From: dxcoffee@alt119.net.remove-9o7-this   
      
   The idea for ​​this expedition was born right in the first months of 2015   
   when my friend and travel companion IZ1DSH Gerry , finally agreed to   
   participate in a Dxpedition overseas, specifically in Cuba.   
   I had already been to Cuba several times, having a Cuban wife and in the past   
   I had met Orelvis CO6LC, of whom I am now the QSL manager. So I began asking   
   ORELVIS to try and arrange a Dxpedition .   
   Months went by and I got no response; the bureaucracy in Cuba is   
   insane. Meanwhile I downloaded from the Internet the rules of procedure of   
   the FRC Federacion Radioaficionado Cubana and fortunately among  the various   
   articles I found that only Cuban    
   citizens can get a special callsign, but if it comes to special events such as   
   contests or other activations of worldwide interest, you can designate a Cuban   
   team member who will be in charge of the station and its callsign. Under these   
   circumstances,    
   foreign hams are allowed to operate .   
   Having overcome this hurdle,  I askedOrelvis to organize a team for August   
   2015, which is typical holiday time for most  italians.   
   Speaking with Cubans, we then found out  that August is the worst month for   
   propagation at those latitudes as we were to experience later !!!! They say   
   the best months are from October to February ; in addition to better   
   propagation, the noise is very    
   low.   
   Meanwhile the months passed and I constantly urged my contact in Cuba to know   
   whether my requested callsign had been accepted, but I got nothing, we were   
   already in July, I urged him more and more nervously but nothing, only in late   
   July they told me    
   that I was assigned the callsign T46BC! Hurray!!! Then I tried to get   
   publicity also through DxCoffee, but people in Cuba told me that I had to wait   
   .... Only on August 1st I was given permission to create the qrz.com page and   
   inform the various Dx    
   outlets.  The flight was scheduled on August 11 from Turin, Havana   
   via  Madrid. In 10 days there had already been 600 visit to the QRZ page...   
   .not bad; there was some interest.   
   We arrived in Cuba really worried for our radio equipment.  Who knew what   
   would have happened in Customs, you know, because of the embargo it is   
   prohibited to import anything in Cuba. Imagine with radios that can be   
   considered as a means of espionage.   
   Instead, waiting for us at the airport there was the President of FRC, Mr.   
   Pedro Rodriguez Perez CO2RP, who got us out of the customs in no time.   
   That was impressive when you think that no tourist except for the   
   Russian T46RRC Team in 2013 had been able to transmit from Cuba, but they   
   were in a 5 star hotel.   
   Concerning rigs, we brought an Alinco DX 70, LDG z11 pro, headphones with   
   pedal PTT microphone, SWR meter and switching power supply only 1kg heavy!!   
   The Cuban guys had prohibited me to bring a power supply because of the   
   weight. They probably imagined a    
   30A unit of 25 kg!   
   Our antennas were a Spiderbeam for 10-15-20 meters, a single element VPA   
   System Delta Loop especially built by our Polish friend for 10-15-20-17-24 6   
   meters bands! And two Array Solution phased vertical for 40 meters, which have   
   turned out to be real    
   beasts. The Cuban hams that were with us, said they had never heard such   
   strong signals from ZL, VK, ZS, JA in 40 meters.!   
   The activity took place in two stages; we first got on the air from the CU 015   
   reference Lighthouse on an uninhabited island, where civilians had not set   
   foot since 2008; the only people who live there are the two lighthouse   
   watchmen who take 21 days    
   shifts and two military guards having 16 days shifts. Cayo Bahia de Cádiz is   
   a VERY Strategic point to minotor the nationals waters. It is actually the   
   closest point to FLORIDA and this is why it is very supervised by the   
   military, fearing that Cuban    
   citizens escape to the USA !!!   
   Electric power was supplied only at night from 8 pm to 6 am. At daytime, we   
   had to use generators!!! ahhh the inner part of the island can be reached only   
   through a swampy path with a small rowing boat.   
   The 17 nautical mile distance from the main island is covered in 4 - 5 hours   
   with a fishing boat !!!   
   From the lighthouse we also used vertical antennas, home made by the Cuban   
   hams and dipoles for 80 and 160 meters !!   
   The second leg of the expedition took place right from Cayo Santa Maria NA 204   
   !!   
   Rigs, besides the Alinco DX 70, were: Yaesu FT 747 Yaesu FT 757 GX,   
   Yaesu FT 80C !!! Old but working fine. I won't tell you how the Cuban hams   
   admired the ALINCO; to them, it looked like one of the latest rigs, but it is   
   indeed more than 20 years old!   
   We installed a real base camp with 5 tents, generators, cooking site and food,   
   open air toilets, we were not missing anything. Except for women, we had   
   everything!!! The sea, beautiful beaches, nature, radios, pile-ups !!!!   
   Ahh about the pile-ups, we used the split on one occasion, I must say that the   
   operators were disciplined enough, best manners, Japanese nd Americans. Always   
   patient before calling.   
   It goes without saying that the Americans got the lion's share, but  we   
   worked more than 120 countries and Italy,  followed by German and Spain.   
   A total of 7124 QSO's were made despite times when there was no propagation at   
   all,  there were times when we did not hear anything.   
   The best experience was the brotherhood with the Cuban team that received us   
   just like if we were long time friends,  true Ham Spirit, thanks to the full   
   team of Santa Clara.   
   All photos are available on the qrz page and on the official facebook T46BC   
   page, The on line Log is available on Club Log.   
   73 de Riccardo IZ1GDB    
   TRADUZIONE Fabrizion IU0BMP   
   ÿ   
      
   http://www.dxcoffee.com/eng/2015/10/12/t46bc-dxpedition-story-cuba-italy-2015/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)