The westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands, in the stunning Indonesian archipelago, is home to established Freeband DX Hunter and accredited ham radio operator 91DA911 Imade.
Imade unites with the Dx Adventure Radio Club (DA-RC) in late December, 2020, fortifying our club’s contingent of outstanding quality operators in South-East Asia.
Living on the pictographic Indonesian island of Bali, 91DA911 Imade has been active in the hobby of radio comms for more than 20 years on Citizens Band (CB) and now ham frequencies.
He easily meets DA-RC’s stringent membership conditions in the ‘DX Hunter Category’ (See http://www.delta-alfa.com/about/membership/).
Most of 91DA911 Imade’s DXCC achievements are with entities located in the Pacific or Asia areas, however, with Cycle 25 now unveiling itself, countries in Europe and the Americas will no doubt be on his DX radar.
In ham and 11m IOTA circles, Bali Island is one of the most intoxicating of island contacts on ANY band and 91DA911 Imade hopes to provide many opportunities for serious Island Chasers to work his simple, but efficient, DX station.
Referenced as OC-022 in accordance with the World IOTA Program, Bali is situated 8 degrees from the equator, in the Java Sea, and always presents salubrious propagation for resident hams and 11m DXers.
91DA911 Imade’s island is 4555 km north from Australia (43 Division), south of Malaysia (113/58), south east of Singapore (98), and is situated between Indonesia’s islands of Lombok (OC-150) and Java (OC-021).
Separated from Bali by the Badung Strait, three small islands lie to the immediate south-east and all are administratively part of the Klungkung regency of Bali: Nusa Penida (Pictured above), Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan.
According to Islands Base Online (IBO) and Cluster DX databases, these isles have never been active on the 11m band and so represent exciting prospects for IOTA Hunters indeed, should Imade and a team of friends in the local ham radio club decide to undertake some IOTA dx adventure!
Another island, Serangan (Turtle Island) — activated by 91DA002 Andi for the EMU Islands Festival roughly 10 years ago — is another mouth-watering IOTA possibility should the opportunity arise with Imade.
Google Earth indicates that these wonderful island dxstinations are surrounded by coral reef, however, beaches in the south tend to have white sand while those in the north and west have black sand.
On the main island though, 91DA911 Imade’s home is situated in South Denpasar, a largely residential area, dominated by the ornate Bajra Sandhi Monument, honouring the Balinese people and offering far-reaching views.
Another tourist magnet here, according to 91DA911 Imade, is Bali Wake Park which features a floating jungle gym on a lake, while Upside Down World offers photo opps in a topsy-turvy kitchen and other rooms.
In South Denpasar, birds inhabit a mangrove forest laced with boardwalks, and small eateries serve local dishes like roast pig and fried rice.
Elsewhere on 91DA911 Imade’s island, Bali’s central mountains include several peaks over 2000m in elevation and active volcanoes such as Mount Batur.
Seen pictured left, the highest is Mount Agung (3031m), known as the “mother mountain”, which is an active volcano rated as one of the world’s most likely sites for a massive eruption within the next 100 years.
South of the mountains is a broad, steadily descending area where most of Bali’s large rice crop is grown.
The northern side slopes more steeply to the sea and is the main coffee-producing area of the island, along with rice, vegetables and cattle.
Other important cities include the beach resort, Kuta, which is practically part of Denpasar’s urban area, and Ubud, situated at the north of Denpasar, is the island’s cultural centre.
91DA911 Imade is QRV with regularity on the international call frequency, 27.555 MHz USB, as well as his country’s ragchew frequency 27.305 MHz USB, where his signal always packs-a-punch!
Seen pictured above, his multi-purpose DX station comprises a Kenwood TS140S transceiver, designed for SSB, CW, AM and FM modes of operation on all bands (160-10 Meters) and modified for general coverage, and a host of other rigs.
Outside his shack, an omnidirectional OXIN brand vertical antenna is 6 meters off the ground and works wonders with its close proximity to the sea.
91DA911 Imade lists fishing, sport and travel as interests outside of radio communications.
He’s also a fanatical boating enthusiast and is the Director of ‘Gone Fishing Bali’, a company which specialises in Quintrex Aluminium Boats but also sells outboard motors and canoes.
In fact, Maritime Mobile (MM) DX ops via one of his vessels is an exciting possibility in the future as Imade grows into his membership with the DA-RC.
QSL INFOS
Jalan Bypass Ngurah Rai, number 846, Suwung Kauh, Denpasar Selatan, Bali, Indonesia
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