This was a quickly planned Dxpedition and I was not properly organized. I encountered a number of snags. The two main ones were the tube for the amplifier had a short in it. As soon as I applied the high power it emitted a fireworks display and promptly blew the fuse. I enjoyed watching this happen another two times until I ran out of fuses. I was very careful with the tube as I had it in it’s original shipping carton and hand carried on the plane but it must have gotten rattled somehow.
The second problem was the antenna. The resort had so much lavish vegetation that there was not clear spot for me to place it. A kink in the tubing provided an interesting 20 degree bend in the top few sections
After returning home many said, “I never heard you.” I wasn’t surprised.
Accommodations:
Windjammer Landing
Villa Beach Resort
P.O. Box 1054
Labrelotte Bay
St. Lucia, W.I.
Phone: (809) 452-0913
Fax: (809) 452-0907
We stayed at Windjammer Landing in Labrelotte Bay. This excellent resort hotel was a tad on the expensive side and a good thing we only stayed 8 days. It’s nice that the CQ World-Wide contest falls on a holiday weekend for the United States as most travelers stay home.
Villa
Tiered Villas. All the villas were built in a tier fashion going up the hill.
Here is the view from the pool. The restaurant made excellent wood fired pizza. Above you can see some of the villas.
Kitchen area. It very spacious and comfortable inside our villa.
St. Lucia Resort bedroom.
Living room
Vertical Antenna
The top of the slanted vertical was not quite vertical. My thanks to airline transportation hazards.
There was absolutely no place to pound the ground rod so we improvised.
Around the Resort
Enjoying a swim.
Scary huh? When I hit the pool most mothers took their children home.
St. Lucia beach.
Chris, my XYL relaxing.
You need to hunt down Perry Mason, J6LA, at his office in the capital city of Castries. He has you fill out a simple form and one part serves as your temporary license once approved and stamped.
His office phone (which he will probably be mad at me for publishing) is (809) 453-1466.
The Communications Building which houses the Communications Minister.
This is the back of the building where you need to go up these stairs to find the office.
Equipment:
Kenwood TS-940 Transceiver
Alinco AL-80B Amplifier (with a useless tube)
486-DX laptop
Heathkit Micromatic Keyer
Butternut Vertical (almost vertical, see captioned photo link)
Customs
Typical of Caribbean Island customs officials, they were very particular. You should have a complete list of your equipment including serial numbers available. They let all my cases in except for the one carrying the Transceiver. You need a special form from the licensing officer for that. Be sure to tell Perry Mason that you have equipment held up at the airport; as this is a completely different document from the license.