PJ5/K5WE Sint Eustatius DXpedition
February 2014
Operator: Jeff Martin – K5WE
The DXpedition
PJ5/K5WE & PJ5W
Op: Jeff Martin – K5WE
QTH:
Oranjestad
Sint Eustatius
CQ – 8 ITU – 11
IOTA – NA-145
Grid – FK87
PJ5 – Sint Eustatius – Original Announcement – My son Erik & I will be operating from PJ5 – Sint Eustatius beginning 5Feb14. Operation will be all bands, mostly CW with some SSB and RTTY. We will be using the callsigns PJ5/K5WE, PJ5/N5WR, and during the ARRL International CW Contest PJ5W. Logs will be uploaded to LoTW shortly after we return home. QSL PJ5/N5WR to N5WR. QSL PJ5/K5WE and PJ5W to K5WE.
PJ5/K5WE – Sint Eustatius:
Update on our Sint Eustatius operation – We made a total of 18,904 QSO’s with the three callsigns, PJ5/K5WE, PJ5/N5WR, and PJ5W. Jeff made 623 QSO’s on RTTY, all the rest were on CW. We made a M/S HP entry in the 2014 ARRL Int’l DX CW Contest as PJ5W, with a score of 5,033,925 and 5,194 QSO’s. Our equipment included two K3 radios, a KPA500 amp, and an ALS-600 amp. Antennas were a Hexbeam for 20-10 meters, a homebrew vertical for 160-30 meters, and dipoles for 80, 40, and 30 meters.
Sint Eustatius, or “Statia” as the locals call it, is quite small, about 8 square miles in size. It is a Dutch possession and is about a 20 minute flight from St. Maarten. It has a dormant volcano, “The Quill”, on the south end of the island, and mountains on the northern side. Most of the 3,500 inhabitants live in the middle area and in the town of Oranjestad. Statia is a quiet island, very un-developed, with no luxury resorts. WX was great, temp in the low 80’s, constant breezes, with short 10-15 minute rain showers which blew through 3 or 4 times a day. It was a relaxing place.
Thanks for the QSO’s. QSL’s have been ordered and we will get to work on them as soon as they arrive. Hope to CU from the next one…. 73. Jeff – PJ5/K5WE