Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin No. 508
April 23, 2001

The Ohio/Penn DX PacketCluster
DX Bulletin No. 508
BID: $OPDX.508
April 23, 2001
Editor Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW
Provided by BARF-80 BBS Cleveland, Ohio
Online at 440-237-8208 28.8k-1200 Baud 8/N/1

Thanks to the Northern Ohio Amateur Radio Society, Northern Ohio DX Association, Ohio/Penn PacketCluster Network, AB5K & the AR TelNet Clusters Network, KT1J, K2KW, K3SWZ, W3UR & The Daily DX, K4VUD, N4AA & QRZ DX, K7BV, K8YSE, N8BJQ, 4Z5AY, BA1DU, DJ9IN, DL1EK & DX News Letter, EA7FTR, EA8AVB, F5NQL, F6AJA & Les Nouvelles DX, G3SXW, GM4FDM, JF6OJX, JI3DST, JT1KAA, PY7ZZ, S53R, SM5BFJ, SM7AED, VA3RJ, VE3BX, VK4CP, VK4FW, YS1AG, Z36W, ZK1CG, ZL1AMO and Prodromos Hytiroglou for the following DX information.

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: Linda and I would like to thank the many who sent congratulation messages on OPDX's celebrating its 10th anniversary in publication. We hope to continue to provide you with a possible new... Best 73 de Tedd/KB8NW and Linda/XYL.

DXCC COUNTRY/ENTITY REPORT: According to the AR-Cluster Network for the week of Sunday, 15/April, through Sunday, 22/April there were 226 countries active. Countries available: 3A, 3B8, 3D2, 3V, 3W, 3X, 4J, 4L, 4S, 4X, 5A, 5B, 5H, 5N, 5R, 5X, 5Z, 6W, 6Y, 7Q, 7X, 8P, 8Q, 8R, 9A, 9G, 9H, 9J, 9K, 9M2, 9M6, 9N, 9Q, 9V, 9Y, A2, A4, A6, A7, A9, AP, BV, BY, C2, C3, C5, C6, C9, CE, CE0A, CE9, CM, CN, CP, CT, CT3, CU, CX, D2, D4, DL, DU, EA, EA6, EA8, EA9, EI, EK, EL, EP, ER, ES, ET, EU, EX, EY, EZ, F, FG, FJ, FK, FM, FO, FO/A, FP, FR, FW, FY, G, GD, GI, GJ, GM, GU, GW, HA, HB, HB0, HC, HI, HK, HK0/a, HK0/m, HL, HP, HR, HS, HZ, I, IS, J2, J3, J5, J6, J7, J8, JA, JT, JW, JX, JY, K, KG4, KH0, KH2, KH4, KH6, KH8, KL, KP2, KP4, LA, LU, LX, LY, LZ, OA, OD, OE, OH, OH0, OK, OM, ON, OX, OY, OZ, P2, P4, PA, PJ2, PJ7, PY, PZ, S2, S5, S7, S9, SM, SP, SU, SV, SV5, SV9, T7, T8, T9, TA, TF, TG, TI, TK, TL, TN, TR, TU, UA, UA2, UA9, UK, UN, UR, V2, V3, V4, V5, V7, V8, VE, VK, VK9M, VK9N, VP2E, VP2V, VP6, VP8, VP8/o, VP9, VQ9, VR, VU, XE, XT, XX9, XZ, YB, YI, YK, YL, YN, YO, YS, YU, YV, Z2, Z3, ZA, ZB, ZC4, ZD7, ZD8, ZF, ZK1/s, ZL, ZP, ZS There were 39 CQ Zones available during the past week. CQ Zones that were not active are: 2 There were 53 ITU Zones available during the past week. ITU Zones that were not active are: 3,4,15,21,22,23,24,25,26,31,34,35,43, 58,59,68,69,70,71,72,74,75,90

* PLEASE NOTE: The report "could" contain "Pirate/SLIM" operations. As always, you never know - "Work First Worry Later" (WFWL). OPDX InterNet Subscribers will receive an additional bulletin (due to its size) with a complete breakdown and "DXCC/Entities Chart of Activity".

2000 DXCC YEARBOOK IS OUT. Many have began receiving the "2000 DXCC Yearbook" and the ARRL has put out another excellent publication for members involved on the DXCC program. The yearbook not only has the top "100 Most Need DXCC Entities" and the DXCC Annual List, but great articles by Wayne/N7NG, Martti/OH2BH and Carl/N4AA. There is also, an article and interview with Bob Eshleman, W4DR, the 2000 DeSoto Cup's winner. The Top 10 Most Wanted Entities are:

  1 -  P5     North Korea             6 -   H40    Temotu Province
  2 -  BS7H   Scarborough Reef        7 -   BV9P   Pratas Island
  3 -  E4     Palestine               8 -   VU4    Andaman & Nicobar Islands
  4 -  FO/A   Austral Islands         9 -   7O     Yemen
  5 -  FO/M   Marquesas Islands      10 -   A5     Bhutan

3W, VIETNAM (Possible New IOTA). Look for Alan/BA1DU, Jin/BA4TA, Liao/BA7QT to team up with Bac Ai/3W6AR and Hau/3W6LI to activate Tam Island (new IOTA) from Vietnam. Tam Island is located in the South China Sea, about 12''10'N and 109''15'E. The team will use the callsign 3W7D and plans to operate from April 26th to May 1st. They will set up two stations and work on CW and SSB on the normal IOTA frequencies from 40-10 meters. Their equipment will include FT-990 and TS-50 transceivers, GO-2KW linear amplifier, Cushcraft R5 vertical and multiband dipole antennas. The 3W7D team is supported by The Beijing DX Club, Chinese Radio Sports Association, The Vietnam Amateur Radio Club and sponsored by Island Radio Expedition Foundation Inc. QSL via BA1DU (E-mail: ba1du@arrl.net ). Send directly to: P.O.Box 8091, Beijing 100088, CHINA, or Chinese QSL bureau.

4U, UNTIED NATIONS HQ (Update). Henry, KT1J, informed OPDX that: "Yes, we had 4U1UN on the air in PSK and SSTV for a short time again last Friday (April 13th). (We initially ran some tests back in February). It is anticipated that 4U1UN will be on in the digital modes fairly regularly in the near future, once a few computer issues have been resolved, and antenna improvements have been made."

6Y1, JAMAICA (Attention Prefix Hunters!). The rare prefix of 6Y1A will be activated by Tom/N6BT, Fred/KE7X, Walter/N6XG and Ken/K2KW in the CQ WPX CW Contest, May 26-27th, 2001. Outside the contest, look for operations using their homecall/6Y5 from May 20-29th. They will use KW amplifiers on 40-6 meters, and vertical arrays will be provided by Force 12. Special emphasis will be given on the WARC bands and 6m outside the contest. QSL 6Y1A and K2KW/6Y5 via WA4WTG, others via their home callsigns. Questions go to Kenny, K2KW at: k2kw@prodigy.net For information, visit the Web page: http://www.k2kw.com

AP, PAKISTAN. Robert, S53R, informs OPDX that he will be starting a new assignment with the U.N. beginning in May and will start in Pakistan. He will try to sign AP2ARS as much as possible again. Operation will be on 40-10 meters, including the WARC bands, almost exclusively on CW. Robert told us that other operations from the region are also possible, and he will keep us posted.

BEACON CALLSIGN CHANGE. Yacov, 4Z5AY, informs use that the 4Z5AY 6 meter beacon located in Tel-Aviv has a new callsign. Look for 4X4SIX to be active on 50.080.20 MHz. More details are available at the Web site: http://www.iarc.org/~4z5ay/htmls/bea_tec.htm

DAYTON DX DINNER BANQUET (Update). Steve Bolia, N8BJQ, informs OPDX that at the moment, all tickets for the DX dinner have been sold. All orders on hand have been filled and due to space constraints, no more can be sold. It is possible that some may become available just prior to the dinner. Also, Chuck Brady, N4BQW (3Y0C), will be the featured speaker and will talk about his 3Y expedition. For those that want to know more about Chuck's real job they can find it at: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/brady.html

FH, MAYOTTE. According to Ted, JJ1LIB, who operated as S07U, 5T5U and 8Q7JY, he will be active as FH/JJ1LIB from April 29th through May 4th. Ted will use a TS-570 plus an IC2KL(500W), a 2 element HB9CV yagi for 20-10 meters, and a 6 element yagi for 6 meters. For the lower bands, he will use wire antennas. Operations will be on CW, SSB, and RTTY. The QSL for FH/JJ1LIB should be sent to JN1HOW.

H40RW WRAP-UP. Ron, ZL1AMO, informs OPDX that he is back home slowy recovering, and he has completed his H40RW DXpedition to Temotu on April 6th. He made about 11500 QSOs which includes about 300 on 6 meters (this was a suprise for Ron). Ron states that the weather there was really really hot and also extremely wet with constant electrical storms with deafening thunder. He also mentioned things have really changed in Honiara since his last visit in 1990. He also thanked OPDX for the write up on his DXpedition and congratulated OPDX on its ten years of dedication.

HK0, MALPELO ISLAND. Pedro, HK3JJH/HK0M, continues to be very active on 75-10 meters, usually not working split. He will be there until May 7th. QSL via N4AA.

HR, HONDURAS. Wolf, HR1BY, is active from Valle de Angeles on 6 meters. He is working QRP, only 8 watts. Check around 1830z and 2330z. QSL via EA7FTR.

HS, THAILAND. Charly, K4VUD, will be active from Bangkok as HS0ZCW from April 26-28th. He states to look for him on the higher bands.

IOTA NEWS................

JW, SVALBARD (Rare IOTA). Terje, JW3OHA, reports that he and others are planning/arranging a DXpedition to a rare Arctic island and are looking for operators. The operation is planned to take place this year from May 31st to June 9th from Prins Karls Forland (IOTA EU-063). If interested, check out the Web page: http://www.dxpedition.org

PY0F, FERNANDO DE NORONHA. Dennis, K7BV, (k7bv@aol.com) will operate from Fernando de Noronha, May 24th through June 1st. He will sign with a special callsign throughout the DXpedition. Dennis will be active in the CQ WPX CW Contest, most likely entering as a SOABHP category. After the contest he will be very active on all bands 160-6 meters, generally on CW. Rod, WC7N, (wc7n@gb.wave.net) will serve as Pilot Station, assisting Dennis, helping 9BDXCC chasers fill empty bands. Logs will be posted on web site: http://www.qth.com/k7bv/PY0F/ This web site is expected to be launched sometime this week with details of the DXpedition. Steve, KU9C, will handle QSL chores.

QSL INFO AND NEWS.................

SPECIAL EVENT. Look for the Mongolian special event station JU1O to be active from Ulaanbaatar between May 5-13th. We contacted Khos, JT1CD, explained what the special event is for and he stated that JU1O will be active during the "National Technical Olympiad". The children of the High Schools of the Mongolia will compete in these championships (which are Amateur radio direction finding, aeromodelling, Ship modelling and Car modelling... etc). QSL via JR0CGJ: Takashi Shimizu, P. O. Box5, Tateshina Kitasaku, Nagano 384-2305 JAPAN.

TT8, CHAD. Look for Eric, F5JKK, to be active starting the 2nd or 3rd week of May. He has asked for the callsign TT8JE again. Eric prefers 6 meters using and FT 847 w/100 watts (maybe more!) into a 5 element Yagi antenna. He states to listen for his CQ on 50.110 kHz and will begin listening on 50.200 kHz (5 to 10 up). His operations will be mainly CW, but there will be some SSB if conditions are good. Eric will be running a beacon using 25 watts on 50.096 kHz. The beacon will send: VVVVV DE TT8JE JK72MC -- (5'') and break (5''). IMPORTANT! Eric reports that he worked many stations in 1998, however, in 2001, he states, "NO dupe or I'll cancel old QSO. Listening carefully on my frequency, don't loose time for you and all others (Sample: When I say Alpha Bravo NO others like Alpha Kilo...). Education and courtesy, no need to say more." Eric will be on HF using the same radio but with a R7000, dipoles and loop antennas. His modes of operation will be RTTY/PSK31 and will try SSTV and CW. He suggests to look for him on the WARC bands and especially on 10 meters. QSL via F6FNU.

TX0, CHESTERFIELD ISLAND (Update). Andy, YS1AG, informs/reports to OPDX that he has received the following information from Kan, JA1BK, about the upcoming TX0 operation. Kan states that rumors of the upcoming TX0C DXpedition being cancelled is FALSE. Only Jacky/F2CW, and Akinori/JA4EKO have dropped out of the DXpedition. There will be only four operators now, Georges/FK8FS, Daniel/FK8FU, Dany/FK8VHY and Philippe/FO3BM. Activity is scheduled to take place April 27th through May 2nd, on HF and the 6 meters band. Pilippe will be the only operator that will listen to 6 meters using a 7 element beam and a FT-100D plus a small amp. All QSLs via JA1BK.

VK9C, COCOS-KEELING ISLAND. Dennis/G3MXJ, Roger/G3SXW and Nigel/G3TXF plan to be active from here as VK9CXJ, VK9CXW and VK9CXF, respectively, from April 28th through May 5th. Activity will be on all nine bands, CW only. As many other DXpeditions will be active during that week, there are two suggested frequencies for each HF band. They will try to always be on one or the other of them: 10108/118, 14008/018, 18078/088, 21008/018, 24898/908 and 28008/018. On the lower frequencies, try 7008, 3508 and 1825 kHz. For their propagation and other details, check the web site: http://www.G3TXF.com/dxtrip/vk9cxf/vk9c.html QSL via home callsign.

VK9M, MELLISH REEF. After three days of sailing, the VK9ML team landed on the Mellish Reef Thursday, April 19th at 2321z. According to a press release by Adam, VK4CP: "There was some concern that Mellish Reef may not exist as such anymore as it has been a few years since the last DXpedition and there have been several cyclones in that area in recent years. Mellish Reef is only 1 metre above high tide, as was the case when the team arrived." The team is expected to be active until April 24th. Look for them on various bands. For more details on the Mellish Reef Site Survey DXpedition have a look at the web site: http://www.qsl.net/vk9ml/

VP8, FALKLAND ISLANDS. By the time you read this, the Scottish team of Gav/GM0GAV, Rob/GM3YTS, Tom/GM4FDM and Jack/GM4COX should be active as VP8SDX until May 8th. Activity will be on all bands 160-10 meters. Their suggested frequencies are:

* Other frequencies will also be used to accommodate specific country sub-bands (e.g for Japan).

Their goal is to make 30,000 QSOs with two stations on the air. There will be lots of low band activity besides the HF. They plan to keep the WARC bands busy. There will be (as they state) "gallons of CW, a few pints of SSB, a glass or two of RTTY, and maybe a 'wee dram' of PSK31. Their pilot station will be Chris, GM3WOJ. You will be able to send your feedbacks, comments and suggestions to them via E-mail at: vp8sdx@talk21.com QSLs can be sent via the bureau, E-mail or direct to GM4FDM: Thomas Wylie, 3 Kings Crescent, Elderslie, Renfrewshire, PA5 9AD, Scotland. Check out their interesting Web page at: http://www.hfdx.co.uk/vp8sdx/

VQ9, CHAGOS ISLANDS. VQ9IO has been active on 24904 kHz at 1445z and 21017 kHz between 1430-1530z.

Z3, MACEDONIA. Venco informs OPDX that since April 1st, he has changed his callsign from Z31JA to Z36W. He can usually be found on 40/20/17 meters CW after 2230z or on 10 meters after 1400z. QSL via NN6C, or the QRZ.com and CBA (using his old callsign). Venco states any contacts with him for skeds, info... etc, can be made via his E-mail address at: z31ja@mt.net.mk

ZK1, NORTH COOK ISLAND. Victor, ZK1CG, reports to OPDX that Tuatai, ZK1MA, is back in Manihiki, North Cook Island after his long stay in Rarotonga, South Cook as ZK1CY. Tuatai is mainly a CW operator using FT-747GX and dipoles for antennas. His home and radio gear/antennas were completely wipe off the Atoll a few years ago during a hurricane that destroyed 85% of the Atoll. He is slowly recovering from this, Victor/ZK1CG sent Tuatai the FT 747GX to use with battery power. Victor is now operational from South Cook thanks to W7VV (Roger and Sue) who so kindly sent him a rig that he had as a spare. Victor states that they will be donating some antennas to Tuatai after their October CQWW SSB Contest operation. What Tuatai needs now is new a mike for his rig. If you have an old (not too used) mike for his FT-747GX laying around, please let Victor know and he will make arrangements to send it to Tuatai. Victor's E-mail address is: sales@computers.co.ck


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me via " kb8nw@arrl.net "...... TNX de Tedd KB8NW
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