My great adventure at CO0RRC – Cayo Coco Island, Cuba
After my first Real DXpedition to Kiska Island (K7K) in July of 2022 I thought “this is terrific”
but, the constant wetness and cold wind did not make for any sort of comfort. I’d camped in
many different locations and conditions as both a young Boy Scout and adult volunteer leader
but camping on a volcanic island in the middle of the Bering Sea was a bit much for this old
Ham. If you have ever seen the TV reality show Deadliest Catch, you’ll understand the Bering is
the roughest body of water on the planet due to the freezing Arctic currents coming down
through the Bering Straits mixing with the warm currents coming up from the South Pacific
Ocean.
I’d thought I was done with expedition adventures as I was not well known in that world and had
no other experience except my Parks on the Air activations to local parks in and around NY, NJ
and PA which in themselves are like Mini expeditions, but I was always in control and could
leave at any time by simply driving home. Not so with a real Expedition where one is very far
from home and civilization in general.
Then, sometime in January of 2023 I got a message from the team leader of the Kiska
adventure, Yuri – N3QQ, who has put together many difficult expeditions over the years with the
Russian Robinson Club, sometimes impossible ones, asking what I thought about a trip to the
South Pacific. He had eyes on an expedition to a little piece of land sticking out of the ocean
called Rose Atoll off American Samoa. I said Sure and he and I began our inquiries. After many
emails and phone calls to the US Fish and Wildlife Service which manages the Atoll we learned
that another group had been given permission for an expedition there and we’d have to wait until
2026 as they only allow visits at 3 year intervals. I was upset but Yuri said “Don’t Worry, we’ll
find another place” so I let it go and had almost forgotten about another expedition when an
email came in mid-February.
This time it was not a “Let’s try to go here” but rather “We are set to go to an island off Cuba”
for the 30th anniversary of his club, the Russian Robinson Club, of which I’d become a member
after activating Kiska Island the year prior.
At first I was a bit apprehensive due to what I, as a US citizen, had heard about Cuba all my life.
The stories we’re told are of crime, corruption, scary prisons and the likes. Yuri assured me that
was just propaganda and when he was there for the 20th anniversary in 2013 it was a great place
with great people.
I asked How can I go there, or yourself for that matter, if there are sanctions prohibiting anyone
from the US from traveling there. He said he had a plan and just trust him, which I did.
Upon learning I’d need a passport I realized mine had long since expired so I scrambled to renew
it and prayed I’d get it on time. With great luck I received the new one by mid-March and filled
out some paperwork which gave me a limited travel visa and booked my flights.
Now I began to feel both excited and anxious as I had never traveled outside the US since 1985
and still had, in the back of my mind, fears about Cuban rebels kidnapping me for ransom
thinking I’m some rich American.
As it got closer to departure day I grew more and more apprehensive; what should I bring, how
much money will I need, don’t want to bring too much to be robbed, too little to be short if
needed. Only cash is good there – they do not accept US credit cards because they will not get
paid thanks to the sanctions imposed by our US Dept. of State.
There was no turning back though, I’d booked my flights and Yuri had secured a small hotel for
us in a city called Moron, a quaint little town reminiscent of the 1950s with old, beautiful
buildings in pastel colors and old American cars straight out of the movies.
I was met at the airport there in Camaguey (the G is silent) by the two local Cuban Amateurs that
were to operate with us by agreement with the Cuban Telecommunications Administration. To
my surprise these were two of the nicest people I’d ever met, and I’ve been around plenty of
people in my life. Jose CO2XN and Raul CO8ZZ had secured a taxi for us and had already
loaded their equipment so we threw my bags in the back and headed out. We drove for almost
two hours to get to Moron where I checked in and chatted with the amazingly pleasant woman,
Mavel, who ran the small rooming house. After some coffee we then headed to the hotel where
other members of the RRC were staying on the Island of Cayo Coco itself. They came from
Russia so they had no restrictions on what hotel they could stay in. It was a magnificent resort on
the beach in the Caribbean Sea.
We met in the lobby and proceeded to one of the rooms they’d secured for the Shack, right there
on the beach. The remaining equipment came shortly after with Yuri, who’d come from
Washinton State via Canada. We spent the next day building antennas (mostly resonant VDAs
and an inverted L for 80 meters) literally yards from the shoreline. VDA antennas work best
when adjacent to water. We set up two FT8 stations with 1KW Juma amps and two Human
Mode stations with SPE Expert 1.5K-FA amps. We eventually got up a 6 meter yagi and put a
radio and amp into it for FT8 and CW.
I am a phone operator so I was designated the primary SSB Op with Jose as my partner which
was good because he could take the pileup after I was exhausted, as he is an experienced
contester who can handle any pileup like a champion, and I’d take it from him when he couldn’t
talk anymore.
The first few days were slow thanks to a Sun fart but by the fourth day the bands opened wide,
and we had pileups so heavy from 10 down to 40 meters you’d think we were on the moon!
Having operated only from the NY metro area for years I was thrilled by the propagation
characteristics afforded from an island just north of the Equator and was taking calls from China
to Siberia and everything between, all strong in signal strength and reports back were 10 and 20
over 9 for us, thanks to KW plus amps and antennas on the beach. Another of our team, Vlad
R9LR, even set up a satellite station on the roof and took over 100 contacts in a few short hours.
This was a far cry from the frigid environment of Kiska Island, sleeping in tents with howling
winds all the time! Being on Cayo Coco Island was surreal, with comfortable beds, full
restrooms, cooked food with coffee and drinks at our desire. Back at Yuri’s and my hotel, our
hostess cooked us delicious meals as well, and we took advantage of the little pool there during
the night before sleeping comfortably.
We spent as much time on the radio as possible until there were no more callers, then after a few
hours the conditions would come back, and it was off to the races with massive pileups. Many
callers began sending videos and audio recordings of how we sounded in different parts of the
world, and it made us feel good, that we’re making people happy who had recently experienced
disappointment with a previous expedition that was unable to operate as planned.
We closed with just under 14 thousand contacts, evenly split between FT8 and SSB/CW, which
was great in our eyes. Sure, others make bigger numbers but given the atmospheric conditions
we did OK.
Another bonus was that upon learning where we’d be operating – the hotel used for stations was
government owned and within a Cuban National Park, I had it added to the Parks on the Air
database with its own unique identifying number so besides being an IOTA entity, NA-086, it
was now also POTA entity CO-0005. This brought the power of almost 38,000 global POTA
members into the fray and perhaps that is why the pileups were thousands deep for hours on end.
One of our friends that sent a recording said it seemed as if every ham on the planet was calling
us at the same time and even working spread split was rough in pulling out calls.
Being very active in POTA with hundreds of activations, I knew many of the calls coming in and
most of them knew me and would ask “Is that You James?” to which I’d reply jokingly Yes, you
caught me – I cannot hide anywhere with my unique voice, operating style and strong Brooklyn
accent. Sometimes I’d stop the pile short and briefly chat with friends I knew well but that
wouldn’t last long as the waiting callers would “Prompt” me to get back to it and take more calls.
All in all, I had a great time and met some wonderful people, especially our two local Hams Jose
and Raul who I became fast friends with to where I was invited to come in March to operate with
the Las Tunas Contest Crew for the ARRL SSB DX contest at their club station on a different
beach.
My feelings for Cuba are now such that I can’t wait to return and will do my best to honor their
invitation.
I must thank my friends Yuri, N3QQ and the President / founding member of the RRC,
UA9OBA (also named Yuri) who was there for the big anniversary celebration, for letting me
have this amazing experience as a recent member of RRC, for which I am grateful.
My parting words to them as we headed to our respective airports going home was the ubiquitous
phrase “Where do we go Next?”
James Gallo, KB2FMH
73 and Good DX…
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