead have a conciderable amount of 1:24 scale models. They are plastic model kits, representing mostly modern European highway trucks and trailers.
CU on the airwaves.
73's de P43A, Jean-Pierre
