The Ohio/Penn Dx PacketCluster
DX Bulletin No. 763
BID: $OPDX.763
June 19, 2006
Editor Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW
Provided by BARF-80 BBS Cleveland, Ohio

Thanks to the Northern Ohio Amateur Radio Society, Northern Ohio DX Association, Ohio/Penn PacketCluster Network, AB5K & the AR TelNet Clusters Network, ARRL W1AW Bulletins, K1XN & GoList, NG3K, W3UR & The Daily DX, N4AA & QRZ DX, WW5L, AC7DX, N7NG, K8YSE, WB8YJF, W0YG, 9A2JK, DL1EK & The DX News Letter, F5NQL & UFT, EA7FTR, G3SWH, HR2DMR, I1JQJ/ IK1ADH & 425 DX News, I2YSB, IK0DWN, JI6KVR & JA IOTA News, OH2BH, ON4CAS, OQ0A, SV1EJD, UA4WHX, VA3RJ & ICPO, YT6A and YV5AJ for the following DX information.

DXCC COUNTRY/ENTITY REPORT
According to the AR-Cluster Network for the week of Sunday, 11th-June, through Sunday, 18th-June there were 204 countries active. Countries available: 1S, 3A, 3B8, 3D2, 3V, 3W, 4J, 4L, 4S, 4X, 5B, 5H, 5N, 5R, 5U, 5V, 5Z, 6W, 6Y, 7Q, 7X, 8P, 8Q, 8R, 9A, 9G, 9H, 9J, 9K, 9M2, 9M6, 9N, 9Q, 9V, 9Y, A2, A4, A6, A7, A9, AP, BV, BY, C3, C5, C6, CE, CM, CN, CP, CT, CT3, CU, CX, D2, D4, DL, DU, EA, EA6, EA8, EA9, EI, EK, ER, ES, ET, EU, EX, EY, F, FG, FK, FM, FO, FR, FW, FY, G, GD, GI, GJ, GM, GU, GW, H4, HA, HB, HB0, HC, HH, HI, HK, HL, HP, HR, HS, HV, HZ, I, IS, J6, J8, JA, JD/o, JT, JW, K, KG4, KH0, KH2, KH6, KL, KP2, KP4, LA, LU, LX, LY, LZ, OA, OD, OE, OH, OH0, OK, OM, ON, OX, OY, OZ, P2, P4, PA, PY, PZ, S0, S5, S9, SM, SP, ST, SU, SV, SV5, SV9, T30, T7, T8, T9, TA, TF, TG, TI, TK, TN, TR, TT, TU, TY, TZ, UA, UA2, UA9, UK, UN, UR, V4, V5, V7, VE, VK, VK9N, VP2M, VP2V, VP8, VP8/h, VP9, VQ9, VR, VU, XE, XT, XW, YA, YB, YI, YK, YL, YN, YO, YS, YU, YV, Z2, Z3, ZA, ZB, ZD7, ZD9, ZK1/s, ZL, ZP, ZS

* PLEASE NOTE: The report "could" contain "Pirate/SLIM" operations or more likely a "BUSTED CALLSIGN". As always, you never know - "Work First Worry Later" (WFWL).

5B, CYPRUS
Jim, WB2REM, will be active here as "*/*5B/WB2REM" starting July 7th until July 13th. Activity will be on 40-6 meters CW/SSB. QSL via his home callsign or by the bureau. Please include a SASE or SAE and sufficient return postage for your QSL card.

8Q, MALDIVES
Vangelis, SV2BFN, will be active as 8Q7/SV2BFN from June 21st to July 4th. This will be a holiday style operation, but he plans to be active on 40-10 meters SSB and RTTY, with some CW. QSL via his home callsign.

9A06, CROATIA (Special Event)
Look for special event station 9A06P (Nine Alpha ZERO SIX Papa) to be active now through December 31st. Operations will be on all bands and modes. Activity is to celebrate the city of Djurdjevac. The full story will be on a special QSL card. All QSOs will be confirmed automatically via the bureau.

C9, MOZAMBIQUE (Update)
A group of stateside operators will activate C91HQ as the main contest station and multiplier from Mozambique during the IARU (International Amateur Radio Union) DX Contest, July 8-9th. The C91HQ QSLs will be handled by K5LBU, Charles Frost of Missouri City, TX. The IARU Contest operation will be just one aspect of a five member team operation from June 27th until July 13th at Bilene, Mozambique. Operators include: Charles Frost/K5LBU (C91CF), Tom Anderson/WW5L (C91TL), Dr. Dave Gomberg/NE5EE (C91EE), Art Burke/N4PJ (C91JR) and Tom Kramer/NQ7R (C91TK). Each operator will handle their own QSLing, with Frost also handling QSLs for C91HQ. Daniel Hubbard, ZS6JR, is the on-scene coordinator. Webmaster is Steve Smothers, W9DX, of Cypress TX.

"We will be on all bands and all modes before the contest," said Frost, who is heading up the operation. RTTY and PSK operations will also be on the air at various times. Frost, a former vice-president of the Texas DX Society, and Anderson, who is vice-president of the Lone Star DX Association, will be the main SSB operators, while Burke, Kramer, and Gomberg will be concentrating on CW. All will operate RTTY and PSK at different times. ICOM has donated two IC-7000 HF radios, while Tennadyne has donated two T8 log periodics. "We have already tested the rigs and the antennas and worked many California W6's from South Africa with excellent copy,"

The idea to provide the school supplies was developed by Kramer, NQ7R, a school science teacher, who worked out the logistics with the American Consulate in Maputo, Mozambique and the U.S. Peace Corps. Besides basic school supplies, Kramer has arranged with team members and others to help supply the school with books in basic English, "which are in very short supply there. Each team member will be bringing books and whatever they can to help these children's education," Kramer said. Also each team member is an accomplished DXer with all having more than 200 countries and most are members of one or more DXCC honor rolls. Frost himself holds or has operated from 16 different DX countries including Kenya, Sudan, Cameroon, Peru, Jamaica, Saudi Arabia, plus several more. Currently on-line logs are not planned, but the team hopes to have high speed internet. Their QTH in Bilene will be the Sao Martinho resort, which has excellent propagation characteristics because of its location on the Indian Ocean. "The beach is located right outside the shack," said Frost. "Please check the DXpedition's Web site often for any updates as Steve will be in daily contact with us for new information," Frost said.

CN, MOROCCO
Rich, W7ZR, will be active as CN2ZR during the CQWW DX SSB Contest (October 28-29th) as a Single-Op/Single-Band (20m) entry. QSL via W7ZR. He states, "I answer 100% of SASE QSL cards. I support ARRL Logbook Of The World. I answer 0% of bureau or eqsl cards."

DU,PHILIPPINES (IOTA Ops)
Operators Chris/VK3FY and Nik/VK3FNIK will be active as VK3FY/DU8 from several Philippine Islands between June 20th and July 5th. Their current plans are to activate the following islands: Bayangan Island (OC-235), Mindanao Island (OC-130), Cebu Island (OC-129), Negros (OC-129), Luzon (OC-042) and Mindanao's Coastal Islands (OC-235). No schedule was provided. Activity will be on all bands, CW and SSB. QSL via VK3FY.

DXCC NEWS (DXCC Rule Change)
A press from Wayne Mills, N7NG, announces the following (dated June 14th): Upon request of the Programs and Services Committee (PSC), the DXAC has studied the impact of a change to the DXCC Rules. The DXAC, the Awards Committee and the PSC have concurred in this rule change, which will become effective June 15, 2006 at 0001Z. New text replaces the previously removed DXCC Rule, Section II, 1. Political Entities, Paragraph c). The new text shall read:

c) The Entity contains a permanent population, is administered by a local government, and is located at least 800 km from its parent. To satisfy the "permanent population" and "administered by a local government" criteria of this sub-section, an Entity must be listed on either (a) the U.S. Department of State’s list of "Dependencies and Areas of Special Sovereignty" as having a local "Administrative Center," or (b) the United Nations list of "Non-Self-Governing Territories."

Rule 1c) is intended to recognize entities that are sufficiently separate from their parent for DXCC purposes but do not qualify under Rule 1a) or 1b). The new rule will cause a change to Point 1 status for certain entities. This in turn will reduce the mileage for a first separation for these entities from 800 km to 350 km.

The lists referenced in the text of the rule can be viewed at the following Web sites: the DOS list of Dependencies and Areas of Special Sovereignty at

http://www.state.gov/s/inr/rls/10543.htm, and the U.N. list of Non-Self-Governing Territories at http://www.un.org/depts/dpi/decolonization/trust3.htm QSOs with any new entity resulting from this rule change will count for credit for the new entity only if the QSOs are made on or after the Start Date for the entity. In no case will QSOs made prior to the date of this notice be considered for credit for any new entity created under this rule. Applications for DXCC award credits resulting from this change will be accepted on or after October 1, 2006.

Primary operating frequency will be 14.243 MHz +/- a few hundred kHz depending on band occupancy. Other bands will be monitored for openings and may be exploited, however, 20m SSB operations will be the primary operating mode. South Pole will be operating as a "home" station with supplied power (Class 1D). Robert will have a team of up to 10 operators manning the station, most of whom he's teaching in a Ham radio licensing class on station. The team will be transmitting 1 kW and primarily be using a pair of Log-periodic antennas aimed toward the US. Given South Pole's location right under the auroral oval, radiowave propagation can make South Pole intercontinental HF radio communications a challenge, so listen carefully! Plans call for implementing a Logbook of The World (LoTW) for QSO verifications. QSL cards will come later in the year." For more information, contact Nick Powell, NH6ON at: nick.powell@usap.gov

ISS WILL POSSIBLY BE ACTIVE DURING FIELD DAY. The W1AW Space Bulletin (ARLS004, dated June 16th) states that NASA ISS Ham Radio Project Engineer Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO, has released a list of International Space Station Field Day pass times for North and South America. See the following Web page for pass times and any updates at:

"They will try to participate as time permits, but the pass times for North America are not favorable," Ransom noted. The crew should be on its normal sleep schedule of 2130-0600 UTC during Field Day weekend. When they're awake, however, Williams and Vinogradov will have their hands full preparing for the arrival of the Progress 22 supply vehicle on Monday, June 26th, when the crew will deactivate the crossband repeater. The crossband repeater uplink is 437.800 MHz. The downlink is 145.800 MHz. Ransom says the crossband repeater should be active after 1900 UTC on Thursday, June 22 to give stations time to practice working through it and to learn how best to deal with Doppler shift on the uplink, which can be considerable. The crossband repeater will be available only to low-power (QRP) stations following AMSAT criteria, Ransom said.

A QRP station may run no more than 10 W to a vertical or handheld antenna. U.S. pass times are not especially ideal for contacts with the crew members. The only one on Saturday, June 24 (UTC) - over Mexico and the Eastern US - falls during the crew's sleep period. Passes on Sunday, June 24 - from 0046 to 0105 UTC and from 0708 to 0728 UTC over the Central US - may offer a better opportunity. Stations in the U.S. Southwest might look for crew activity on Sunday from 0844 to 0900 UTC, while those in Hawaii should check Sunday from 1152 to 1200 UTC and again from 1327 to 1335 UTC. If Williams or Vinogradov do find time to get on the air, Ransom says, they also will use the crossband repeater mode. Williams will give a report of "NA1SS, 1 Alpha ISS," while Vinogradov will give a report of "RS0ISS, 1 Alpha ISS."

Contacts through the ISS crossband repeater count as a satellite contact for Field Day bonus points, but contacts with the crew do not count for Field Day bonus points. AMSAT is making its ECHO (AO-51) satellite available for Field Day, Ransom notes. One of AO-51's FM tran- sponders (145.880 MHz up/435.150 MHz down, no CTCSS tone needed) will be QRP only during the Field Day period. Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, has indicated that PCSat2--which is mounted on the outside of the ISS--will be in packet mode and operating on 145.825 MHz simplex during Field Day weekend.

FP, ST. PIERRE & MIQUELON
YL Peg, KB9LIE, will be active as FP/KB9LIE from Miquelon Island (NA-032, DIFO FP-002, WLOTA LH-1417), July 28th through August 6th. Activity will be 80-10 meters, depending on conditions. QSL via her home callsign, direct preferred (SASE, SAE + sufficient postage) or by the bureau.

IOTA NEWS
AF-004. RSGB IOTA Webmaster Steve, G0UIH, will be active as EA8/G0UIH/P from the Isla de Fuerteventura (DIE S-006, WLOTA LH-0883), Canary Islands, June 17th to July 1st. Activity will be mainly on 20/17/15 meters, SSB only, with an Icom 706mk2g with 100w and homebrew dipoles. This will be a holiday style operation, so operating times will vary according to other activities. Suggested frequencies are: 14260, 21260 and 18145 kHz (+/-QRM). QSL is either direct or via the bureau.

EU-028. Walter, IN3XUG, will be active as IA5/IN3XUG from Capraia Island (IIA LI-020), between now and June 24th. Activity will be on the HF bands, SSB only. QSL via his home callsign (by the bureau is preferred).

EU-174. A group of Greek operators will be active as J48WT from Samothraki Island (MIA MG-100), June 22-27th. Operators mentioned are: SV2BRT, SV2CLL, SV2EWS, SV2FPU, SV2GNQ, SV2HNZ, SV2HPP and SV2HPY. QSL via SV2HPP, direct or by the bureau.

NA-067. Jon, WB8YJF, will be active again this year from Ocracoke Island (USI-NC001S) from July 23-30th. Activity will be on 80-10 meters, CW, RTTY, and some SSB. He will be a Single-Op entry in the IOTA Contest (July 29-30th) as well. Please QSL direct for a FAST QSL; Bureau takes a lot longer. WB8YJF's address is: Jon Severt, 5586 Babbitt Rd., New Albany, OH 43054.

NA-160. Members of the Radio Club de Honduras will activate HQ3C from Chachahuate Island, Cochinos Cays, from June 23-25th. The team will consist of Javier/HR2J, Lane/KC4CD, Antonio/HR2AHC, Pedro/ HR2PAC Henry/HR2H, Daniel/HR2DMR and Carlos/HR2CG. Activity will be on 160-10 meters SSB, CW and RTTY if conditions allow it. The QSL Manager will be HR2RCH. QSL via the bureau or direct to: DXpedition Cochinos Cays - Chachahuate Island, PO Box 273, San Pedro Sula, Honduras (w/SAE and IRC). More information is available at:

J3, GRENADA
Harry/AC8G and possibly others (TBA) will be active as J3A during the CQWW DX SSB Contest (October 28-29th) as a Multi/Multi entry. QSL via WA1S. Operating site is the EOC and adjacent Grenada Club House. Before and after the contest, operators will be using their individual callsigns on many bands and modes.

LX, LUXEMBOURG
Operators Ivo/OQ0A, Guido/OP7A, Peter/OO7A, Jan/ON6RJ and Rob/OR9Q will be active as LX/homecall from the castle of Wiltz in Luxembourg, between September 29th and October 1st. Activity will be on 80/40/20/15/10 meters on CW/SSB/RTTY. QSL via the operator's home callsign, by the Bureau or QRZ.com address.

MONTENEGRO NEWS (International Festival/DXpedition 2006)
Ranko, YT6A, Team Leader, reports: "Following a national referendum on May 21, 2006, the Republic of Montenegro declared its independence on June 3, 2006. Montenegro's independence is now recognized by a growing number of countries. The very first amateur radio activity from this new DXCC entity will be managed by an International DXpedition Team, and is planned to take part very quickly after approval of the DXCC status." Crucial for DXCC credit is either acceptance of Montenegro by the UN into its membership or allocation of a callsign prefix block by the ITU. They expected this to take place during the summer of 2006. "Once Montenegro is accepted into the UN or obtains a callsign prefix block, DXers will have a new DXCC entity," says ARRL Membership Services Manager Wayne Mills, N7NG.

The division of Serbia and Montenegro eliminates what remained of Yugoslavia. Serbia's parliament this week declared Serbia a sovereign nation as heir to the former Serbia-Montenegro union. Assuming that Serbia continues to hold its current seat in the UN, it will remain on the DXCC list as a pre-existing and continuing DXCC entity, Mills explained. Some of the activities that will be associated with The International DX Festival Montenegro 2006 will be a record breaking DXpedition targeting for 200,000 QSOs. The expedition will be held from three different locations using only one callsign (for the very first time) from the newly acquired ITU prefix allocation to Montenegro. Also mentioned, activity will be on all bands and modes, simultaneously during 2-3 weeks of continual activity from several setups located at the Adriatic Coast of Mediterranean Montenegro.

Operators mentioned are: Bob Grimmick/N6OX, Hans Blondeel Timmerman/PB2T, Martti Laine/OH2BH (Radio Operations Leader, Coach), David Sumner/K1ZZ, Linda Sumner/KA1ZD, Wayne Mills/N7NG, Carsten Esch/DL6LAU, Vladan Kecman/YT3T and Ranko Boca/YT6A (DXpedition Leader). Organizers are: SKY Contest Club and Radio klub BOKA. Co-Organizers and Local Supportive Comittee: Amateur-Radio Union of Montenegro, Radio klub BAR - YU6GAA, Radio klub Tivat - YU6FPQ and Radio klub Bjelo Polje - YU6GBP. More information about this event can be found on:

QSL INFO AND NEWS
The Deutscher Amateur-Radio-Club (DARC) announced that the German's "Bundesnetzagentur" (FCC equivalent) has released an online German callbook. The URL address is:

II0ESA QSL STATUS. Marco, IK0DWN, informs OPDX that all paper logs for the 2005 special operations from the European Space Agency have now been imported electronically and all bureau QSLs have gone out. The electronic log is now available to users of the "Logbook Of The World" (LoTW) at:

QSL Manager Phil Whitchurch, G3SWH, reports that he has recently acquired a copy of the log for the 2002 and 2004 operations of J6/G3XAQ. Phil states, "QSL cards are available either direct from my QRZ.com address, via E-mail for a reply via the bureau or via the bureau itself. If you choose either of the latter two routes, please remember that there may be a considerable delay in receiving your cards, as the bureau process is very slow and, due to the large volume of bureau cards that I handle, I only tend to send outgoing cards to the RSGB once per year. I hope to be able to upload the log to LoTW at some stage in the future."

NEW QSL MANAGER. Ron, AC7DX, informs that he will now handle QSL cards for T93X and T94TT.

UA4WHX QSL STATUS. World Traveler Vladimir, UA4WHX, now in Pretoria, R.S.A., informed OPDX this past weekend that he has been receiving questions about his QSL cards for his previous African operations. He tells OPDX that "ALL REQUESTS WILL BE ANSWERED AND ARE BEING CHECKED AGAINST THE LOGS NOW. ONCE THE TRIP IS OVER, WE WILL START SENDING THE ANSWERS FOR ALL CALLSIGNS TOGETHER. I REALIZE IT IS NOT EASY TO WAIT THAT LONG BUT, THEN, IS THAT ANY EASIER BEING HERE FOR A COUPLE OF YEARS? DOING ALL THAT? WILL DO MY BEST TO GET THEM ALL ANSWERED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE."

QSL OH0AM via YV5AMH. Activity was during this past week by Reinaldo, YV5AMH, of Aves Island fame. He recently visited his old diplomatic outpost in Finland and decided to sail out to Aland Islands for the weekend. He was accompanied and assisted by Captain Jaakko/OH1TX and crew members Timo/OH1NX, Hannu/OH1XX and Martti/OH2BH .

SV9, CRETE (Update)
Last week we mentioned that World traveler Bert, CX3AN, would be operating from Crete as SV9/CX3AN from July 6-10th, and would be joined by Theodooros, SV9/SV1EJD, and Fotis, SV9/SV1CIG, on the island. Theodoros, SV1EJD, contacted OPDX and informed us that he will be on Crete from July 6-20th and he plans to operate on SSB and possibly RTTY on 80-10 meters. Look for more info to appear on the following Web page at:

V2, ANTIGUA
Nobby, G0VJG, will be active as V25V from June 23rd through July 6th. Activity will be on all HF bands, mainly SSB, but he will also try to work Europe on 6 meters and some digital modes. QSL via G4DFI, direct or by the bureau.

VK9C, COCOS-KEELING ISLANDS (Update)
Charlie, W0YG, informs OPDX that he is indeed going back to VK9C in October. Barry/N0KV and Charlie/W0YG will be going to the island on October 30th, for a three week stay. He hopes they will have some quality time on the lower bands without QRM. He also mentioned that Bernd, VK2IA, is going out to VK9C on October 26th to set up for the CQWW SSB Contest (November 25-26th) as VK9AA (See OPDX.756). Charlie states, "He is going to return to the mainland on October 30th, on the same flight that we arrive. Bernd will leave his antennas set up for us, as well as his station will be all set to go." Barry and Charlie will operate right up until November 20th when they leave and Bernd again arrives, this time for the CQWW CW Contest. They will leave the antennas all set up for him so he can hit the ground running. Charlie states that their callsign has yet to be confirmed for this activity, but it will be forthcoming. All QSLs for Charlie's VK9C operations go direct, no bureau cards, to W0YG.

YV70/YW9, VENEZUELA
The Radio Club Venezolano (YV5AJ) informs OPDX that they will be active from the Apure State using the callsign YW9AJ, from June 29th through July 5th. Activity will include the "Venezuela's Independence Day Contest" (July 1-2nd), with operations on 160-6 meters on all modes. Also, look for satellite activity using the special callsign YV5SAT/9 (thanks to AMSAT-YV). The GRID will be FJ67hm. QSL via YV5AJ (QRZ.com address) or by the bureau. Satellite QSOs go via YV5SAT (QRZ.com address) or by the bureau. ADDED NOTE: The Radio Club Venezolano (RCV) also mentioned that they will use the special YV70IARU callsign during the upcoming IARU Contest as a HQ station signing RCV. The callsign celebrates the 70th anniversary of RCV's membership in the IARU. Operations will take place from various locations. QSL via YV5AJ (QRZ.com address) or by the bureau.

OPDX INTERNET HELP/SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE REQUEST:

Help: opdx-request@nshore.org Subject:help
Subscribe: opdx-request@nshore.org Subject:subscribe
Unsubscribe: opdx-request@nshore.org Subject:unsubscribe

OPDX WORLD-WIDE WEB HOME (provided by John, K8YSE (k8yse@papays.com):
http://www.papays.com/opdx.html

ALSO VISIT THE NORTERN OHIO DX ASSOCIATION'S WEB HOME PAGE:
http://www.papays.com/nodxa.html

Additional Bulletins for OPDX InterNet Subscribers

Back to the OPDX Index
Back to the NODXA
Back to the EIDX Network