Imuris is a small town in the northern Mexican state of Sonora, along Mexico highway 15 - the long highway between Nogales at the USA/Mexico border and Mexico City - and the railroad line connecting Nogales and the USA into the Mexican railroad network. It is also the intersection with the eastbound section of Mexico highway 2, which heads to the state of Chihuahua and the city of Ciudad Juarez (across the Rio Grande river from El Paso, Texas). Most people simply drive by this town, heading to other locations, and never stop here. As far as we have been able to determine, there are no resident amateur radio operators here - although one of the 4A2Q organizers has a house in this town.
You may view a map of northern Sonora and southern Arizona, which will open in another browser window, showing where Imuris is located and also the dividing lines between grids DM40 and DM41 (a few km/miles north of Imuris, but still south of the international border) and between grids DM41 and DM42 (between the Arizona cities of Tucson and Green Valley, north of the international border). The map is a .JPG file, approximately 110K in size.
Traveling to Imuris
Non-Mexicans are required to obtain a "tourist card" (an entry visa,
known as FMT in Spanish) before reaching Imuris. There are
checkpoints south of the border crossing points where Mexican immigration
authorities check for the tourist cards. With some exceptions, these
checkpoints are approximately 20-21km south of the border. For travel
from Nogales AZ to Imuris, there is no requirement for a Mexican vehicle
permit. If non-Mexicans are traveling to/from other parts of the
Mexican mainland, a vehicle permit may be required.
Amateur radio, and Imuris
For amateur radio, Imuris is probably the easiest way for us to operate from
grid DM40 with some facilities to set up radio stations. Imuris is
near a major highway and not too far from the international border (excluding
the formalities at the border and the checkpoint south of Nogales, a 45-minute
drive from the border, less than 2 hours from Tucson AZ, and less than 4 hours
from Phoenix AZ). We - the 4A2Q
operators - knew that Mexico is not a "rare" DX country or
entity. The prefix, on the other hand, may be unusual. In any
event, we had fun down there as we made contacts on the radios.
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact 4A2Q.
Updated 15 February 2007