In August 2026, DA-RC HQ Member and leading DXpeditioner 14DA001 Stef escaped to the beautiful island of Martinique in the French West Indies, located in the eastern Caribbean Sea between Dominica and Saint Lucia, for some much-needed R&R…
Smuggled away in his suitcase, however—much to his wife’s angst—was a small portable radio station, allowing Stef to get on the air whenever family commitments and holiday activities allowed.
While radio wasn’t the main focus of the trip, this guy still managed to squeeze in a handful of QSOs, making the most of the limited propagation and opportunities available.
Here’s his report…
On Wednesday, August 5, we caught the first flight out of Lyon (Saint-Exupéry Airport), heading to the French capital Paris (Charles de Gaulle Airport) …
After this, we continued on to our final DXstination to Fort-de-France, the capital of the Caribbean island and French overseas territory of Martinique (136 Division).
We departed Lyon at 11:20 a.m. local time and landed on the island at 5:45 p.m. local time (11:45 p.m. French time), completing an exhausting journey of some 12 hours and 30 minutes.
After waiting nearly an hour for our luggage and then a leisurely twenty-minute drive, we finally arrived at our accommodation—an apartment in the home of one of my wife’s family members…
Before I could set up the radio, especially the antenna outside, I had to wait for a landscaping company to finish work in the space surrounding the home.
I’m told they only come every three weeks because it rains so frequently in 136 Division, which explains why the island is so incredibly green—and, of course, it’s currently the rainy season.
That delay gave us the perfect excuse to ease into our holiday and enjoy some quality time together before the adrenalin rush of calling DX from a diminutive Caribbean Island took hold!
Once the company had finished on late Friday afternoon, I finally got the antenna in the air – a homemade 1 element Bamby at good height…
Unfortunately, propagation was completely dead!
The first QSOs, in fact, came the following day, beginning with fellow HQ member 3DA001 Tulio ITL from Brazil, after a short CQ call on the International Call Frequency, 27.555 MHz USB.
He was followed by a station from Canada (Division 9), and then several more stations from South America before the band eventually closed.
I already knew my operating time would be limited because this trip was, above all, a holiday with my wife and friends.
That made contacts into EU and an opportunity to work friends mack home particularly difficult due to the time difference.
By the time we returned from our daily touristy adventures, 27 MHz propagation simply wasn’t on our side to this part of the world.
Even so, I had the pleasure of putting a few friends in the log, and those contacts made the time on the radio worthwhile.
After the first week, we moved to an Airbnb for the remainder of our stay…
Unfortunately, it wasn’t an ideal location for the antenna though with so many obstacles.
Much to my wife’s pleasure, I decided to leave the radio gear packed away and simply continue enjoying the holiday.
Together, we discovered a truly beautiful island, full of contrasts and incredible landscapes…
Fascinating also was learning about its rich history—from the first inhabitants, the Arawaks, through the arrival of the Caribs, the different periods of colonization, and ultimately the abolition of slavery.
Of course, I would have loved to have spent more time behind the radio and to have made more contacts—that goes without saying—but sometimes life is about making the right choices and keeping the wife and family happy!
Thanks to everyone for their time and support of this holiday adventure.
Enjoy your families, your friends, your time, and our favourite hobby!
73 de Stef, 14DA001
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