V31JP - Belize

Here is the V31JP Ham Shack in March, 1999. The tower is 76 feet (25M) of Rohn 25G now with a Force 12 C3E at the top and it works very nicely on 12 and 17 meters with slightly higher SWR. The internal FT-1000MP antenna tuner or the AL-1200's pi-network tunes into it just fine. There is a cross arm at 70 feet (18M) supporting two inverted Vee's, one for 80 meters and one for 30 meters. Also, there is a pulley that has a rope for supporting an inverted "L" for 160 meters. We also have an 82 foot (27 m) of Rohn 45G tower with a Force12 Magnum 340N, 3 element 40 meter, on top. We rotate it with an old Telrex rotor. We seem to be very, very loud according to reports we got on the air. We have a 6 element Force 12 Yagi for 6 meters that I hope to get up this winter on top of the 75 foot tower. I, also, hope to change the C3E rotator to an Alpha Spid this winter, change the antenna switch for automatic band changes and intall a sloper array for 80 meters. On each trip, we will continue to upgrade the house and make improvements to the antenna system.

Here I am at the operating position. The current station is a Yaesu FT-1000MP, Ameritron AL-811, NEC VERSA 5080 Pentium II laptop with TR logging software, home brew interface and a Heil-Pro headset. I now have my AL1200 down and use it for contests or hard to get DX. I, also, have an FT-100D with 100 Watts on 6 meters. I prefer CW, but I do visit the 'phone bands on occasions. I am a member of the FOC, #1743 and FISTS, #7625. Both are great CW clubs. I enjoy rag chewing, so please be patient. I do scream through the "599 TU" pile ups, too. We have 6 acres here in Sittee River Village, Stann Creek District, Belize. We are approximately 1 1/2 miles inland from the Caribbean coast right on the Sittee River. It's about 4.5 miles by river to the Caribbean. The property is divided into two pieces by a road. The river front parcel is approximately 1.5 acres and the outback parcel is approximately 4.5 acres. Our plans are to have 5 towers on the front parcel. Each of four towers will be band specific for 10, 15, 20 and 40 meters. The remaining tower will have WARC bands, 6, and 2 meters. The outback will have the 80 and 160 meter antennas, both transmitting and receiving. It is a rather ambitious undertaking, but we believe we will have it mostly completed late in the year 2005 or 2006. With my current setup performing so well, I am rather excited about the future setup. Our design efforts include support for full multi-multi operations. We are always looking for ideas and shared experiences about like efforts. Drop us a line.

Info on QTH
Continent: North America
CQ Zone: 7
ITU Zone: 11
Time Zone: Central America Time (GMT-6)
Daylight Saving Time - No
IARU Area: 2
Location: Lat: 16.81N Lon: 88.31W
Maidenhead Locator EK56UT

QSL route

Lonnie W. Miller, KA9WON,
12618 Thistle Ridge Close,
Roscoe IL 61073, USA.

If you send a QSL anywhere else, it may be delayed or lost. Also, please include a self addressed envelope and either postage or funds for postage (greenstamp / IRCs). Bureau cards are handled as time permits, batched and sent out once a year. I have made nearly 60,000 QSOs from Belize and the QSLing costs are growing rapidly. I would rather make expenditures for antennas and equipment so that you can work me. No, this is not QSOs for dollars, it is just a financial burden that we can not endure. So, help Lonnie out with good QSLing practices. Thank you, V31Joe"Palooka" 73