XE2/WD9EWK on 1-3 September 2001

Updated 26 September 2008

I had a very enjoyable weekend in northern Baja California. I operated from the house of my good friend Alex XE2BSS and his XYL in Mexicali once again, and as a bonus he and I went to Rumorosa - a small town in the mountains 40 miles (60km) west of Mexicali - and operated Field Day style on Sunday (2 September).

Getting the XE permit
I obtained my permit on my last trip to Mexicali in May 2001, so I did not have to deal with those formalities this time. I also maintain a web page with details on how to obtain a Mexican ham permit with updates as I learn about - or personally experience - changes in the ham licensing process there.

My radio operating time
Once again, this was not a DXpedition, but I wanted to do a few things while in Mexico on the radio:

Work as many stations on RTTY, my favorite mode
Try my small FT-817 somewhere away from Mexicali, preferably in a cooler location than the desert valley Mexicali is in

I was at Rumorosa on Sunday (into early Monday, UTC time), and the remainder of the time I operated in Mexicali. Here is a breakdown by band, mode, and DXCC entities of my activity over the entire weekend:

Breakdown by mode:
FM: 1 (to KP4)
Pactor: 1 (to W9)
RTTY: 23 (to DL; JA; OH; UA3; W's 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 0)
SSB: 41 (KP4; VE's 3, 5, 7; W's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 0)

Breakdown by band:
10m: 35
15m: 7
17m: 6
20m: 18

I worked 24 US states, 3 Canadian provinces, and a total of only 7 DXCC countries. Not great numbers, but all fun. I worked KP4 and UA3 for the first time from Mexico, as well as a few states and a province (VE5) for the first time. My equipment at each location was:

Mexicali (DM22go), at the QTH of Alex XE2BSS
(a few miles/km south of the USA border)

Icom IC-706Mk2 at 100 watts
A-99 vertical (10-17m) or 40m inverted-V dipole (40m, 20m with MFJ-969 tuner), both about 30 feet/10m above the house
KAM98 TNC for RTTY and Pactor

Rumorosa (DM12xm), at Centro Recreativo y Vacacional "El Chaparral"
(about 40 miles/60km west of Mexicali, 4250 feet/1300m elevation, a few miles/km south of the USA border)

Yaesu FT-817 at 5 watts
Home-brew dipole, about 36 feet/11m long, 10 feet/3m above ground, strung between two picnic-table awnings
KAM98 TNC
Lots of food and drink for Alex and me, to last the day

Operating from Mexicali was fun once again. I did some SSB on Saturday and Monday, and attempted RTTY each day - morning and night. On Monday, before I left to go back home, I spent the late morning and early afternoon working many stations on 10m SSB. I stayed on a single frequency for over 2 hours, working anyone who responded to me that I could hear. After lunch, just before I left for the border, I worked a couple of stations in Puerto Rico - one on 10m FM, another on 10m SSB. I spoke only Spanish to the guy on 10m FM, and he understood it OK even if I was not using perfect Spanish. I was disappointed in the relatively small number of QSOs in RTTY. In fact, on Monday morning I tried to work more European stations on 15m RTTY but an AA2 station insisted on calling CQ on the 3 or 4 frequencies I called CQ on. If I missed you on this trip in RTTY, my apologies - there will be more trips down there. I will also try more SSB, since it is very fun to be on the receiving end of a pileup, something that never happens to me from home in Arizona.

It was hot in Mexicali all weekend (around 105F/41C with some humidity), and Alex suggested we go up the mountains toward the town of Rumorosa and spend a day playing on the radio from there. Since I had my FT-817 along with two 7Ah gel-cell batteries I knew we could operate for an entire day with that radio. We picked out a picnic table away from the crowd, and that let us string that dipole between a couple of picnic-table awnings and feed it with TV twin-lead into a tuner. We also brought food and drink with us, figuring we would be out for the whole day - and we were. I think Alex made more QSOs (signing as XE2BSS and later in the day as XE2BSS/QRP) in CW, and maybe a couple of SSB QSOs, than I did up there. I stumbled onto a 20m RTTY net, and made 3 RTTY QSOs from up there using my TNC and a laptop Alex brought along. In addition to the RTTY QSOs, I made a few SSB QSOs with stations across the USA and into Canada. We were up there for about 9 hours, until just before the park closed. Just like my trip to northern Arizona for ARRL Field Day in June 2001, this was very fun - and something I will have to repeat on future trips.

Need a QSL from XE2/WD9EWK?
My online log search has been updated with the QSOs from this trip. I mailed all QSL cards - including SASEs for those with USA or Canada addresses, with green stamps and address labels to other countries - from a Phoenix post office on 7 September 2001. Cards going through the bureau were sent to the ARRL outgoing QSL service in early October.

If you are sending a card to me, please send it through the bureau via WD9EWK or by mail to this address:

Patrick STODDARD
P.O. Box 1934
Scottsdale AZ 85252-1934
U.S.A.

And please do NOT write callsigns on the outside of the envelopes.

I welcome SWL reports. You may mail them to me or forward them through the QSL bureaus, or simply e-mail me with the reception details and your mailing address and/or QSL route so I can send you a QSL card confirming your reception report.

Comments/Questions?
If you have any other questions or comments about this trip, please feel free to contact me.

WD9EWK/VA7EWK - XE2/WD9EWK - QSL VIA WD9EWK