TenX DX Dec 2012 by Mike N5MT DX Editor

[N5MT]

TenX DX News December 1, 2012
Mike Davidson N5MT, #24949

Seasons Greetings to all! The Fall contest season has brought a change of propagation that has helped us talk with Europe more often. The DX contests on the weekends have produced over one hundred countries on Ten but fifteen meters has been out-performing Ten!

I just completed an analysis of the radio flux for the past twelve years. In Dec 2001 we had a peak flux of 236. In Oct 2011 it hit 153 but so far this year the max has been 135 but slowly climbing. This is a 36 percent reduction in maximum flux as compared to cycle 23!

The solar flux has made upwards progress the past three months, but it has not gotten back to its peak as in the past cycles! Many of you are planning to operate the Ten Meter Contest the second weekend of December. I think this contest will be at least as good as last year, with more people operating this year so expect higher scores on CW and SSB. Be sure to give out your 10-10 number and name when asked during the contest.

A rare DXpedition to Cambodia will start December 5th and is expected to last about two weeks. Look for Kazu VR2KF/JH1OGX #69615 using call XU1A, to be the first 10-10 from XU. I hope you are able to find Kazu for an all-time new 10-10 country in your 2012 Christmas log.

Still no progress in working my friend in Monaco, Claude 3A2LF. During the fall months, the DX paths change towards the northeast/east and northwest/west. Here in Texas, we began to hear Europe in October when the fall contest season started. Now if the solar flux will only pop up to 200, I can get Monaco in the log.

I am posting this to the 10-10 website on December 1st, and I just worked a few Europeans with S9 signals on Ten.
Comment: The solar flux in February 2013 will be at a maximum just as the 2013 Winter QSO Party begins!!

Countries Award: There were seven upgrades and no basic awards issued to four members this past quarter. All applications are taking advantage of the NO QSL cards required for awards. When you apply for any award, you must use an approved form at the 10-10 website OR use approved software that prints the forms for emailing.
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General 10-10 DX reported in the past quarter:

3B9 Rodriguez Island. A DXpedition to the island took place from October 16-23th. The only 10-10 member was Manfred HB9ACA #25993 using callsign 3B9SP. The web site is: http://HB9FR.CH/3B9SP .

3D2C Conway Reef. A DXpedition to Conway Reef using call 3D2C is in the log from September 24th to October 5th. Dave K3LP #13394, Paul N6PSE #68859, Dave AH6HY #33750, George N6NKT #44637 and Mike K6MKF #75891 were active. Web site: http://www.yt1ad.info/3d2c/index.html .

5B Cyprus. Spyros 5B4MF/H22H #36931 has used the contest call H22H for 14 years but changed to a new call C45T in the CQ SSB Contest at the end of October.

5U Niger. Chris TL0A/6W1QV #45817, was on from Niamey, Niger with callsign 5U5U from September 28th to mid October. He was joined by F6EXV and DJ8NK.

7P Lesotho. Frosty K5LBU/7P8D #51322, has been on the air since November 23rd and will stay for at least a week.

9H Malta. Tim NL8F #32796, and friends were on as
9H9X from Malta in the CQ SSB test in October. Holger DL5XAT/9H3TX #64618 was on Gozo Island from November 21-26th mostly CW and RTTY.

A7 Qatar. Harold N6AN #5839 and Larry N6TR #40124, operated the CQ Contest October 27-28th with call A73A.

C6 Bahamas Islands. Bob N4BP/C6AKQ #3268 and two friends were on from November 20th to December 11th.

CR Madeira Islands. Karlfried DL1EK #42024, was back on Madeira for the CQ SSB Contest using call CR3L, then his call was CR9/DL1EK until November 1st.

CT Portugal. Karl CT9/DL1EK #42024, was worked on October 23rd at 1300 UTC with an S9 signal into USA.

CY0 Sable Island. Ron AA4VK #12423, was on Sable from October 23-26th with WA4DAN.

DU Philippines. Hannes OE3SGU #61527, is currently active as DU1/OE3SGU from various locations on Luzon Island, in the Philippines until December 15th. LoTW.

EA8 Canary Islands. Mike DL3FGG #70802, was on Tenerife island from October 15-28th and the CQ SSB test.

EL Liberia. A DXpedition to Liberia for the CQ CW Contest November 21-27th by Ned AA7A/EL2ES #11185, Bud N7CW/EL2WS #10375, Fred G4BWP #28684 and Lee KY7M/EL2LF #38585, used call EL2A. Logs to LoTW.
ES Estonia. Vello ES1QD #54271, was worked on
October 22nd into Texas at 1500 UTC. He uses ES0QD for IOTA contacts and ES5QD if portable, all OK for 10-10.

EY Tajikistan. Nodir EY8MM #52767, was in both the CQ SSB and CW Contest in October and November 24th.

FK New Caledonia. Christian F5IDM #71569, was in New Caledonia using call TX5FS about October 14th.

HC Ecuador. Jeff W6NF #28279 and wife Shelley have moved to Ecuador. Jeff is on with callsign HC2UA.

HS Thailand. Dennis K7BV #5414, was in Thailand from August 28th to September 2nd. He used callsign HS0ZKS and E2E while in Thailand mostly CW.

JX Jan Mayen. Svein JX9JKA/LA9JKA has been active from Jan Mayen for some months. Please ask Svein to join 10-10 as Jan Mayen has never had any 10-10 activity.

KP2 US Virgin Islands. Robert NQ3X #63058, was on during the CQ SSB Contest October 27-28th. Tony N2TK #22425 was with a friend operating KP2M at the same time. Jeff K5JP/KP2 #33550 and Jim NT5V/KP2 #40882, were there the last of October. Fred K9VV/KP2 #8707 and Bob K3EST/KP2 #7880 were on from November 22-27th.

OJ Market Reef. Hans SM0BYD #32001 and friends were on Market Reef from October 9-16th using call OJ0R. OJ2R has been used by many ops in 2012.

NH8 Swains Island. Joe W8GEX #41393, reports the NH8S Swains Island DXpedition was a success. The 20 man team inhabited the island from September 5-17th. 10-10 ops were: Carl K9CS #40531, Mike K9NW #29804, Don N4HH #3651, Arnie N6HC #29959, David N6HD #13064, Hawk SM5AQD #52781, Hal W8HC #12502 and Joe W8GEX. They operated all bands with SSB, CW and RTTY. Web site: http://www.NH8S.org .

P29 Papua New Guinea. Renzo I2KRR/P29FR #27983, has been helping at a Catholic mission. Using an FT-857 into a cubical quad and running SSB only.

P4 Aruba. P40W was active by John W2GD #14109 in the CQ Contest October 27-28th and November 24-25th.

S5 Slovenia. Milos S53EO #19007, was worked October 20th at 1445 UTC with a S9 signal into Texas.

T30W Western Kiribati. A DXpedition to Western Kiribati took place from October 16-25th using call T30PY. Herminio PY5HSD #70320 was the only 10-10 member.

T6 Afghanistan. Eric K9GY/T6MO #22330 has been on the air 16 months, with lots of contacts on Ten Meters. He is mostly on CW with no amp or beam! Best time to listen for Eric is 700-900 UTC and 1200-1330 UTC.

V3 Belize. Rich N0HJZ/V31MW #41614, was on from October 21-30th from Belize, in the CQ SSB Contest.

V8 Brunei. Gerard F2JD and Tony IZ8CCW #70101 were on a DXpedition to Brunei using call V84SMD that started November 12th and lasted two weeks.

VK6 Australia. Reinhard DF4TD #21100 was on Woody Island from November 9-13th with friends.

YN Nicaragua. Mike AJ9C #41205, went back to Nicaragua from November 20-28th with callsign
YN2CC on SSB, CW and RTTY.

VP5 Turks and Caicos Islands. Doug W4OX #9815, was on the island from October 20-30th. During the CQ SSB Contest he and friends used callsign VQ5X.

VP9 Bermuda Island. Leslie VP9/N1SV #71546, was active from October 24-31st. Ray VP9/ND8L #16810, operated the RTTY Contest September 29-30th as VP9I.

VU India. Suhas VU2SMN #47460 was on 28490 at 1500 UTC as reported by the DXSummit. No copy in TX.

Z8 South Sudan. Jim K7QI #19888 was issued callsign Z81A. Jim will try to operate on all bands as propagation allows. QSLs for Z81A go to K7GSE.

ZF Grand Caymans. Bob K5WA/ZF1A #11709 was the only 10-10 member of a small group that went to the Caymans for the CQ CW Contest November 24-25th.

ZL9 Campbell Island. A DXpedition to Campbell Island started on December 1st. The callsign is ZL9HR. They will leave about December 9th. The only 10-10 member is Gene K5GS #15119. Web: http://www.ZL9HR.com .

Upcoming DX & New 10-10 Activity:

5X Uganda. Flo F5CWU #71812, Gerard F2JD #63443, and Jean-Paul F8BJI #71704, will be with a large group of operators in Uganda from February 6-18, 2013.

KP4 Puerto Rico. A Caribbean tour begins in Puerto Rico for David K3LP #13394 on December 18th. He moves to KP2, on the 23rd, then V4, then J73, then J3, then KP2 US Virgin on the 28th and then back to KP4 until 31st.

ON Belgium. Berkin TA3J #74303 will operate from Belgium as portable ON/TA3J from December 7-11th.

PJ7 Sint Maarten. Randy N0TG #12990, is making plans to be on from PJ7, Sint Maarten, from March 15-23rd of 2013. Look for PJ7/N0TG, along with Ron AA4VK #12423 and N1SNB from the island in 2013.

T33 Banaba Island. Arnie N6HC #29959, Cliff KD6XH #4427, Jay AA4FL #8436, will be using callsign T33A on Banaba island from March 26th to April 9, 2013.

V3 Belize. John AD8J #16120 will operate with W3NO during the Ten Meter Contest as V31NO. Good luck.

V6 Micronesia. Haru JA1XGI/V63XG #55571, will be on Yap Island Micronesia from December 5-12th mostly CW. He has an IC-7000 and a small yagi. LoTW.

XU Cambodia. Kaxu VR2KF/JH1OGX #69615 will hopefully be the first 10-10 member to operate from Cambodia the first two weeks of December 2012.

YN Nicaragua. Scott K7ZO/YN5ZO #55678 will be there for the Ten Meter contest. LoTW.

ZL7 Chatham Island. Jim ZL1LC/ZL7LC #76528, is going to Chatham Island from March 14-20, 2013. He will be using an IC-7200 into a Buddipole vertical sending PSK31.

Miscellaneous Items & Notes:
Propagation forecast: http://www.solen.info/solar/ .
DX Calendar: http://www.dxwatch.com/ .
More propagation: http://dx.qsl.net/propagation/ .

VE Canada. Canadians can celebrate the Diamond Jubilee Year of Queen Elizabeth II with special prefixes on December 29-30th. VA stations will use CF, VE stations will use CG, VO stations use CH and VY stations may use the CI prefix.

Propagation: Propagation during the Fall of 2012 has not been as good as in October 2011. The October 2011 maximum solar flux has not been repeated in 2012 but the six-month trend has been slowly increasing each month. The peak of 2012 so far was in July at about 135. I expect the daily solar flux to range from 105-150 this next quarter as solar cycle 24 continues. NASA is still predicting the peak of this cycle to be in the summer of 2013 which will mean another double peak for cycle 24 just like in cycle 23.

On December 1st the solar flux was 111, the A index was 2 and K index 0. Look for the best conditions: Dec. 16-17th , Jan. 12-15th, Feb. 8-11th, & March 6-10th. Over the next three months, for USA stations, expect a 40-60% chance of DX in the mornings to Europe or Africa and a 60% chance into Asia, South America or the Pacific in the late afternoon. To see what DX paths are open, listen for the beacons from 28.175-28.300 (especially 28.200).

New DX members’ Sept. To November 2012:
Sept: 76534 VA3UTC; 76536 DG8IDD;
Oct: 76537 VA3GNX; 76539 ON6NA; 76542 VA3MPM;
Nov: 76552 VP9NNL, 76564 VK5PAS.

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

DX IS! 73 Mike Davidson N5MT #24949
Copyright © 2012 by N5MT