TenX DX Dec 2008 by Mike N5MT

[N5MT]

TenX DX News December 15, 2008

Mike Davidson N5MT, #24949

There is a new online DX Summit website providing one million lookups a day of DX and contest information. The website is at: http://www.dxsummit.fi . The new site replaced the old OH2AQ site which was turned off on November 19th. You may need to update older computer software that referenced the OH2AQ site. Many DX’ers and contesters used that site to watch for DX spots during a contest for new contacts or to log a new country. So visit the new site and save it in your online favorites.
The DX season continues at a slow crawl with most of the DX activity on twenty and fifteen meters. Our 10-10 members are having no fun with the minimum solar flux conditions. So far in 2008, there have been 248 spotless days on the Sun, August had no spots the entire month and we still have three weeks to go before 2009 begins a new year. During this past quarter, there have been a few more Cycle 24 spots displayed on the surface of the Sun which means more signs of the start of Cycle 24. I sure would appreciate a great band opening during the holidays for all of us to enjoy this Christmas.
The ARRL Ten Meter Contest has just ended as I finish this article. Before the contest, I knew that there had been many days of no sunspots, so the solar flux was at a minimum. There were no solar flares to boost the flux this past weekend, so I had predicted fewer contacts this year as compared to 2007. I was right about conditions, as I only worked 240 SSB contacts all weekend with most of those coming with a nice opening on Sunday. Several larger stations in the Houston area did a better job of working the weak signals with their tall towers and bigger yagi’s. But total contacts will be down from past years. Good luck in December 2009.
Countries Award: The total number of basic certificates issued is 622. I had one basic certificate and no upgrades this past quarter. Please, copy your QSL cards instead of sending the originals to save postage and use the website before you send an application or just email any questions to me at N5MT@aol.com.
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General 10-10 DX reported in the past quarter:

3DA Swaziland. David GI4FUM (EI4DJ) #21599, was expected to be on from October 17-27th as 3DA0DJ.
4K Azerbaijan. Vlad 4K9W #55512, could use a lot of help. Vlad is an invalid who needs ongoing care and his regular care-giver, his mother, recently died. Vlad would like to stay active in ham radio. Read more details at his website: http://4k9w.oe4vie.com/4k9w_english.html.
9K Kuwait. Marcus DL9RCF #66045, and friends were going to visit 9K2HN from November 6-17th. They expected to use callsign 9K2HN as that is the QSL route. Be sure to ask for Marcus to swap his number as 9K2HN does not have a 10-10 number.
9Q Congo. Karl K4YT #37347, was unable to get on the air from the Congo and left the country Nov 22nd.
B4 China. Rene DL2JRM #69623 and Dale BA4TB were using callsign B4TB the last weekend of November during the CQWW DX CW Contest. QSL via BT4TB.
CT Portugal. Marq CT1BWW #64689, used call CQ4IPY from November 1-7th for a special event.
E5 South Cook Islands. Bill N7OU #69318, was expected to be on from Rarotonga, as E51NOU from September 15th to October 11th.
FJ St. Barthelemy. Joe W8GEX #41393 and Jim K0RH #69471 were with a group on St. Barthelemy from October 16-28th. I talked to Joe on the radio after he returned and they only had about 200 contacts on ten.
HK0 San Andres Island. Pedro HK0/HK3JJH #47437, was with a group of ops using callsign 5K0T
during December. Web site: http://www.5K0T.com .
J6 St Lucia. Fred K9VV #8707, was on from St Lucia as J6/K9VV. He changed his call for the CQWW CW contest to J68VV. QSL via K5WW.
OA Peru. Rene DL2JRM #69623 and Daniel DL5YWM went to Peru from November 13 to 28th. They hoped to be on Guanape Island with Jorge OA4BHY.
OY Faroe Islands. Jon OY9JD #58925, has been on the air recently. Hopefully find him this winter on ten.
PJ4 Bonaire. John K4BAI #45389 and friends, were active the end of November during the CQ WW DX contest. They returned home December 3rd.
SV Greece. Paul DH9VA #61508, and six Greek friends were to be active from Lemnos Island from September 6-13th.
T8 Palau. Sadayuki JH1UUT #32970 was to be active as T88DB in late October on SSB.
T31Central Kiribati. Haru JA1XGI #55571, is active now as T31/T32XG until December 19th.
T8 Palau. Gary KE1AT #56844 (CN2US, ex-S92AT) has moved to Palau and will use callsign T88SS as soon as he can get an antenna up.
V4 St. Kitts. Dave AH6HY #33750, was to be on St. Kitts as V4/AH6HY from September 26th to October 3rd.
VP5 Turk’s & Caicos Islands. John N2VW #31476 used VP5T during a contest from October 25-26th.
YN/H7 Nicaragua. Eric K9GY #22330, was back in Nicaragua for a contest. Eric likes to use low power and possibly will get an H7 callsign starting on November 22nd for ten days.
YS El Salvador. Eric K9GY #22330, was also active as YS4RR from El Salvador from November 26th to December 2nd. He operated mostly CW with some SSB. Logs will be uploaded to LoTW.
ZM4 New Zealand. Operators Ken ZL4NR #12276, Mike ZL4OL and Chris ZL1CT were active as ZM4A during the CQ WW DX Contest from November 29-30th.


Upcoming DX & New 10-10 Activity:

5K0 San Andres. Mike K5UO #24053, with Cal WF5W and Rob HK3CW will be returning to San Andres Island for the CQWW 160m contest on January 24-25th, 2009. The callsign will be 5K0CW. After the contest they should be on other bands during the daylight hours and running some RTTY. They are expected to be there a week before returning home.
FR/G Glorioso Island. The DXpedition is hoping to begin in 2009 as work on the weather station is finished on the island. The present team is Chris 5U5U #45817 ex. 6W1QV, Flo F5CWU #71812, and six others. The Glorioso 2008 web site is: http://glorieuses2008.free.fr.
HE Antarctica. Walter HB9BHY #40942, will be on for the Sixth Antarctic Activity Week, February 16-22, 2009. He will use a special callsign HE8ICE. Website: http: //www.waponline.it/ .
HR2 Honduras. Jim W9GL #5266, is using the callsign HR2/W9GL from Honduras until December 15th.
LZ Bulgaria. Gosho LZ1ZF #38328, will participate with a special callsign LZ09BR and others during 2009. Website: http://www.mustafakemalpasatrac.org/ .
PY Brazil. Lira PP5LL #69951 and friends will be on Ilha da Paz from December 6-13th on CW and SSB. Callsign will be either ZV5V or ZV5Z.
T2 Tuvalu. Bill N7OU #69318 and Bob W7YAQ will be active from February 17th to March 2nd, 2009 mostly CW but some SSB and RTTY. They plan to enter the ARRL DX CW Contest. Callsigns still not issued.
TS7C Tunisia. A large DXpedition will start on January 8th to 19th 2009 with two dozen operators on Kerkennah Island Tunisia. They will have seven stations working around the clock with amps and beams and for the low bands, wire antennas and verticals. Look for Jean-Paul F8BJI #71704 and Flo F5CWU #71812 as the only two 10-10 members in the group.
V3 Belize. Terry W6WTG #49407 and Sharon N2OWL, will be active from Caye Caulker from July 22-29th, 2009. Callsign will be V31UR. Logs uploaded to LoTW. Website: http://www.w6wtg.com .
XU Cambodia. Tom Callas KC0W #67688 is now in Cambodia with callsign XU7XXX. He will remain there until about March 2009 and then travel to Laos and Vietnam for up to three months in each country.
ZF Grand Cayman Island. Father and son team Gary W2VQ #73708 and Paul WQ2N #74295l, will be operating from Grand Cayman as ZF2VQ and ZF2NN. They arrive December 28th and leave January 3rd 2009. Look for them on CW, SSB and RTTY. They will have a beam and running 100 watts. QSL via their home calls.


Miscellaneous Items & Notes:

HB Switzerland. All Swiss hams can use the prefix’s HE8 and HB8 during the entire year of 2009 to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Swiss National Ham Society.
QSL ROUTES. Patrice F6GCP #36197, has info back to 1987 at his Website: http://f6gcp.free.fr/qslinfos.htm.
Here's a simple daily report of sunspots and propagation
forecast: http://www.dxlc.com/solar/.
DXTELNET Fabrizio, IK4VYX has announced that a new version of DXTelnet32 is ready for downloading at: http://golist.net/dldxt.cfm . This new version provides full support to the new DXSummit.
You can see the solar progress and graphs at the NOAA website: http://www.sec.noaa.gov/SolarCycle .
Solar Forecast: http://www.sec.noaa.gov/forecast.html . Information on IRCs/US$ needed for postage to the USA is at: http://www.qsl.net/w9ol/ircchart.txt .
QSL help: http://files.billnjudy.com/ .
DX Calendar: An interactive DX Calendar based on 425 DX News is available at http://www.dxwatch.com/ .

Propagation: Propagation continues to be poor as the last good opening was during the Ten Meter Contest in December 2007. What a long wait as it is now one year later and Solar conditions have not changed all year.
Expect the daily solar flux to range from 68-85 the next quarter and the monthly flux will stay below 94 until Solar Cycle 24 is jump started officially by NOAA. On December 14th the solar flux was 69 the A index 0 and K index 1 which is the same as the last six months. X-ray emissions from the sun have not improved and the flux remains at a minimum with a small chance of a storm or flare from the sun.
Expect the best conditions on Dec. 27-30th, January 1-4th, 2009; February 27-28th and March 26-29th. Over the next four months, for USA stations, expect a 20% chance of DX in the mornings to Asia, Europe or Africa and a 30% chance into South America or the Pacific in the afternoon. To tell what DX paths are open, use the beacons from 28.175-28.300 (especially 28.200).
Follow Cycle 24. Those who are interested in following the propagation, sunspots and the new cycle 24, look at this Web site: http://www.solarcycle24.com/ .

New DX members’ September to November 2008: September: 75281 DK5VA, 75296 VE2WTX; October: 75302 VE3CMB; November: None.

Thanks to the DXNL, The Daily DX by W3UR #25731, QRZ-DX, Lee KH6BZF #8888 & Ohio/Penn DX Bulletins. Send photos/info to Mike Davidson, 3518 Bellefontaine, Houston, TX 77025 USA
Email: N5MT@aol.com

DX IS! 73 Mike Davidson N5MT #24949
Copyright © 2008 by N5MT