4M1X Multi-Single Contest-expedition IARU Contest 1999
K2KW, N6TV, K6KM and YV5EED set up a station on a remote beach on
the western coast of Venezuela. Operations were held at the posada (small
hotel) called "Granja el Ojito"
This site was originally planned to host the larger 4M1X - M/M
operation in the CQ WW contest, but the operation was later moved to Coche
Island in Eastern Venezuela (4M7X). The posada used in the IARU Contest is in
the middle of nowhere! The closest town of any size (above a few hundred
people) is Coro, and is a 1.5 hour drive to the west.
But this posada/hotel is a real gem: it's newly constructed, and a
wonderful place to relax with European style fixtures, lovely attention to
detail, wonderful home cooking, Internet access, and even a few satellite
channels! If you "happen to be in the area" I would highly recommend
this hotel.
Multi-Single Station Equipment:
Yaesu FT-1000MP, Japan Radio Co. JST-245, (2) Fin Fett 1001
expedition amps, 2 laptops, CT 9.40. All antennas were provided by Force
12 Antennas:
4M1X
- IARU Photos
Standing:
Ramon, YV5EED.
Kneeling
(left to right): Bill, K6KM, Ken, K2KW, Bob, N6TV. The team is holding the
prototype V-3 Vertical from Force 12. The beach is wonderful, and the next
houses are miles away. Though occasionally locals riding horses would pass by
our antennas…
You
can see the two 450 ohm ladder-lines the team used to feed the verticals. The
shack is about 900' from the water, so 450 ohm line was used to reduce
line-loss. Team Vertical tested the line before going to Venezuela, and found
the 16 gauge stranded 450 ohm line has a loss of around 0.2 dB attenuation per
100' at 28 MHz. 9:1 transformers by Amidon were used to terminate each end of
the ladder-line.
Foreground:
Force 12 EF140VF/X - 40m 1/4 wave vertical using 2 elevated radials.
Background:
Force 12 V-3 Tri-Band Vertical for 10, 15, and 20M
The
water has strong currents so there is a lot of sediment in it (looks brown),
but the water is actually very clean (and warm!).
Force
12 V-3 Vertical: This vertical is based on the driven element of the C3SS Yagi
antenna by Force 12, and uses vertical dipoles on all bands. All vertical
dipole elements are driven by a common feedline. The center element is the 20m
element, and is linear loaded. The outer elements are for 10m and 15m and have
a "hook" on each end (this is to reduce the impedance of the element
to 50 ohms, as a vertical dipole is typically 90 ohms). The antenna to the
right is a 15m (half wave) parasitic reflector added to the V-3 to increase
gain on 15m to the north.
YV5EED
operating 10m SSB. The shack was set up in a newly constructed conference room
equipped with 240v AC, 110v AC, telephone lines, air conditioning, and even
private bathrooms. It was a great place for the shack!
Ramon,
YV5EED using a small coconut to throw a line over the palm tree.
Direct QSL requests sent to W4SO will be forwarded (unopened)
to YV5EED, QSL manager for 4M1X. W4SO is only serving as a mail-drop to ensure
safe delivery.
While you send the QSL request to the USA, the return QSL
will be sent from Venezuela! W4SO will hand-carry the QSLs to Venezuela, but
YV5EED will handle the QSL chores in Caracas and will return them via the
Venezuelan postal system.
For QSL requests sent via W4SO, include SAE + IRC/$ as you
would normally send if the card was sent to directly to Venezuela - remember,
the card is being sent back to you from Venezuela. (We highly discourage direct
mailing to Venezuela, as the Venezuelan postal system knows about QSL cards.
Letters containing IRC/$ will likely never make it to the recipient!)
Mailing address:
4M1X
c/o W4SO
Scott
Cronin
5020
Pierce Street
Hollywood,
FL, 33021