Since I have been working in Maracaibo, Venezuela, I got interested in operating from here and in late 2000 I found out about the International Amateur Radio Permit (IARP). Basically, with the IARP a ham licensed in one of the partcipating countries can operate in any of the other participating countries without obtaining a reciprocal license. Fortunately, both the US and Venezuela participate in the IARP. For more information and details, see the ARRL web site.

Once I had the IARP permit as KE5WJ, I got some radio gear shipped down and was on the air from inside the apartment. The apartment is near Lake Maracaibo and we are on the 9th floor. The view is not too bad. Click here for a picture.

Since January 2001, when the rigs finally arrived, I have used a Kenwood TS-50S, then a Kenwood TS-850SAT. Neither of those rigs held up very long. I'm no longer a fan of Kenwood. Currently I am using Yaesu FT-100D and FT-817 rigs and both have served me well. I have operated on all bands from 40 meters to 6 meters. In March 2002, I was issued the vanity call sign W5ALT and have operated as YV1/W5ALT since then. From Maracaibo I have Worked All States and worked DXCC and VUCC from here using simple antennas.

My antennas are not very exciting, but they seem to work. I have a 30m dipole strung just outside the window that is loaded with an MFJ-941E tuner on all the bands. I also have a homebrew vertical consisting of a 2 meter piece of aluminum tubing, a coil wound on a plastic trash container, and 2 radials run along the baseboards. The vertical sits in a corner of the room, which is where my XYL tolerates it.