South Cook Islands E51A - E51MMM - E51NNN: 10/01/2007

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

E51 Planning

Ron and I have been planning this trip since early in 2007. With the help of Victor, E51CG, we obtained our E51 licenses several months ago. Visitors are limited to 3-letter call signs, so we opted for E51MMM and E51NNN, as those seemed best for our planned concentration on CW.

Here is the run down on our two stations: Elecraft K2 and Icom IC 7000. Antennas will be "verticals on the beach" - one Force 12 Sigma 5, two Force 12 Sigma 40XK's fed through a Comtek phasing box, 160m inverted L, 80m vertical, two beverages and one pennant antenna. The 160m and 80m antennas will be held aloft on 60 ft. telescoping fiberglass poles. Our QTH is the Kii Kii Motel on the north shore of Rarotonga, the main island of the Cooks. The Kii Kii, which comes highly recommended, has been the home of many DXpeditions to Rarotonga.

Logistics: Ron and I will each be carrying all the gear with us. Nothing has been shipped in advance. In addition to our carry-on bags, each of us will check through four pieces of luggage. Weight limits have been carefully checked with the airlines - United and Air NZ - and we are expecting to pay a reasonable amount for excess weight.

Victor, E51CG, Bob, W7YAQ, and Bill, N7OU have all been invaluable in answering our many questions about operating from Rarotonga. Victor lives there, and Bob and Bill have recently operated from there.

Time to departure: 11 days and counting!

73, George, K5KG

DOs and DONTs of QSLing

Having just completed the answering of 1300+ cards that have been received, I offer the following DOs and DONTs of QSLing:

DO use envelopes with peel and stick flaps. They speed up sealing of envelopes.

DO put your call sign in bold, large print on the same side as the QSO information.

DO enclose enough postage or an IRC to cover the cost of return postage. IF this isn't possible, send the card anyway with a self addressed envelope.

DO avoid extraneous enclosures. Personal notes, canceled stamps, etc. should be avoided unless critical. Sometimes they are nice, but slow down the process.

DO NOT enclose a small return address label instead of an envelope.

DO NOT use envelopes without glue. They have to be taped shut, and that is a real pain!

DO NOT seal envelopes so tightly that they can't be quickly opened with a letter opener.

DO NOT mix cards to or from different call signs. They really slow down the processing of cards.

DO NOT fold or "hide" IRCs or Green Stamps so intricately that they are hard to unfold when opening.

QSLs

There is no QSL bureau in the Cook Islands. All QSLs must go to K5KG, either directly with an s.a.s.e. or via the W5 QSL Bureau, attn K5KG.

Direct QSL requests must be sent to:

George Wagner, K5KG
5113 Higel Avenue
Sarasota, Florida 34242 USA

The QSLs have been designed and printed. We began the process of answering 1300+ QSLs beginning in late January 2008. As of Feb 4th, '08, nearly all cards have been answered. We continue to receive 6 to 10 cards daily by direct mail. We have not yet received any QSL requests via the W5 QSL bureau.

73, George