1. Where the Heck is St. Martin? Perfect location: No skip zone in the U.S. and 1 heading (320 deg) covers entire U.S.

2. Eastern Caribbean Area St. Martin is 125 miles from the Virgin Islands and 200 miles from San Juan

3. Nearby Islands Some of the nearby islands within 200 miles which can be reached on VHF from the mountaintop

5. Sint Maarten / Saint Martin Facts Smallest island divided into two countries Area of 37 square miles –the size of a typical Vermont town! Divided in 1648 – Border crossings unattended Netherlands Antilles: Curacao (PJ2), Bonaire (PJ4), St. Eustatius (PJ5), St. Maarten (PJ7) and Saba (PJ8) Saint Martin administered from Guadeloupe (FG) as a department of France Population of 70,000 (PJ7: 38,000; FS: 32,000) Official languages: PJ7: Dutch, FS: French, but everyone speaks English

6. Princess Juliana Airport Second busiest airport in the Caribbean Built on a thin strip of island between ocean and lagoon Back end right at Maho Beach – bathers get sandblasted by jet blast! Front end only 2 miles from St. Peters Hill – 950 foot elevation! 747’s use the relatively short (7150’) runway Take offs and landings can be somewhat exciting!

7. Looking down runway 9 from the cockpit of a 747. Notice those mountains!

8. View looking West toward the airport from the top of St. Peter’s Hill (950’)

9. Flying low over Maho Beach just before landing

10. W1SJ and W1DEB arrive on March 2 nd at 3PM

11. Maho Beach is a plane watchers delight but a poor place to hold Field Day! Make sure your speakers are turned on!

12. When a 747 lands, don’t reach up! The wheels are only 30 feet off the ground!

13. View of an American 757 looking DOWN from the 8 th floor of the Sonesta Beach Resort!

16. Rare shot – usually this room is a mob scene!

18. Where we stayed at the Simpson Bay Yacht Club – Unit is at center.

23. Suzuki Samarai used to climb the mountain. Didn’t try the rollover test!

24. The Dutch – French border on the island is totally unmanned

27. Getting Hosed at the Gas Pump Go-Go Gas in Essex (3/1/06): $2.19 Texaco on Sint Maarten: 1.75 NAF per liter NAF = Netherlands Antilles Florin. 1.80 NAF = $1, or 1 NAF = $0.55 3.8 liters = 1 gallon Actual Price = $3.69 / gallon Calisto on Saint Martin: 0.86 E per liter 1 Euro = $1.06 (accepted at par) Actual Price = $3.27 per gallon

28. You can get gas and dinner at this convenience store, but I don’t like chasing dinner!

29. I didn’t have much of a appetite for goat, either!

30. Never trust a Burger King which can drive away!

31. The start of the road up the mountain

32. It may be Paradise Peak, but it’s the road to hell! This part is very steep!

33. This section goes up at a 45 degree angle. Hold on to your hat!

34. Some of the bull you have to deal with on the ride up.

36. Shack is comfortable, air conditioned 20x25’ room with everything needed to contest!

37. Tennadyne T8 8 element log periodic at 75 feet. It rocked!

38. Close up of the Tennadyne and also the 160 meter dipole

39. Commercial tower with the 80/40 meter dipoles at 75 feet.

41. It’s 5:00 and the antenna work is done!

42. Spectacular view to the East looking over Orient Beach

43. Musical amplifiers I: Alpha 78 – died before contest

44. Musical amplifiers II: Alpha 374 – didn’t fire up!

45. Musical amplifiers III: Dentron 160-10L – ran 3 hours, blew cap, emitted smoke!

46. Musical amplifiers IV: Alpha 87A – no tune, no worries! GREAT AMP!

47. Station included a Kenwood TS-440S, TS-570, Alpha 87A, Vectronics Tuner

53. I’m smiling because the contest is over!

54. Look at those rates – don’t think I can contest from New England anymo’

55. This fella came in and informed me that he could save me a bundle on my car insurance!

57. And he’s a avid SSB operator since he headed right for the mic!

58. Contest Results Call used: FS5KA Location: Saint Martin Category: Single Op All Band Mode: PHONE Power: 1500W Callsign of Operator: W1SJ Hours of Operation: 42:30 band QSOs points mults ----------------------------------- 160 102 306 29 80 636 1908 54 40 767 2301 56 20 1530 4590 60 15 2996 8988 59 10 12 36 6 ----------------------------------- TOTAL 6043 18129 264 SCORE: 4,786,056

59. Hourly Totals FIRST DAY UTC 160 80 40 20 15 10 rate total ---------------------------------------------- 00Z 0 0 0 268 0 0 268 268 01Z 0 128 0 7 0 0 135 403 02Z 6 110 0 0 0 0 116 519 03Z 0 73 0 0 0 0 73 592 04Z 0 65 3 0 0 0 68 660 05Z 0 0 135 0 0 0 135 795 06Z 1 0 91 0 0 0 92 887 07Z 0 2 63 0 0 0 65 952 08Z 1 0 33 0 0 0 34 986 09Z 1 10 0 0 0 0 11 997 10Z 0 44 0 0 0 0 44 1041 11Z 0 0 27 8 0 0 35 1076 12Z 0 0 0 176 0 0 176 1252 13Z 0 0 0 22 204 0 226 1478 14Z 0 0 0 0 241 0 241 1719 15Z 0 0 0 0 234 0 234 1953 16Z 0 0 0 0 244 0 244 2197 17Z 0 0 0 0 244 0 244 2441 18Z 0 0 0 0 250 0 250 2691 19Z 0 0 0 0 194 0 194 2885 20Z 0 0 0 0 179 0 179 3064 21Z 0 0 0 0 180 9 189 3253 22Z 0 0 0 251 5 0 256 3509 23Z 0 0 0 239 0 0 239 3748 ---------------------------------------------- tot 9 435 349 956 1975 9 ---- 3748 SECOND DAY UTC 160 80 40 20 15 10 rate total ---------------------------------------------- 00Z 0 0 0 118 0 0 118 3866 01Z 0 0 100 0 0 0 100 3966 02Z 0 0 118 0 0 0 118 4084 03Z 1 91 32 0 0 0 124 4208 04Z 55 21 0 0 0 0 76 4284 05Z 3 29 38 0 0 0 70 4354 06Z 27 28 0 0 0 0 55 4409 07Z 1 0 51 0 0 0 52 4461 08Z 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4461 09Z 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4461 10Z 6 32 0 0 0 0 38 4499 11Z 0 3 75 0 0 0 78 4577 12Z 0 0 0 80 0 0 80 4657 13Z 0 0 0 13 88 0 101 4758 14Z 0 0 0 33 41 0 74 4832 15Z 0 0 0 29 57 0 86 4918 16Z 0 0 0 1 61 0 62 4980 17Z 0 0 0 0 94 0 94 5074 18Z 0 0 0 0 174 0 174 5248 19Z 0 0 0 0 174 0 174 5422 20Z 0 0 0 0 111 0 111 5533 21Z 0 0 0 0 121 3 124 5657 22Z 0 0 1 22 100 0 123 5780 23Z 0 0 0 263 0 0 263 6043 ---------------------------------------------- tot 102 636 767 1530 2996 12 ---- 6043

60. Time to put the radios away and vacation!

64. DX Contest is over and now the shopping contest begins with W1DEB leading the charge

65. Front Street - Philipsburg

70. Great Bay Beach. Notice that the HT is at the ready!

75. Philipsburg is only 3 blocks wide. In 2003 we stayed in the 3 story building in the center

77. Philipsburg view from the Repeater site

79. Marigot in foreground, Anguilla (VP2E) in distance

82. Grand Case Boulevard

83. Grand Case Beach, looking north towards Anguilla

85. Lotsa’ barbecue chicken, ribs and lobster. What a feast!

89. Orient Beach near sunset

93. Where old New Jersey highway signs go to retire

98. PJ7UQ and PJ7A ham shack location. Log periodic and dipole up on the hill

100. View from PJ7A looking over Simpson Bay Lagoon, towards PJ7R Repeater site

104. PJ7A Shack. Alpha amps repaired and back in service

106. Home of PJ7R (146.76) and lotsa radio stations

107. When this bridge in Simpson Bay goes up, you don’t go nowhere!

108. Bye-bye at the airport: Mitch W1SJ and Mort PJ7UQ / FS5UQ / W1UQ

109. Simpson Bay Yacht Club from the eye in the sky

112. Bye-bye Sint Maarten / Saint Martin