TenX DX June 2008 by Mike N5MT

[N5MT]

TenX DX News June 10, 2008

Mike Davidson N5MT, #24949

I decided to attend the 2008 Ten-Ten Board of Directors meeting in San Antonio and then the Hill Country Picnic at K5CC Jack’s home just north of San Antonio, Texas. That weekend several people asked me where to go for a 10-10 DXpedition. At the time, I told them that there were still twenty-eight countries that had not had any 10-10 activity and that I would be publishing an updated list soon. It will take me a few weeks to update the list and I have to finish this DX article before then.
I soon remembered that the spin-off of the St. Martin and the St. Barthelemy Islands happened in December 2007 and that St. Bart was added to the DXCC list in January 2008. This previously counted for St. Martin, a French protected entity. St. Bart prefix is now FJ and it is the most obvious place to go for a 10-10 DXpedition. St. Barthelemy is just two hundred miles east of Puerto Rico in the Leeward Islands. As of today, no 10-10 member has operated from St. Barthelemy, but several non-members have been on the island handing out the new DXCC status for St. Bart.
My next choice for a 10-10 DXpedition would be to Montenegro prefix 4O in the old Yugoslavia that has now been broken up into several new countries in the past few years. Montenegro is easy to get to by car if you are in Europe with your passport. If you do make plans to go to one of these two countries, please send me an email with details. Good luck and have a good trip.
There has been one exciting DXpedition this past quarter to Syria YK in mid April. See some details further down this article. The activity on ten meters has been light with only the Summer E-skip being the breath of wind on your antennas. The 2008 Open Season had a few openings for some as I made about fifty contacts last weekend. Found a few new 10-10 members coming through on the waterfall which was a nice plus for the long hours calling CQ.

Countries Award: The total number of basic certificates issued is 620. I had one basic certificate and two 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 email any questions to me. _______________________________________________

General 10-10 DX reported in the past quarter:

6Y Jamaica. March 29- 30th four ops were on in the CQ WPX SSB Contest. Scott W4PA #40521 was the only 10-10 member using the call 6Y1V from Jamaica.
7P Lesotho A DXpedition was on the air from Katsdam, Lesotho from March 27th to April 3rd. The only 10-10 member was Edwin ZS5BBO #69603 with eight friends. They had eight radios, an amplifier and big antennas. QSL manager is ON4CJK and news at: http://www.7p8fc.be . 9A Croatia. Daki 9A2WJ #66077 and friends, were active as 9A0CI from Susac Island on May 2nd-9th.
A7 Qatar. Bill NM7H #38578, using callsign A7/G0MKT has returned home from Qatar on June 6th. Logs have been uploaded to LoTW with stories on website:
http://members.cox.net/nm7h . QSL to home call.
G Gt. Britain. A special station GB6GEO was on the air May 24-25th from "Kent's Cavern", reported as England's oldest "home" in the English Riviera. The station was run by Martin G3VOF #21763, and three friends.
HR Honduras. A DXpedition to Swan Island off Honduras from March 15-23rd using callsign HQ8R. Lane KC4CD #26312 possibly operated ten meters. Website: http://www.hondurasdx.com .
OA Peru. Rene DL2JRM #69623, was in Lima, Peru from May 1st until May 12th operating as OA4/DL2JRM.
TG Guatemala. Juan TG9AJR #23460 was active as TG0WPX in the CQ WPX SSB contest.
TK Corsica. A DXpedition to Corsica from May 3rd to 10th , used callsign TK7C. Two members were: Jean-Paul, F8BJI, #71704 and Laurent F1JKJ #74675, with four friends. Website: http://TK7C.free.fr .
VP5 Turks & Caicos Islands. Dave VP5/W5CW #6506, was active March 27th to April 9th using CW and SSB. In the WPX contest he used call VQ58V.
VP5 Turks and Caicos Island. Bob VP5/K0OK #11984, was on Turks and Caicos from May 21st to 28th. Bob used call VP5E during the CQ WPX CW contest.
VP5 Provo Island. Bruce W4OV #7344 and friends, were using VP5/home calls from March 21st to April 1st.
YK Syria. A group of British operators were in Syria putting on a DXpedition with call YK9G from April 9-16th. Derick G4BWP #28684 and non-members G3SXW, G3TXF, G5LP and GM3YTS worked as many as possible. They will upload logs to LoTW. The Website is at: YK9G.com . This is the second time any 10-10 activity has come out of Syria so good luck.
ZF Cayman Islands. Bob K3UL #1220, was active as ZF2UL from the large Cayman island from April 5-12th. Bob operated on all HF bands, using CW and SSB.

Upcoming DX & New 10-10 Activity:

3W Vietnam. Stan 3W9JR/OK1JR #20103, is expected to be in Hanoi for one more year. QSL via OK1JN.
A6 United Arab Emirates and A7 Qatar. Don N1DG #27629, will be in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar the first two weeks of June. He will be installing antennas for his friend Saeed A61AD #42084 and hopes to be active June 3rd or 4th. He hopes to use callsign A71A in Qatar.
C6 Bahamas. Ed K3IXD #8566, Dallas W3PP #37430 and Pete W2GJ will use callsign C6APR from July 25- 28th during the IOTA contest from Crooked Island, Bahamas.
CT Portugal. Marq CT1BWW #64689, will operate as CQ4IPY on April 25th-May 1st, June 19-16th, 1-7 September 1-7th and November 1-7th to celebrate the 4th International Polar Year. Website: http://cq4ipy.bravehost.com.
FR/G Glorioso Island. The new Glorioso 2008 web site is at: http://glorieuses2008.free.fr/. The DXpedition scheduled for May has been delayed due to work on the weather station on the island. The present team is Chris 5U5U #45817 ex. 6W1QV, Flo F5CWU #71812, and six others.
J6 St. Lucia. Fred K9VV #8707, will be on St. Lucia for the CQWW CW November 29-30th. He will be a single-op all- band entry in the contest. QSL via K5WW.
V3 Belize and HK0 San Andres . Dennis K7BV #5414, will take a trip to Belize as V36M from June 20 - 26th and San Andres as 5J0M from June 29th to July 8th. Website: http://www.qth.com/k7bv/caribe2008.
VK9X Christmas Island. Starting July 8th until July 20th,
a group of operators including 10-10 member Marq VK9XWW/CT1BWW #64689, will have three stations on the air. All bands and modes so good luck. Website:
http://www.dxciting.com/vk9x/ .
VP9 Bermuda. Ralph K9ZO/VP9 #6142, will be using Ed’s VP9GE #3822 QTH, beginning July 9th to July 16th.
YN/H7 Nicaragua. Eric K9GY #22330, will be back in Nicaragua in November for the CQ WW CW DX Contest. Eric will be a low power single-op all-band and hopefully with a H7 callsign from November 22nd for ten days.
ZL New Zealand. Ken ZL4NR #12776 was on 28499 on March 27th at 0030utc with a 55 signal into Texas.

Miscellaneous Items & Notes:

Ken G3XPO #70614. Well, some ten meter activity this side (England), but not too much DX. With 10-10 I worked JY4NE 71018, 7X4AN 33610, LZ1ZF 38328, EI9HX 72414, EA5KB 52739, LY1TR 63473, and MJ/F5CWU 71812. The MJ and LY were new ones for me and I have received the QSl’s. Without 10-10, I worked OJ0B, YI9WV, OH0J, 9X0R, 9J2M, and EA9PY. Generally I have been getting Europe out to Cyprus and Middle east, some Africa, no North America at all, and strangely no South America.
Other bands have had some really good spells - twenty meters has been great our mornings out to KH6 and KL7 with signals romping in. Also some weird DX on forty meters when it has been daylight here - like XX9TCC at 1700 local which is about 3 hours before our sunset.
So that is my small report but not much else I can think of. At least I got 2 more new 10-10. 73 Ken
KH9 Wake Island. Approved for DXCC credit: Ian G4GIR/KH9 #27990, in 2007.
Postage Increased May 12th. Current New First-Class Mail Letter for 1 oz. was 41¢, goes up to 42¢, two ounce rate was 58¢ goes to 59¢. First-Class to Canada or Mexico for 1 oz. was 69¢ goes to 72¢. First-Class DX Airmail Letter: (1 oz. to other countries) was 90¢ goes to 94¢. Website at: http://www.usps.com/prices .

Here's a simple daily report of sunspots & a propagation forecast:
http://www.dxlc.com/solar/ .
You can see the solar progress and graphs at the NOAA website: http://www.sec.noaa.gov/SolarCycle/.
Solar Forecast: http://www.sel.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 this past quarter in the US as some Sporadic E openings have been observed here in Texas. The last good opening was during the Ten Meter Contest in December 2007.
Expect the daily solar flux to range from 66-92 the next quarter and the monthly flux will stay below 94 until Solar Cycle 24 begins to be firmly established by NOAA.

Cycle 24 is here. The flux remains in its lowest range with many days of few sunspots the past three months. On June 10th the solar flux was 66 the A index 3 and K index 1 which is 4 points lower than last article. X-ray emissions from the sun have not improved and the flux continues its low numbers. Solar activity is low and a chance of a storm/flare is small.
There exist the possibility that the Sun may extend this period of few sunspots for an undefined time. Back in the 1600's there was a period of fifty years when the Sun exhibited few sunspots. So what if it does happen again in 2008 and continues for years? Ten could be the worst band in the history of radio for a long time! Lets hope the Sun is just getting over a case of the solar flu, because the Sun does what it wants to do and there is no fix for it!

Expect the best conditions on June 12-15th, July 10-13th, August 7-10th, and September 4-7th. Over the next four months, for USA stations, expect a 10% chance of DX in the mornings to Asia, Europe or Africa and a 20% 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).

New DX members’ March to May 2008: March: None; April: 74961 KL5DX; May: 74971 DL8KAC.

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