[W5SFA] Greetings from Kwajalein!

[Chuck Dietz]

I’m so glad you were finally able to get on the air out there, John. I
still don’t have a good antenna up, but maybe someone else can work you
from Austin County.
Looking forward to seeing you when you get back.

Chuck W5PR

On Fri, Oct 31, 2025 at 5:28 PM John Wiley via w5sfa <w5sfa at w5sfa.org>
wrote:

> Yokwe aolep! (Hello everybody!):
>
> Greetings from beautiful (but primitive) Kwajalein Island, Kwajalein
> Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), and thanks to Roger Klein
> for the email.
>
> I've been on island since January, but it tooks months of work to obtain
> my reciprocal license from the RMI government's Ministry of Transportation,
> Communications, and Information located on Majuro Island, Majuro Atoll.
> During that time, I had to source the materials and equipment to build a
> basic station here.
>
> With that license issued (V73JW) and with considerable assistance from
> Chuck Dietz (W5PR) in Bellville, I went on-air in July - only to find that,
> given our geographical location (RJ39) and the necessarily primitive setup
> here, EVERYTHING here is DX and the only stable/reliable/useable mode is
> FT-8 (deep decode), and, occasionally, CW - but you've got to be quick due
> to the way the bands open briefly and slam shut... no time to rag-chew!
>
> So, that's how I set up: FT-8 to knock out as many QSO's world-wide as I
> could with the time I had left on-island.  Who knows when the next OP will
> show up here to fill the demand of this relatively rare DX location.
>
> A little about my station:  I sourced a Kenwood TS-450S from a Silent
> Key's estate sale.  Old, yes, but in great condition (and an even better
> price) and sent that over to Chuck for a once over while I gathered up the
> other stuff I would need: an MFJ-969 Deluxe roller inductor tuner, a K1EL
> WinKey mini, a TigerTronics SignaLink USB, an MFJ-347 Dipole pipemount (to
> interface the tuner to the random-wire), and 60+ feet of silicone coated 18
> AWG copper braid terminated to a coconut tree outside my barracks window on
> the 3d floor.
>
> Keeping in mind that it takes weeks, even months, for stuff to get here,
> my station equipment was in the pipeline and my circa 1970's Vibroplex
> Deluxe keyer was getting refurbished at Vibroplex in Knoxville, I had time
> to wrestle with the RMI government to get the V73 callsign issued.  As I
> said, Kwajalein - beautiful but primitive.  Things here happen in "Island
> Time", that is, it happens when it happens... and it did, eventually:  all
> my stuff (and the license) got here in July.  Add some time, elbow grease,
> a dash of frustrations with a whole lot of re-learning to adapt and
> overcome, I landed my first QSO's around mid-July.
>
> Since going live, V73JW has logged over 2k QSO's to LoTW and issued almost
> as many QSL cards via eQSL and by mail, including several DXpeditions,
> POTA's, and Texas - but none from Austin County, so I've recently embarked
> on building a Raspberry Pi communications server.  Once that is complete, I
> hope to be able to get into the W5SFA repeater somehow and get some QSL
> cards flowing your way.  This is going to take some creativity and some
> help from some of the club members, because (and correct me if I'm wrong)
> the repeater is NOT EchoLink-enabled, so that leaves... some pathway I'll
> need to figure out... once all the parts arrive :-)
>
> In the meantime, for anyone in the club who is an HF enthusiast and is set
> up for it please do try to reach me: on 40m FT-8, that's 7.074 mHz and,
> using WSJT-X, I'm usually listening between 1492 - 2025 on the waterfall.
> Keeping in mind that I'm a day ahead of y'all (UTC +12), I'm usually on the
> air, if I'm not on mission, out on a ship, or doing inspections, on 40m
> between 0600 and 1000 UTC on week days and on the weekends the following:
> 40m 1700 - 2100 UTC, 12m 0000 - 0400 UTC, and 40m again from 0600 - 1000 or
> until I fall asleep at the key!
>
> If you have a Yagi/Log Periodic/or a variable direction dipole, your best
> shot out this was is: short-path azimuth (best): ~281° (WNW) or Long-path
> azimuth (backup/rare): ~101° (ESE).
>
> The other HF bands aren't very successful out this way, so I've had
> limited contacts on them, same with CW.  However, if any of you want to
> schedule a QSO, just let me know and I'll try to accommodate you if the
> bands will cooperate.
>
> Thanks again to Roger and Chuck.  I look forward to rotating back to Texas
> either just before Christmas or shortly after New Years day (depending on
> which plane comes thru) and meeting you all when I get back.  If anybody
> has any questions, please feel free to contact me here:
> john.wileyf1 at gmail.com which is my email and my WhatsApp.
>
> Kommol elap & 73's,
>
> John F. Wiley, CDS SMS CSHP
> Safety Engineer
> LOGCAP-V USINDOPACOM
> V2X, Inc.
> V73JW / K5GDE
>
> [image: V73JW.jpg]
> [image: John Station.jpg]
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
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