8P9AE

Barbados - November 2018

Operation

Our last DXpedition to Barbados took place between November 06 and November 20, 2018. We were active with three stations from 160m through 10m on CW, SSB and Digi modes. Please check our News Page.

       

Our equipment consists of a transceiver Elecraft K2, two transceivers Icom IC7300, two OX1000 power amplifiers, one other power amplifier, a vertical for 160 and 80m, a 40m loop, a 30m loop, a Spiderbeam for 20m through 10m, VDA antennas as well as a few laptop computers.

IOTA

Barbados (8P9) has the IOTA reference number NA-021. Our grid locator is GK03ge.

Team

Our experienced crew includes:

Pilot for this DXpedition is Bernd, DF3CB. Please follow the DX Code of Conduct!

QSL Information

The QSL route is via DL7DF either direct to:

Sigi Presch, DL7DF
Wilhelmsmuehlenweg 123
12621 Berlin
Germany

or via the German QSL bureau DARC to DL7DF.

If you prefer a direct QSL please send a SASE or SAE with 1 new IRC or 2 US$ for a international letter. When sending IRC's please check the expiration date, the new ones are valid until the end of 2021. Any donations are very welcome and needed for the high shipping costs.

If you do not provide the right return postage or a self addressed envelope, we reply via the buro. Please only one call sign per envelope! If more than one, all additional cards go via the buro.

Postage needed for 1 envelope with 20 Gramm (FYI): A letter within DL = 70 Euro Cent, a international letter costs 90 Euro Cent. 1 US$ is equal to 83 Euro Cent. So please keep in mind that 1 US$ - due to the bad exchange rate between the US$ and the Euro - does not cover the postage needed for an international air mail letter!

We will upload the full logs of the DXpedition to LoTW within 6 months after the DXpedition.

Sponsors

We would like to express our sincere thanks to all our sponsors for this DXpedition:

www.funkamateur.de www.QSL-Shop.com
Sid - DM2AYO Rudi - DM2XO (ex DL7VFR)
Manfred - DL7UML Juergen - DL7UFN
Tokyo 610 DX Group

Individual sponsors

Bernd - DF3CB
Roman - SP2DDX
Peter - DK2NG
Bernd - DL3GCB
Fred - W0PE
Hans - SM0BYD
Harald - DJ3XA
Jan - DG8HJ
John - KH6U
Rainer - OH6JD
Roland - DL7PA
Hiro - JA0DND

About Barbados

Country name: Barbados
National capital: Bridgetown
Location:

Caribbean, island in the North Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Venezuela

Area: total: 430 sq km
land: 430 sq km
water: 0 sq km
Land boundaries: total: 0 km
Coastline: 97 km
Climate: tropical; little daily or seasonal temperature variation
Terrain: tropical; rainy season (June to October)
Natural resources: petroleum, fish, natural gas
Population: 292,336 (July 2017 est.)
Ethnic groups: black 92.4%, mixed 3.1%, white 2.7%, East Indian 1.3%, other 0.2%, unspecified 0.3% (2010 est.)
Religions: Protestant 66.4% (includes Anglican 23.9%, other Pentecostal 19.5%, Adventist 5.9%, Methodist 4.2%, Wesleyan 3.4%, Nazarene 3.2%, Church of God 2.4%, Baptist 1.8%, Moravian 1.2%, other Protestant 0.9%), Roman Catholic 3.8%, other Christian 5.4% (includes Jehovah's Witness 2.0%, other 3.4%), Rastafarian 1%, other 1.5%, none 20.6%, unspecified 1.2% (2010 est.)
Languages: English (official), Bajan (English-based creole language, widely spoken in informal settings)
Independence: 30 November 1966 (from the UK)

The island was uninhabited when first settled by the British in 1627. African slaves worked the sugar plantations established on the island until 1834 when slavery was abolished. The economy remained heavily dependent on sugar, rum, and molasses production through most of the 20th century. The gradual introduction of social and political reforms in the 1940s and 1950s led to complete independence from the UK in 1966. In the 1990s, tourism and manufacturing surpassed the sugar industry in economic importance.

Reference: CIA - The World Factbook -- Barbados