Saturday, June 04, 2011

Possible operation from Costa Rica

In July, I'll be heading to the Guanacaste area of Costa Rica along with a group of friends (some of them the same as those who I was with when I operated from Grand Cayman as ZF2DK). This is primarily a vacation, and when I initially investigated whether I would be able to operate from there I ran into a few logistical issues and pretty much gave up. However, recently, a couple of those issues were removed, and now it's looking a lot more possible than I'll be operating as TI7/K2DBK. I will post updates here with additional information as things progress, but this will most likely be phone-only and while I'll pick the bands based on conditions while I'm there, most likely I'll be on 15, 17, and 20. I plan to bring my Buddistick that I've used in Cayman and from IOTA NA-034 because it's small and very easy to travel with, my trusty Icom 706MKIIG, and a fairly lightweight switcher power supply. While the place we're staying isn't right on the water, it's got a pretty decent elevation above it and a nice balcony outside my room that I can use to attach the antenna. I believe my best shot for DX will be towards the northeast US, Europe, and Africa, but I think that I'll be able to work towards Asia as well.

As with my previous trip to Grand Cayman, this will be holiday-style operation, meaning that I'll get on when I have free time, probably a few hours a day, most likely in the late afternoon.

I'll be posting more once the plans are a little more firm, but I wanted to give a tentative heads-up.

Incidentally, I'm planning to just take my iPad instead of a laptop for the trip, and I'd like to hear from anyone who has used any logging software (there don't seem to be a lot of choices, but I'd still rather get a personal recommendation) for the iPad. I expect most of my contacts to be DXpedition style, so I'm not looking for any fancy integration, just ease of use. Please either leave a comment or email me if you've got any recommendation.

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