C6ASB - July 2003

Abaco - NA-080 FL16

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Our family has enjoyed an annual beach vacation almost every year since our children were very young.  Perhaps that is partially due to being land-locked Midwesterners, but we have always found something to please everyone at the beach.  As we discussed vacation plans for summer 2003, we realized that our children had reached the age where they had their own lives and commitments, and for the first time in 23 years Sandy and I would be vacationing without the kids.

I was looking for a location with a beautiful beach, away from the hustle and bustle of the usual tourist traps, as we use our vacations to wind down.  I also have a not-often-enough fulfilled passion for fishing, and enjoy ham radio operation.  It would also be fun to operate from outside the US and be “DX” for a change; I hadn’t had an opportunity to do that since my ZD8S operations during 1991-1993. Thus began the search for that ideal location… 

I spent a lot of time looking at possible North and Central American locations identified on the DX Holiday website. A reference on that site under Bahamas-C6 led me to the website of the Sand Dollar Villa owned by Matt Smith. The beach looked beautiful, the location was off the beaten track a bit, yet appeared to have all the necessary amenities, and there was an existing ham radio antenna already there left by the former owner (no radio was provided however, so the renter has to bring their own).  The rental price was very reasonable, as were the airfares at the time; the total vacation cost would be less than that we normally pay for a week on the North Carolina coast!  We found the owner, Matt Smith, to be a very friendly and accommodating individual, and thus we found ourselves committing to 8 days at the Sand Dollar Villa for late July 2003. 

In the meantime, the fishing interest was still there, and with just a little bit of research this freshwater and occasional surf fisherman (me) learned that the Bahamas are noted for bonefishing.  The challenge seemed to be catching them on a fly rod, and I hadn’t fly-fished for many years, so this got more exciting the more I learned about it.  This was going to be a great vacation! 

We also decided to invite Sandy’s parents along, as there was plenty of room at the villa (and they would keep her company while I was fishing and playing with the radio, not to mention that my mother-in-law is a GREAT cook!).  This would be their first time flying and first time out of the country, so that added to the fun of the trip. 

Licensing was very straightforward and took about 2 months from application to receipt of license.  Details for securing a Bahamas license can be found at www.qsl.net/oh2mcn/c6.htm. Mrs. Whyms at the Bahamas PUC licensing authority was great to work with. Normally licenses of the form “AK0M/C6A” are issued, but if you are going to be participating in a contest or some other special event, you can request an actual C6A callsign.  Since one of my major amateur radio interests is contesting, and our vacation period “just coincidentally” overlapped the IOTA Contest weekend, I requested a C6 callsign and received C6ASB.  Sandy (KC0RD at home) received C6ASC. 

Then began the preparation period.  I think this is one of the best parts of the vacation!  I started developing lists for what radio equipment I would need, what fishing gear, and what beach gear we would take.  We also investigated customs requirements (I think as of August 2003 that passports are now required for US citizens, though this was not the case in July), as well as luggage limitations for the trip.  Matt and others told me that I would far overpack for the trip, and although I didn’t believe him, of course he was right. It took quite a while to sort and package all the ham radio equipment and fishing, snorkeling and beach gear, but I made it all fit in the allocated luggage space.  (Next trip I'll take a lot less!).

Mark and Kiran’s villa is located at Treasure Cay, Great Abaco Island, The Bahamas.  Abaco is located about 175 miles east of Ft Lauderdale, FL, is 120 miles long  by about 15 miles wide, and has a resident population of about 15,000. We would be driving to Chicago on Monday July 21, then flying to Treasure Cay via Ft Lauderdale and arriving at the villa early afternoon on Tuesday, July 22.  We would be there until Wednesday, July 30.  Our travels went without significant incident.  I was a little concerned about clearing security with my carry-on, which contained all the “important” things: my laptop computer (for logging), an ICOM IC-706MkIIG 100W transceiver, a Yaesu FT-817 5W transceiver, a microphone, a miniature set of paddles, and AC power supplies for both the laptop and the FT-817, but there was no problem at any of the airports.  I did carry a copy of both our US and Bahamas ham radio licenses as well as equipment list with serial numbers, but neither were needed. 

A short taxi ride from the Treasure Cay airport, and we were at the villa.  Our first impressions were very, very positive!  The villa itself is well set-up for the vacationer, and everything was in very good condition.  The villa complex was especially well-maintained and very convenient to the small shopping area and marina a short walk away across the road.  The pool area was spectacular, and the beach and azure water was unlike any we had ever seen!  As for being “away from the crowds”, most of the time during the week we were the only ones on the 3.5 miles of curving beautiful white sand beach (probably due to being the off season, but nonetheless still quite a surprise).  But one of the most lasting impressions, right up there with the beach itself, was all the flowers!  Tropical flowering plants and shrubbery, and their fragrances, were everywhere throughout the villa complex, and very well maintained and manicured. 

After initially enjoying the beach and pool, it was time to break out the radio equipment.  There is a Cushcraft R6000 vertical installed at the villa, providing 20-6m coverage.  My first few contacts were late Tuesday night, running the FT-817 at 5W off of battery power on 20m SSB.  Several European QSO’s were easily made, LZ2KW was my first contact; this was going to be good!  

On Wednesday I set up the 100W IC706 in the kitchen “bar” area, and C6ASB was fully on the air!  However, the 12V power supply kept at the villa for ham operators to use did not provide sufficient current to run the IC706 at full power, so I was limited to 40-50W most of the time.  This did not prove to be a significant hindrance however, and Matt has since replaced that power supply with a new 23 amp Samlex model. 

I also occasionally operated from the screen porch area in the evenings using the FT817 at 5W.  For the most part, I could not tell much difference between running 5W and 50W, which in my experience is often the case.  Logging was done on my laptop running Writelog software in “Dxpedition” mode, and worked very well; I even had the sound card input on the laptop interfaced to the radio to record all my contacts.  One evening I put up my homebrew Buddipole antenna  (a great portable antenna!) on a 9’ painters-pole mast, in a sloping configuration, and operated a little bit of 30m, as well as tried 40m. 

For a number of reasons, I did not operate the IOTA contest full-time or put in a full-blown serious effort, but still had a lot of fun and made 188 QSOs.  I made another 166 QSOs in casual morning and evening operations during the rest of my stay, mostly on 20m.  There were two occasions where I found good 6m openings to the US and worked quite a number of stations on “the magic band”.  Otherwise, propagation was disappointingly poor during the timeframe I was there.  I felt that better results could have been had if the vertical had included 30m and 40m capability (I’m currently working with Matt to provide 30m, 40m and 75/80m antenna capability for the future). Still, it was a lot of fun to be on the other end of a pileup again! 

We managed to keep our sun exposure reasonable and get through the entire week without a sunburn on our pale Iowa skin.  For food, Sandy and her mother spoiled us with fantastic home-cooked breakfasts every morning. We only went out once for dinner; usually I would cook something on the barbecue grill for dinner.  We ate very well while there! 

I did manage to catch two bonefish while out fishing with a guide one afternoon.  What fun! Orthnell Russell is one of the “original” bonefish guides, and quite a character…  we found a lot of fish and had a great day fishing.  Unfortunately I was unable to catch any bonefish with my fly rod (I did hook and lose one) so resorted to my spinning rod and shrimp for bait to score twice.  This fishing trip was a story in itself, and left some very good memories. 

The 8 days went by all too quickly, and soon it was time to “return to the real world”.

This was one of the most enjoyable vacations we have ever taken, and we will be doing it again.  Currently we have plans to return for a week in Feb 2004 (“just coincidentally” includes most of the ARRL CW DX contest weekend…!) and again in late July 2004 (IOTA contest).  I’m sharpening my skills with the fly rod for the next time around too! 

As a postscript to this July 2003 activity, I have been working with Matt Smith to enhance the “ham” capability of the villa while still maintaining a low profile.  As of November 2003, a set of essential tools, including soldering iron and guns, and a digital multimeter, are now at the villa for visiting ham use.  As I mentioned above, the power supply has been replaced with a new Samlex 23 amp power supply that easily handles rigs like the IC706.  Hopefully there will be some sort of 30m, 40m and 75/80m antenna capability by March 2004.  While this is not a “serious” contest or DX location, Matt is doing a good job at equipping it for very-capable casual ham radio operation with a lot of other accompanying vacation benefits to go along with it.  I can’t say enough about how great Matt and Kiran have been to work with.

Station Equipment - C6ASB - July 2003:

Yaesu FT-817 Transceiver

Icom IC-706MkIIG

Cushcraft R6000 20m-6m vertical

Homebrew W3FF Buddipole

IBM ThinkPad 600e laptop for logging

Writelog logging software

QSO Summary - C6ASB - July 2003

C6ASB was operated by AK0M, from July 22-30, 2003, from Treasure Cay, Great Abaco Island (NA-080), Bahamas.  My preferred mode is CW, though some SSB was worked, particularly on 6m.

IOTA Contest QSOs:

Non-contest QSOs:

All QSLs go to AK0M either direct via current QRZ.com address or via bureau.

SASE requested with direct QSLs.

Direct QSLs are usually answered within a few days after receipt.
Bureau cards are accepted, but get processed as time permits and usually only about once a year.

All C6ASB logs are also available on LOTW

73, Steve - AK0M, C6ASB