Topband: Top Band INactivity from KG4

[Dave Mueller]

        I last operated from Guantanamo Bay in the summer of 2009.  
Unfortunately, the club station is located in a very noisy environment, 
in a depression.  If you have Google Earth, the station is located in 
the southwest corner of the building at this position:  19' 54.646N, 75' 
9.558W.  While generally having a clear shot to Europe, the path to JA 
and VK is blocked by a 30-40ft rise in that immediate direction.  The 
low band antenna at the KG4 club station was a Windom the last time I 
was there.  Due to the metal structures all around the club station, I 
would not expect a vertical to work very well, nor is there any room for 
radials.  I don't think there are any electrical substations nearby, 
however the shack is next to an industrial area with lots of power lines 
all about.  The desalinization plant is 1/2 mile to the north, and that 
likely generates noise as well.

        The base is quite large and there are locations with room to put 
up a good TX antenna with Beverages.  The salt marshes about 3.5 miles 
NE of the club station would be one such location, as long as BCI is not 
an issue from the AM radio station located nearby.  The base is bisected 
with a decent sized mountain and a location that favors one direction 
would be blocked to another.  Since it is a military base, it might be 
quite difficult to obtain permission to set up a low band station away 
from the shack.  The ham population in KG4 is all but non-existent, and 
it took me a long time to renew my license the last time I was there.  
No one at the Navy HQ building had a clue what I was asking about when I 
inquired about the club station point of contact.  I fear the day may 
come where no resident hams remain and the licensing binder will disappear.

     Sorry I can't give better news.  Now that I am 8,000 miles away in 
the Western Pacific, it is doubtful I will have an opportunity to get 
back to GTMO in the foreseeable future.

73, Dave KH2/N2NL aka KG4NL