Seal of Curacao
General Information on the PJ2C Operation
Let's have some fun! This is a "prospecting" trip. This means that the primary purpose of the operation is to give CCC members and other operators a chance to see Curacao first-hand, and to operate a contest from here to help us decide if we want to make a major real estate investment on Curacao.
Since the CCC group does not yet have a permanent operating "home" in the Caribbean, and there is not an established rental station on Curacao, we will not be able to put on a large-scale operation with lots of gear and big antennas. Still, it might be entirely possible to get a win if we select the category carefully because we'll be in an utterly ideal location.
How this Operation Came About
W0CG and Cindy visited Curacao July 19-29, 1999, for the purpose of looking at real estate and to set up this operation. They took three yagis, a transceiver, a computer, and a lot of accessories into the country, paid the duty, and stored the gear at PJ9JT's house (which is for sale). Thanks, John, W1BIH!
Dates
You need to plan to arrive on Tuesday, October 26 and leave on Tuesday, November 2. You can, of course stay longer out-of-pocket, but if you come for less time than a week, you'll be paying for lodging nights that you're not here.
Operating Location
| At the very northwest tip of the
island there is a 10 year old tourist resort called the Kadushi Cliffs.
("Kadushi" literally translates from the Dutch into "cactus.") The
resort consists of a couple of main buildings, a restaurant, a big swimming pool, a
private beach, tennis courts, a SCUBA shop and dive operation, a small conference center,
and about 10 separate villa buildings. The place is utterly beautiful well-landscaped, and
very relaxing. There are tourists there mostly from the Netherlands. We will be
encouraging visitors -- see the posting
we placed all over the resort. The resort is positioned along the water's edge on a 30-foot high cliff over the water. There are perfect water shots to JA and all of the US, and low terrain and then water to Europe. Most importantly, the manager of the resort agreed to rent us the northernmost villa, next to which is a huge flat and nearly vacant field where he has given us permission to put up antennas. There are a few structures to which we could probably attach masts. We will be able to live in the villa(s), set up the stations there, and run coax along the ground out to the antenna field. This will position the yagis so that they are almost literally at the water's edge. There is also plenty of room for wire antennas and beverages. This is very close to the best radio location on Planet Earth, as it is in the southern Caribbean, is a "three-point country", and provides salt water shots to all the important places. I could utterly not believe what I was able to work on 17 and 30 in July with 100 watts and a very poorly-positioned dipoles. |
This is the "Tokolaki" villa. PJ2C has the right half of this building reserved for the station, and will reserve the left half if sufficient operators sign up. This is the view of the back of the villa. The ocean is about 15 meters in front of the building. |
Living Situation in the Villas
| This is a luxury living situation. Each building is actually two villas, side-by-side. Each unit (half a building) is two-level with a beautiful patio outside, an ocean view, and a large balcony upstairs. It is a truly beautiful location. There is a king size bed upstairs, a second bedroom upstairs with two beds, and a sleeper sofa downstairs. The fully equipped kitchen is downstairs. Thus we can sleep two couples plus two more people per villa. I have reserved one villa (Unit 11A), and we can get more, depending on the number of people who sign on. We must do this quickly, though, as time is short. Click here to see the current specific arrangement of people and rooms.... |
View of the front of the villa. Ours is shown at the left, beyond which is the empty field where we will erect antennas. |
Eating
Breakfast will be included each day for a week as part of the package price (see Costs.) We'll cook the other two meals in the villa and chip in for groceries. (There's a huge and very modern and clean supermarket in town.)
Licensing
Easy. Even though they are not explicitly listed as a CEPT nation, W0CG met personally with the licensing authority at Bureau Telecommunicatie and they have assured us that CEPT rules apply. Click on this CEPT link if you're unfamiliar with the CEPT reciprocal licensing scheme. In brief, as long as one member of the group has a permanent PJ9 license (W0CG does), the other members need not be licensed. All you need to do is bring a copy of your U.S. amateur license, proof of U.S. citizenship (your passport), and a copy of the CEPT Public Notice (available by clicking on the link), and you are legal on the air.You can operate under the CEPT scheme both in the contest and casually as, for example, PJ2/W9EFL. W0CG has already obtained the license for the contest and the special callsign of PJ2C.
The Stations
| The seriousness of the operation will depend entirely on how many people we get and how many folks are willing to bring gear and spend money. We are in pretty good shape EXCEPT for antenna supports. We will need to work out a way to erect the yagis. The stuff already on the island is: the CY9RF A-3S tribander donated by K8RF, a Cush-Craft XM-10G 10 meter 5 element yagi (in a new, unopened box, donated by W0CG), the N8LGP 5 element 10 meter yagi, W8TK's IC-765, a computer, monitor, and keyboard from W0CG with all the contesting software already installed, and some miscellaneous stuff such as keyers and paddles. W0CG has donated a new Cush-Craft 40-2CD, but it is still in the states. We will need to bring everything else, and Customs is difficult, as I'll explain as soon as I get more time and a feel for who is coming. |
Looking straight down over the cliff to the water. This is what the yagis will see below themselves. |
Existing telecommunications towers in the field where we will be raising antennas. |
PacketCluster Spots
W0CG has an Internet account on the island. Service is fast and reliable, and thus we can get PacketCluster spots from nodes in the U.S. for multiplier-chasing. This was tested in July and works perfectly. The Internet Service Provider is at http://www.smartnet.an if you're curious.
Click here for six more photos.
