J6/KO7M - St. Lucia

Our license approval was granted yesterday (yay!) for operating on St. Lucia.  I will be operating as J6/KO7M.  Here is the rig I am taking:

We are still waiting on customs forms which hopefully will arrive today or else we may have a bit of a sit and wait when we arrive on Sunday.

I must admit I felt a little guilty sneaking off the the islands ahead of our first winter snow that is predicted for this week...  For about 19 nano-seconds...

St. Lucia - DX News posting

Hey!  We made the ARRL DX news posting today!  See the "St. Lucia" listing below!  I will be operating at J6/KO7M.


SB DX @ ARL $ARLD049
ARLD049 DX news

ZCZC AE49
QST de W1AW
DX Bulletin 49  ARLD049
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT  December 1, 2016
To all radio amateurs

SB DX ARL ARLD049
ARLD049 DX news

This week's bulletin was made possible with information provided by
QRZ DX, the OPDX Bulletin, 425 DX News, The Daily DX, DXNL, Contest
Corral from QST and the ARRL Contest Calendar and WA7BNM web sites.
Thanks to all.

RODRIGUES ISLAND, 3B9.  Olaf, G0CKV is QRV as 3B9HA and is active
holiday style on the HF bands until December 12.  He is also usually
active on 160 and 80 meters around his local sunset from 1400 to
0100z.  QSL to M0OXO.

FIJI, 3D2.  Chris, VK3FY will be QRV as 3D3FY from December 6 to 14.
Activity will be holiday style on 80 to 10 meters using CW and SSB.
QSL via M0OXO.

MAURITANIA, 5T.  Vladimir, UA4WHX is QRV as 5T9VB from Nouakchott.
He is active on 80 to 10 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY.  His length
of stay is unknown.  QSL to home call.

TONGA, A3.  Hiro, JA6WFM is QRV as A31MM from Nuku'alofa until early
2017.  Activity is on 160 to 6 meters.  QSL via EA5GL.

CAPE VERDE, D4.  Larry, OH5XP and Zaba, OH1ZAA are QRV as D4X from
Sal Rei City on Boa Vista Island, IOTA AF-086, until December 5.
Activity is on 40, 30, 20 and 6 meters, and 70 MHz.  QSL via OH6GDX.

ANTARCTICA.  Francois, F4HLT is QRV as FT3YL from the Dumont
d'Urville Station on the Adelie Land group, IOTA AN-017.  Activity
is on 80 to 10 meters using mostly SSB.  His length of stay is
unknown.  QSL via F6KPQ.

SAINT MARTIN, FS.  Paul, K9NU, James, N9TK, John, W9ILY and John,
K9EL are QRV as FS/home calls until December 10.  Activity is on the
HF bands using CW, SSB and RTTY.  QSL to home calls.

ST. LUCIA, J6.  Operators W3FF, W6PNG, W6LDX, KI8R, K0BBC, WJ1B and
KO7M will be QRV as J6/home calls from December 4 to 12.  W3FF and
W6HFP will be QRV as J68FF and J68HF, respectively.  Activity will
be on 160 to 6 meters from various locations on the island.  QSL via
operators' instructions.

SLOVENIA, S5.  Special event station S509PMC is QRV during December
and January to call attention to the Peace Messenger City program.
QSL via S59DCD.

CRETE, SV9.  Members of the Radio Amateur Association of Chios are
QRV as SZ9/SZ8ARC/p from various locations on Crete until December
3.  QSL direct to SZ8ARC.

ANTARCTICA.  Oleg, ZS1OIN plans to be QRV as RI1ANA from the
Molodyozhnaya research station until April 2017.  Activity is on 160
to 10 meters.  QSL to home call.

KAZAKHSTAN, UN.  A number of stations are QRV in December with the
UP25 prefix to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Kazakhstan's
independence.  QSL via operators' instructions.

UKRAINE, UR.  Special event station EO25UD is QRV during December to
celebrate the 25th anniversary of UARL, the Ukrainian national ham
radio club.  QSL via UR7UD.

TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS, VP5.  Dave, W5CW is QRV as VP5/W5CW from
Providenciales, IOTA NA-002, until December 13.  Activity is on 160
to 6 meters using CW and SSB.  He plans to be active as VP5CW in the
ARRL 160 Meter contest and the upcoming ARRL 10 Meter contest.  QSL
direct to home call.

PRINCE EDWARD AND MARION ISLANDS, ZS8.  David, ZS1BCE is QRV as ZS8Z
from Marion Island, IOTA AF-021, until May 2018 while working as a
communications technician.  Activity is on the HF bands using SSB
and various digital modes when time permits.  QSL direct to ZS1LS.

THIS WEEKEND ON THE RADIO.  The ARRL 160-Meter Contest, NCCC RTTY
Sprint, QRP 80-Meter CW Fox Hunt, NCCC CW Sprint, TARA RTTY Melee,
Wake-Up QRP CW Sprint, TOPS Activity CW Contest, 10-Meter RTTY
Contest and the SARL Digital Contest are all on tap for this
upcoming weekend.

The ARS Spartan CW Sprint is scheduled for December 6.  The CWops
Mini-CWT CW Test, Phone Fray and QRP 40-Meter CW Fox Hunt are
scheduled for December 7.

Youngsters On The Air, YOTA, runs during the month of December.  A
number of stations with the YOTA suffix are active for the event.

The ARRL National Parks on the Air event runs during all of 2016 to
mark the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service.

Please see November QST, page 94 and the ARRL and WA7BNM Contest web
sites for details.
NNNN

/EX

DX-pedition coming up in December

Well, a week from today, I am off to the British West Indies for a week or so of ham radio fun.  A group of 8 of us are headed to St. Lucia for a mini DX-pedition.  I will be operating 160 thru 6 metres as J6/KO7M.  Here is the email to DX News from the trip organizer, Budd Drummond W3FF.

On Nov 25, 2016, at 3:28 PM, Budd Drummond <w3ff@buddipole.com> wrote:

Travel plans are set for the 8th BIC ("Buddies in the Caribbean") mini-DXpedition to St Lucia (J6).  Eight operators, some of whom have never experienced the "other side" of a pileup, will be operating from Chateau Devaux on the NE side of St Lucia from December 4th through the 12th, 2016.

This suitcase DXpedition will operate QRP to 100 watt radio stations using Buddipole antennas to make contacts from the villa, the surrounding mountains, and (of course) from St Lucia's superb beaches.

The eight operators are:  Paul W6PNG,  Thom W6LDX, Mike KI8R, Matt K0BBC, Harold WJ1B,  Jeff KO7M, Chris J68HF (W6HFP) and Budd J68FF (W3FF).  Ops will preface their own US calls with J6/.

Team members will operate several CW, SSB and/or digital mode stations on 160-6 Meters from the villa while others make contacts with portable setups from remote J6 locations. 

Per tradition, meeting and operating with local hams while on J6 is one of our key goals. 

QSO confirmation and QSLs will be available via LOTW or direct via information on each operator's www.QRZ.com page.