J3 - Grenada

 

Ham Friendly Hotel: - Siesta Hotel which is close to the beach and a great northern shot over the water. A few people have operated from there, and it's XYL approved (so I hear). Appears that the Siesta Hotel knows and likes hams.


Ham Friendly Hotel: The Reviera, right on Grand Anse Beach, in small duplex cottages. The owners, Mr. and Mrs. Nyaak, have been friendly toward ham operators in the past.


Ham Friendly Apartments: South Winds Apartments and Cottages offer two bedroom cottages about 500 yards up the hill from the beach. There are three of these 2 bedroom cottages plus quite a few apartments. They have a kitchen, bathroom, telephone and satellite TV. There is a 55 ft. palm tree in front of one cottage which has been used as an antenna support for wires, with the other end tied to a utility pole up the hill, making the feel point near the cottage, above it. The owner is Mr. Chasley David Email at: cdavid@caribsurf.com From the South Winds, it is easy walking distance to the beach, also to several restaurants and sandwich shops, grocery store, Baptist church, and other shopping such as hardware, ice cream, pizza, fruit market, etc.


Ham Friendly Hotel:  W1AIM has stayed at Coral Cove Cottages a couple times. This is on Grenada 7-8 miles south of St. Georges.
They have hosted hams before and were very accommodating.


Ham Friendly Villa:

Dee, W1HEO, has operated from the Mor-gan Villa on the south side of the island and highly recommends the location.


Mor-Gan Villa is located on a southern peninsula of Grenada, with a clear antenna takeoff in all directions. The villa has two bedrooms, kitchen, veranda and is equipped with both 220 and 110-volt AC.  The grounds are covered with flowers, and the waterfront area allows ample room for mast and antennas.  Nick Hughes, the owner, understands ham radio's needs, and was most helpful to us (J3/W1HEO, J3/W5PF).  A beautiful spot that is XYL-endorsed. 

The land is flat in the area, and in fact, projects into the waters of the Atlantic on one side, and the Caribbean on the other.  A great QTH for a vertical, since salt water is near at hand.  We donated a 30-foot pipe mast to the Grenada Amateur Radio Club; the one we used to support our two-element mini-beam, that worked very well.  You might think that the south end of the island was a bad choice, but in fact, is just fine, since there are no obstructions to the north.  We'd love to go back.

Contact the owner: Nicholas Hughes at morgan@caribsurf.com, Ocean Breeze Drive, L'Anse aux Epines, Grenada. 

There is also a web page at: http://www.mor-gan.com/Map1.jpg


Ham Friendly Hotel:  Cabier-Vision

Visited by Bob, AA1M in Feb 2004
 
Contact Info: WWW.CABIER-VISION.COM   e-mail address is info@CABIER-VISION.COM
Tel.  43 664 340 36 37 in Europe.  Grenada 001 473 444 60 13
 
Comments:  Basic rooms.  Single or double with shower.  No cooking.  Meals available.  Rental car available.  Bring rig and antennas.  Tall palm tree in court yard for dipoles.  Be sure to ask for rooms used by radio operators. Food is great.  Price is inexpensive.  Recommended by AA1M. (though it appears this location is on the South-East side of the island – K2KW)
 


Transportation: For great local transportation, you can hire Cletus St.Paul who drives a large passenger van to pick you up at the airport, or hire Cletus to take you around this island. Cletus also happens to be J39JQ, and president of the Grenada Amateur Radio Club.


Carriacou Island (a small island north of the island of the main island of Grenada)

Ham Friendly House:  Carriacou Island.  Wells House at Belair visited on 19/11/00

Info provided by Chip, W1AIM in June 2001

Contact Info: Jed Marcus, Brooklyn, NY (718) 643-6555 e-mail: jmarcus@marcusattorneys.com
 
A modern looking house with a large deck, sitting almost at the highest point on Carriacou Island about a mile from Hillsborough, Carriacou. No close neighbors and spectacular views of the Caribbean to the East, South and West.  The hill has a bit of history, as it was the site of a Cuban barracks, which was bombed and strafed by U.S. Navy jets during the Grenada Invasion in 1983. There's just cellar holes there now, and a nearby stone tower that was once a sugar mill (no access to mill).

There aren’t any large trees that are convenient for wire antennas on the property.  W1AIM used a push up mast to support an inverted-V.  Local materials for antennas are tough to come by, but sometimes you can find tall bamboo poles that work well.

Plenty of good snorkeling and diving, but not much else to do as Carriacou is very much third world, and other than a few guest houses and "rum shops" there's not much going on. A perfect getaway ham vacation for those so inclined however!  The main island of Grenada is an hour and a half away by a high speed catamaran ferry and about 20 minutes by plane.  If you take the plane, there are strict luggage restrictions, since it’s a small 8 passenger prop plane.  But the catamarans have plenty of room for large gear.  It’s also possible to ship equipment on the ferry, and take the plane (if you get sea sick).


Ham Friendly Villa, Carriacou Island – W1AIM has stayed at Patty's Villa (Run by Kervin and Hilda Steill.) in the center of Hillsborough.  They were very helpful and tolerant of ham radio, although they have two guest apartments and live above them, so evening
operation would require headphones and/or early shutdown.


Ham Friendly Cottage:

Werner (callsign??) filed the following report in October 2003:

Tamarind Cottage Carriacou http://www.islandtrees.com
Very private cottage, lots of outdoor space but no permanent antennas due to thunderstorms in Caribbean ($$)


Info and map of Carriacou:  http://www.grenadines.net/carriacou/carriacouHOMEPAGE.htm

Some other villas in Carriacou are at:  http://www.islandvillas.com/villas.htm


Licensing and Operating Info

A J3 regular visitor says there's a need for activity on 6M, EME, satellite, RTTY/digital modes and WARC band operations from there.

FYI - you will be hard pressed to get a J3 call. The way reciprocal licenses go, the R/O will assign you J3/(callsign) until he gets the impression that you will be there a few times and contributing in some way to Grenada.


Do you have more information on places to operate in this country?

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