What Ham Radio Is Really Like In Costa Rica
Here's a quick overview of my Costa Rica station. Sorry no pix yet, but my digital camera was stolen recently, and I haven't gotten a replacement yet. Soon Now. Real Soon Now.
Electronics I Currently Own
Icom IC735, purchased new in 1988. I am currently not using this radio as it has a synthesizer problem - mixer injection is lost when the radio is tuned between 85 khz. and 100 khz. of any band segment. So far, I have not looked into this problem. My current plans are to use this radio for a PSK31 beacon on ten meters. As this would place the operation of the radio outside the problem band segment, the problem should not preclude this use. Once settled, I expect to construct a special 5/8 wave 10 meter vertical for this beacon.
Kenwood TS-430S, purchased used in 2007. This is my backup radio for SSB, and I find using this radio to be very satisfying - it has a nice feel, good audio (transmit and receive) and seems to have a great receiver. Right now, it doesn't get much use, because I lack the coax switch needed to switch between it and my Yaesu radio. This transciever is a classic design - rugged, well-performing and easy to work on.
Yaesu FT-857D, purchased new in 2007. My primary radio, I really like this radio a lot, except for the one failing that is so very typical of Yaesu HF radios - not enough IF gain - a fatal problem in a radio that bills itself as primarily a mobile rig. If Yaesu would just put another 10dB of IF gain in this radio, it would easily be the best radio I have ever owned, hands down. As it is, the IF gain is adequate only if you have a good antenna connected to it to hear the antenna's noise floor and so that it can drive the IF hard enough to cause the AGC to begin to cut back the gain. And that doesn't happen in mobile operation, but I don't use it mobile, so that is not an issue for me personally. Otherwise, everything on it works great, and the user-interface is exceptionally well-thought out. I was concerned when buying it that with so much of the radio's controls being reduced to menu options, that it would prove to be cumbersome to use, but that has not proven to be the case. The most needed menu options are accessible with the touch of a single button in most cases, and rarely with more than two. When you need to do something more arcane, two button pushes and a rotation of the tuning dial will generally get you there. With more than 100 menus in it, the radio is incredibly versatile and flexible - you can even set it up to have the meter functions change the display color! I really like the fact that it has a separate VOX circuit just for the digital/soundcard modes, and with its own controls separate from the mic-driven VOX. Made it a breeze to hook it up to the computer and get it running on soundcard modes, getting the levels just right and without affecting its usability on SSB at all. I really like that.
Antennas I Am Currently Using
I am living in a rented house at the moment, so my antenna options are quite limited. Most of the antennas are supplied by my landlord, TI5KD, who used them when he lived here until October, 2007.
5BDQ Trap Dipole. This antenna is mounted on a tower at the 45 foot level in the center, and the ends are configured as an inverted Vee. It is an old antenna and has been around for a lot of years, and is not tuned well - one of the 20m. traps is bad and the other frequencies are out of tune, so I just use this antenna with a transmatch to ensure that the VSWR remains reasonable. I force-match it with the transmatch for just about all the bands when I need to use it in preference to the other antennas.
R5 Cushcraft Vertical. This Cushcraft product is a really great idea, and it would perform well if it were operating properly. But it has faulty sections in 20m. and 17m., and the other bands are sufficiently far out of tune that I don't use it for anything but PSK31 where I can keep the power to a minimum (the landlord will not permit me to tune it with a transmatch). The landlord has tuned it for portable operation at the beach by simply putting it on a pipe driven into the beach sand, and it is apparently tuned well for that, but it is mounted over a steel roof at the moment, and that places it sufficiently out of tune that I am not keen on using it at full power. But it works fairly well on 15 and 10, at least for PSK, and for that it is a useful antenna. It is electrically rather complex and the manufacturer warns against force-tuning it with a transmatch, but when it works, it works very well.
5/8-wave 10 meter vertical. The only antenna I have installed at this QTH, this antenna works like a bomb on both 10 meters, for which it was installed, and 30 meters, where it just happens to tune brilliantly as a 1/4-wave vertical with almost no reflected power. In fact, for 30 meters, after adding some 30 meter radials to help it along, it is the best antenna I have, and I have been using it as much or more on 30 than on 10. Lots of folks have gotten their first TI contact on 30 as the result of my use of this antenna. On both bands, it tunes closely enough that I do not use a transmatch.
Antennas for VHF and UHF. There are several antennas for VHF and UHF on this property, most of which I am not using. There is an 11 element 2 meter beam that will be coming down soon, as my landlord has another use for it - at present it is being used for an intercom 2m. link between me and my landlord when he is in his other home in Alajuela. I will be replacing it with a 4 element quad that he has given me. There is also a 70cm. beam which has no coax at the moment, and a ground-plane vertical and 5 element yagi, both for 6m. Until I get a diplexer for six meters, the 6m. antennas are sufficiently inconvenient that I seldom use them. A 70cm/2m dual-band vertical is not in use at the moment either.
The QTH
I am living in a country house in the Canton of San Ramón, near the city of that name, which is located about 50 miles west of the national capital of San José. To say that I am living out in the country is to put it mildly - I am 17 km. from San Ramón and 3.2 km. out on a 4WD trail, in the middle of a group of coffee farms in the Pacific hills above Miramar. Getting here is a bit of a challenge at any time of the year, but during the rainy season it is impossible in anything but a serious 4WD vehicle. The road is a public street, but that doesn't mean it gets much attention that the residents who live along it don't provide. There are numerous large rocks and places that when wet, become deep mud requiring careful four-wheeling to navigate. There are no telephone wires out here yet, and even electric power lines were installed only two years ago.
But the view more than makes up for the isolation. Being located on the rim of the mountains that surround the Central Valley, this house is situated on a south-facing hillside 1000 meters above the Pacific Ocean, and what a view it has! From my front porch, I can survey most of the Nicoya Peninsula, nearly all of the Gulf of Nicoya, all of Tarcoles Bay, and the mountains and plains that surround the Orotina/Esparza area. On any of the frequent clear days, I can see Isleta Cabo Blanco, the tiny island at the tip of the Nicoya peninsula, which is located 85 km. - more than 50 miles - to my southwest, and on occasion even to the optical horizon, 95 miles away. The view of the Pacific is always changing and endlessly enjoyable, and I enjoy watching the cargo and cruise ships coming and going to the ports of Caldera and Puntarenas. The naturalness of the environment is also a joy. I see colorful parrots and toucans almost every day, and bright orange Baltimore orioles, blue-crested motmots (Nicaragua's stunning national bird) and scarlet-rumped black tanagers are frequent visitors. A row of lantanas in my front yard attract butterflies and hummingbirds almost constantly, and in the rainy season, the zebra butterflies are so numerous they are actually a bit of a nuisance.
Unfortunately, the house is on a fairly small lot, not suitable for a big skywire loop or wire beams, and given the isolation of this place, I would not want to live here permanently. The road is also going to be a problem during the rainy season, so I hope to have a property built and get moved out of here before the rains hit in May. But for now, I am enjoying the use of the antennas and the dramatic view from my front porch.
On-Air Activities
I enjoy a range of on-air activities. I am quite active on PSK31 on most bands. I like this mode a lot, because even modest stations, such as the one I am using, are able to compete effectively. I have become rather fond of the challenge of working PSK31 on both ten meters, with its daily openings into South America and occasionally VK / ZL, and also 30 meters. That band is a challenge at the low part of the sunspot cycle, because this QTH is just a bit too far from the States for 30 meters to be a good daytime band, and a bit too close to be a good nighttime band. Hence, the TI prefix is really popular when the band is open to the States, which usually happens around grayline for an hour or two. I am also quite active on 20 meter PSK in the daytime, and on 40 meters I can be found almost every evening working Stateside stations in the U.S. PSK window, and DX stations in the DX window. Late at night when 40 folds to the States, I may occasionally be found on 80 meter PSK, but that band suffers from serious atmospheric and phase noise at this QTH, so that limits its effectiveness as a PSK band from this region of the world, particularly in the summer months. I check the other bands, including especially 15 and 10 meters in the day, and 160 meters at night during the winter.
I am also quite active on phone, especially on 10 meters in the daytime, working the almost daily openings into South America on this band. You can also find me on 20 meter phone in the daytime, working the DX nets, and occasionally in the evenings, listening to or working (when band conditions permit) what is called here the "pig farmer" roundtable QSOs on late-night 75 meters.
I also do some analog SSTV, particularly on 20 meters just after sunrise and just before sunset, when the signals into the States are the strongest, and the signal from my modest station is adequate. I often transmit images that I have shot myself of Costa Rican landscapes, and that I have collected of the beautiful flora and interesting fauna of this incredibly picturesque country.
Long-Term Plans
I am working on finalizing my residency, and when that finally happens, I intend to acquire another property, hopefully in the San Ramón area. What I would like to find would be a hilltop property with sufficient space (at least a hectare) to put up some double-wave crossed inverted Vee antennas for 40 and 80. I have a 70 foot tower in storage, and when I get settled, that tower is going up in a hurry. I am planning to construct a 3-element, 5-band quad on an 18 foot boom which I have already designed, and turn it with a locally acquired gear motor, and controls I have built myself. This way, I will have an antenna I can use for many years to come, and never have to worry about the high winds in Costa Rica tearing my antenna apart. When the trade winds howl, I intend to be howling myself on 20 through 10 meters in the day and 30 through 160 meters at night.
© 2008, Scott Bidstrup, all rights reserved. Todos derechos reservados.