VP2MDL

Montserrat - November 2017

Operation

Our next DXpedition will take place from Montserrat between November 06 and November 20, 2017. We will be active with two stations from 160m through 10m on CW, SSB, RTTY and PSK31. Please check our News Page.

       

Our equipment consists of one transceivers K2, one transceiver K3, two OX1000 power amplifiers, a inverted vee lowband dipol, a 40m 2 element yagi, a 30m loop, a Spiderbeam for 20m through 10m as well as a few laptop computers.

George, K2DM, has given us the opportunity to use his station for our DXpedition. We will use the third radio station whenever it is possible.

IOTA

Montserrat (VP2M) has the IOTA reference number NA-103

Team

Our experienced crew includes:

Pilot for this DXpedition is Bernd, DF3CB. Please follow the DX Code of Conduct!

QSL Information

The QSL route is via DL7DF either direct to:

Sigi Presch, DL7DF
Wilhelmsmuehlenweg 123
12621 Berlin
Germany

or via the German QSL bureau DARC to DL7DF.

If you prefer a direct QSL please send a SASE or SAE with 1 new IRC or 2 US$ for a international letter. When sending IRC's please check the expiration date, the new ones are valid until the end of 2017. Any donations are very welcome and needed for the high shipping costs.

If you do not provide the right return postage or a self addressed envelope, we reply via the buro. Please only one call sign per envelope! If more than one, all additional cards go via the buro.

Postage needed for 1 envelope with 20 Gramm (FYI): A letter within DL = 70 Euro Cent, a international letter costs 90 Euro Cent. 1 US$ is equal to 69 Euro Cent. So please keep in mind that 1 US$ - due to the bad exchange rate between the US$ and the Euro - does not cover the postage needed for an international air mail letter!

We will upload the full logs of the DXpedition to LoTW within 6 months after the DXpedition.

Sponsors

We would like to express our sincere thanks to all our sponsors for this DXpedition:

www.funkamateur.de www.QSL-Shop.com
Sid - DM2AYO Rudi - DM2XO (ex DL7VFR)
Manfred - DL7UML Jan - DJ8NK
George - K2DM Keith - VP2EKG
Spiderbeam Nippon DX Association (NDXA)
Tokyo 610 DX Group Wolfgang - DM2AUJ
European DX Foundation

Individual sponsors

Bernd - DF3CB

About Montserrat

Country name: Montserrat
National capital: Plymouth; note - Plymouth was abandoned in 1997 because of volcanic activity
Location:

Caribbean, island in the Caribbean Sea, southeast of Puerto Rico
Area: total: 102 sq km
land: 102 sq km
water: 0 sq km
Land boundaries: total: 0 km
Coastline: 40 km
Climate: tropical; little daily or seasonal temperature variation
Terrain: volcanic island, mostly mountainous, with small coastal lowland
Natural resources: fish, lobster
Population: 5,267 (July 2016 est.) - only the northern half of the island is populated, the southern portion is uninhabitable due to volcanic activity
Ethnic groups: African/black 88.4%, mixed 3.7%, hispanic/Spanish 3%, caucasian/white 2.7%, East Indian/Indian 1.5%, other 0.7% (2011 est.)
Religions: Protestant 67.1% (includes Anglican 21.8%, Methodist 17%, Pentecostal 14.1%, Seventh Day Adventist 10.5%, and Church of God 3.7%), Roman Catholic 11.6%, Rastafarian 1.4%, other 6.5%, none 2.6%, unspecified 10.8% (2001 est.)
Languages: English
Independence: none (overseas territory of the UK)

Severe volcanic activity, which began in July 1995, has put a damper on this small, open economy. A catastrophic eruption in June 1997 closed the airport and seaports, causing further economic and social dislocation. Two-thirds of the 12,000 inhabitants fled the island. Some began to return in 1998 but lack of housing limited the number. The agriculture sector continued to be affected by the lack of suitable land for farming and the destruction of crops.

Reference: CIA - The World Factbook -- Montserrat