Ten X DX News
September 6, 2002
Propagation into Europe and Africa has returned early this
fall season in the USA as we begin the first week of
September. We began hearing signals from Europe and
Africa about ten days ago. For all of you, who have had
your radio on vacation this summer, turn the radio back on.
On days of disturbed conditions, you cannot hear Europe
in Texas. As we progress into October and the seasons
change, signals out of Europe will become a daily event.
Contacts from the South Pacific occurred very often this
summer as that path stayed open to Texas. Solar storms
can make conditions worst but things have definitely
improved on Ten meters for us.
The 10-10 country count is still 307 countries. QSL
cards for the new Ducie Island VP6DI are coming from the
manager slowly. I'm one of those still waiting on a card.
Those of you chasing prefixes: 6J, Mexico. Mexico has
authorized the use of the prefix "6J" instead of "XE" when
working DX. Ex: XE1CI -> 6J1CI. This is valid from
August 21st to December 31st. LA -Norway can use the
special prefix LN during HF contests. VE -Canadian can
use the special prefix CK, CJ, CY, & CZ from now until
the end of October. Time to crank up the tower . . .
The 28555 DX Net will start Sunday, October 6th at
1300-1430Z for the fall DX season. In November, the
net time changes to 1400-1530Z each Sunday.
CY9DH St. Paul Island. James VE9DH #72121 was
one of seven operators on the air from June 29th to July 6th.
They landed on the west side of the island which allowed
them to that put a better signal into the USA. The west side
is more difficult to land due to high seas. I was fortunate to
work James on backscatter one afternoon when they came
up on ten on their last day on the air. I made two other
contacts with them on the WARC bands. QSL via W7XU.
S9 Sao Tome. Charles S9SS #16955 (ex. SV0LM,
S92SS, A22AA & KY4P) is now back at work on this
small island. Sao Tome is 20 by 30 miles long, just North
of the equator, and about two hundred miles off the West
coast of Africa. Sao Tome reminds me of a Zero-Zero
Island on TV years ago? QSL his S9SS call only to N4JR.
HK Columbia. Pedro HK3JJH #47437, will be active
from Isla Palma SA-078, Sept.6-9th and Isla del Pirata SA-
040, Sept. 11-12th. The call will be HK3JJH/1 and
operation will be mainly on 14260, 21260 and 28460. QSL
direct as he does not receive QSL cards sent via the bureau.
BQ9P Pratas Is. It was the 7th time a group of operators
was active June 10-12th. Gary W5FI #11862, promised he
would be sure that his 10-10 number gets passed out for
this new 10-10 country. QSL via KU9C #31988.
CU Azores. Operators Carlos CT1AHU #23437, and
Arlindo CT1EGW #64677 were their July 20-30th.
JX Jan Mayen. Ove, LA2IJ #21977 and others were
active as JX2IJ in July, mostly RTTY but nothing on ten.
TY Benin. The French team of Terry F5MOO #70603,
Flo F5CWU #71812, and Bleron F5AOV #71721,operated
from this rare country from July 20th to August 13th. I
talked with Terry on August 9th. QSL via F5MOO.
YJ Vanuatu. Arthur ZL2HE #10336, was active as
YJ0HE until September 1st.
ZS South Africa and 3DA Swaziland. Frosty
ZS6/K5LBU #51322, was using the call's ZS6/K5LBU &
3DA0CF in July. He returned August 4th to Texas.
Upcoming DX & New 10-10 Activity:
FS French St. Martin. Look for Ann W2AZK #70464,
Mike WA2VUN #12733 and others to sign FS/home-call
from December 4-11th (160 Meter Contest). The group
hopes to have two stations on HF, a station on 6 meters and
possibly some PSK31. Website: http://www.njdxa.org .
J3 Grenada. Ann Santos WA1S #48144, will return to
Grenada to operate J38AA from November 12-22nd. Ann
and others will be in the CQWW CW contest as J3A.
QSL's for J38AA and J3A via WA1S.
JD1 Ogasawara. Ann WA1S #48144, will be the only
10-10 member operating as 8N1OGA from Ogasawara
Islands this winter. The islands are located South of Tokyo
and can only be reached by a 25-hour boat trip from Tokyo.
Ann will operate October 8-16th.
JT Mongolia. Ken K4ZW #18573 and Karl K4YT
#37347, will be in Ulaanbaatar between September 9-15th.
ZL7 Chatham Island OC-038 is scheduled to take place
from October 17-28th. About a dozen operators with
Reinhard DF4TD #21100, Murray ZL1CN #10048, and
Ken Holdom ZL2HU & ZL4HU #37889 are the only 10-
10 members. Ken who is the Team Leader & QSL
Manager now has two call signs. Ken is good about giving
out his 10-10 number when asked, so help the DXpedition
out with a donation if you can help. QSL via ZL2HU.
Autumn of 2003, Igor UA2FZ #42093 may be going to
an island off Finland. Last year, Igor was the only 10-10
member active from MV Island but conditions on Ten were
very bad. Propagation changes for us in the Autumn so
depending on when he returns, Ten could still be open to the
USA giving us a chance at working him for a new country.
Propagation: A slow decline from the peak of Solar Cycle
23 continues to make working DX harder to work.
Propagation in the USA is always better in the Winter until
about March 2003. My prediction is for the Solar flux to
range from 130-185 during the next six months.
Cycle 23 is now 4.75 years old. The flux continues to
stay about 170-180 as this cycle grows older but expect
good propagation this Winter for the USA. E layer skip,
will disappear with the Winter season for the USA with F
skip to Asia, Europe, Africa and South America.
On September 6th, the Solar flux was 175 the A index
12 and K index 3, which is slightly above the flux numbers
three months ago. Solar flares have been less frequent the
past few months which mean the average flux continues to
fall. By July 2003, I expect a Solar flux range of 110-150.
Expect the best conditions on September 14-16,
October 11-13, November 7-10, & December 4-6.
Stations in the Eastern USA, expect a 75% chance of DX
to the East-West path into Europe or Africa. Stations in the
Western USA, expect a 40% chance of DX into Europe and
a 70% chance into Asia. All of the USA will get a 60%
chance into S. America in the mid afternoon. Expect a 5%
chance of Long Path into Asia or Europe starting at 100Z
for central USA. The beacons from 28.175-28.300 will tell
you what is open, especially 28.200. Good luck.
IOTA: North America: Hatteras Island NC NA-067
September 9-13th by Chris K2HVE #73125. Egmont Key
FL NA-034 with special callsign K4E will be operated by
Leslie WA4EEZ #15675, Mark N9MIU #67423 and
David KR4U #26870 at 1500Z November 2nd. Rain-out
dates Nov. 9th. Bob N2OO #12732, Beth KF2BQ and
Skip N1IBM #56536 to be active as N2CW/3 from Smith
Island, MD NA-140. Les Saintes Island NA-114 by
Andrea FG/IK2XDE #66082 and Giovanni FG/IK2JYT
#25968. FP St. Pierre & Miquelon. NA-032 by Paul
FP/K9OT, and Peg FP/KB9LIE #69937, were on the
island August 11-19th. Operators from the Federal Way
ARC were active as WA7FW/7 #72804 from Whidbey
Island WA, NA-065 from July 20- 21st. Bill N5LYG
#46594, and others were on Galveston Island NA-143 as
KM5VI during the IOTA Contest. Tony WF1N #33959
and Lou W1DIG #40472 will be going to Isles of Shoals,
Appledore Island (W1) NA-217, September 20-23rd.
Europe: GU Guernsey. Rainer DL2MDZ #69806 will be
active on CW/RTTY from October 11-17th from EU-114.
ON Belgium EU-172 August 30th to September 7th from
Aaroe Island Lampaert ON5SD #36990 and others. OZ
Denmark. Watch for Peter OZ/DL6LZM #54293 to
operate SSB from Fyn Island EU-172 on September 3-6th
and Lolland or Enehoje Island EU-029 on September 7-13th.
OJ0 Market Reef EU-053 Before operating in the
WRTC2002 in Helsinki, Roland K9LA #41258 and
Vicky/AE9YL were on from July 8-10th, as OJ0/AE9YL.
LZ Bulgaria EU-181 by Nick LZ1NG #18417 was again
on Sveta Anastasia Island in August.
Oceania: KH9 Wake Island, OC-053 Jake N6XIV/KH9
#54767, arrived on the island about August 23rd and will be
there for six weeks.
Africa: S7 Seychelles by Lorenzo IK6PTH #62288, to be
active as S79TH from Mahe AF-024 from Sept. 7-16th.
New Summer DX members' June 2002 to August: 17938
KP4KE was KP4FP, 22043 LU3CQ was LU3AJW, 30925
4S7BRG was HB9BRM, 49116 LU5DK was LU2BAR,
66020 LU2BA was LU2ANN, 72758 AH6ZZ was NH7EJ,
71323 MM0CWJ, 73148 VK5SZ, 73296 VE7AHT, 73319
WL7CPB, 73398 SM6RXZ, 73411 ON4LDP, 72312
UA9YF, 73413 ON6MG, 73414 JE1TGL, 73437
KP4HLR. 73100 4L3BZ corr. 73405 JI1KXL corr.
10-10 Bar Awards: Congratulations to Neldo LU5HE
#10334 for 7500 Bar #38. Neldo also received his 100
Countries Bar #41 last month. This means 41 members
have worked one hundred 10-10 countries for DXCC!
Countries Award: There are 585 basic certificates issued,
I processed one new basic certificate and nine upgrades this
quarter. Email all questions and I can send a list of your
country credits by email or by mail with an SASE.
For those of you who have the ARRL DXCC plaque, you
have until September 30th to get your yearly submission
into the ARRL for the next DXCC Annual Listing that
appears in print. Those current on the Honor Roll do not
need to submit unless you want to bring your totals current.
Starting October 1st, QSL cards for 30-Meter (10-MHz)
contacts will start to count for ARRL DXCC awards.
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 2002 by N5MT
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