Welcome to the first post in a series taking a look at how Tony and I planned and prepared for our VP2V DXpedition in August. We are hardly experts, but this serves as a bit of documentation (and forum for feedback) to capture what we learned. For this first post, let’s dive into how we ended up with Tortola and the British Virgin Islands.
Our search began with ClubLog’s Most-Wanted list. ClubLog looks at all the QSOs uploaded and compares that with all the available country prefixes. Many of the top locations are difficult to arrange travel. With that in mind, narrowed the list to a few key contenders, C6A – Bahamas, VP2V – British Virgin Islands, and PJ7 – Sint Maarten.
With a short list, we began some research on licensing and travel plans. Both Tony and I have been to the Bahamas a lot. We looked at a bunch of islands: Nassau, Bimini, Grand Bahama. Ultimately we have been to the Bahamas a lot and there are plenty of travel options. We also have both gotten our Bahamian licenses in the past for various. The downside, is that the Bahamas is VERY popular and finding a place to operate is difficult.
Sint Maarten is interesting due to the nature of the island. However, we both lack a lot of experience with the island. Aside from a few cruises years ago, we haven’t been to the island recently. There does seem to be somewhat consistent activity every month or so on the island, according to ClubLog. This makes it less appealing for us, since it is rare, but not always on the air.
The British Virgin Islands are also interesting. There are several islands that make up the BVIs with Tortola being the capital. Both Tony and I have been to the island. I’ve been to the island recently and in fact will be there a week before the DXpedition. While it has been recently activated (which decreased its rank), it is fairly infrequent for folks to get on the air.
Ultimately looking at costs of travel and ClubLog rank and activity, we settled on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. The island has good infrastructure in terms of places to stay, provisions, an international airport, and roadways. The island also has some good elevation to aid in making contacts. So with the location finalized, time to start planning.