From the Commonwealth of Dominica, in the West Indies, the Dx Adventure Radio Club is thrilled to introduce to you successful ham and 11m band DX enthusiast 194DA9100 Ishmael.
Referenced as NA-101 by the World IOTA Program, Ishmael’s home, Ishmael’s home QTH, is a picturesque island country in the Caribbean Sea between the French islands of Guadeloupe and Marie-Galante to the north (both 196 Division) and Martinique (136) to the south.
A sharp-edged 11m DX Hunter and bilingual (French and English) radio comms buff, 194DA9100 Ishmael connects with our great club in early January, 2023.
Exciting news for IOTA Hunters is that he’s determined to make this diminutive and rare DXCC entity more accessible for the international freeband community and cash in on the enhanced HF propagation of Solar Cycle 25.
Like many DA-RC members, Ishmael is also a keen ham radio operator.
He achieved his license a few years ago at the tender age of 16 years old, making him one of the youngest hams in the Caribbean region.
Already, our club’s first ever member in Dominica has forged a reputation in the Caribbean DX Community for his work in setting up a cross band repeater in his home town, a very useful project to provided added communication security during storm season.
Amazingly, he also runs a worldwide Talk Group and participates on Echo Link, software which allows licensed Amateur Radio stations to communicate with one another over the Internet, using streaming-audio technology.
194DA9100 Ishmael’s bands of choice in ham radio are 10m, 40m, 12m, 2m and 70 cm but it’s on 27 MHz frequencies where his passion lies.
His station consists of an IC-9100 transciever by ICOM.
This modern rig has a built-in antenna tuner, various digital, manual and notch filters and blankers to eradicate noise, and 100 watts of TX power.
A Heil Pro Micro Headset and Heil ICM BG boom Mic are complimenting dxcessories.
194DA9100 Ishmael also possesses a BaoFeng UV-5R — a compact hand held transceiver which provides 4 watts in the frequency range of 136-174 MHz and 400-480MHz.
Icom IC-2350H vhf/uhf base rig and Kenwood TM-D710a dual bander transceivers also adorn his radio shack benchtop.
High above 194DA9100 Ishmael’s home QTH in Portsmouth are an impressive 4 element Sirio yagi antenna for 10/11m use, a 12m spider beam, a delta loop for 40m, an MFJ 2010 dipole and a Hustler 5BTV 5-bander Vertical.
A 40 foot mast provides added height to an already high location in the Dominican mountains.
This very impressive IOTA station facilitates DX prowess on all of his preferred bands!
The world atlas has 194 Division as the northern most island of the Windward Islands group OR the southernmost island of the Lesser Antilles in the eastern Caribbean Sea.
Known as ‘The Nature Island of the Caribbean’ due to its lush scenery and varied flora and fauna, this beautiful IOTA location is largely covered by rugged mountains and thick rainforest.
Interestingly, the Sisserou parrot, also known as the ‘Imperial Amazon’ and found only on Dominica, inhabits the dense forests and is the island’s national bird.
The parrot is featured on both the national flag and coat of arms (See right).
Dominica is also home to the world’s second-largest hot spring, Boiling Lake.
Born in Martinique, 194DA9100 Ishmael now resides in Portsmouth, in Saint John Parish, one of two primary population centres with the other being the nation’s capital Roseau.
Its palm-dotted shore edges onto picturesque Prince Rupert Bay and the banks of the Indian River on the island’s northwest coast.
North of the town, Cabrits National Park is home to the incredible Fort Shirley which can be seen above and right.
A fascinating UNESCO World Heritage site since 1986, both the British and French armies used the fort to defend the island during the 18th and 19th century.
Once an active volcano, Cabrits National Park marks one end of the Waitukubuli National Trail, which spans the entire length of Dominica.
There are also numerous hiking trails here which attract only the most courageous of mountaineers.
On nearby reefs, the coral formations of the Toucari Caves shelter turtles and lobsters.
Purple Turtle Beach is 3km of golden sand which stretches into the crystal clear water of the Caribbean Sea.
In additional to several vibrant festivals which occur throughout the year, a sea pot in Prince Rupert’s bay, a busy farmer’s market and sports venue named Benjamin’s Park — which has hosted first class cricket — are other local attractions.
When he’s not engaged in radio comms, 194DA9100 Ishmael enjoys the ancient art of karate.
Developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts under the influence of Chinese martial arts, particularly Fujian White Crane, Karate is now predominantly a striking art using punching, kicking, knee strikes, elbow strikes and open-hand techniques such as knife-hands, spear-hands and palm-heel strikes.
On the 11m band, 194DA9100 Ishmael is mostly found monitoring the international call frequency 27.555 MHz USB and the Caribbean Chat Frequency, 27.515 MHz LSB.
He’s very eager to exchange QSL cards through his QSL Manager (See below) and looks forward to adding many stations to his log from all corners of the Earth.
Welcome in the DA-RC group, best 73 my friend
Hi Ishmael,
Hope to contact you a day.
Your island is in my heart, cause my daughter was born in Roseau…
73 from south of France.
14 FOX 55 (FB page)
Hi Ishmael.
I hope to have a contact with you soon. It would be a new DXCC for here on the South Coast of England.
Good luck with all your Dx.
73 Ishmael, I hope to hear from you soon! Welcome to DA, a hug from 3DA105 José!👍
That’s amazing news and for sure for a lot of hunters a new dxcc like for me.
I hope I can catch him during the c25 cycle.
I wish him all time good DX on 11m.
73s Frank de 35WR035