6W – La Somone, Senegal

Dates: 17 to 23 February 2011

Callsign: 6W/WJ2O

6W – La Somone, Senegal 2025-01-20T03:59:52-05:00

My Quarters at Le Calaco

6W_Village_Dinner
A short walk from the shack is a village that has this wonderful little restaurant. I enjoyed the food and the locals were great company. I spent a week at Le Calaco. This is the home of JF (Francois) Lorne, 6W7RV. He has several guest cabanas as well as a well adorned ham shack.
Verbal communications was quite comical at times as I only know a few words of French. Besides French many locals spoke German also, but English speakers were very rare.

The Shack

6W_Shack_Station-1
Operating position
6W_Shack_OperatingBench
Plenty of bench to play around with equipment
6W_Shack_KeyingTransistor
Keying transistor
6W_Shack_Wires
The wires are a mess but don’t worry we we completely sure we didn’t know what we were doing!

Antennas

6W_Antennas_Tower 20full
Front of the ham radio shack
6W_Antennas_Tower
Antenna tower with yagi’s and other antenna setups.
6W_Antennas_FourSquare
Nice landscaping: Four Square on 40
6W_Antennas_TowerLookingUp
Antenna tower looking up from the bottom.
6W_Antennas_TowersNextDoor
View from next door.

The Villa

6W_Villa_Front
Villa Front. Outside front porch looking into the villa.
6W_Villa_LivingRoom
Living Room. First you step into the living room
6W_Villa_Kitchen
Kitchen area.
6W_Villa_Bedroom
Someone did not make his bed!
6W_Villa_Shower
Bathroom pointing directly at the shower in the corner.
6W_Villa_BreakfastOnPorch
Front Porch. Looking out on the front porch ready to enjoy a leasurly breakfast.

6W/WJ2O QSL Card

6W_QSL_F
6W_QSL_B

QSL By: QSL Shop

Getting My License

6W_License
Francois took care of everything to get my license. It was waiting for me once I arrived.

Dave’s Station

 66W_Shack_Station

Easy Direct Flight From JFK to Dakar.

It’s real easy to get to Senegal. Direct flights to Dakar are available from JFK. We flew through the night and they actually made good time, as we arrived one hour early.

Once at the airport, I had a driver arranged to pick me up. Due to the early arrival of the flight, he wasn’t there yet. I just sat and made friends with the guys that hang around the airport. They spoke enough english that we could communicate.
nAfrica_Delta_Plane
Here’s my plane on the tarmac in Dakar at 4:30 am.
6W_Travel_Itinerary