Having booked a holiday for summer 2007 to the Maldives in the Indian Ocean I thought it would be a good idea try some HF operating while there. There are hundreds of islands and they are popular as a very relaxing holiday spot, but also as a surfer’s paradise judging by the number of Australian surfers we came across
I emailed the relevant department on the main island of Male and quickly had a reply stating that I needed to send a copy of my license, passport, equipment type and serial numbers. I scanned them in, sent them by email and eventually was informed everything was ok. To get a temporary license all I needed to do was send $10.00 by post or call into the local “office” when I arrived, and everything would be wonderful…more on this later. I decided against sending dollar bills through the post.
I intended to use my trusty FT817ND and I had a Buddipole antenna system which can be configured in a number of ways, and also a collapsible 8ft mast. The accommodation was individual bungalows with palm leaves on the roof, so I decided I would buy a universal power supply for the 817, and operate indoors in comfort and keep out of the heat. Well that was the plan….
When we arrived it was like staying in a Bounty bar advert, white sands, bungalow next to the beach, paradise. Then I discovered that underneath the roof was corrugated metal which de-tuned the antenna quite a bit and I also found out the island mains supply was very noisy and unusable with my power supply but perfectly ok on batteries. Luckily I had a spare set with me which could be charged from the power supply.
It was not until the second week that I was able to get the temporary license in my hot little hand. When I went to the local “office” which was the reception area, I was met with blank stares and confusion. After telephoning the radio department on the main island I spoke to the lady I had been in contact with regarding the paperwork. She told me they did not have a postal service as such, all I needed to do was send a boat to the main island with the money and they would then issue the license…yes as easy as that…
Eventually after many delays and copious amounts of bull **** from the reception staff a doctor who had to visit the main island
I emailed the relevant department on the main island of Male and quickly had a reply stating that I needed to send a copy of my license, passport, equipment type and serial numbers. I scanned them in, sent them by email and eventually was informed everything was ok. To get a temporary license all I needed to do was send $10.00 by post or call into the local “office” when I arrived, and everything would be wonderful…more on this later. I decided against sending dollar bills through the post.
I intended to use my trusty FT817ND and I had a Buddipole antenna system which can be configured in a number of ways, and also a collapsible 8ft mast. The accommodation was individual bungalows with palm leaves on the roof, so I decided I would buy a universal power supply for the 817, and operate indoors in comfort and keep out of the heat. Well that was the plan….
When we arrived it was like staying in a Bounty bar advert, white sands, bungalow next to the beach, paradise. Then I discovered that underneath the roof was corrugated metal which de-
Eventually after many delays and copious amounts of bull **** from the reception staff a doctor who had to visit the main island
kindly collected the license for me, this was on the Tuesday of the second week of the holiday. I had been listening to band conditions while waiting for the license and they were not very good, but seemed to open late afternoon at around 4.30pm local, until around 6pm. As the bungalow was out of the question as a shack (I did try) I went onto the beach as the band was closing and configured the aerial as a Buddistick – a vertical with a wire counterpoise, tuned to 20metres.
