TenX DX News March 1, 2025
Mike Davidson N5MT #24949
Welcome to the Spring DX season of the 10-10 News. Solar Cycle 25 has produced lots of sun spots resulting in good solar flux levels. The highest flux so far in 2024 was Feb 8th at 336. On Feb 17th of 2023, it was 343, which could be the record high for Cycle 25. The high for the previous quarter was in Dec 24th at 260 and a low of 161 on the Dec 12th. We may have a twin solar peak in Cycle 25.
During some QSO parties and contest last year, the higher solar flux produced poor propagation on some weekends. The sun unleashed an X2 class flare on February 24th that produced radio blackouts over parts of the Pacific Ocean.
The big event for today March 1st, is the ARRL DX SSB Contest that runs for 48 hours. Its not a 10-10 event but there is always lots of DX that you can add to your log. There are twenty-two DX reports below that you can read and see if you worked a new member in your log and four future DX events for you to look forward to working.
In 2024 the ARRL website was hacked and required professional help to restore some computer systems. The DXCC awards function was broken but LoTW was soon back on-line and the data was all ok. The processing of DXCC did not began until October and now all of the DXCC award processing is back to normal except for the 46 day turnaround time it took to get the award in February!
The winter season was the best time for the USA to hear into Europe and the Pacific areas to work DX. http://hamgallery.com/W1JR/The ARRL 10 Meter contest in December is the most popular contest. I found only a few 10-10 friends during the 10 Meter contest last year. So propagation for my station during the 10 Meter contest was the same for the last two years. In the Winter SSB QSO Party was a noisy event due to a big solar flare before the contest. Congratulation to Henry DL8YBM #36109 for his first place score in the QSO Party. During the QSO Party, I logged 23 new 10-10 members with 156 QSO’s for sixth place in the top ten. Thanks to Dan KZ3T #41015 for scoring the contest and sending the certificates for the QSO Parties. Note, this year is the 63rd anniversary for 10-10, so log members with a 63 in their 10-10 this year.
The winter months have been above average for Ten meter skip. You should have a goal of finding new members on Ten and logging them. Each week I read DX articles and look for 10-10 members going places. But the past months, I have seen fewer members going DXing. I have found only a few 10-10 members at DX sites, so watch for them on the dates given and try to work the new DX. In the last winter DX season, I talked with a few old 10-10 members on the air. https://cqww.com/rules.htmFinding new members is now harder for me to find here in Louisiana since my vertical antenna is not as good as the old beam antenna I had in Texas.
I received news that a good friend that had given me several new 10-10 countries, had died. Dennis K7BV #5414 became a silent key at his home on January 9, 2025 at the age of 76. He had several medical problems over the past years. He got his ham ticket in 1962 as a teenager and by the time I met him in Houston, he could send 50 WPM on CW. We were both members of the Texas DX Society.
When I knew he was going DXing, I made sure he knew I needed him in my log for a new one at places like KP5, OJ0, and 4W. He moved from Houston and worked as ARRL Sales and Marketing Mgr, editor of NCJ magazine and then with Yaesu as a VP of their Sales Division and hamfest. Dennis had accumulated 8 US callsigns over the years and operated from 41 countries but he was in 17 more countries were he could not talk for various reasons. His ham lifeblood was always a fast rate on CW! RIP my friend.
This Day in History Feb 20th: In 1962 I was fifteen years old when 10-10 was organized. NASA launched an American astronaut John Glenn into space to orbit around the earth three times and become a NASA hero on landing. But the Russians had already put two men into space before Glenn got there and 10-10 became an organization on Ten.
Countries Awards and 10-10 History: There were no Countries Award applications submitted this past quarter.
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General 10-10 DX reported in the past quarter:
3D2 Fiji. Al K7AR #2736 and a friend, were again DXing as 3D2NB from December 1-2nd mostly CW. They have used this call in 2006, 2009 and 2013.
4U United Nations NY. The UN station 4U1UN #55555, in New York city, was heard only once on digi January 27th. The UN is the closest DX country for USA hams to work and the beacon is on 28200 MHZ.
4U Geneva. The UN in Geneva Switzerland, 4U1ITU #11111 was using digi on 10 Meters in December 2024.
I Italy. Elvira IV3FSG #54292 was on digi in December but she was DXing from the Central Africa Republic in November and returned home in mid December to Italy.
5A Libya. Abubaker 5A1A #69222 was using his new call 5A1AL for Libya on FT8 this past quarter. He can give his old 1010 number for 5A1A which is assigned to him.
6Y Jamaica. Negril VE4GV #8852 was using callsign VE4GV/6Y from February 8-23rd. Both modes and digi.
C6 Bahamas Isl. John K4SGR #46403 and a friend, were in the Bahamas from February 12-16th using call C6ADA. Mostly SSB and CW with some FT8.
ET Ethiopia. Ken K4ZW #18573 was back in country in January. The club call ET3AA is not a member. So you must find Ken K4ZW when he visits back at the club.
You can not assume it is Ken operating from the club.
K USA. The museum ship Battleship Iowa NI6BB #77115 was worked on February 22nd and is docked in S. California.
The ship does not operate very often so this member is hard to find and put in your log, so good luck.
KH0 Mariana Isl. Tom KC0W #67688 has used his new call KH0W from the island where he has been for several years. Most of his operating in 2024 was on CW.
LA Norway. Several ops using call LN8W in the CQWW contests and Tom LA9GX #25949 was the only member. CW reports for LN8W on Ten Meter contest in December.
J6 St. Lucia. Several ops were at club J62K on Ten from January thru March 4th on SSB and CW. The 10-10 members: Bill K9HZ #2618, Dan W0CN #27026, Kyle WA4PGM #50763, and Steve W0ZB #37921. LoTW.
Bill K9HZ does plan to operate from J62K this Spring with several youth operators.
OA Peru. Ed OA4SS #10802 was last on Ten in May 2024 when he was on CW. I know his QSL manager George KB6J #12337 is now an SK. If you have an update on Ed, please send it to me by email.
P4 Aruba. John W2GD #14109 was back in Santa Cruz at P44W from February 10-18th, and his favorite mode CW.
TL Central Africa Republic. A DXpedition into Africa by Elvira IV3FSG #54292 started on November 26th for 14 days using call TL8ES. No 10-10 members live in this country, so consider this a rare 10-10 country! LoTW.
V5 Namibia. Mike V51MA #64688, continues to help the 10-10 daily net when he has propagation from Africa on 28380 MHZ at 1800 UTC, except Sunday’s.
VK9C Cocos Keeling Isl. Larry W5EIT #13658 was on from Cocos from February 11-18th using VK9/W5EIT.
VP2E Anguilla. Chuck KG9N #17038 was using call VP2ECV on CW in early February until the 18th.
VP6 Pitcairn Island. Miralda VP6MW #50434, was active this past fall on FT4 28180 and some SSB around 28555.
VP9 Bermuda. Les N1SV #71546 is using call VP9/N1SV from February 27th to March 3rd but in contest he is VP9I.
Z6 Kosovo. Rene DL2JRM #69623 used calls Z68XX and Z66BCC last year and he now has many country credits.
ZL7 Chatham Islands. Holger ZL3IO #22401, worked a lot at the ZL7DX Chatham site which is 550 miles east of New Zealand. Holger’s daughter Xenia ZL4YL #77857, joined him on Chatham using her call for a contest. In the past, the only Chatham 10-10 activity was in 1990 by Miki ZL0ADN #39935 who is now SK. This site is a rare 10-10 location, as there is not a 10-10 member living on Chatham!
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Upcoming DX & New 10-10 Activity:
6Y Jamaica. Declan EI9HQ #71019 and Thos EI9JD #73610 will be with a group from March 12-24th. Declan
may use 6Y/EI9HQ as a POTO station in Jamaica.
D6 Comoros Isl. Elvira IV3FSG #54292 is expected to be back on the DX trail as D68Z from March 3-18th both modes and digi FT4/8 and all bands. LoTW.
FJ St. Barthelemy. Phil K2LIO #7746 is now using call FJ4WEB but he has been on/off the island for a few months. Remember, Phil is the only 10-10 member on St. Bart.
KH0 Mariana Isl. Tom KC0W #67688 will be using a new call KH0W in 2025 for DX contests. His amp will give him one KW into his new hexbeam antenna.
Miscellaneous Items & Notes:
TenTen Website: http://www.Ten-Ten.org .
Propagation forecast: http://www.solen.info/solar/ ,
www.SolarHam.net and http://ARRL.org/Propagation .
More propagation: http://dx.qsl.net/propagation/ .
DX Calendar: http://www.dxwatch.com/ .
DX: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4dJcK-WVRw.Https://Secure.Clublog.org/mostwanted.phphttp://ebarc.org/pdf/dx-entity-history.pdf
Ham Lookup various ways:
https://Haminfo.tetranz.com/map .
Ham LoTW users: http://www.hb9bza.net/lotw-users-list .
WM7D Solar Values:
https://www.wm7d.net/hamradio/solar/ .
FT8 Fox/Hound Video:
https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=GcbtTKSRkus .
Propagation: I expect the solar flux to range from about 130-235 this Spring. The March 20th Vernal Equinox will be your Spring event in three weeks. Days are getting longer for us in the northern hemisphere. Cycle 25 eleven-year cycle started five years ago on November 17, 2019 and sunspots are counted by looking at the Sun but the solar flux is measured by radio at 2.8 GHz.
The monthly max solar flux was: Jan 196, Feb 208, Mar 209, April 227, May 233, June 203, July 242 and August 336, Sept 262, Oct 312, Nov 260, Dec 260, Jan2025 234 and Feb 230. Average 244.
The monthly min solar flux was: Jan 126, Feb 137, Mar 127, April 112, May 135, June 165, July 164 and August 204, Sept 154, Oct 162, Nov 140, Dec 161, Jan2025 156 and Feb 153. Average 150.
On March 1st, the solar flux was 155, the A index 32 and K index 3. Cycle 25 hit a high flux value of 343 on February 17, 2023 and the previous solar peaks were in 2014, 2001, 1989 & 1979. The USAF forecast for March 1st to April 14th has a range of 155-210 with average flux 178, which is down 32 points from the last quarter and 79 points the past half year. The flux graph is showing no growth in the curve, which indicate’s the peak of cycle 25 has past.
My Prediction: Over the next months, the best propagation on Ten could be on: March 22-26th, April 18-22th, May 14-20th & June 10-14th. In the USA expect a 50-85% chance of DX to Europe, Asia, S. America or Pacific areas. Use the beacons on 28.175-28.300 MHZ to tell if the band is open. If the band is closed for SSB, try FT8 on 28074 for a QSO.
There were four new DX members who joined in Dec to February: Gordon VE7KEG #78382, Oliver F5PKR #78390, Burnie VE1IAD #78397 & Matt VA3UMM #78404 they are the last four DX members that joined.
Steven K3GGR #78415 was the last USA member to join.
Thanks to the Daily DX by Bernie W3UR #25731 and the ARRL DX Bulletins. This 10-10 DX News edition is my number 134th of DXing reports for the past 33 years!
DX news to: Mike Davidson, 26274 Whispering Pines Ave, Denham Springs LA 70726 USA Email: N5MT@aol.com.
DX IS! 73 Mike Davidson N5MT #24949
Copyright © 2025 by N5MT
