We've all dreamed of it at one time or another, haven't we?
Who hasn't dreamed of being on-air from a rare DX location, orchid-scented and pleasantly warm evening trade-wind breezes wafting through the open windows with their bamboo-slat curtains, and the fronds of coconut palms rustling in the gentle breeze outside, while we rubber-stamp five-by-nines from a huge pileup of stations desperate to work us?
This dreaming seems to happen among high-latitude hams especially when the television bears reports of yet another blizzard snarling roads and freeways and closing airports across the Great White North, and the poor ham has huddled miserably in the cold, drafty corner to which the XYL has relegated him and his shack. So if chipping the ice off the windshield before you can go to work in the morning, day after day, for months on end, has you dreaming about retirement to a rare DX location somewhere in tropical climes, and you are getting ever more curious about what is ham radio really like in an uncommon, tropical, third-world DX location, this is the page for you - it will tell it like it really is and satisfy that curiousity.
So what is really like to be a ham in a relatively uncommon DX location in the third-world tropics? Well, as you can well imagine, it has its share of joys (especially as described above) and its fair share of frustrations (like trying to obtain equipment and supplies). But overall, having lived and hammed in the tropical third-world for years, I would have to say that it is a lot more fun than frustrating, and it is well-worth coming here prepared to live your dream if you are planning to retire in a foreign country, or are even planning a long vacation.
Getting A Permit And Bringing In Radios
It is generally not difficult to get a permit to operate ham radio equipment if you are already licensed in the United States or Canada, or many of the major nations of western Europe. Most countries in the third world, especially Latin America, have reciprocal operating agreements with the above nations, and so getting a permit is generally not terribly difficult if you arrive properly prepared to do it.
For most countries in Latin America, the process is generally fairly simple, but is far best done before you show up at the airport. For many of the Latin American countries, you can get an International Amateur Radio Permit from the ARRL - check the international section of their web site for details on how to obtain one and the rules for its use. For countries which don't accept IARP permits (and that includes all of Central America except Panama), it is necessary to obtain local reciprocal permits by applying in-country. That can be a problem, because officious customs clerks can (and occasionally do) impound or outright confiscate radio transmitting equipment for which the bearer cannot produce a local license. Best to try to get a permit before you enter the country. The international operating section of the ARRL web site is not all that much help, either, since it is often sadly out of date, contains bad information, or is downright misleading. Best to contact a ham (preferably an official of a major radio club) in the country where you are headed if you are serious about operating while abroad.
Here in Costa Rica, it is possible to bring in radios and then get a permit after you arrive, but I wouldn't count on not having trouble at Customs. Worst case, it may be necessary to deposit your radios with Customs (be sure to get a receipt, showing model and serial number of any and all radios being impounded, and the name and cedula number of the customs agent requiring you to leave it - you have a legal right to such a receipt, and it is important that you demand it), get your operating permit and then return to the airport and retreive them a day or two later. If you have your receipt and permit with you, this should not be a problem. If you can't get your permit ahead, be sure you have the original of your U.S. license with you, and be prepared to explain to the Customs agent that Costa Rica has a reciprocal operating treaty with your home country, and your first stop is going to be at the Control Nacional de Radio in San Jose, to obtain your permit (that worked for me). As the CNR office seems to be moved frequently, write to me first to get the current address and phone number - the taxi driver won't have a clue, but if all else fails, you can have the taxi driver take you to the Ministerio de Gubernacion Y Policia, and inquire there - they should certainly know; the CNR is one of their agencies.
Before you go to the Control Nacional de Radio office, you'll need to assemble the following documents (and be prepared to fill out the 4-page form which is only in Spanish): Your passport and two photocopies of the title page and entry stamp in your passport, the original and two copies of your current license, at least one color passport photo, a list of the equipment (model and serial numbers) you are bringing with you and the antennas you intend to use, the location and official directions to where you will be operating from. Ask for a "Solicitud de Licensia de Radio Aficionado" and tell them you need it for "reciprocidad con los Estados Unidos" or whatever other country you are coming from. If you have ever been here and have had a license here, bring it, too. You'll be asked for it, even if it has expired long since. Once you have filled out the form and they have examined it, you will be given an invoice and will be asked to take it to a local bank and get it "cancelado" - paid (dirt cheap - just a few cents - the fees haven't been updated in many years), and take the application form you filled out to a lawyer/notary to get your signature on the application authenticated (not a big deal; there is usually an "abogado" within walking distance who can do that for you quickly and cheaply, and the clerk will know where to send you). Take some small change; you'll be asked to buy some "timbres" - tax stamps worth a few cents each. Be prepared to understand and answer all questions in Spanish; the clerks at the CNR don't speak a word of English and don't want to be bothered to try to work it out. The process takes about two hours all told, and if you are prepared as instructed above, you can walk out with your freshly minted operating permit from a DX country - a great souvenir of your visit here.
Getting On The Air
You'll need to bring all the radios with you that you intend to use. Radios here are very difficult to obtain, and are quite a bit more expensive than in the States in the exceedingly rare moments when you can find one that is for sale. If you are coming on vacation and are going to buy one to bring, an Icom IC706MkIIG, IC7000, or Yaesu FT857D is ideal, as they have the capability of large radios, including VHF FM, but don't take up much space in your suitcase. If you are visiting a ham radio hotel, you may be able to use their radios, but they will probably charge you a much higher rate if you do - a broken radio is difficult, expensive and time consuming to get fixed here. If you are not coming to a ham radio hotel, bring your power supply, coax cable, connectors, coax switches, antenna tuners (a miniature antenna tuner like the Kenwood AT130 is ideal). RG58 is widely available at the local electronicas, as are PL-259 connectors, but both are of exceptionally poor quality here and that's about it for locally available accessories, so it is best to bring in your own if you can. Save yourself some serious money and frustration - lug your cable and accessories with you through the journey down here, and if you are planning to move here, lay some truly serious money on the ham radio store and buy up everything you think you'll ever need and bring it with you. If you bought the radio just for the trip and don't particularly want it at home, you can almost certainly sell it for what you paid for it if it is a new radio. Email me for details well ahead if you want to sell it while you are here. I can probably find a buyer who will pay you cash for it at the end of your trip.
For two-meter FM, a J-pole antenna made from 300-ohm TV twinlead is ideal, because it can be rolled up and stuffed away in a small corner of your suitcase. Wire suitable for HF antennas (as well as plastic pipe couplings from which to make insulators) can be readily obtained locally at any ferreteria, so no need to bring wire antennas for HF. Most 2m. repeaters here use 123.0 Hz. tone squelch, mostly to deal with intermod problems, so your 2m. FM radio needs that capability.
What To Expect On-Air
Don't just pop up on the local 2 meter repeater, call CQ in English and expect the locals to fall all over themselves wanting to talk to you. If you don't speak Spanish, it is almost guaranteed that you will get QRM'ed if you do. Instead, if you speak Spanish, monitor the repeater for some time, and listen to the conversation. Get the drift and then join in if and only if you can make a real contribution. Don't expect to get a friendly reception on the local repeater if you make your call/contact in English. Every country has its anti-foreigner rednecks, and Latin America is certainly no exception, especially given the history of the region. Some local hams will be helpful and friendly, but in a country with as many tourists as Costa Rica, and a region with the history this one has, gringos are considered a big pain in the butt by many, even most locals, and when anonymous and unaccountable, they can be decidedly unfriendly and even downright rude, particularly if you make your call in English. If you speak Spanish fluently, you will get a far friendlier reception on 2m, but even then, don't be surprised if it is not exactly warm and welcoming, or you get QRMed. Instead, if you don't speak Spanish well, it is best to pop up on 145.77 simplex and call Keko, TI5KD, or myself, Scott, TI5/WA7UZO. We would both be delighted to talk to you.
This should not lead you to expect you will always get a frosty reception from most Costa Rican hams, including on two meters. Not at all. I have had many a pleasant, even warm contact with the locals, including on two meters, and have been invited over for an eyeball on more than one occasion, even though my Spanish is still rather halting and broken. The result has always been a very pleasant and memorable experience, and I have made several new friends, as a result. And working those hams who are patient with bad Spanish and who tolerate or (more rarely) even like gringos, can be a good way to improve your language skills. So having a 2 meter FM rig along can lead to many a pleasant exchange. But just be prepared - just like in the States, 2 meter FM seems to be inhabited by more than its share of jerks - including a fair number of redneck anti-gringo jerks.
The situation is a bit different on HF. There, you can find yourself not only welcomed, but sought-after, particularly if you are on vacation operating from one of the several ham radio hotels in the region, where the antennas are great, the staff helpful and solicitous, and there are lots of stations on-air back in the States eager to work the gringo, particularly if you are using an unusual mode such as SSTV or PSK31, or are on a band (such as 30m. or 60m.) where the locals are not often heard. You did bring your laptop with Ham Radio Deluxe loaded on it and have your USB-soundcard interface along, don't you?
So what is it like being a DX station?
Well, it can be lots of fun, as described at the top of this page. Meeting new friends and learning about ham radio in a distant land is also very rewarding. Contesting from here is a real kick, too, for those who are into that - the competition is minimal, and you are frequently needed for a multiplier, so most stations are eager to seek you out. Contesting from here is so much fun, that it is not uncommon for groups of hams who never see each other but once a year, to get together here at a ham radio hotel and really have a time of it, racking up points between racking up beers. But it isn't all just fun and games - besides the obvious problem of getting equipment, there are also two major problems with being a DX station that you may not have thought of, and you should be prepared for if you are thinking of moving to an uncommon or rare DX country.
If you are an inveterate, hard-core ragchewer, like I am, you'll run into the problem that most of the stations that want to work you only want to do so for your QSL card, and then they wanna be outta here. It sometimes feels kinda like a whore telling you she really loves you. Yeah, right, buddy, I know you really love me only for my QSL card. Good old fashioned hour-long ragchews are relatively few and far between, even more-so than in the States, unfortunately. It is particularly annoying when someone breaks into a ragchew only because they want your QSL, and then pass on their 73 and they are gone. Fortunately, that is not terribly frequent, but it is very annoying when it does occur. So you Stateside fellows, please take note and don't do that - wait till the ragchew is over and then call the DX station, especially if you really need that card, unless you are quite prepared to contribute to a roundtable.
The other problem is the homework. Lots and lots of homework. Something like a fourth of QSOs I have from here in Costa Rica with stations abroad will generate a QSL request (my Nicaraguan friends tell me it is more than half for them), and if you are not set up on LoTW or eQSL.cc (as I am not, due to lack of internet access at my home) or are not using a QSL manager (for the same reason), that means you will spend a lot of time filling out cards and mailing them. QSLing is enough a burden that many stations here just don't want to be bothered, and so you never, ever hear them on a band where they are likely to be called by someone wanting their card.
And now for my QSL rant... Electronic QSLing is problematic, especially if you don't have Internet access from home, as many hams here do not, including me. And then there is LoTW. Just getting set up with LoTW from here is far more of a difficult, time-consuming hassle that getting your actual license! That is something I really wish the League would fix. I understand and applaud that they want to be rigorous, but getting set up on LoTW with a U.S. reciprocal license from or for a DX location is a royal pain in the butt that is a far greater hassle than it really needs to be to maintain adequate rigor, and at the end of the day, greatly discourages use of the system, particularly by expatriate hams, and especially by those of us who no longer maintain a residence or mailing address in the U.S. Or if discouraging its use is the idea, why do they even operate it in the first place? It would become vastly more popular if they had a decent systems analyst take a look at their setup procedure and simplify it - especially for DX and expatriate hams.
Ham vacationing presents its own unique set of electronic QSL challenges, too. There is a problem with LoTW, in that a portable designator is manditorily treated by that system as a separate callsign, and that means that if you want to come here on vacation, you'll need to get set up with LoTW (no small hassle) separately for each and every call district here from which you intend to operate if you want to offer electronic QSLs via LoTW. This is because moving just a few miles across provincial boundaries here means you are in a new call district, and it is mandatory that you use a different portable designator (and Costa Rica is typical of DX countries). Driving mobile across Costa Rica, with its tiny call districts, would be like having to have a different LoTW registration for every county you enter as you drive mobile across a single U.S. state (many U.S. counties are larger than our provinces - you can drive through every call district in Costa Rica in a single morning before lunch). Really, ARRL, why does it have to be so darned difficult? If the League would accept eQSL.cc QSL's for their awards, LoTW in my opinion would quickly dry up and blow away, because of its cumbersome and excessively rigorous nature - it is vastly more rigorous than even paper QSLs. Is that really necessary?
And then there are the jerks that paper QSL, but won't include any help with the cost of the response - it really, truly is expensive to do a paper QSL response here, regardless of what the reactionaries on late-night 75 meter roundtables would have you think. I really am not in it for the money, and I don't know anyone here who is. It just simply isn't profitable - I could make more money, faster, and could have just as much fun shining shoes between the street urchins on a downtown street corner. My calculations show that it costs me an average of about US$1.30 each to produce and send a QSL card from here, and a third to a fourth of the requests I get from U.S. hams have no green-stamp in them at all (and about an equal proportion only have only one) - many don't even have a self-addressed envelope in them, either. When you live on a very limited income, as I do, the response to such a card automatically gets put in one of the several piles to be sent periodically to the appropriate QSL bureau in the U.S. to help reduce the mailing costs. Sorry fellas, but the hard reality is that you're going to get the QSL response you are willing to cough up the cash for, whether you like that or not - I am not running either a profit-making enterprise or a charity here. I am not soliciting your card, either, and don't care at all if you never even send me one; I am doing this entirely for your benefit. So please, be decent about it and at least pay the freight for what I am doing for you. Most of the other operators I know here feel the same way, too. IRC's are not a solution, either. Yeah, they're supposed to be good as gold here and put a stop to the big-time QSL profiteering gold mine that we DX stations are supposedly cashing in on, but at the end of the day, they are difficult, if not impossible, to negotiate in a small-town post office in a third-world country and therefore aren't worth anyone's time. Hence, I can't recommend them; they are so problematic that I end up just tossing them in the trash and opening up my wallet and paying for my outgoing QSL postage with an engraved portrait of a dead Costa Rican hero. End of QSL rant.
The reward for all that hassle, though, is that a CQ seldom goes unanswered for long, even when your signal isn't the strongest on the band, or the band isn't in the best of shape. I figure that on average, the TI5 prefix in my call is probably worth about an S-unit or so, and a Nicaraguan prefix would be worth two. And when you finally find someone who wants to ragchew, the QSO can be truly memorable. I have had many a QSO that has lasted for hours. Such a QSO makes up for the rest, and to me, it is what ham radio is really supposed to be about. The louder your signal, the more the other station is usually interested in ragchewing, so if you are a ragchewer, a DX callsign is just no substitute for aluminum and copperweld, and lots of it, if you want to really enjoy this hobby.
What The Bands Are Like In Central America
I have already touched a bit on the situation on 2m. FM and won't belabor that here. Other activity on VHF/UHF is quite limited - there is almost no activity on SSB, weak signal, or space communications on VHF and UHF from here - so far as I know, there has only been one EME QSO from Costa Rica, probably anywhere in Central America, and it was on CW on 2 meters quite a few years ago. There has been almost no activity since. That means that if you are planning to retire here and want to build an EME or weak signal station for VHF or UHF, you will have very little competition, and arranging skeds with hams in other countries should not be difficult, as almost no one will have a QSL from Costa Rica on VHF or UHF. I am not aware of any of the ham radio hotels that are equipped at present for space communications, and only one that even has 2m. or 70cm. SSB/CW capability. The TI5KD facility in Alajuela has a long-boom horizontally polarized yagi for 2m., but it is fixed towards the horizon in the west and is not steerable, and last I heard had a VSWR problem anyway. I am not sufficiently familiar with the several other ham radio hotels in the region to know what they offer. There has never been a transatlantic or transpacific QSO on 2 meters via tropo, but intense inversion layering occurs almost daily here year round, and I am convinced that a transoceanic QSO has not been done only for a lack of adequate effort. Once I am settled, if I am in a suitable location, I am planning to build a 2 meter weak-signal station specifically for making a transatlantic or transpacific attempt. There are microwave band allocations here that pretty much match those in the States up to 10 Ghz., so they would be suitable for experimentation. There is no microwave activity here that I am aware of on the ham bands.
Six meters is a popular band here because transequatorial-scatter openings into South America (and occasionally the U.S. midwest) is a very common phenomenon. Unfortunately, we also have a channel 2 television here (all television here is analog and is likely to remain so for many years to come), and as it is one of the more popular channels, you'll have to be careful and discreet to avoid getting your Worked All Neighbors award. But "sporadic" E openings here into northern South America are frequent on six meters and that makes up for the TVI problem - and makes this a popular band among the more serious operators blessed with some distance to their neighbors.
Being this close to the equator, we are very close to the equatorial electrojet, which means that propagation on HF, especially to the south, is about as good as it gets, particularly at the low part of the sunspot cycle when propagation is rotten everywhere. A good way to think of it is that each HF band here behaves about the way that the band below it does in the higher latitudes. For example, 20 meters behaves about the way you would expect 40 meters to behave in the States, and 40 meters behaves about the way you would expect 80 meters to behave in the States, etc. This means that the higher bands are open earlier and remain open longer than in the States, and openings on 15 meters and even 10 meters are common at the bottom of the sunspot cycle, when propagation on those bands has virtually disappeared in the States, Japan and Europe. With a higher sun angle than higher latitudes, D-layer absorption is more of a problem here, totally obliterating 75/80, 60, and 40 at mid day, and severely attenuating signals on 20 as well. But the improved E and F2 layer propagation at other times of the day more than makes up for it.
Because of our position close to the equatorial electrojet, "sporadic" E openings aren't just sporadic, they're almost daily, and on 20 meters, almost constant. It is a rare day here in Costa Rica when 10 meters isn't open into South America - but only to stations spread along an arc between 5000 km. to 5800 km. in distance from here. So working stations in Santiago de Chile, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo or Montevideo is so common it is almost boring. Get on 28.400 any afternoon between noon and six PM, and you'll hear LUs working PYs (with a smattering of CXs and CEs), often several conversations at the same time on the same frequency. Signals generally aren't terribly strong, but they are certainly workable, and I have had a lot of long, enjoyable QSO's with stations in South America using this propagation mode. I recently built a 5/8 vertical antenna for ten meters specifically for taking advantage of this mode, and it has proven to be a good choice of antenna. Signals are more consistent on 15 meters in this mode, but there is less activity there, so it is harder to make a contact. On 20 meters, this propagation mode is almost constant, and so the strongest signals on the 20 meter band are nearly always the stations in the above described arc. Since PSK31 is a very popular mode in Latin America, probably a third to a half of the signals one sees at times on the PSK bands are in that arc and are being heard through that propagation mode. In fact, the 20 meter band is open to that region virtually around the clock on this propagation mode, and signals from that arc are often so strong on PSK31 that they shut down your AGC and make copying North American or European stations a bit difficult.
At this low part of the sunspot cycle, when 10, 12 and 15 meters are open in the F2 mode, signals are weak, but QSB is low. When this occurs, these bands are usually open pretty much worldwide, though the signals tend to be rather few and far between. But this is made up for by E-layer openings, often double or triple-hop, along the equatorial region, and signals can be strong, though with a lot of QSB in this mode. Signals tend to be few, and propagation to a given station tends not to last long, encouraging hello-goodbye contacts, exchanging quick S9+20 reports before the signals fade right into the noise a moment later.
17 meters is generally open into the States between about 10 AM and 3 PM, but signals are few and there is a fair amount of QSB. The TI prefix is fairly uncommon on this band, so there is generally a fair amount of interest when I am on. The DX propagation on this band is generally pretty good, but stations rather sparse, and there is often not a lot of competition for it, so it is a fun band to check - like Forest Gump's box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get.
20 meters generally "wakes up" about sunrise and by 8 AM, the signals are normally strong and QSB is acceptably low. The band remains open to the States through most of the daylight hours, though signals get a bit weak during mid-day, and pick up again by 3 PM. By 7 PM, the whole band is quiet, including even the PSK subband. The only signals to be heard late evening and at night are the occasional weak signals from VK/ZL, which can occasionally be heard at any time during the evening hours, and of course, the constant propagation into central South America. DX on 20 is heard at any time the band is open to the States - long path into central Asia, eastern Europe and the Far East happens daily, even at the bottom of the sunspot cycle. Getting your DXCC for 20 meters here is primarily an exercise in just collecting and sorting QSLs if you have any kind of antenna worth talking about, and are active at all.
30 meters at the low part of the sunspot cycle has two openings every day quite reliably - from sunrise to about 10 AM, and from 4 PM to just after sunset. During those times, PSK can be fairly active, and a CQ will usually raise someone in eastern U.S. or Canada, as TI is quite rare on this band. Late at night, the band stays wide open - but usually only to a vast stretch of salt water in the South Pacific, and about the only thing you are likely to hear is a VK or ZL in the wee hours of the night when sensible people in the New World are in bed fast asleep. Mid day, the band is open - barely - to the southeastern U.S. (mostly Florida), but there is little activity and long stretches of calling CQ will yield few QSO's. My most successful antenna on this band has been my 5/8 vertical for 10 meters that happens to have a low VSWR on this band, and operates on this band as a standard 1/4 wave vertical. It is typically 6dB or so better than the random dipole at 45 feet that I also use.
40 meters has shorter skip than in the States, and more resembles 80 meters, especially in the daytime. The band is open to the U.S. every evening between about 4 PM local time and about 8 PM local time, and in the mornings from about 5 AM to 9 AM. In the evening, the DX takes over, and Europeans are more common on 40 than are U.S. stations after about 9PM. When international broadcasting finally ends on 40 meters next year, this band is destined to become a prime DX band for all of Latin America. During the day, the band is open from here to northwestern South America (Colombia and Ecuador), and Central America except between about noon and 2 PM, during which time the band is essentially dead - just like 75 meters in the States. Grayline DX is terrific on this band, with reliable daily openings into eastern Europe, Japan, the Far East and VK/ZL.
60 meters is available to Costa Rica hams by default. Technically not legal, but the CNR doesn't seem to mind its use if you are responsible and avoid interference to any regional fixed-service signal you may encounter there, and run low power, i.e., barefoot. The channels are open reliably to the States during the night-time hours. There are a couple of operators in Colombia that I frequently hear producing truly rock-crushing signals on this band here late in the evening - don't know what they are running, but it has got to be some serious power. The best results I have had getting into the States on this band have been with a vertical antenna (a 1/4 wave vertical for 30m., force tuned with a transmatch), not the trap dipole at 45 feet I often use for other bands. It is not at all uncommon for signals from the States to be S3 or S4 on the vertical and easily workable, when on the dipole they cannot even be heard, much less worked. This leads me to suspect that the critical difference is the low take off-angle of the vertical is important for working this band. A four-square antenna aimed at the States should produce very good results. My plans, when I get some real estate to play around on, are to build a four-square for this band and see how well it works out.
75/80 meters in the day is good for short-haul QSOs around Costa Rica, except between noon and 3PM when it is almost impossibly dead. The evenings produce signal and noise and distance propagation about what you would expect of 160 in the higher latitudes. This band requires good antennas for much success in talking outside of Central America, and a 1.2-wavelength skywire loop at 60 feet up or higher is about the minimum that will do much of anything for you. The few really successful stations here on this band go for front-to-rear as much as gain in order to cope with the high noise levels, and use either a 4-square 1/4 wave vertical array or wire quads hung from concantenary wires between truly enormous towers - in excess of 130 feet high. Winter atmospheric noise on good nights is low - about S6 - but in the summer months, this band can get incredibly noisy. I have seen noise levels in excess of S9+40dB that just go on all night long - the thunderstorms never go to bed here, and can happen even in the early morning. Fortunately, propagation to the States is best during the summer months, and that partially makes up for the higher noise levels. Signal levels from the better-equipped stations in the States generally run about S9 to S9+20 into an even modest antenna. If you enjoy talking with "the pig farmers" on 75m. roundtables at night, a decent antenna, especially at the right time of year, will make that easily feasible.
160 meters is all but hopeless. Getting out is not the problem - any good 160m. antenna will do that for you, same as anywhere else. The problem is hearing anything. Noise levels on this band are truly incredible - almost never below S9 when the band is open, and S9+20 or S9+40 is the usual noise level except around the end of the year, when the noise level will drop to S6 or S7 for a night or two per week, and be S9 to S9+10 the rest of the time. Because antennas of a practical size on this band are usually rather inefficient, signal levels from the States are typically about the same as 75 meters, but are usually buried in the atmospheric noise. Stations in the States often complain that we are alligators on 160 down here - getting out just fine, but can't hear anything. For those with adequate space, Beverage wires are how that problem is usually dealt with here, but it is a poor solution at best. Some folks have played around with shielded loops, ferrite loopsticks phased to sense antennas and the like, but there really is no good solution for the problem that I have encountered. The noise source - thunderstorms in the Intertropical Convergence Zone - are just too numerous and too widespread to be able to do much of anything about it. If you or anyone else has a good solution, I would like to hear about it.
Lowfer-band (160-190khz). Forget it. Not legal, and it would interfere with the carrier-current operations that the local power utility uses for line control and monitoring - and those carrier-current operations generate a horrific amount of noise on this band anyway.
Typical Station Facilities Here
Ham radio equipment is hard to come by, unless you are wealthy and know someone who can "mule" a radio into the country from the States. So the way most folks get their radios are either by buying used, or getting a gringo friend to bring one down in the suitcase when coming down for a winter vacation. Because they are expensive and hard to get, rigs here are lovingly preserved and used long after they would have long since been retired to the closet shelf by an operator in the States. Most are as much as 20 years old. My rigs, for example, include an IC-735 and a Kenwood TS-430S, and the only new radio I own is a Yaesu FT857D I had brought down for me in 2007. I also own an antenna tuner and a couple of power supplies, all of which I brought with me. No linear amplifier - replacement tubes are difficult to get. I am planning to acquire an FT8900 for VHF FM work. My station is fairly typical of what you would find here. Wealthier hams may own a linear and maybe an IC-706. I have heard of an IC-746 Pro in the country, but haven't actually seen it.
Typical antennas are trap or open-sleeve triband beams, acquired used from the U.S. and shipped down by boat, usually in the shipping containers of gringos that are moving here. For the more ambitious, two-element tri-band or five-band quads are a typical solution, and are usually home built. The materials to build a good, solid quad are readily available, although suitable materials for the spreaders are somewhat problematic - bamboo poles treated for the weather are often used, but will only last a few years. I have yet to find a source for fiberglass spreaders here. Rotators are usually bought on the used equipment market in the States and are shipped down. Towers are fabricated locally by a trusted welder, copying usually Rohn 25 or Rohn 45 designs, or are acquired used from commercial enterprises that are abandoning their two-way systems in favor of cell phones, or microwave internet links in favor of DSL and cable.
When the folks up north are slogging through yet another blizzard, the hams down here are biting their nails worried sick about the high winds tearing their antennas apart. Nearly all towers here are guyed - the trade winds can be very strong here, and unguyed towers or fragile antennas simply don't last long. The trade winds blow year round, but are by far the strongest during the winter months in the U.S. and can really howl in December and January. The velocities aren't extreme (50 to 70 knots is the worst they get), but in a bad year, they can be absolutely relentless, never quitting that time of year. Once, when I wanted to put up a large 2m. antenna, I had to wait three weeks for a sufficiently calm day, and then just barely got it up in time before the winds started back up. I know a ham here who put up a Mosley TA33JR in November and by February, every element of the antenna had been totally destroyed by the almost-constant high winds. Two years later, his mast is still sticking up out of the top of the tower, empty of any antenna at all - he is still contemplating what to install. I am planning to build my own ultra-rugged quad (fiberglass spreaders and aircraft control-cable wire) because I can't find a yagi that I am confident will survive. If antenna manufacturers up north want to test their antennas for high-wind survivability, they should drop me a line. I will be happy to offer a truly murderous test QTH.
Homebrewing And Station Construction And Repairs
Homebrewing here is much more difficult, as you can imagine, than it is in more developed countries, simply because parts here are harder to obtain. When one needs something that is pertinent only to ham radio, one does not just go down to the local ham shop and buy it. There aren't any. In fact, in all of Central America, I know of only one place where one can buy a radio, and that is at a marine radio shop in Panama City - and even then, you had better be prepared to show a marine radio license if you expect to walk out the door with a ham rig - the clerks don't seem to understand the difference.
Accessories are a difficult problem. If you want things like coax switches or diplexers, you'd best cultivate friendships at a ham radio store in the States and get it set up to have them drop ship to a Miami freight forwarder. There are several of those around, and they can get your stuff here no problem, but it is going to cost you. A box of books from Amazon, for example, will cost more for the freight forwarding and duty than the books themselves cost in the first place. So the best thing to do is go to your local ham shop before you move down here, and lay some serious money on them for things like coax, coax switches, porcelain insulators, 450-ohm ladder line, the Antenna Book, etc.
Local small parts are also a problem. The bigger towns - say 50,000 population and bigger, will have at least one electronica - a small mom-and-pop store that is kinda the Latin American answer to Radio Shack in the States, with a similar level and quality of stock. They often have some small parts (a few resistors and capacitors and some of the most common chips in some of the bigger ones), and maybe they will have coaxial cable. But the cable they will have will be incredibly cheap Chinese stuff that claims to be American made, and it is more of a dummy load than a transmission line. I don't recommend it except for the very shortest runs on the lowest frequencies, where shielding isn't an issue - shield coverage is probably 50% at best. I actually bought some once just to coil it up and use it as a dummy load - works great for that, but not much else. They will usually have PL259s, and their barrels, which they sell to CBers (CB is very popular here), and if they have any coax switches at all, it will only be ultra-cheap ones made from ordinary slide switches - not worth carting home, as they won't handle anything more than about five watts. A few of the bigger shops (Electronica Hidalgo in Liberia and Alajuela) carry a Chinese version of RG8A, but again, it is of such terribly poor quality it is hardly worth carting home. I occasionally buy short lengths to pull apart and use for grounding braid - it isn't good for much else. PL259s and "F" connectors for RG59 are about it as far as RF connectors go at most of the shops. Some of these shops have a small assortment of DIN plugs, but nothing that isn't very, very common. Other stuff you might like to find, such as project boxes, are a dream rather than a reality. There is one, and only one, decent electronica in Costa Rica for the sort of stuff that hams need and use - and that is Teltron. They sell honest Belden RG8A for $7 per meter, 9913 for considerably more (I don't recommend 9913 here though - it inevitably gets contaminated by moisture) and even 300 ohm and 450 ohm ladder line. But they are awfully proud of those, too. They also have PL259s of moderate (barely adequate) quality, and even N connectors. They also have a broader selection of small parts than most electronicas. Teltron is located in Alajuela, on the main drag between the International Mall and the Shell station. Next door is Torneca, one of the best sources in the country for stainless screws and nuts.
Telescoping aluminum tubing, of the kind used for antenna construction, is widely available, but the alloy is poor and the walls are very thin, so I would not attempt to build anything bigger than a six-meter yagi with it. I know of no source for T6066 alloy aluminum tubing in the country. I once saw a roll of stainless aircraft control cable in a hardware store here - ideally suited for quad construction - but failed to buy it and have never seen it since and have been kicking myself ever afterward that I didn't get my hands on it. I suppose I could probably order it in, or find it in some of the bigger hardware stores if I spent some serious time looking. Copperweld is impossible to find here, so most folks use electric fence wire, which is available from the larger feed and ranch stores. Some hardware stores actually sell porcelain egg insulators - buy them whenever you see them and stock up. Otherwise, you'll be making your insulators from PVC pipe, and breaking up tower guy cables will be a problem. So far, I haven't found a good material to use for quad spreaders, though I have heard rumors that 8 foot fiberglass fenceposts are available at a feed store in San Carlos. I haven't had a chance to go there and check that out, though. If true, two together would make a great, durable quad spreader. Hard-drawn copper pipe, as used for water pipe in the States, is available in 20 foot lengths at one location in San Jose (called "Casa de Cobre," I am told, but don't know where it is). It can be used for small antennas and rigid coaxial feedlines (1/4" inside 3/4" is a neat 50-ohm, very low loss combination). They also have sheet and ribbon copper, I am told, which would be ideal for building a good lightning protection system - vital here.
Stainless hose clamps, cable clamps and nuts, bolts and screws (don't even think about cad-plated - that stuff lasts only about a year in this humid, salty climate) are sometimes available at the biggest marine shops (Bourdain Marine, on the main drag in Heredia about 2km east of the main intersection in town), but that is the best and about the only source for stainless hardware of that sort. A company called "Torneca" in Alajuela also sells stainless hardware, but their stock of it is limited and they won't always have what you need. If you are moving here, shop in the States for all the stuff you think you would ever need and ship it down with your furniture - you'll be awfully glad you did. Even decent dry wall screws can be hard to find here.
Towers are somewhat problematic. Most widely available in Costa Rica are copies of Rohn 25 and 45. If they are constructed of decent materials and are properly welded and painted, they are every bit as good, if not better, than the real thing. But look it over closely before you buy - if you are buying a used tower and are going to have it removed from an existing site and restacked on your site, be especially careful to inspect it closely for rust and poor welds. Rust is a real problem here, especially on the more humid Atlantic slope, and especially because locally fabricated towers are almost never dip galvanized here, and many are very poorly welded. Forget crank-up and fold-over towers here - they can't survive in the trade winds, which blow incessantly for two months out of the year. Best to get a locally made guyed Rohn clone, and have experienced locals stack it and populate it for you. If you need, let me know and I can put you in touch with an experienced tower crew.
Local Clubs, Nets And The QSL Bureau
The local radio club - the only general interest ham club that I know of in this country - is the Radio Club of Costa Rica. It is the local International Amateur Radio Union affiliate, and operates the QSL bureau for TI. All are welcome, including gringos, and encouraged to join, even if they are not licensed here or elsewhere. Only licensed club members are entitled to use the QSL bureau or the club station. The club maintains a web site that is a good place to find out what is going on and get local information. But the web site and the club meetings are only in Spanish, of course.
There are several local nets, all but one of which are in Spanish, and the presence of an English-only gringo will often lead to harassment. There is a continuous net on 7090 kHz. LSB plus or minus, dealing with local contact meeting-place and traffic handling among local hams in Central America, similar to the WESTCARS and EASTCARS nets in the States. It is strictly Spanish only, and gringos tend to get a frosty reception, even when they speak fluent Spanish. At 7 AM Costa Rica time daily except Sundays, there is a net on 7083 kHz. called The Breakfast Club, which is conducted in English and is targeted towards sailors on vessels in Central American and the western Caribbean, particularly in Panamanian waters. It offers sailing weather, port information and the like, but all hams are very much welcome and encouraged to check in, as activity can be sparse at times.
On two-meter FM, there are three frequencies normally used by gringos, where their presence is generally tolerated and not harassed. They are 145.770 nationwide and two more, 147.540 in the Central Valley and 147.570 outside the Central Valley. Harassment occasionally occurs on the latter two frequencies, but is infrequent and usually not serious or long-lasting. There is a group of hams who have made it their hobby to maintain the system of 2 meter repeaters around the country, so when they have been on a tour recently and have done their thing, everything works great - the nationwide system of linked repeaters can work beautifully. But sometimes a site can go for years without maintenance, and can barely operate if at all. I have not made contact with this group, so I do not know if they would welcome your participation.
© 2008, Scott Bidstrup, all rights reserved. Todos derechos reservados.