In response to inquiry from EA6ACC: W4QM and N6SS are radio officers on
merchant ships leased to the military and stationed off Diego Garcia, VQ9.
Duty and weather permitting, they try to operate topband on Saturday and
Sunday, our time, beginning around 23Z. Earlier for Eu. Being tropical, they
are subject to frequent thunderstorms, making topband operation difficult.
They also have to contend with a local AM, 100W BC station. Keeping the
club station operational with so many different operators and the action of
a salty atmosphere on the antennas and equipment is a challenge. Sharing of
the facilities with other operators also affects the operating time
available. To operate topband, they have to stay overnight as the last
launch back to the ship leaves around 10 PM local. QSLs should go to the
home calls of the operators. Both QSL 100 pct, but not usually until they
return home. In Dale's case, that will be April 97.
W4QM is a personal friend and we talk once a week or so on 20M CW. He is
usually quite active around 14025 at 16Z, when he is ashore and the
equipment does not need reparing. They are not currently hooked to e-mail
and not likely to. Island is administered by the British Navy so operators
are subject to their rules.
INK N4OO
--
FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/topband.html
Submissions: topband@contesting.com
Administrative requests: topband-REQUEST@contesting.com
Sponsored by Akorn Access, Inc & KM9P
|