FS/EA8DBM (FK88) 10-13 November.

In the morning, I’ll catch the 7:30 a.m. ferry to St. Martin and should arrive at the location around 11-12 local time. Moonrise is expected at 2 p.m., so I’ll aim to set up quickly to avoid missing the moon pass.

The last known activity from this spot was exactly 9 years ago, and many have already worked it, so I expect a smaller turnout this time. Because of this, I’ve planned for only 2-3 moon passes. It’s a more relaxed, “vacation-style” activity, so I’m hoping to squeeze in some time for diving and exploring the local restaurants as well!.

I made it here fine and even managed to get a bit of sleep. Tomorrow is a national holiday in St. Martin, and nothing will be open, so I had to make a quick stop for groceries to cover a couple of days. I arrived at the location about half an hour before moonrise. This time, the shack lottery didn’t play in my favor. All my cables are 20 meters long, and unfortunately, the distance from the house to the open area is just about that. I ended up setting up the equipment on the kitchen countertop and put the control gear on the floor near the front door. Not ideal, but there’s no other choice! To make matters worse, the antenna is so close to the house that I can only work to the east with a minimum elevation of 15 degrees. The west is blocked by mountains, so I’m looking at a minimum of 10-15 degrees there as well.

What do night gatherings and a morning ferry with a 5 a.m. wake-up call lead to? Accumulated fatigue and mistakes, of course. Within an hour and a half, everything was set up, and the moon peeked out from behind the clouds, giving me a chance to get started. Full of anticipation, I turn on the power, and then… a loud bang, smoke from the power supply (a familiar smell to everyone who reads my blog), and that lovely scent of burnt plastic.

Fuck!!! I’ve been traveling around the islands with 110-volt power, but here on the French side, it’s “normal” sockets with 220 volts! My backup MFJ power supply is a 12-volt model with a manual switch for 110/220 volts, and I forgot to flip it over.

Out comes my previous “Ferrari” power supply—instantly adds 12 dB of noise! Thankfully, the IC-705 has a battery, so I can work off that for a while before I need to recharge.

The moon was still behind the clouds, but plenty of callers were coming in. I aimed by watching the traces and, luckily, hit the moon just right. It was an excellent pileup, and I managed to log several QSOs. Then, it started raining. I quickly closed the tent, but by the second cycle, the PA overheated. Took a half-hour break, waited for the rain to let up, and got back to work.

Logged 31 QSOs so far.

2024-11-10,20:48:30,2024-11-10,20:50:59,ON4AOI,JO21,1296.100994,Q65,-16,-18,,,,

2024-11-10,20:51:00,2024-11-10,20:52:59,OK1KIR,JN79,1296.100994,Q65,-14,-15,,,,

2024-11-10,20:52:30,2024-11-10,20:54:00,DG5CST,JO60,1296.100994,Q65,-09,-10,,,,

2024-11-10,20:54:30,2024-11-10,20:57:00,G4CCH,,1296.100994,Q65,-18,-13,,,,

2024-11-10,20:57:00,2024-11-10,20:59:00,IK2DDR,,1296.100994,Q65,-20,-18,,,,

2024-11-10,21:00:00,2024-11-10,21:01:59,DF7KB,JO30,1296.100994,Q65,-20,-17,,,,

2024-11-10,21:02:00,2024-11-10,21:03:59,OK1DFC,JN79,1296.100994,Q65,-13,-05,,,,

2024-11-10,21:04:00,2024-11-10,21:05:59,OK1VUM,JN79,1296.100994,Q65,-19,-20,,,,

2024-11-10,21:05:30,2024-11-10,21:08:48,DL4DTU,,1296.100994,Q65,-18,-17,,,,

2024-11-10,21:35:30,2024-11-10,21:37:00,PA3DZL,,1296.100994,Q65,-10,-16,,,,

2024-11-10,21:37:00,2024-11-10,21:39:00,OK1IL,JN69,1296.100994,Q65,-16,-23,,,,

2024-11-10,21:40:08,2024-11-10,21:40:08,OK1IL,JN69,1296.100994,Q65,-16,-23,,,,

2024-11-10,21:40:00,2024-11-10,21:41:59,PA3EXV,JO32,1296.100994,Q65,-18,-20,,,,

2024-11-10,21:41:30,2024-11-10,21:43:00,DL7UDA,JO62,1296.100994,Q65,-16,-18,,,,

2024-11-10,21:43:00,2024-11-10,21:45:00,DL1AT,JO61,1296.100994,Q65,-18,-22,,,,

2024-11-10,21:45:30,2024-11-10,21:47:00,K5DN,,1296.100994,Q65,-13,-16,,,,

2024-11-10,21:47:00,2024-11-10,21:49:00,G0LBK,,1296.100994,Q65,-17,-19,,,,

2024-11-10,21:49:00,2024-11-10,21:51:00,PA1PS,JO21,1296.100994,Q65,-19,-20,,,,

2024-11-10,21:51:30,2024-11-10,21:53:00,YO2LAM,KN05,1296.100994,Q65,-13,-16,,,,

2024-11-10,21:53:30,2024-11-10,21:55:00,DG0FE,,1296.100994,Q65,-16,-19,,,,

2024-11-10,21:57:00,2024-11-10,21:57:00,G4YTL,IO92,1296.100994,Q65,-23,-21,,,,

2024-11-10,21:57:00,2024-11-10,21:59:00,N5TM,EL29,1296.100994,Q65,-17,-19,,,,

2024-11-10,22:02:27,2024-11-10,22:02:27,K5DOG,,1296.100994,Q65,-21,-18,,,,

2024-11-10,22:05:00,2024-11-10,22:05:00,NC1I,,1296.100994,Q65,-09,-09,,,,

2024-11-10,22:05:30,2024-11-10,22:07:00,IQ2DB,JN45,1296.100994,Q65,-16,-22,,,,

2024-11-10,22:08:00,2024-11-10,22:10:59,N1AV,DM43,1296.100994,Q65,-19,-22,,,,

2024-11-10,22:13:30,2024-11-10,22:15:00,W2HRO,FN20,1296.100994,Q65,-22,-25,,,,

2024-11-10,22:16:00,2024-11-10,22:17:59,PY2BS,GG66,1296.100994,Q65,-14,-17,,,,

2024-11-10,22:24:30,2024-11-10,22:27:29,CT2GUR,IM59,1296.100994,Q65,-24,-22,,,,

2024-11-10,22:42:00,2024-11-10,22:48:00,KB2SA,DM13,1296.100994,Q65,-19,-23,,,,

2024-11-10,23:23:00,2024-11-10,23:27:56,N6RZJ,CM99,1296.100994,Q65,-18,-18,,,,

2024-11-11,00:41:00,2024-11-11,00:42:59,VE6TA,DO33,1296.100994,Q65,-15,-22,,,,

It poured rain all night, flooding the islands, and the morning brought a steady drizzle. Although the equipment stayed dry, I still went over everything with a hot hair dryer to clear any condensation. Initially, I thought I’d have to skip today’s moon pass and stick to some HF work instead. But by lunchtime, the clouds started to break, and the rain finally stopped. I decided to take a chance but had everything prepped for a quick evacuation and power shutdown, just in case. I put the suitcase in the awning, ready to slam the lid shut if needed.

The moon rose from behind the roof at an elevation of 11 degrees, and things started to fall into place. I began operating in 30-second mode, then switched to 60-second cycles towards the evening for individual calls.

Total logged today: 30 QSOs:

2024-11-11,19:29:00,2024-11-11,19:31:09,SP5GDM,KO02,1296.100994,Q65,-21,-19,,,,

2024-11-11,19:30:30,2024-11-11,19:32:00,ZS6JON,KG33,1296.100994,Q65,-19,-21,,,,

2024-11-11,19:32:00,2024-11-11,19:34:00,IK2CDI,,1296.100994,Q65,-18,-19,,,,

2024-11-11,19:35:00,2024-11-11,19:37:00,DF3RU,JN59,1296.100994,Q65,-15,-12,,,,

2024-11-11,19:36:30,2024-11-11,19:39:00,ZS4TX,KG30,1296.100994,Q65,-21,-21,,,,

2024-11-11,19:38:30,2024-11-11,19:41:00,UA9FAD,LO88,1296.100994,Q65,-29,-18,,,,

2024-11-11,19:41:00,2024-11-11,19:43:00,PA0BAT,,1296.100994,Q65,-17,-17,,,,

2024-11-11,19:43:30,2024-11-11,19:46:50,DL6SH,JN48,1296.100994,Q65,-14,-13,,,,

2024-11-11,19:46:00,2024-11-11,19:48:00,UA3PTW,,1296.100994,Q65,-10,-14,,,,

2024-11-11,19:49:00,2024-11-11,19:51:59,CT1FFU,IM59,1296.100994,Q65,-18,-21,,,,

2024-11-11,19:52:00,2024-11-11,19:53:59,YU1SAN,KN03,1296.100994,Q65,-20,-19,,,,

2024-11-11,19:54:00,2024-11-11,19:55:59,PA3JRK,JO33,1296.100994,Q65,-21,-23,,,,

2024-11-11,19:56:00,2024-11-11,19:58:00,IK3COJ,JN65,1296.100994,Q65,-19,-15,,,,

2024-11-11,19:57:30,2024-11-11,20:00:00,DL8FBD,JO40,1296.100994,Q65,-19,-22,,,,

2024-11-11,20:02:00,2024-11-11,20:04:59,OM4XA,JN98,1296.100994,Q65,-25,-26,,,,

2024-11-11,20:04:30,2024-11-11,20:06:00,F4KLO,JN18,1296.100994,Q65,-13,-10,,,,

2024-11-11,20:06:00,2024-11-11,20:08:00,PA0TBR,JO21,1296.100994,Q65,-14,-17,,,,

2024-11-11,20:11:00,2024-11-11,20:13:59,PH0V,JO22,1296.100994,Q65,-27,-20,,,,

2024-11-11,20:14:00,2024-11-11,20:15:31,CT1WO,IM58,1296.100994,Q65,-20,-20,,,,

2024-11-11,20:15:30,2024-11-11,20:17:59,DF2VJ,JN39,1296.100994,Q65,-23,-23,,,,

2024-11-11,20:36:00,2024-11-11,20:41:27,DK0SF,JN48,1296.100994,Q65,-25,-13,,,,

2024-11-11,20:40:00,2024-11-11,20:44:00,SP7EXY,,1296.100994,Q65,-13,-18,,,,

2024-11-11,20:48:00,2024-11-11,20:52:00,DL1SUZ,JO53,1296.100994,Q65,-20,-21,,,,

2024-11-11,20:52:00,2024-11-11,20:56:00,PE1LWT,JO22,1296.100994,Q65,-18,-15,,,,

2024-11-11,20:57:00,2024-11-11,21:00:00,SM6CKU,,1296.100994,Q65,-15,-14,,,,

2024-11-11,21:00:00,2024-11-11,21:06:00,ES3RF,KO29,1296.100994,Q65,-23,-28,,,,

2024-11-11,21:08:00,2024-11-11,21:13:56,9H1BN,JM75,1296.100994,Q65,-26,-19,,,,

2024-11-11,21:34:00,2024-11-11,21:38:00,PA3FXB,JO33,1296.100994,Q65,-19,-19,,,,

2024-11-11,21:42:00,2024-11-11,21:46:00,EA8DBM,IL18OH,1296.100994,Q65,-18,-20,,,,

2024-11-11,23:59:00,2024-11-12,00:03:56,AA6I,DM06,1296.100994,Q65,-25,-26,,,,

What a gorgeous rooster, right? But you can’t really tell its size from the photo—this isn’t just any rooster, this is GODZILLA! It must weigh at least 15 kilograms. The spurs on its legs have been clipped, and it’s kept in a cage for a reason 0_0

The moon rises at around 3:30 p.m. local time. Half an hour before, I start bringing everything out from the room, hooking it up, and out of the corner of my eye, I notice something isn’t right. There’s an old rule: if you skip a step, forget something, or get lazy, you’ll end up paying for it three times over. And I was feeling lucky, thinking I’d gotten away with just a burned-out power supply earlier.

Since it was raining and there was no sun, I aimed visually using the moon, so I didn’t bother putting on the protective reflective cover for the feed. I left the antenna packed up where the moon had set yesterday and didn’t reconnect or reposition it during the day. I figured, why bother? As a result, at some point, it must have caught direct sunlight… and here’s the aftermath!

Thanks to Paul W2HRO for sending a couple of spare parts—I swapped out the support in just 3 minutes, and now I’ve got 10 QSOs in the log. Toward the end, I was working with smaller stations using a 1.8 m dish and 200 watts, and still getting good reports at -24 to -27 dB.

In a few hours, I’ll be aiming for moonset with hopes of connecting with JA stations. If all goes well, I can pack up and get ready for the trip to FJ. In the meantime, I’ll hop on HF in the evening and give folks a chance to close out 40m on LoTW.

Total in the log: 10 QSOs.

2024-11-12,20:09:30,2024-11-12,20:12:00,ON5GS,,1296.100994,Q65,-25,-18,,,,

2024-11-12,20:16:00,2024-11-12,20:18:59,PA7JB,JO22,1296.100994,Q65,-21,-20,,,,

2024-11-12,20:21:00,2024-11-12,20:24:04,PA3HDG,JO31,1296.100994,Q65,-23,-21,,,,

2024-11-12,20:27:30,2024-11-12,20:29:00,YL2GD,,1296.100994,Q65,-15,-23,,,,

2024-11-12,20:29:30,2024-11-12,20:33:59,UA4LCF,LO44,1296.100994,Q65,-26,-19,,,,

2024-11-12,20:34:00,2024-11-12,20:35:59,RN6MA,LN06,1296.100994,Q65,-22,-27,,,,

2024-11-12,20:56:00,2024-11-12,20:59:59,PE9GHZ,JO11,1296.100994,Q65,-22,-25,,,,

2024-11-12,21:14:00,2024-11-12,21:40:08,IU4MES,JN54,1296.100994,Q65,-23,-32,,,,

2024-11-12,21:51:00,2024-11-12,21:54:00,LA3EQ,JO28,1296.100994,Q65,-27,-25,,,,

2024-11-12,22:04:08,2024-11-12,22:04:08,CX2SC,GF15,1296.100994,Q65,-24,-25,,,,

After a long wait for moonset, I finally managed to work the toughest stations for the Caribbean: JA and VK—almost antipodes! With that accomplished, I can finally get some sleep and start packing my bags. The day after tomorrow, I’ll catch the ferry to FJ.

2024-11-13,06:32:00,2024-11-13,06:32:00,VK4CDI,QG63,1296.100994,Q65,-25,-23,,,,

2024-11-13,07:09:56,2024-11-13,07:09:56,JA6AHB,PM53,1296.100994,Q65,-31,-25,,,,

Total: 73 init QSO

Big thanks my supporter:

Aldo IK3COJ

James K5DOG

Bernie ZS4TX