It was an opportunity we couldn't pass up. A former member of the radio club, Paul Jordan, who long ago moved to St. John, U. S. Virgin Islands, offered his condo to club members for free for the week encompassing both the California QSO Party and the PA Party.

We'd just have to get ourselves there, provide our on-island rental van, and food. And antennas, transceivers, cables, and networked computers.

For months before the trip, Bill W3WH and Larry K3VX worked on designing a vertical antenna for 40 and 15 meters. The antenna was constructed of aluminum elements, which would fit in a KMart molded golf bag for easier transportation.

For months Ted W4ZE worked on networking the 4 laptop computers so that the shared logging program would sequentially number the entries from all 4 stations.

Steve built a 28.276 mhz beacon for St. John club, which will tell the world when 10 meters is open to St. John. It is a 5 watt beacon, with the call of NP2SH/B.

Paul, NP2JF, applied for a vanity call for the Dxpedition, NP2SH.

The date for the Dxpedition neared. The two golf bags, filled with antennas, cables, and other radio miscellany, were shipped to the Virgin Islands. So were two other cases crammed with amateur equipment. We felt great relief when Paul reported the arrival of these packages.

Paul met us at the St. Thomas airport and brought us to St. John via the auto barge, coming into Cruz Bay. He drove us up the mountain to the doorstep of his beautiful condo, "Plumeria".

• The setting
  • St. John Island
  • the beaches
  • Plumaria
  • Caribbean cooking
• The set up
  • Antennas
  • equipment
• Operating
  • Calif. QSO Party
  • DXing
  • Pa QSO Party