ZF2WE Cayman Islands DXpedition
December 2016
Operator: Jeff Martin – K5WE
The DXpedition
ZF2WE
OP: Jeff Martin – K5WE
QTH:
Stake Bay
Cayman Brac
Cayman Islands
IOTA NA-016
CQ 8 – ITU 11
Grid – FK09CR
ZF – Cayman Islands. Jeff – K5WE was active as ZF2WE from the vacation home of Stan – ZF9CW/K5GO on Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands beginning December 21, 2016 through December 30, 2016. I operated all bands 160 through 10 meters, mostly CW with some RTTY. Equipment included a Kenwood radio with Amplifier. Antennas were verticals on the north-facing beach. Logs were uploaded to ClubLog daily. Logs were uploaded to LoTW upon returning home. QSL via ClubLog OQRS or via K5WE…
ZF2WE Update:
I made 7711 QSO’s as ZF2WE in 9 days 14 hours start to finish Op time. I used a TS590S radio and an Ameritron amp running between 500 and 1000 watts output. Antennas were a 68 foot tall vertical with a big coil in the middle for 160, a wire inverted L antenna for 80, a 14AVQ vertical for 40-10 meters, a Vertical for 30 meters next to the water, and a sloping dipole for 17 and 12 meters. The QTH was on the beach on the north side of the island of Cayman Brac. The 160 and 80 antennas performed well, I got great RBN reports every time I was on the air, but it seemed there were not many folks calling on 160. Later in the week, I was bothered by higher levels of static which made it difficult to hear. Surprisingly, by number of QSO’s, 40 meters was my best band, with more than 30% of the total QSO’s. The 14AVQ worked great on 40, I had one radial for 40 running out into the water. 30 meters was my 2nd best band in number of QSO’s. The other bands were a bit disappointing. I made only 23 QSO’s on 12 meters and never even had a single RBN report on 10 meters.
Cayman Brac is know for “The Bluff”, or “Brac”, a limestone outcrop that rises steadily along the length of the island up to 141 feet above sea level at the eastern end. Compared to Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac is a very quiet, undeveloped place… very peaceful with warm 80 degree F temperatures every day. I enjoyed my time there… I received the callsign certificate from ARRL today (6Jan17) and did an upload of the logs to LoTW. Logs have also been uploaded to ClubLog. You may request QSL’s via ClubLog OQRS or via K5WE… Tnx for the QSO’s. Hpe to CU from the next one…
73,
Jeff – ZF2WE, K5WE