2025 - November: Bonaire (PJ4K) for CQ World Wide CW
2025 - November: Bonaire (PJ4K) for CQ World Wide CW
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I was delighted to be invited to operate at PJ4K for CQWW this year. The station, perched on the north-west coast of Bonaire, is truly remarkable. Our entry was in the Multi-2 category, with a team of ten operators: myself, Martin GW4XUM, six from the United States (Max NG7M, Robert K5PI, Mike N2RC, Dave N3RD, Walt WA3LRO, and Dick WC1M), Scott W4PA/PJ4PA, a US resident living in Bonaire, and Fred K9VV/NP2X from the Virgin Islands, who is in the process of relocating to Bonaire as well.
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Bonaire is a municipality of the Netherlands, governed alongside Saba and St. Eustatius. By contrast, Aruba, Curaçao, and St. Maarten are self-governing, having previously voted for independence. Dutch influence on Bonaire is unmistakable: much of the population is Dutch, the police and border officials were predominantly Dutch, and even the local supermarket carried a distinctly Dutch character. Once inside, the only reminder of your Caribbean location was the pricing in US dollars. Despite this strong Dutch presence, a sizeable Spanish-speaking community adds to the island’s cultural mix. For perspective, Bonaire’s population of 25,500 is about the same size as a medium sized town in the UK (e.g. Bridgenorth in Shropshire).
Left: The sea-front bars and restaurants in Kralendijk come alive when a cruise-liner is in town.
Max NG7M and I were newcomers to the team, while another member was only on his second visit. In preparation, we received a comprehensive 50-page Station Description detailing schematics, power distribution, house rules, and operating practices—essentially everything an operator might need to know. I studied it thoroughly, reading it at least three times, yet still arrived with a list of questions in hand, mainly around antenna switching and how we work together as a team.
Martin was scheduled to arrive a few days after me, so I travelled out earlier with the hope of meeting the team and lending a hand with preparations at the station. My journey ended late on Sunday evening with the daily KLM flight from Amsterdam, but my baggage did not. Having sprinted across Schiphol after a delayed Manchester–Amsterdam connection, I suspected my bag hadn’t made the transfer. Sure enough, it didn’t arrive until Tuesday afternoon.
In the meantime, I had to scramble for essentials—sunglasses, suncream, and a few changes of clothes—which delayed my first visit to the station. To KLM’s credit, they reimbursed all my expenses within twelve hours of submitting the claim. Hats off to them for that efficiency.
Martin and I had booked an Airbnb in Kralendijk, about an hour’s drive south of the station. A 4x4 was absolutely necessary: the final 12km stretch is a rugged dirt track riddled with potholes. When filled with rainwater, they conceal their depth entirely, forcing slow and cautious progress.
Left: First sighting of the PJ4K station as its approached from Kralendijk on the dirt-track .
Arriving at the station on Tuesday morning, the scale and complexity of the setup began to sink in. The three 150-foot towers dominate the landscape, but closer inspection reveals even more: 80m wire Yagis strung between them, RX-circle arrays tucked into the bushes, and Spiderbeams dedicated to in-band stations. Antenna selection, stack height, stack direction—there was a lot to absorb, and it was immediately clear this was no ordinary contest station.
Although all operators stayed in or around Kralendijk before the contest, once the event began the station’s remoteness meant there was no leaving until it was over. Friday therefore became “shopping day.” We gathered for breakfast in town to review strategy, after which Martin and I headed to the Van Den Tweel supermarket to stock up on provisions.
The PJ4K station is completely off-grid and is powered by two 10kW generators. Diesel for the generators and water for the contest weekend have to be delivered prior to the contest.
The complex antenna configuration calls for a complex switching arrangement
The station itself is equipped with five Elecraft K3 transceivers and three 1kW linear amplifiers, configured as Run1 + In-Band, Run2 + In-Band, and Multiplier. Construction and testing had already begun the week before my arrival, but I was able to contribute by helping erect one of the Spiderbeams used for in-band listening.
The remainder of the pre-contest period was devoted to team familiarisation, refreshing our skills with N1MM+, and learning the specific operating practices to be followed. The mid-week CW-Ops contests proved invaluable as live test runs: each operator rotated through both Run and In-Band stations to gain practical experience.
Each Run station is controlled via a touchscreen interface, allowing the operator to select the primary transmitting antenna and then choose the appropriate RX antenna. This ensures reception is maintained even when the In-Band or Multiplier stations are transmitting. Station interlocks are managed through N1MM+, which tracks network UDP message status to prevent conflicts.
All the antennas worked without any issues. All antennas were switchable at the operating position on a touch-screen - TX and RX antennas are individually selected; each pair of run and in-band stations shared a TX antenna but RX antennas were individually selected.
160: Phased inverted Ls - switchable for end-fire either way, or broadside.
80: 2 x 4 el wire beams (NE and NW) plus a ground mounted vertical near the water
40: 2/2
20: 4/4/4
15: 4/4/4 high, 4/4/4 low, 4/4 fixed USA
10: 5/5 fixed EU, 5/5/5 rotary stack, 5/5 fixed USA
RX (for in-band listening): 2 Spiderbeams for 20/15/10, phased ground mounted 40M verticals fixed on EU, a single 40M vertical near the water, two short circular vertical arrays (8 direction and 6 direction) for 160 and 80.
We judged the band conditions to be good, though not quite excellent. The second day brought stronger openings thanks to rising solar flux and a falling K‑index, which gave us a welcome boost. We worked the In‑Band radios hard, and the team was pleased to see our QSO totals closing in on the competition in zone 33—ending only about 350 contacts behind, a shortfall of just 2%.
Where we fell short was on multipliers, largely due to weaker than expected propagation on 10m and 160m, which limited opportunities to chase the rarer stations. Even so, the overall performance remained strong, and the narrow gap in QSO totals was a clear testament to how well the team executed under the prevailing conditions.
Several of the US operators noted that the long-term decline of CW contesting in the United States is becoming increasingly evident. Peak hour rates from the USA, which in previous years consistently exceeded 200+ QSOs for several hours on both days, simply weren’t there this time. In addition, in years gone by many Caribbean islands would be active in CQWW, but today only a handful remain represented. It’s a sobering reminder of how the contesting landscape is changing — food for thought as we look ahead.
On the Monday evening, after we had all recovered we met with some local PJ4 hams and the guys that had operated at PJ4A (Multi/1) over the weekend to enjoy a relaxing meal ad a few beers together.
Left to Right:
Axel DL6KVA - op at PJ4A
John G4IRN - op at PJ4K
Jeff KU8E - op at PJ4A
Dave N3RD - op at PJ4K
We ended with 15,037 QSOs and 945 multipliers. Our scores submitted to 3830.com as as follows:
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