03/18/2009 | FP/KV1J Operating from the French island of Miquelon, off the southeast coast of Newfoundland. Tough time of the year to go there! Had delays in both air and sea travel due to storms and sprained my ankle when I slipped on the ice while traveling.

Antennas were simple to erect with the high winds and frozen ground.
Used a SteppIR BigIR Vertical for 40M 10M, Off-Centered Dipole for 80M, and an Inverted-L for 160M.

Rig was an IC-7000, Ameritron ALS-500M amplifier (500W), and MFJ-994 tuner.

Band conditions were a challenge. Each morning through mid afternoon, all I could hear were European stations and very few US/Canada. Things got better after that and managed to get some runs going. Getting spotted yielded some good pileups. Just wish more could find me without the spots. Had a nice 15M opening Sunday to the Southeast US. It was a nice break to work stations without all the QRM!! Nothing was heard on 10M.

Had great support locally. Jean-Pierre FP5CJ is a good friend and helped me while on the island of St. Pierre. Patricia and Erik of the Motel de Miquelon (aka Maxotel) took good care of me and feed me very well! Also, the folks on Miquelon were very supportive. I had one of the amplifier power supplies die. The next morning I had a car battery and cables delivered to my room and was back in business.

Was a lot of fun and thanks for all the support and patience pulling my signal out of the crowded bands.

73, Eric FP/KV1J -- KV1J