[BARC-List] BARC Question of the Week

[Ramon F. Kolb]

In the same style of John's story...

In early 1994, I was offered the opportunity of a lifetime to do a thesis
project for my BSEE studies at the Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria, in
Managua, Nicaragua. My thesis project was to "design and implement a
wireless, remote readable fumerola measuring station" at Nicaragua's
best-known active volcano, the Momotombo. So after a number of weeks of
design, attempts to source components from the US, soldering work and
programming TNCs, Data Acquisition Units, and radios, off we went. An
extra-length Landcruiser-I full with equipment, a waterproof box with DAU,
TNC, Radio, groundplane antenna,  maintenance free battery, 3 large Siemens
solar panels with regulators, 3 students, 1 "asesor" (advisor), 1 "doctor"
(PhD) from the national geophysics institute (compare to US-GSFS), 2 guides
and 3 carriers (those are person that drag your stuff up the mountain). We
left at 5 AM and drove about 3 hours to the highest point we could reach,
most of it through old river beds and paths up the volcano. This was
followed by another 2.5 hours climb-- by foot, up the gravel of this bare,
slippery, and dangerous mountain.

We made it to the crater, which looked like somebody took a "bite" of the
mountain rather than the nice, round craters that most people know. We
installed the station, and to our amazement we could hear stations as far as
Costa Rica, Honduras and El Salvador in packet. The view from the top must
have been easily 100 miles, as we could see mountain tops in these countries
as well. That must have been one of the most amazing portable operations
I've done...

Other portable operations included a DX-Pedition to the island of Ometepe in
Lake Nicaragua (the only lake in the work with sweet-water shark),
operations all over Europe, HB0 Dxpeditions, a day at 4U1ITU, several VHF
field-days in Europe where we worked tropo DX up to 1000 km on 2 meters, 25
Watts

73s,

--Ramon KX1T
(also, currently/ex: PA3EUG, PDoPEO, YN1EUG, H7oO) (O = letter O; o = number
0)

-----Original Message-----
From: barc-list-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:barc-list-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of G. John Garrett, CAS
Sent: Monday, November 15, 2004 5:38 PM
To: barc-list at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [BARC-List] BARC Question of the Week

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In the early 90s I took a borrowed HW8, my straight key and some magnet wire
to Botswana. Contacts were about as you'd expect from a dipole in the short
trees. 
<snip snap>