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Two for the price of one
Buddy Robins
There is an island in the Caribbean that has two names. One side is called
Saint Maarten, and it belongs to the Netherlands. The other side is called
French Saint Martin, and there should be no doubt about its ownership.
Some twenty or so years ago, I spent a delightful ten days vacationing
on the island, and in the process had a marvelous time operating from
a rental vehicle.
I would drive from one country to the other, merely by crossing over
at the dividing line, plainly marked with signs, but with no customs personnel
to impede my progress, and while in contact with a specific station, change
my call sign as I crossed over. For example "W3ZO, this is Fox George
Zero Alpha Yesterday Ontario, mobile on French Saint Martin.....hold everything,
Boyd, here we go.....the call is now Papa Johnny Eight Ham Radio, mobile
on Dutch Saint Marten.."
Some twenty years before, I had done something somewhat similar by working
Reg Tibbets, W6ITH, who held two calls at that time, FS7RT for the French
side, and PH2MC for the Dutch. In that case the contacts had been on the
same day, but from two fixed locations, with one worked in the morning
and one in the afternoon.
The other fascinating contact was made while in the automobile, but parked,
not in motion, from a fishing pier on the French side, near a town called
Grand Case. I was in the company of two delightful gentlemen whom I had
met while driving through the capitol of Dutch St. Martin, a town called
Philipsburg. Joe, W1LUH, and Jack, K1EEG, were in the back seat, the rig
and the author were in the front.
I called "CQ" signing FGØAYO mobile, and Carl, WØQT
came back and announced that he was also mobile...aeronautical mobile
some 38,000 feet over Honolulu. Carl figured, with the help of the computer
on board the Boeing 747 he was flying, that we were roughly 4,4000 miles
apart, which may not have established a record for distance, but certainly
was a "first" between a 747 and a Ford on a French St. Martin
fishing pier.
The other memorable contact was made with Edgar, G3BID. I made contact
with him, mobile to mobile (both of us in automobiles) first from the
Dutch and then from the French side of the island. It took several days
to accomplish, and when it actually happened, it was much more difficult
for Edgar than for me, for while I was basking in a temperature of 80
degrees, he was battling a 50 mile-per-hour gale and snow on the Dorset
coast!
The vacation was made especially enjoyable because I was down with a
ham buddy, Peter Dean, WA2WHF (SK), and also by the presence on the island
of "Doc" Evans, W2BBK (PJ8AA) who first introduced me to St.
Martin many years ago. The three of us, together with my old buddy Vince,
PH7VL, managed to put up three dipoles for 40, 80 and 160 Meters, plus
a TA-33 JR. beam in two consecutive days and one consecutive bottle of
Scotch. I almost succeeded in getting blown off the roof of the house
Peter and I were occupying because the day we put up the beam, there was
a 40 mph off-shore "breeze" blowing. Luckily there were no casualties,
the beam stayed up, and so did I and it performed beautifully for the
ten days I was there.
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