Dauphin
Island
A group of five
couples from Chattanooga, Tennessee traveled to Dauphin Island the
weekend of September 24, 2004 to set up a portable radio operation.
The trip, which was planned prior to hurricane Ivan, was all but a
lost hope due to damage on the island. However, the group, citing
worldwide promotion via the web, continued to work to make the trip
a reality, a challenge made more difficult due to the lack of phone
service on Dauphin Island. The assistance of Dauphin Island’s
Mayor, Mr. Jeff Collier, and Boardwalk Reality made the trip
possible. The ham radio group had offered its services to the local
town with emergency health and welfare communications if needed
during their stay.
Dauphin Island is one
of hundreds of islands that are numbered and categorized by the
amateur radio group “Islands on the Air”, which is based in Great
Britain. Amateur radio operators around the world look for these
islands to be activated with radio operations. The confirmed contact
of radio exchanges from these islands becomes part of a collection
of accomplishments and on-going practice radio for operations during
emergencies. The specific island number for Dauphin Island is North
America (NA- 213) and it is one of Alabama's coastal islands located
in the Gulf of Mexico.
The operators all
members of the Tennessee Valley DX Association. The association web
site is
http://tvdxa.com.
This organization promotes amateur radio and the interest in making
long range radio contacts, called “dx” by amateur radio operators.
The group was sponsored by TVDXA and ICOM AMERICA. The team
consisted of Greg (WA4NFO) and Barbarra (WA4RMC) Gregory, Tom
(K4VCM) and Lynn (K0MAI) Morgan, Paul (WA4AA) and Nancy Pagano,
Tommie (K4KWK) and Kay (KI4GYS) Wright and Kenny (AB4GG) and Kathy
(W4KRY) Young. The operation had been issued the special call sign
of W4D under FCC rules.
Several planning
sessions had been held in an effort to organize around this event.
Six antennas were in consideration and three antennas were selected
for the trip. Two Icom 756 Pro HF radios, the Icom Flagship,
IC 7800 HF radio and an Icom 706 MKII-G radio supported their
activation requirements. Operations began in the afternoon of
Friday, September 24 and successfully ended early on Monday,
September 27, 2004.
The activation accumulated 1,608 contacts
worldwide. A very impressive, four panel, QSL card was printed and
sent to all who requested one. The card can be viewed by clicking on
the following link. Likewise, you can view a short video of the
operation on the link below.
QSL Front
Panel
QSL
Back Panel
QSL
Center Pg.2
QSL
Center Pg.3
