Ten X DX News
March 1, 1999
February has been very interesting with the return of daily skip from
Europe and Africa into Houston, Texas. The solar flux peaked on February 15th
at a new cycle high of 205 but the low for the month was 99 on the 7th. The
winter months in N.America are always the best for DX and with the solar flux
rising, much DX was heard.
News: Palestine is a new DXCC entity with a E4 prefix! The ARRL will start
accepting E4 cards in October for contacts after February 1, 1999. One of our
members, Bernie W3UR, (ex.WR3E) was in the first group to be active as E44DX.
Operating from Gaza City, most of the contacts were very fast signal
exchanges, I doubt that any 10-10 activity took place. Two groups, one
Japanese the other Hungarian, have come into Palestine and they have put many
thousands of contacts into their logs. (Editor: I would appreciate
confirmation of 10-10 activity from E4!)
ZL9CI, Campbell Island. Possibly the best DXpedition of the decade took
place from Campbell Island in January 1999. Ken ZL2HU #37889 and Trey N5KO
#26780 (ex.WN4KKN) were the only members on the trip. Why? Because they made
96,000 contacts, which is a new record! They could not stay on the island at
night, so that made the record even harder to accomplish. The quality of the
contacts were excellent, these guys worked all modes, they knew their
equipment and used propagation to the fullest. Towards the end of the trip,
there were times when 10-10 activity occurred as they had a good signal on
ten. QSL to ZL2HU, Ken Holdom, POBox 56099, Tawa, New Zealand.
Upcoming DX & New 10-10 Activity:
LY Lithuania: Dan LY1DS #70322 is the newest 10-10 member from Lithuania. I
worked Dan in February and asked him if he was interested in becoming a
member. I helped him with his paperwork and had the pleasure of telling him
what his number was over the air. Dan worked many of you last year with the
call LY61DS and he is very active on HF. When you QSL, please include one IRC
or green stamp to cover the postage expense. QSL to Dainius Savicius, POBox
1274, Vilnius - 56, Lithuania.
Over the years there have been four members from LY and Dan had this to say
about these members: "LY1DW was not active during last 5 - 6 years. LY1TR is
quite active on 20 meters. LY3BQ is living in Canada now. His new callsign is
VE3LBQ! LY3BS/LY6K is now in San Antonio, TX and is expected to return to
Lithuania in December." Look for Dan on 28475 at 1500Z.
Jersey and Guernsey. Dave G4KHF #34443: "Hi Mike.. Thanks for the input. I
will be unable to travel to the Channel Island before September due to the
Holiday situation. However, from what you are saying the need to activate the
Islands again for 10-10 will be a worthwhile one. Nearer this time I will be
back in touch with you, Mike." UN Kazakhstan. Harry #45850 UN7FZ/UP6F,
sent me this in Dec.98: "Mike, unfortunately, we still have no propagation to
US. Just two days ago I worked with WL7FT, he said his QTH is Okla, but time
was strange to operate US - 700Z. Of course, I'll be on ten this weekend and
will take part in ARRL, due to propagation. I'll be as UN7FZ or UP6F (it's my
contest call). Will look for you there ... Good luck to you and yours for
now. Harry". E-Mail: un7fz@kaznet.kz .
3A Monaco by Leo K8PYD #44582 has been active in this rare country operating
RTTY and CW at the end of February. I asked him to meet me on the Sunday
28555 DX net but he has not shown up the past two weeks. Luc, I1YRL #58966,
was expected in Monaco in January as 3A/I1YRL. This is the third time Luc
has announced a trip to Monaco but I have never seen any reports of DX
activity.
EL2WW Liberia. Mark, ON4WW #49103 (ex-9X4WW, S07WW, 5T5WW) is now QRV from
Monrovia, Liberia, with the call EL2WW. Mark will not return anymore to the
Western Sahara S0.
3D2 Figi. Slavo, OK1TN #51722 , we worked in late February with the call
3D2TN. After March 1, look for him as T30RD from West Kiribati, then about
March 10 as T31RD on Central Kiribati or Banaba as T33RD depending on
transportation. QSL via Czech DX Foundation, Box 73, Bradlec 293 06 Mlada
Boleslav, Czech Republic.
VP2E Anguilla by Mike W1USN #51238, Bob AA1M #17930 and Fred W1HL #00817,
will be there March 1-8 for the ARRL DX contest.
9M6 East Malaysia. Philip Weaver (ex.VR6CT #18476), now in Thailand with the
call HS0/G4JMB, should have been active as 9M6CT from E. Malaysia in January.
(Editor: Any info about Phil is needed.)
HK Columbia. Gerard, F2JD/G0SHN #63443, has received his licence as
HK3/G0SHN. He will stay there for one year, maybe two.
XJ1 CANADA. Look for Nova Scotia stations to use the XJ1 prefix now until
November 27.
5A Libya. Abubaker, 5A1A #69222, continues to be active mostly on weekends
around 28040 & 28445 at 1500-1630z. QSL by "Registered Mail" ONLY to Box
74421, Tripoli, Libya.
Sri Lanka. 4S7BRG is Mario HB9BRM #30935, returned to 4S7 land after going
back home to Switzerland. His address: Mario Primavesi, 327/3 Main ST., 80300
Ambalangoda, Sri Lanka, Africa.
J3 Grenada. Bill, K4LTA #14696, plans to be active as J3/K4LTA from March
10th-April 10th.
J7 Dominica. Larry N4VA #59764 was to be with a group as J79GMV or J79VA, no
reports.
HK0 San Andres. Carl, WB4ZNH #8341, Martha, WN4FVU #26818, Everett WZ8P
#7485 and Jack AA3KX #66583, are going on a contest DXpedition with a group as
HK0/W4DC. Their operation will take place during the ARRL DX Phone Contest the
first full weekend of March.
3B9 Rodrigues Island. Ned Stearns, AA7A #11185, has joined a DXpedition
group that is planning is to be active from April 1-10.
OH0 Aland Island. Dennis K7BV #5414 will be contesting as OH0W in the WPX
CW contest in late May. He expects to be there a week and operate on ten SSB.
Also, in mid July he will return to Barbados as 8P9JJ and 8P0V in IARU HF
contest. He is a partner in a cottage in 8P so he will be active a lot over
the coming years.
OX Greenland. Leif OX3LE #54211, the only member in OX, sent me a message
saying he was sorry that he can not get on ten because his radio is broken and
parts are not available.
VP8CRB. Jan, K4QD #13423, is now QRT from the Falkland Islands. He states
that he made over 10,000 QSO. Wish he would go to South Georgia and operate
for a new 1010 country!
China. Hannes DL3NEO #69205, was active from China as DL3NEO/BY7KH and
also DL3NEO/BY7KF from Guangzhou (Kanton) on Oct.31 to Nov.1, 98. On Oct.
20-21, 98 he activated the 4U1VIC club station in Vienna and got great help
from John NK4N/OE3JOS. Good skip on ten brought many stateside calls into his
log. QSL via the buro or callbook.
Guam. Ray, WH6ASW/KH2 #65818, reports that he has dropped Bill Horner VK4FW
#34297 as his QSL Manager. The new route is to his home address: Ray Fabre',
37 Turner Rd, Nimitz Hill, Asan, Guam, 96922 USA (Editor note: Bill VK4FW
has had a 1010 number for years but sometime in the past had a major problem
with one of the VK chapters. As a result, Bill does not give out his 1010
when asked as I found out when I worked him on Willis Island. People have
talked with him about solving his problem but no luck!).
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IOTA: The March DXpedition to St Peter & St Paul Rocks by Karl PS7KM #39920
and Randy WX5L #45611 has been canceled.
Sam, CT1EEN #69600, will be in Australia September to October 1999 with a
group, using the callsign VK6EEN and putting on a New IOTA. Puerto Rico by
Carlos WP4U #28321 is going to Mona Island (NA-99) March 26-31.
P4 Aruba. Martin, VE3MR #40238, will be active as P49M from here until April
20.
C6 Bahamas. Don, KN4UG #59764, operated from Great Abaco Island (NA-080) as
KN4UG/C6A in January.
HK Columbia. Pedro, HK3JJH #47437, will be active from Cacagual Island (SA-84)
from March 6-7th. He hopes to arrive on Malpelo Island after his Cacagual
operation and be active on 10 meters. QSL: POBox 81119, Bogota, Columbia.
KG4 Guantanamo Bay. Al W4SD #5675 was worked as KG4SD in mid February just
after the ARRL DX CW Contest.
Postage is now 33 cents per ounce in the US. International rates will go up
later in 1999.
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Propagation: Solar flux will range from 105-210 during the second quarter
of 1999. On March 1st, the Solar flux was 123 the A index 10 and K index 3,
now that Cycle 23 is about 18 months old, the flux is on a steady climb
upwards. Solar flux is expected to bottom out around 105 from March 3-5, then
rise to 130 by March 8, 160 by March 10, and peak around 200 on March 13.
After that it is expected to decline to 120 around March 22. This is all
based on the previous solar rotation, so new activity could increase these
numbers with little warning. There will be a forty point swing in the flux
numbers during the next three months as more new spots appear on the sun and
the first phase of Cycle 23 will last two more years. Expect the best
conditions on March 12-14 , April 10-12, May 9-11 and June 11-14! For
stations in the Eastern US, expect a 80% chance of DX propagation to the East-
West path into Europe or Africa. For stations in the Western US, expect 50%
chance of DX into Europe and a 80% chance into Asia. All of the US will get a
60% chance into Central & S.America in the mid afternoon. Long haul F Layer
skip is now the dominant mode of skip. Expect a 5% chance of Long Path into
Asia. Remember the beacons (28.175-28.300) will tell you what is open,
especially 28.200.
New DX members this Winter: December: ON4CBT 70117, VO1XE 70118, PP5ASN
70119, M0BAY 70120, 2E0ARQ 70121, ON4AWH 70122, VE6HLT 70123, PY2KQ 70124,
M0BUK 70301. January: DH3KAT 70302, DL1KBO 70303, DH1JF 70304, PA3DYJ 70305,
DF9LB 70306, DJ3ADK 70307, DL3DXF 70308, HJ3PXA 70309, PB0AJR 70310, and
SM7HZB 70311. Febuary 1999: PA1TT 70300, DL5MC 70312, VE6XUK 70313, VE4SVB
70314, DL8UD 70315, VE9AV 70316, ON4CFC 70317, PY5PS 70318, EI5HV 70319,
PY5HSD 70320, DK8LC 70321 and LY1DS 70322. 73 Carol K8DHK #29588.
Congratulations: 10-10 Countries Award: Lad W1CRL #08528 100 Countries # 37;
Mike W3BSY #48096 115 Countries # 25; Mike N5MT #24949 240 Countries -
Certificate # 1.
BAR Awards: Clarence KH7B #34749 for bar 1500 #746; Jim VE1JIM #42045 for bar
2300 #424; Rosemary KL7LA #31437 for bar 2900 #277; Henry DL8YBM #36109 for
bar 3600 #189 and Jim PY2DBU #8264 for bar 4400 #107.
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Thanks too: the on-line DX List, QRZ-DX, 425 DX News & 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 1999 by N5MT ...-.-
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