Ten X DX News
September 2, 2000
Tromelin Island 10-10 Country No. 297?
FR/T Tromelin Islands: A group of four French
amateur radio operators arrived on the island August
1st and during their two week stay made 10480
contacts on Ten meters. A band opening to the US on
August 2nd allowed me to work them for a new 10-10
country! Hope you found Larry F5PYI #54226 as he
was the only member in the group. This will bring the
10-10 DXCC entity total to 297. Tromelin Island is
a small French island about two miles wide in the
western Indian Ocean at Lat. 16S Long. 55E.
Permission to visit the island is restricted and must be
obtained from France. Air travel from Reunion Island
by chartered plane is the preferred means of travel.
Travel by boat is harder as there is no port or lagoon
and landing would have to be by small boat. The
island is basically a large sand bar sticking up out of
the ocean with some trees. There are several buildings
at one end of the airstrip that support a manned
weather station and these are the only people living on
the island. So, the ham radio operators took a lot of
support equipment besides radios and antennas. For
more info: http://f5nod.waika9.com/frt.html .
4W, EAST TIMOR Dick Wolf, N6FF #24616,
will be joining Dennis K7BV #5414 from October 7th
for a ten day DXpedition to East Timor. Dick is a
well-known 160 operator insuring that Top Band gets
special attention. Dennis likes CW on 28007 and look
for Dick on SSB at 28557.
East Timor has just become a new DXCC entity
recognized by the ARRL. This large island is located
Lat. 8S and Long. 125E which is north of Australia.
Presently the United Nations has a peace keeping
force on the island to prevent problems with Indonesia
and the native population. This all started twenty five
years ago when Indonesia took over the island from
Portugal. The DXpedition web site has a lot of
information at: http://www.qth.com/k7bv/timor/ .
Australia is commemorate the Olympic Games, by
using the "AX" prefix from June 15 to November 2.
Special callsign: AX2000 operated by Philip
VK2FHN #69601 has been active on 28497 at
2300utc in late August for two weeks. The callsign
will then be used by a different person who may not
be a 10-10 member. QSL to Steve VK2PS #26435.
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New DX Members.
VQ9 Chagos by Bill VQ9NL/W4NML #71828
was worked in May and I convinced him over the air
to get a 10-10 number. His new number got to him in
June but there has been little propagation on ten for
Bill to be heard in the US. The Chagos club station
has a nice log periodic antenna that works very well
on ten. He was spotted on Aug. 16th by a US east
coast ham on 28450.
Editor: I got this just after the Summer QSO Party:
"Just to let you know I was on as long as the band was
open. Very poor conditions. Had opening only to
Europe, just a couple JA's, a few African stations, that
was it. I heard no stateside stations. Heard only one
European station working one station in the states.
Ten meters closed early here the night of the contest.
The last few days ten and fifteen have been dead.
Twenty has been open into the states around 11-
1300utc. " 73 Bill. QSL to W4NML.
Upcoming DX & New 10-10 Activity:
The Kingman/Palmyra DX Group announced its
planned Kingman Reef 2000 DXpedition for mid-
October: Ned Stearns, AA7A #11185 and Ann Santos
WA1S #48144, are the only members of the dozen
going to this desolate island in the South Pacific.
Kingman Reef is several hundred yards long, cigar
shaped and composed of shells and coral. No
buildings are on the reef and landing permission is
required from a US Agency that protects the fish and
wildlife. The team will leave Hawaii on October 15
for Christmas Island to meet the schooner Machias,
then sail to Palmyra and finally to Kingman which
may take 3-4 days. They plan to stay for 12 day. The
Machias will stay in the lagoon at Kingman to assist
the DXpedition. They will be back in Honolulu on
Nov. 5th. Editor note: Kingman and Palmyra have
both been active with 10-10 members in prior years
but activity is RARE!
4X Israel. David, W5WP #40058, completed his
trip to Israel in July. Conditions on ten were not good
during that time so he made very few contacts on ten.
3DA Swaziland. Frosty K5LBU/3DA0CF #51322,
was in Swaziland in early July for three days.
TJ, Cameroon. Dave TJ1PD #70821 was on
28490 at 1700 UTC Sept. 1st working the east coast by
the call districts. He had an electrical problem and
was off the air thirty minutes later so not very many
got to work him. QSL to John N5DRV #44892.
TI Costa Rica. Bob TI2/KG4DOE #71842 was on
28425 at 1700 UTC Aug. 29th. Bob is a permanent
resident there now. He is learning Spanish and
working on getting a TI2 callsign to replace the
portable callsign. QSL to call book.
Most Wanted 10-10 Countries:
As of January 1, 2000 these are the most wanted:
No. 1 is P5 North Korea; #2 is BS7H Scarborough
Reef; #3 is BV9P Pratas Island; #4 is A5 Bhutan; #5
is VU4 Andaman & Nicobar Islands; #6 is FR/t
Tromelin Island; #7 is VU7 Lakshadweep Islands; #8
is VK0/m Maquarie Island; #9 is FR0/g Glorioso
Island; #10 is FR0/j Juan De Nova; #11 is SV/A
Mount Athos; #12 is VP8/sg South Georgia Island;
#13 is XZ Myanmar; #14 is VK0/h Heard Island; #15
is ZL8 Kermadec Island; #16 is FT5W Crozet Island;
#17 is TN Congo; #18 is XQ0X San Felix Island (the
last one in South America); #19 is XW Laos;#20 is
1S0/9M6 Spratly; #21 is EP Iran; #22 is 1A0KM Sov.
Military Order of Malta; #23 is 3V Tunisia; #24 is
5R8 Madagascar; and #25 is ZK3 Tokelau Islands.
QSL sources. I use the Pathfinder Web Client
located at: http://www.qsl.net/pathfinder/WebClient/.
It allows you to use the Internet to get QSL data from
several sources that you select. This free web client
needs only a small program on your PC with the
database located on the Internet, saving space and with
no worry about a CD becoming obsolete and it is free.
Propagation: As we progress to the peak of Cycle
23, solar activity such as flares and coronal mass
ejections produce large variations in the radiation
upon the Earth. Such variations lead to disturbances of
the geomagnetic field and the ionosphere and disrupt
HF communications. Solar flux will range from 125-
240 during the fourth quarter of 2000.
On Sept. 1st, the Solar flux was 158 the A index 16
and K index 2, which is the below the flux numbers
from last quarter. Have we past the peak of Cycle 23?
I do not think so as yet. There will be a 115 point
swing in the flux numbers during the next three
months as the sun gets more active.
Cycle 23 is now 33 months old, the flux continues
to stay high as Phase 2 of this cycle continues for 2
more years of the best propagation. During the fall
months of September-December, we in the US get the
best DX propagation with multi hop skip being more
likely to occur. I predict we would be hearing Europe
on a regular basis in Texas by September 26th .
Expect the best conditions on Sept. 6-8 and 25-
27, Oct. 23-26, Nov. 21-26! For stations in the
Eastern USA, expect a 50% chance of DX to the East-
West path into Europe or Africa. For stations in the
Western USA, expect 30% chance of DX into Europe
and a 60% chance into Asia. All of the USA will get
a 30% chance into S. America in the mid afternoon.
Expect a 5% chance of Long Path into Asia or Europe
starting at 030 UTC for central USA. The beacons
from 28.175-28.300 will tell you what is open,
especially 28.200. Good luck.
IOTA: Italy Walter IC8/IN3XUG #62235 was
active on 10 meters using SSB from Ischia Island,
EU-031, until September 4. QSL via bureau.
VP2, Montserrat. Bill, W4WX #62600 was on
SSB and RTTY July 21-24th. QSL via home call.
CY9: St. Paul Island NA-094 by WV2B, AI5P,
Henry KE1AC #51241. Only a report of CY9/AI5P
on 28500 on July 9th.
HR Honduras. Joe W8GEX #41393 was expected
to be active as HR6/W8GEX from Roatan Island,
NA-057, from August 13-18th. No activity reported.
New DX members this Spring.
DX Members for June: none July: OE8CIO 71723
and F5PBL 71724. August: YV4FZM 71800, DJ7VX
71801, DJ5KW 71802, VE3DHB 71803, S57AT
71804, VE4TG 71805 and SM0ELV 71806. DX data
from Carol WA8YL #29588.
10-10 Countries Award: 85 Counties: OB
WA8YQR #12544 Cert.# 57; Carl W9OO #9973
Cert.# 56. 80 Countries: Cliff WB4FBS #48461
Cert.# 57. 75 Countries: Tony VK6PP #38922
Cert.#79; Bob W5UFA #23660 Cert.#78.
10-10 Bar Awards: Neldo LU5HE #10334 for 6500
Bar #50; Gemi KH6F #37649 for 1100-1600 Bars;
Alan VE4ALN #69217 for 1000 Bar #1475; Tony
VK6PP #38922 for 1500 Bar #768.
The weekly 10-10 DX Net will start on Sunday
October 1st at 1400 UTC on 28555 with N5MT as
Net Control in Texas. Need help on the East coast.
Unique Y2K Completed: I want to thank everyone
who make a contact with me during the first seven
months of this year. I had a goal of finishing the
unique Y2K by July 26th, my birthday and on that date
I contacted Arthur ZL1DU #68924 for number 2000.
It took me 5100 contacts to contact 2000 different
members. My congratulations to Cliff WB4FBS
#48461 who also completed his unique #2000 on
July30th after making 8103 contacts.
Thanks to the on-line DX List, QRZ-DX, Lee
KH6BZF #8888 & Ohio/Penn DX Bulletins. Send
photos to Mike Davidson, 3518 Bellefontaine,
Houston, TX 77025 USA Email: N5MT@aol.com
DX IS! 73 Mike Davidson N5MT #24949
Copyright 2000 by N5MT ...-.-
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