Frequently Asked Questions

What is the weather like ?

It is warm here by just about anyone’s standards. The late fall through early spring months are generally considered warm and comfortable by all guests. Depending on where you are coming from, you might find our summer months pretty hot at times. The HAMlet has a lot of shade and is many degrees cooler than outside during the heat of the day, though. We also have a fan or two available for those particularly hot weeks. The bedroom has a window air conditioning unit that can be activated (keeping in mind the cost of our expensive island energy). If you are very sensitive to hot weather, be sure and check with Jody for an accurate prediction of what temperatures you can anticipate during the time you would like to visit the islands.

What about the food and water ?

The island has a very well stocked IGA story that should have everything you need in the way of food. In addition, there are plenty of restaurants on the island.  

Most visitors find that they can drink the island water – that comes from a desalinization plant – without “complications.” If you are concerned, though, the IGA store stocks plenty of bottled water.

Ham Radio Concerns

The HAMlet is in the Caribbean; therefore, we are constantly working to keep all exposed antennas, feedlines, towers, etc. in good working condition. We work hard at this challenge year around so that our guests can simply come, plug in their rigs, and experience trouble free operations. We do try to do quick checks of antennas before you arrive to make sure everything is still in good working order.

Just like everything else in life, antennas and equipment can fail, though, at anytime. However, rest assured that if something does fail, we probably have a backup available or a means of getting the matter handled quickly. We are not a rig repair shop, though, and one should not expect to find such talent on the island. Fortunately, we do have a personal rig or two available that probably can be used in a pinch.

What about available tools ?

We have one of each of the critical wrenches needed to assemble the towers and antennas we have and a few other basic things. While not suggesting you overload your baggage with iron, we do think you might want to bring some of your favorite essential tools if you are planning on working on your rig or making up cables, etc.

You might want to throw in a soldering iron or gun unless you have checked previously with Jody to see if she has one available.

What kind of line voltage and power can we expect ?

The island power is generally very reliable and there are very few outages. We do get the occasion outage for a minute or two but rarely longer than that.

The HAMlet has plenty of USA style 120VAC plug outlets. There are a few multi-plugs adapters; easily sufficient for a fully geared up SOABHP effort with accessories.

There are two 220VAC outlets adjacent to each other at a central point for easy distribution to those various operating positions. We even have some 220VAC extension cords made up to help get that power to your stations. Your 220 plug needs to look like this - * -

The one 24VDC supply is located in the ham shack. It will give you 38 amps of continuous power; it is rated at 50 amps momentary.

Should I bring any coax ?

All the antennas on the site have good coax feed to them and we do keep quite a bit of spare length available in the event of a failure. You do not need to bring coax. We even have several extra feet of coax inside the Hamlet entry point so that most of our antennas can be spread out a bit between operating positions.

We do not have short length coax jumpers for interconnecting rigs.

Are there antenna switches available ?

The main operating console in the ham shack room has two fixed-in-place Alpha Delta antenna switches - you may need to bring others to be able to configure things for multihop groups.

Will I need an antenna tuner box ?

We doubt you will need an antenna turner box for any of our antennas. If you should determine you do need a tuner, there are a couple of tuners that previous guests have generously left behind.

Are bandpass filters available?

We are going to operate two stations at the same time ( or “I am going to operate SO2R” ) – should we bring our own bandpass filters?

Yes, bring your own filters - there are no bandpass filters available at the HAMlet.

I understand there is a separate tower with some stacked 10m beams

Yes, there is a tower that has two 3el 10m antennas that are fixed on the USA in a stack with a single feedline - they are hardwired together and not switchable in and out. They are relatively low in height because its was intended for USA coverage by the ops that put it up.

What antennas are currently up for 80 and 160 ?

Dennis K7BV made these observations after operating as VP5M in the 2004 ARRL DX CW contest.

"There is a 80 meter rotatable dipole that is now in a fixed position on the tower with the two 3el 10 meter antennas. It has relay switching for the different portions of the band, and the switiching worked perfectly. It is a quiet antenna and performed very well for me to the USA and VE. There is also a wire dipole for 80 that might have performed even better because it is full-size. It is cut for phone, though, and I had no time to mess with it before the contest started. I did note that it 'heard' quite well although it seemed to pick up more local manmade noise than the rotary. 

For 160, I used what is referred to as the 'fence line 160 dipole'. This very low dipole performs incredibly well - at least across the NA and SA. I did just a little DXing outside the contest with it and it seemed to play fine to Europe. 

There are sufficient towers and space that a higher dipole or Inverted Vee could be put up for a different direction orientation – my guess is the trouble would not bring much improvement in results."

I would like to climb the towers and change the antennas around a bit, okay ?

JODY, THE OWNER, REQUIRES THAT SHE APPROVE ANY PLANS TO PUT UP TEMPORARY ANTENNAS OR ANY ACTIVITIY THAT REQUIRES CLIMBING ANY OF THE TOWERS –- NO EXCEPTIONS. BE FOREWARNED THAT THE HAMLET IS NOT RESPONISBILE FOR ANY INJURIES THAT OCCUR WHILE DOING ANTENNA WORK.

How many stations can we easily set up ?

The Hamlet will accommodate four stations. There are two complete consoles, a typical round metal 4-chair table, and a spare heavy-duty plastic folding table stored in a closet in the bedroom.

Would a vertical be suitable from that QTH for 40/80? It does not look like it is very close to the water

The HAMlet is quite a ways back from the water and you probably would not see the benefit of close proximity vertical performance. HOWEVER, Jody uses her HyTower nearly all the time instead of bothering with her tribander and does great barefoot. One op considered spending the money for some helium and putting up a balloon vertical support for an 80/160 with 3 elevated radials for each but did not get around to carrying out the task. Assume the gas might be a bit spendy so do not launch this idea yourself without having Jody check out gas availability and price first.

Do keep in mind that the limestone/coral is a terrible ground so elevated radials are probably the answer BUT, again, we should point out that Jody does fine with her vertical with radials just laid out on the ground.