Ten X DX News
September 2, 2001

Europe is back on Ten! The change of propagation
has come early for the USA as we had good signals
coming out of Europe today. I worked members on five
continents before I lost propagation. Last issue I picked
September for this event, so it is nice to see the first
opening just as I am finishing up this article!

I was pleased to be a speaker at the 10-10 Convention in
Worcester. I had the chance to present the research that I
had done to determine the thirty-eight remaining countries
that have never had any 10-10 activity plus the most
recently activated countries that I call a 'First Country'. A
First Country occurs when a QSL is submitted for a
country award for the very first time. These First Country
events are getting harder to find as the total number of
worked countries grows. With the help of Solar Cycle 23,
we could see five to seven new 10-10 First Counties
before we reach the bottom of Cycle 23.
There have been 303 confirmed 10-10 counties to date.
The latest #303 was Palestine E4/OK5DX by Slavo
OK1TN #52722, #302 was Syria YK9A by Carl K9LA
#41258, #301 Egypt was SU1/K5LBU Frosty #51322,
#300 Tromelin FR/F6KDF/T by Larry F5PYI #54226,
#299 Chesterfield Is. TX0DX by Trey N5KO #26780,
#298 East Timor Is. by Dennis 4W/K7BV #5414.

News from ARRL DXCC: A new computer program
called the Logbook of the World will be starting up in
2002. This Internet logbook will take electronic QSL data
from a secure software program and transfer log
information to the ARRL. This data will be matched with
your records. Paper cards can still be checked by a card
checker and they will approve a DXCC submission of
electronic data back to the ARRL. Details at the ARRL
web site www.arrl.org. (Editor comments: This looks
great and will save time and money in DXCC processing
at the ARRL. The DXCC award program has lost money
for years. Do not expect a change in 10-10 card checking
as we do not have the software that could provide the same
secure services as the ARRL electronic logbook.)
A new DXCC country may be created on November 16th
from Ducie Is. just north of VR6 Pitcairn Is. If Pitcairn is
allowed to join the IARU in November, Ducie Is would
qualify by separation from VR6 to be a new country.
The DX Net on 28555 will begin October 7 at 1400Z.

Country Award: There were two upgrades over the
DXCC century country mark this quarter. Congratulations
to Lad W1CRL at 150 countries No.10, and myself
N5MT at 265 countries No. 1. There are 570 basic
certificates issued and a list of new certificates and
upgrades are in the 'Awards' section. Now that the mail
has subsided, I am slowly going through the submitted
QSL data looking for mistakes and trying to improve the
accuracy of the data. Most mistakes are misidentified
countries and they just require an update. Others produce
a duplicate country and loss of a country credit, which
happened to me. I promise to be fair and impartial and to
hold the accuracy of the data as my utmost priority. So if
I have rejected a QSL for a duplicate country, please work
harder to find a new one this winter. I encourage you to
use email if possible for questions, my address is at the
end of this article. I will be glad to send a list of your
country credits by return email or by mail for an SASE.

Upcoming DX & New 10-10 Activity:
3A Monaco. Watch for Pat F5RBB #71709 to be
traveling through Europe through September 24th.
3W Vietnam. Hans WA1LWS #07119, was expected
to leave Vietnam at the end of July.
6Y5 Jamaica. Elsie N7YX #72528, Hillar N6HR
#6143 and others will be on from Oct 23-30.
9A Croatia. Boris 9A2GA #71811 sent me an email
that he would be active from IOTA EU-136 this summer.
He can operate mostly on weekends. Look at his web site
for email address and photos: http://www.qsl.net/9a2ga .
9M6 E Malaysia. Phil,G4JMB/VR2CT #18476, was
active as 9M6CT between Aug 4 and Sep 16. Aug 18/19
he was in the SEANET SSB Contest signing 9M6A, QSL
9M6A to N2OO. QSL: 9M6CT to POBox 7, Pat Pong PO
Bangkok 10506, Thailand.
9Q Congo. Pat F6BLQ #66013, is operating 9Q0AR on
28495 July 13st from this rare country. QSL to F2YT.
AP Pakistan. Peter ON6TT #51565, will be in Pakistan
in early September with additional equipment for the club
station AP2ARS. QSL: SSB via ON5NT.
C6 Andros Isl. NA-001 Al K3TKJ #41006, will be in
the Bahamas from Aug 13-Sep 27. He applied for the call
C6TKJ and operated SSB on 10/15/20m.
FK New Caledonia. Dany FK8VHY #49137 got his
10-10 number as FT5ZB while on Amsterdam Island back
in 1988 but has now moved to FK. He has held calls
F5CW & F6CZB. His QSL manager is F8CMT.
KG4, GUANTANAMO BAY. Bill, W4WX #62600,
will be operating from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, September
7-14th as KG4DX. He will be on RTTY, SSB, WARC
bands and 6 meters. QSL to W5WX.
OA Peru. Mike ex. 9G1MR #71320 has a new QTH in
Lima, Peru with a call sign OA4DKL. QSL to IK3HHX.
T30 Western Kiribati. Pete KZ1Z #28125, should be
on as T30ES from IOTA OC-017 beginning September 1.
TA Turkey. Look for Mill, LX1CC #25556, to be on
September 16 to October 6 as a special prefix YM3CC.
Operation will be SSB on all bands. QSL to home call.
TI Costa Rica. Bill AK0A #13996, will be on from
Sept 25 to October 4 as TI2/AK0A all modes/bands.
TK Sanguinaria Isl. EU-104 Paul F2YT #22871, will
stay on this island near Corsica from Aug 18-Sept 2. He
applied for the call TK8T. He likes to listen on 7099 and
14256 kHz in SSB and the usual IOTA frequencies.
TY Benin. Moudar F5CWU #71812, Terry F5MOO
#70603 and Didier F5AOU #71721 were active for about
two weeks through August from Benin.
V4 St. Christopher & Nevis. Larry KJ4UY #16308,
was on the air as V47UY operating from the shack of
V44NK on Nevis from July 20 to 31st. He operated in
CW/SSB/RTTY/PSK31on 6-160m. QSL via KJ4UY.
V63 Micronesia. Shoji JA7HMZ/V63DX #30900, from
Pohnpei Is OC-010 from Sept 28 to Oct 4 all modes/bands.
ZC4 British Bases on Cyprus. Steve ZC4BS #52763,
will be on all modes mainly on 15/20m for the next year.

Propagation: The Sun continues its decline from a Cycle
23 peak of solar flux in the summer of 2000. So far Cycle
23 has proved to be more restrained than the previous
cycle so I expect a smooth decline in solar flux for the next
five years. Yes, many observed poor propagation this
summer as compared to the previous years, which was
disappointing but we still have two good winter seasons to
go in this cycle. My prediction is for the Solar flux to
range from 95-180 during the fourth quarter of 2001.
On September 2nd, the Solar flux was 184 the A index
9 and K index 3, which is above the flux numbers three
months ago. A large M class solar flare has pushed the
flux up the past ten days. However, the average flux
continues to decline from the highs in 2000. I foresee a 30
point drop in the average flux during 2002 and by
December 2002, I expect a Solar flux range of 80-160.
Cycle 23 is now 3.8 years old. The flux continues to
stay above 100 as this phase of the cycle turns down for
two more years of good propagation during the winter
months for the USA. Multi-hop F layer skip, will be
increasing during the fall-winter months as the change of
season begins to affect propagation.
Expect the best conditions on Sept 25-27, Oct 21-23,
Nov 17-21, Dec 15-17, and Jan 11-13, 2002. Stations in
the Eastern USA, expect a 70% chance of DX to the East-
West path into Europe or Africa. Stations in the Western
USA, expect 40% chance of DX into Europe and a 70%
chance into Asia. All of the USA will get a 50% chance
into S. America in the mid afternoon. Expect a 3% chance
of Long Path into Asia or Europe starting at 0000 UTC for
central USA. The beacons from 28.175-28.300 will tell
you what is open, especially 28.200. Good luck.

IOTA: USA Martha's Vineyard, NA-046: Howe K1VSJ
#35318, in IOTA-Contest. Bodie Island: Special call W1F
was active by Brent KO4PY #60831. Thatcher Island,
NA-148: Tony WF1N #33959, and Lou W1DIG #40472,
were active in July. C6 Bahamas. After visiting Florida,
Uwe DJ9HX #22877, was active from C6 from Aug 13-
23. Eleuthra Island, NA-001 by Joe W8GEX #41393 with
the call C6AJR, Jul 25 to Aug 1st. Helgoland, Germany,
EU-127: As every year, Felix DL5XL #55519, was active
mostly CW. EI Ireland. Declan EI9HQ #71019 planed
to operate from the Blasket Islands, IOTA EU-007, as
EJ9HQ from June 1-3rd. FP St. Pierre and Miquelon,
NA-032: Peter NN9K #32445, Peg KB9LIE #69937 and
K9OT were active in July as FP/K9WM. Isle of Tiree
GM Scotland, EU-008: GM2T was the call in IOTA-
Contest for Ron GM0NTL #69953 and others. OH0
Aland Islands EU-002: OH0V or OH0N by Nicolas
DK5DQ #50473 in IOTA- Contest. PJ7 Saint Maarten,
NA-105 by Jim PJ7/W6JHB #6210, hopes to be on the air
running QRP CW power from Sep 8-14st XX9 Macau.
GaryW5FI #11862, was active till Aug 9. ZK1 South
Cook Islands by Mark KM6HB #60321, was active as
ZK1AHB from Aug 9-11 from Mangaia Island, IOTA OC-
159, and then Aitutaki Atoll, IOTA OC-083, to Aug 16.

New Spring DX members by Carol WA8YL #29588.
June 2001. EU1EU 72424 July: DK0WKC 72700,
ER1VS 72701. Sorry, no new members in August.
10-10 Bar Awards: Neldo LU5HE #10334 for 7100 Bar
#44; and Fred VA7TEN #24752 for 2300 Bar #451.

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 2001 by N5MT

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