The vibrant Republic of Costa Rica in Central America is home to skilled DX technician, licensed ham and passionate Freeband IOTA Hunter 69DA961 Jorge.
Jorge joins with the Dx Adventure Radio Club (DA-RC) in January 2019, quenching membership benchmarks in the ‘DX Leadership’, ‘Dxpedition’ and ‘DX Hunter’ categories respectively.
[See https://www.delta-alfa.com/about/membership/].
69DA961 Jorge’s DXCC is bordered by Nicaragua (126 Division) to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama (24) to the southeast, the Pacific to the southwest, and Ecuador (61) to the south of Cocos Island.
Jorge’s home QTH is ‘Puriscal’, a mountain town about an hour west (41 km) of San Jose.
The 4th canton in the province of San José, its name in Spanish means ‘flower of the common bean’.
Puriscal is known for its ‘perfect WX’ which makes outdoor dx adventure very enjoyable.
It’s also famous for its coffee and tobacco farms. In fact, Santiago de Puriscal gained fame for its cigar manufacturing and coffee production.
A pioneer of ecotourism, Costa Rica draws many tourists to its extensive series of national parks and other protected areas.
According to Jorge, the mountains in this area are beautiful although it’s one of the areas most affected by deforestation.
Like many DA-RC guys, 69DA961 Jorge builds antennas for radio amateur, Freeband and DTV (Digital television) use.
On 27 MHz frequencies, his home crafted DX weapon is a 4 element cubical quad, in the Cubex kind, called a Magnum 4CB — made especially for 27.555 MHz.
With a massive 14+ dBi gain and a front to back ratio of >26dB, this rugged all WX construction has a 15 foot long boom and is in Diamond configuration.
69DA961 Jorge’s shack has a strong Kenwood brand presence. TS-680s and TS-140s transceivers feature on the bench with a Kenwood TL 9221 KW amplifier providing extra punch.
Other highlights include a Realistic HTX-100 rig for 10/11 meter only USB-CW and a Heathkit SB-220 1.5 KW amplifier for use on 10/11 meters.
In the Radio amateur World, Jorge loves the challenge of working very short distance contacts via the silent zone and tropospheric bounce — sometimes openings, medium and long path DX.
“I enjoy the contacts with Pacific an Asia countries,” he explains.
“I have a radio amateur licence also and enjoy contacts on 160, 20 and 10 meter bands…”
Jorge is admired for his work in the Sugar Delta Club in which his callsign was 69SD100, as well as the Bravo Yankee (BY) Club with the callsign 69BY571.
On top of QSL Managerialship work, his 11m beacons (69BY/BCN), for instance, were long considered excellent on-air resources for DX Hunters.
In 2011, Jorge undertook an IOTA dxpedition to Venado Island where he was QRV as 69BY/NA116.
Venado is an isle in the Gulf of Nicoya with a population of about 1100 inhabitants, mostly fishermen and farmers.
Jorge was also part of a successful ham team TE8X that was QRV from the same island.
He is also into Summits on the Air (SOTA), an activity which involves transporting radio equipment by foot to a mountain summit for the purpose of radio operations.
When he’s not in the shack hunting elusive DX, 69DA961 Jorge enjoys taking trips around the country in his Jeep 4X4 vehicle or on his motorcycle.
He likes to ‘chill out’ listening to music and is always tinkering with bizarre electronic experiments such as earthquake detectors, type inverted pendulum with electronic alarms to pass the time.
Jorge’s country, Costa Rica, is renowned for its efforts to embrace renewable energy.
It also began reversing deforestation in the 1990s, well ahead of most other Central American countries.
On this note, one of 69DA961 Jorge’s interests is experimenting with green energy devices.
Hydrogen cells, wind power, solar panels, solar water heater, electric vehicles are alternative energy sources or appliances from fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and natural gas.
Not only is Costa Rica one of the most eagerly sought after of Central America DXCC on ham and 11m bands, off the air it’s the most visited nation in the region, with almost 3 million foreign visitors each year.
On 11m, listen for 69DA961 Jorge on the international call frequency 27.555 MHz USB.
You’ll also hear him on other HF bands when propagation permits, calling “CQ, DX” or working global stations.
No doubt a visit to one of the nearby offshore islands during Cycle 25 will also be on the cards!
QSL INFOS
Jorge Eduardo Hernandez
La Mariposa site
Barbacoas, Puriscal C.P. 6000,
Costa Rica, Centro America
Merci pour le qso très sympathique avec Jorge ce lundi 21 novembre à 21h 15.
173AT111 Gilbert Réunion island. 73 51. Année 2022.
Hello Jorge, thank you very much for the contact, I told you I know your country and it lives up to its name. Costa Rica PURA VIDA. 73´s desde Valencia España 30VR101. Joan
hello jorgue could you confirm your postal address
Barbacoas, puriscal cp 6000 costa rica because we just got in touch on 27505 this day 07.06.20 at 17:58 GMT in advance thank you
16AT128 Stéphane Belgium
Hello Jorge, did you get my QSL card? I am 14FDX2463 Patrick we made contact on 28/10/2019 I would like to have confirmation from you thank you very much.
73 de Patrick
Thanks much for the brief contact today, Jorge. Was a very solid and strong signal before it fell out on us.
Always happy to hear you on the air!
Hello Jorge. Are you received my qsl? de 56IR101-Jarkko
Hi Jorge. Many thanks for qso. I will send my qsl soon to you. 73`s i hope hear you again.
de 56IR101-Jarkko
Hola,soy la 30LO3497 y 30PAT122,hace más o menos,un mes que te envié mi tarjeta qsl,de la agrupación,Lima Oscar.Me gustaria saber si la has recibido.Un saludo desde Murcia,España.
Gracias a todos por sus comentarios, aqui estamos todo el tiempo posible en la 27.555 USB aprovechando toda posibilidad de contacto con uds y a la espera de cualquier oportunidad de nuevos Dx, estamos en contacto gracias amigos y colegas 73’s.
De 69DA961 Jorge…
Hola, soy 30 PAT122,fue muy agradable contactar contigo de nuevo, en la maravillosa banda de 11 metros,a pesar de las malas condiciones de propagación,tus señales siempre llegan muy fuerte por el sureste de España.Mi otro indicativo internacional es:30LO3497.Os deseo lo mejor para ti y su familia, y aprovecho para felicitar a este gran grupo de amigos de DA,por su dedicación y promoción de la radio.Un saludo También a Warren, de la ex 30rc291.
Hola Jorge, emocionante QSO el que mantuvimos el 12/04/2019 a las 20:35 utc, mi primer dx cruzando el mar.
Espero cruzar antenas otra vez.
73-51 para ti y tu componente familiar de parte de 30MT04, Pedro desde Toledo, España.
Welcome to the club again Jorge.
Tom, 2DA120
DA-RC HQ Member
Welcome Jorge, good DX!
Eugene, 18DA011