XF1K
Baja California Sur - 2005
NA164 - NA165

The goal of  Hector, XE2K, and several operators who assisted him was to activate all the 
islands groups in Northwestern Mexico.  Many of these groups were very rare in the IOTA program.  
The two island groups in the northern part of Baja California Sur State were a challenge due to 
their distance from the Mexico - United States border.  Plans to activate the Baja California 
Sur State North West and North East Groups were started in the Fall of 2004.  There are several 
different islands in each of the groups, so research was conducted for the best candidates.  
Many Mexican islands are in protected areas, so special permits must be obtained where necessary.  
After postponing the operation scheduled for December 2004, the core group of operators and 
team members started moving people and equipment towards the border on the 6th of January 2005.  
This group consisted of Hector ( XE2K), Diana (XE2DN), Ray (XE2/N6VR), Norm (XE2/N6JV) and 
Fred (N6AWD).  Late on the 7th, the operators and equipment from the U.S. side of the border 
passed through immigration and customs duties were paid on the transceivers coming into Mexico.  
In Mexicali, Hector's large pickup was loaded with all the equipment for the next day's trip.  
From other travelers, it was learned that the roads south of Mexicali had been badly damaged in 
recent storms and the route south would require a detour of several hundred miles to the west 
through Ensenada.

Everyone spent the night in El Centro, California and recrossed the border about 4 am and 
began the long trip south.  We arrived just after dawn in Ensenada.  It was then onto Highway 1 
south to the border of Baja California Norte and Baja California Sur.  After traveling all day, 
the truck arrived in the town of Guerrero Negro.  A distance of 680 miles had been traveled.  
The Biosphere Reserve El Vizcaino is the agency with the responsibility for the wildlife 
protection in this area and the written approval for the trip to Asuncion Island had to be 
obtained. Biol. Benito Bermudez A. was especially helpful in getting this approval.  The detour 
had added several hours to the trip so it was decided to drive to Bahia Asuncion that evening 
and try to get on the island early in the morning.  Several hours later the truck limped into 
the small town of Bahia Asuncion.  The last 60 km had been over dirt roads where the dirt was 
arranged mostly as holes, ruts and washboards.  Bahia Asuncion is a town of about 800 people, 
so it wasn't difficult to find the Internet Café and its owner, Jose Luis Ogawa, ex-XE2TT, 
who had helped us arrange transportation.  We located the fisherman who would take us to the 
island the next morning.  His name is Artemio Murillo but is known as "Pulga" which means 
"the flea".  When not fishing, Pulga is also the "DJ Flea" at the very small local disco.

Isla Asuncion

Before dawn the crew was ready and on the beach.  There are no docks or launching 
facilities.  All the boats are pulled out on the sand with a communal one ton surplus army 
truck.  Boats are launched by extending a pole from the truck and then shoving the boats into 
the water.  The boat was loaded with gear and people and pushed into the bay.  Isla Asuncion 
is about 2 miles from the town.  It is a protected island and has a large population of seals 
and birds.  At one time, there were people living there and the cement foundation of a small 
building is still present as well as some cement steps that have been set into the cliff.  
This is where we landed to the objections of several large seals that had been using the steps.  
Pulga had arranged to supply a helper to assist us in carrying all the gear up the cliff to the 
campsite.  We had to restrict our activities to the area where we landed so as not to disturb 
the wildlife.  The seagulls that occupied this area were not inconvenienced by our presence 
and seemed to accept us.

The main tent was placed near the old foundation with the A3S tribander on one side and 
a 30-foot mast with a 75/40 meter inverted V dipole on the other.  The DX88 vertical with 
thirty-five 75-foot radials was placed about 100 feet south, as far as the coax would reach.  
The smaller tent was placed to the north with the generators in between.  A pair of R7 
verticals were placed to the north of the small tent to get maximum separation from the 
other vertical.  An IC706 was used as the SSB station and a TS450S was used for CW in the 
main tent.  The small tent had the second CW station using an IC706 Mk2.  The main tent also 
had the use of a 400 watt amplifier borrowed from Mike, AD5A.  Various filters were employed 
to cut down interference.  As soon as the tribander was up, we were on 20 meter SSB.  The 
first contact was with Fred, N6AWD.  The SSB station and at least one CW station were on all 
day and night.  Shifts on 40 meter CW insured the maximum number of stations in the log.  
The boat made extra trips to see how we were doing and brought some fresh food.  Fish and 
lobster tacos seem to be popular.

The weather was very clear and warm during the day, but the wind never ceased.  During 
the night the small tent collapsed in the wind several times on top of the operator and 
required a QRX to tie things down.  In spite of the wind, the propagation was very good and 
exceptionally quiet.  We had good openings into Europe on 40 and 20 meters.  Europe was also 
worked on 75/80. By the second morning, the last European was in the 20 meter CW log.  We 
had made a total of 5334 QSOs.  The camp was disassembled and equipment hauled down to the 
beach.  Sr. Pulga was back with another helper and the boat was loaded.  This time it was low 
tide and there was great difficulty in getting the boat back into the open water.  Everyone 
was in the water pushing the boat.  Once into the sea, it was a very slow trip as the swell 
was very high.  After the truck pulled the boat onto the beach and everything was loaded 
onto the truck, we all had a nice meal as the guests of Sr. Pulga and his wife Suzy at their 
home.  The trip across Baja took the rest of the day and we arrived in Santa Rosalia, an old 
French mining town and port, after traveling 160 miles.  We had to present our permits to the 
local Port authority and inform them of our plans to stay on Santa Ines Island.  The next day, 
we traveled the additional 40 miles south to Mulege.

Isla Santa Ines

Mulege is a fishing and tourist town on the mouth of one of the few rivers in Baja.  
It is very tropical with many palm and fruit trees.  Its mission was the first built in the 
Baja.  An inspection of the sea confirmed what we had seen in Santa Rosalia.  The weather was 
bad and it would be too dangerous to try to travel the 9 miles to the island.  Arrangements 
with Jose Luis and Antonio Romero were made to take us to the island if weather permitted.  
We would stay a few days and see what happened.  XE2TG, XE2Q and XE2UCT had planned on joining 
us for Santa Ines, but the poor weather convinced them that it wasn't worth the risk and high 
expense of traveling by ferry from Guaymas in Sonora to Santa Rosalia in Baja Sur, an eight 
hour trip.  Success at this point was very doubtful.  Local accommodations and food were 
excellent, so we had a chance to recover from the last island.  A local tour operator also 
showed us a web site where the sea swell could be predicted.  There was the possibility of 
making it to Santa Ines the third day.  All of the equipment and supplies were sorted so 
that only the minimum would be taken to the island.  About one third of what was used before 
was left with the truck.  All of the batteries were given a full charge in the motel room.

On the morning of the 14th of January the boat was loaded with gear and towed down to the 
launching area by the Mulege lighthouse at the mouth of the river.  It was smooth going until 
we hit the open sea.  The swell was high and the boat kept dropping off one wave into the next.  
Life jackets were used, but only to sit on.  It was a very rough trip.  Once we were near the 
island, the sea became calmer and we had little trouble unloading everything on the beach.  
There are three islands in this group, but the other two were little more than small rocks.  
The south end of the island had a low ridge that afforded a little protection from the wind 
and a good place to set the beam up.  As soon as the beam was up, a station was active on 20 
meter SSB using battery power.  Pat, VE7QCR, was the first contact.  During this pile up, 
the main tent was built and placed over the operator.  By noon, all the tents and antennas 
were up.  Only one R7 was used on the south end of the camp and the DX88 as far north as 
possible.  The 75 meter dipole was placed near the center by the generators.  The coax for the 
tribander could reach either tent.  The wind had followed us from the Pacific side of Baja to 
the Sea of Cortez side and never let up.  The next day, the sea was very rough and we were 
getting nervous about the trip back.

The operating pattern that had worked so well at Asuncion was used on Santa Ines.  
Forty meters was on all night long.  A good European opening on 20 meters in the morning 
worked well using the R7.  The last morning we planned to use the tribander to make sure all 
the Europeans that wanted us had the best chance.  During the early morning, there was a 
flare and 40 meters was very good long path to Europe.  When 20 meters was tried, only a few 
Northern Europeans were heard.  The sea was rough and the boat arrived early to try and get 
us off the island.  AD5A was the last in the log for a total of 4458 QSOs.  We began to tear 
down the camp as fast as possible.  What once took us 4 hours, we did in 2.  We were very 
tired and had to wade into the water to get lines on the boat so we could get it close enough 
to load.  Equipment was carried out to the boat and stowed anywhere it would fit.  Once the 
lines and anchor were secured, it was back into open water.  The trip out was rough; the trip 
back was a twice as bad.  We were wet when we got into the boat and managed to get a lot wetter.  
Nine miles had to be endured before we reached the river mouth at Mulege.  If we and the boat's 
Captain knew what we were going to be in for, we would never have gone out.

Once the truck was packed, we had lunch and headed north.  The weather was good and we 
made good time getting into Baja California Norte.  The trip would have been uneventful except 
for the time after dark when we came over a hill and met a black cow standing in the middle 
of a black road.  Hector did an evasive maneuver while heavily braking and fortunately so 
did the cow.  Both the cow and we were a bit shaky after that.  Hector managed to get us 
through 4 or 5 military checkpoints without unloading the truck.  A good nights sleep in 
Ensenada helped and we were back in Mexicali about noon.  The night of the 17th, the N6s 
were in Ventura and by the next afternoon, N6JV was home in Sacramento.  Total travel from 
Sacramento, California and back was 3,240 miles.

We would like to extend our special appreciation to Ing Moises G. Ramirez Rodriguez , 
Director de Emision de Licencias (COFETEL), for his assistance in obtaining the required 
licensing and Ramon, XE1KK, for his guidance in this complicated undertaking.  The support 
of the Island Radio Expedition Foundation (IREF) made this trip possible.  We would also 
like to thank those individuals who helped finance this operation:  AB6QM, AD5A, K6DT, K9AJ, 
KB5GL, KD6WW, N5ET, N5UR, N6AWD, N6IC, N6KZ, N6PYN, N7RO, VE7QCR, VE7YL, W1DIG, W1NG, W4DKS, 
W5BOS, W6ED, W6YOO, WC6DX and G3ZAY.  Special thanks to N6AWD who organized our financing, 
provided a generator and will be handling the QSLs.  We hope that everyone who needed NA164 
and NA165 made a QSO with us.  We certainly made every effort to hear and work you.

NA164 camp site	NA164 camp site
NA164 op site	NA165 site
N6JV on NA165	First qso on NA165