The Ohio/Penn Dx PacketCluster
DX Bulletin No. 553
BID: $OPDX.553
March 11, 2002
Editor Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW
Provided by BARF-80 BBS Cleveland, Ohio
Online at 440-237-8208 28.8k-1200 Baud 8/N/1

Thanks to the Northern Ohio Amateur Radio Society, Northern Ohio DX Association, Ohio/Penn PacketCluster Network, AB5K & the AR TelNet Clusters Network, Sharon Taratula, NC1L, W3UR & The Daily DX, N4AA & QRZ DX, WA5PAE, N6MZ, AA7X, K8YSE, N9AG, K0SR, BV8BC, DJ2MX, DL1EK & DX News Letter, EA3BT, EA5RM, F5NQL & UFT, FJ5DX & La Gazette du DX, G4DMA, GM3WOJ, HL1VAU, IZ8BRI & Diamond News, JI3DST, OZ6OM & OZ 50 MHz DX Bulletin, PA1AW, PA5BW, S53R, VA3RJ & ICPO and ZK1CG for the following DX information.

DXCC COUNTRY/ENTITY REPORT
According to the AR-Cluster Network for the week of Sunday, 3/March, through Sunday, 10/March there were 238 countries active. Countries available: 3A, 3B8, 3D2, 3V, 3W, 4J, 4L, 4S, 4W, 4X, 5B, 5H, 5N, 5R, 5U, 5V, 5Z, 6W, 6Y, 7Q, 7X, 8P, 8Q, 8R, 9A, 9G, 9H, 9J, 9K, 9L, 9M2, 9M6, 9N, 9Q, 9V, 9Y, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, A7, A9, AP, BV, BY, C2, C3, C5, C6, CE, CE0A, CE9, CM, CN, CP, CT, CT3, CU, CX, D2, D4, DL, DU, E3, EA, EA6, EA8, EA9, EI, EK, EL, EP, ER, ES, ET, EU, EX, EY, EZ, F, FG, FJ, FK, FM, FO, FP, FR, FW, FY, G, GD, GI, GJ, GM, GU, GW, H4, HA, HB, HC, HH, HI, HK, HK0/a, HL, HP, HR, HS, HV, HZ, I, IS, J2, J3, J6, J7, J8, JA, JD/o, JT, JW, JX, JY, K, KG4, KH0, KH2, KH4, KH6, KH8, KL, KP2, KP4, LA, LU, LX, LY, LZ, OA, OD, OE, OH, OH0, OJ0, OK, OM, ON, OX, OY, OZ, P2, P4, PA, PJ2, PJ7, PY, PY0S, PY0T, PZ, S2, S5, S7, SM, SP, SU, SV, SV/a, SV5, SV9, T30, T7, T8, T9, TA, TF, TG, TI, TK, TL, TT, TU, TY, UA, UA2, UA9, UK, UN, UR, V2, V3, V4, V5, V7, VE, VK, VP2E, VP2V, VP5, VP6, VP8, VP8/h, VP8/o, VP9, VQ9, VR, VU, XE, XT, XU, XW, XX9, YA, YB, YI, YJ, YK, YL, YN, YO, YS, YU, YV, Z2, Z3, ZA, ZB, ZC4, ZD7, ZD8, ZD9, ZF, ZK1/s, ZK2, ZK3, ZL, ZP, ZS

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

3W, VIETNAM (New IOTA)
Yuki/JI6KVR will lead a team of operators consisting of JA6IEF, Hau/3W2LI and 3W2KA (3W2LI's son) to activate a new IOTA in the South China Sea Coast North Group called Cham Island which is located 20 km south of Hoi-an and about 30 km from Danang. The callsigns for this operation will be XV3C, 3W3C, 3W2LI/3 and 3W2KA/3, respectively. The team will depart from Fukuoka to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on March 12th. The team expects to be on the air during the late hours of March 13th and will be working in a non-stop operation with two stations active until their departure on March 18th. Operations will be from 160 through 6 meters on SSB and CW. Special plans have been made to insure that the low bands and 6 meters are activated with appropiate antennas and experienced operators dedicated to overcome the challenges that these bands offer. Visit the DXpedition Web site at:

5R, MADAGASCAR
Bruno, F5DKO, who has been active as 5R8/F5DKO from the island of Nosy Be (AF-057), currently does not have a valid 5R license. Ben, PA5BW (aka 5R8DS), informed OPDX that he talked to Bruno, and he admitted to him that he does not have a valid license. So the operation is NOT valid for DXCC or IOTA. According to Bruno, the Radio Administration had been closed when he arrived in the capitol city, Tananarive. His plans are to pass via Tananarive again when he travels to Ile Sainte Marie (AF-090). Ben gave Bruno the telephone number of the President of the Malagasy Amateur Radio Asociation (Solofo, 5R8ET) in the hope that he can still obtain a license. It will depend however on how much work he has done already to create a complete file BEFORE he went to Madagascar. Ben states, "To do just all that and get all appropriate signatures in the single day he is in Tananarive is totally unrealistic. As he did not know Solofo or any other 5R8-hams, I have my doubts about his preparations. .... But we'll see. If he will make legal activity from Ile Sainte Marie he will have a 5R8+two letters callsign. All legal amateur radio stations on Madagascar have callsigns ranging form 5R8DA through HZ or so. No 5R8/homecalls... have ever been issued."

7Q, MALAWI
Harry, G0JUM, continues to be active as 7Q7HB until April 28th. He was heard this past week on 14220 kHz around 0315z. In past weeks, he was heard on 21324 and 28600 kHz between 1400-1800z. QSL via G0IAS direct only to: Allan Hickman, The Conifers, High Street, Elkesley, Retford, DN22 8AJ Notts, UK.

ARRL PRESS RELEASE ON THEIR "Electronic QSL Policy"
OPDX InterNet Subscribers will receive an additional bulletin containing this press release by Wayne Mills, N7NG.

C6, BAHAMAS
Bill, AA7X, will be operating as C6AKK from Exuma Island (NA-001) from March 23-31st. This includes an entry in the CQWW WPX Contest. QSL to AA7X.

CT3, MADEIRA ISLANDS
Hardy/DL3KWF and Rosel/DL3KWR are active now as CT3/homecall until March 21st. Activity will be only on CW and mainly on the WARC bands. They were spotted this past weekend on 10106, 18072 and 24889 kHz at various times. All QSOs will be answered automatically on E-QSL at:

EA8, CANARY ISLANDS
Axel, DL5SDK, will be active as EA8/DL5SDK this coming weekend, March 17-22nd. Activity will be on 14300, 21350 and 28400 kHz using only a 100 watts into a 3 element tri-band beam. QSL via the bureau.

FG, GUADELOUPE
Look for Pierre, F6FXS, to be active as FG/F6FXS for a month starting April 17th to May 16th. Pierre will use an IC-706 and a long wire antenna; his power will be about 30to 40 watts. He will also take a FD3 antenna if he can put it in his luggage. Suggested frequencies are: 28030, 21030, 14030 and 7023 +/- QRM and CW only. Suggested operating times are: 1400-1600z on 10 and 15 meters; and possibly from 2100-2200z on 20 and 40 meters. QSL via home callsign direct to CBA or via the French bureau.

HI9, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Danny, T93M, will be active as T93M/HI9 between March 26th and April 1st. Activity will be on all HF bands, CW and SSB with special attention to 6 meters. His operation will include SOAB entry in CQWW WPX SSB Contest. QSL via DJ2MX through DARC bureau, direct or via E-mail at: dj2mx@t-online.de
ADDED NOTE: All direct QSLs for the FG/T93M activity have been processed and a picture of his QSL may be found in the QSL gallery on the Web site:

IOTA NEWS
AS-049. Hiroshi, JO1EPY, was expected to be active as JO1EPY/6 from Tokara Archipelago over the past week through March 11th. His activity was to be on the IOTA frwquencies 40/17/15/12/10/6 meters CW and SSB. QSL via the bureau or direct to: Hiroshi Kotoku, 3-4-19 Kishimashi Kawagoe City, Saitama 350-1131 Japan.

AS-079. Takeshi, JI3DST, will be active from Miyako Island (Miyako-jima Hirara-city Okinawa-ken), March 29th through April 2nd, as JI3DST/6. Activity will be on 40/17/15/12/10/6 meters SSB. He will also be active in the CQ WPX Contest. QSL to JI3DST via the Bureau (Bureau is best) or direct.

AS-093. A few HL operators are planning a DXpedition from the Huksan Island group April 4-7th. Activity will be on 40-10 meters CW/SSB with two 100 watt stations active simutaneously using dipoles. The callsign, QSL info, team members and other detailed information are not definite yet, but will be forthcoming soon. AS-155. Bill, BV8BC informs OPDX to look for BV9G to be active from Green Island March 21-25th. Location will be from Gong-Guan Elementary school, Lu-Tao. QSL via direct to BV8BC: Bill-Chen, Box 222, Taitung-city 950 Taiwan. PLEASE NOTE: IRCs are not accept in Taiwan.

EU-045. Tony, IK8VRH, is expectedto be active from the islands of Ventotene (IIA LT-011) and Ponza (IIA LT-001) now through March 21st and April 13-19th, respectively. He plans to operate as IB0/IK8VRH in his free time. QSL via home call.

NA-188. A team of Mexican operators consisting of XE1LWY, XE1KOF, XE1YJL, XE1UZ and XE2ML will be on Cacaluta Island from March 26-31st. Activity will be on air on all bands/modes, including 6 meters. QSL via: Enrique Garcia, P. O BOX 75-481, 07300 D.F, Mexico. Their Web site is at:

KG4, GUANTANAMO BAY
Jay/K4ZLE and Pick/WA5PAE will be visiting GITMO again from March 21-30th and sign KG4MO and KG4IZ, respectively. Their activity will place an emphasis on the low bands including 160 meters. The majority of their operations will be on CW. QSL via their home callsigns.

LIGHTHOUSE ACTIVITY
Look for Francis/F6HKS and Jean Claude/F6HDH to be active on March 17th, starting about 0800z, for the day long operation from L'Espiguette Lighthouse (Gard Department) located South of Le Grau du Roi (ARLHS FRA 276; DPLF PB 069 - French Onshore Lighthouses Program). Activity will be mainly on 40 and 20 meters. If propagation is good, they will be on 15 meters. Look for Francis as F6HKS/p on CW and Jean-Claude as F6HDH/p on SSB. QSL via the French REF Bureau or direct via the current CBA.

QSL INFO AND NEWS
Updated QSL Manager Information: QSL GM7V and GZ7V to ZS5BBO via the SARL Bureau (Please mark cards clearly 'ZS5BBO via SARL Bureau') or direct at: Edwin Musto, PO Box 673, Westville 3630, South Africa (his new address).

Updated QSL Manager Information: QSL GM3WOJ and GS2MP via N3SL at: Kim Larson, 22 N Hidden Acres Drive, Sioux City, Iowa 51108.

Scott, N9AG/J68AS, reports that all those awaiting for QSLs for PJ2Z (CQWW SSB 2001) and PJ2T (many contests) may sit by your mailbox. All the requests that he has received through March 2nd have been answered. Any new ones coming in will be answered as they arrive.

Alex, PA1AW, reports that the TI9M logs are now available at:

QSL cards for the VP8CBA operation is via Ralph, K0IR, not Steve, K0SR. Steve states that he will forward any cards he mistakenly gets to K0IR.

QSL W4D to W5UE. This was activity by the members of the Magnolia DX Association from Dauphin Island (IOTA NA-213, USI AL-002S).

Steve, KU9C, reports that he has the logs for the YA5T through March 5th, 0214z and the Web site (log search) has also been updated.

Victor Rivera, ZK1CG (and ZK1USA), informs OPDX that he has mailed via air mail 2 boxes of ZK1CG (North Cooks) and ZK1USA (North and South Cooks) QSLs. The group that went to Manihiki Atoll for the CQWW SSB Contest still have not received the QSL cards from the printers. Victor states that he was running low on personal QSLs, so he had a new card designed and printed from Italy for both North and South Cooks Island operations as ZK1CG and ZK1USA. PLEASE NOTE: The other contacts made with the group are being handled by Ralf, VE7XF, and as soon as the group's cards are ready, they will be sent out. Victor did not want to delay sending out cards for ZK1CG and ZK1USA any longer and states that he is sorry for the delay to all the hams that made contact with ZK1CG and ZK1USA. He also thanks all who helped make this trip possible to North Cook (The Group; Roger, Bob, John, Ralf and Tuatai, and the the donors). Enclosed with most cards are stamps that were stamped with the Manihiki, North Cook Island postal stamp which is very rare. If anyone has not received a QSL, please contact Victor via his E-mail address at: sales@computers.co.ck

P5, NORTH KOREA (YU op)
This one is currently up in the air. All we can say is wait and listen. During last week there was conflicting information about Hrane's, YT1AD, location (was he at the airport in Rome, presumably heading back to Belgrade or in Pyongyang, North Korea). It is believed he is in Pyongyang with Voja, YU7AV, the docs/permits and is awaiting the "OK" to begin Amateur Radio transmissions (which they hope will happen March 11th). All activity so far (P5/YT1AD) has been the work of a pirate.

PJ2, CURACAO
Steve/N8BJQ and Geoff/W0CG will be active between March 14th through April 2nd as PJ2/homecall. They plan to operate in the CQ WW WPX-SSB Contest as Single Op (possible single bands) entry as PJ2T. QSL via their home callsigns. QSL PJ2T via N9AG.

TN, CONGO
Josep/EA3BT and Nuria/EA3WL are planning another DXpedition; this time to the Congo between May 16-27th. You may remember them from their 2001 DXpedition to Comoros as D68BT and D68WL. They have applied for the callsigns TN3B and TN3W (still not comfirmed). They plan for activity on 80-6 meters with operations on SSB/RTTY and some CW. Two stations will be active with beams (for 20/17/15/12/10) and dipoles (for 40/80 meters) in the hope to provide a "new one" (entity/band/mode) to as many as possibe. The Congo is listed as the 38th most wanted entity by the ARRL's DXCC. Check out their Web page for more information at:

V51, NAMIBIA
Laurence (aka "Flo"), KL7/G4DMA, informs OPDX that he will be active as V51/G4DMA from Aris, Central Namibia, from March 17th until the end of the month. Activity will be on 80-6 meters.

VP6/D, DUCIE ISLAND
There were no press releases over the past week to report on. The VP6/D team should be leaving Mangareva, French Polynesia, (March 12th) to head to Pitcairn Island by the time you read this. They will pickup supplies and operators, and then head to Ducie Island (two day trip). Activity should take place by the weekend. Keep watching the following Web page for updated details at:

XQ0X, SAN FELIX ISLAND
Mike, N6MZ, provided the following update: "The San Felix 2002 DXpedition is on schedule to hit the airwaves around March 17th, with radio operations continuing for approximately 12-14 days. Expedition leader Carlos, NP4IW/CE3AQI, arrived in Chile on Tuesday, March 5th, and is busy making final preparations; the rest of the 13-person team will arrive later this week. Departure from Valparaiso is scheduled for March 12th, and the vessel is scheduled to make port at Isla Juan Fernandez (CE0Z) during the outbound voyage. Please see the expedition web site

YA, AFGHANISTAN (YA5T Update)
Robert, S53R/YA5T, reports the following dated March 7th: "YA5T has not been much on the air during the past week due to work commintments. It really is hard to get on the radio after working for 18 hours and you have to be up at 7 o'clock in the morning - day after day. However, since our last report we have hit over 17,000 QSOs. First U.S. contact on 80 meters also came through. I bet you know who that was! Bob, W6RJ - and it was on SSB long path. Bob serves as a beacon every day, hi! In following days N7UA and W6KW were also worked CW with very good sigs. Don't forget we are using 100W and a piece of wire. 160 meters is going well with some 400 Qs, but no U.S. so far. ICOM America is sponsoring a PW1 kilowatt amplifier, so I hope we are getting closer and closer to YA - North America contact! Mark, ON4WW, left Kabul today and will do some ground work for WFP in the next weeks in northern part of the country. Peter, ON6TT, was here for 2 days, but just too busy to do any radio. I stay for another 3 weeks and promise to be on bands as much as possible. So, CU in the next days from 160-10..... 73 Robert, S53R / YA5T"

ZD8, ASCENCION ISLAND
By the time you read this, Jim, N6TJ, should be on the air again as ZD8Z until March 21st. Activity will be on all bands on CW and SSB, with an emphasis on 160 meters and the WARC bands. QSL via VE3HO, direct only.

ZK3, TOKELAU ISLANDS
Station signing ZK3HC has been active over the past weekend on 20 meters CW. Activity has been on 14025 kHz after 0400z up to 0900z. There was one QSN SSB report stating ZK3HC was on 21280 kHz around 1850z. QSL via DL9HCU.

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Additional Bulletins for OPDX InterNet Subscribers

From: "Moore, Bill, NC1L" {bmoore@arrl.org}
To: kb8nw@barf80.nshore.org
Subject: Electronic QSL Policy News Release
Date: Thu, 7 Mar 2002 14:01:32 -0500
MIME-Version: 1.0

ARRL NEWS RELEASE

March 7, 2002
For Further Information Contact: Wayne Mills, N7NG

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Electronic QSL Policy

Recent discussion regarding the QSL service offered by eQSL.ccTM suggests that there is some confusion about ARRL QSL policy. Simply put, there has been no change in League policy regarding eQSLs. ARRL does not accept QSLs that have been transmitted to the recipient via electronic means for its awards. Anyone, acting as an authorized QSL manager, however, may receive logs via email (or any other direct means) and send QSL cards, via post mail, to recipients. This is the traditional QSL manager process. As has always been the case, certain norms are expected when handling cards in this manner.

First, we expect that a QSL manager will seek permission from operators for whom QSLs are handled. We do not accept cards from unauthorized QSL managers for DXCC credit. Such an authorization must be a pro-active choice of the DX station rather than an "opt out," default authority given to a bulk mailer.

Second, since most operators requesting QSLs expect that the returned cards will correctly reflect the actual QSO data, we expect that a QSL manager will do the checking required to assure that only real contacts are verified. We all know that raw logs contain many errors. A recent sample from a bulk-mailing QSL service show three out of five QSOs confirmed were not in the recipient's log. This is unacceptable. Often, these errors are only detected when incoming cards are compared to the log. The distribution of QSLs, without any checking of the information contained on the incoming cards, is poor QSLing practice, and may lead to blanket rejection of all QSL cards from the station/manager in question.

Also, we expect to be able to identify cards as authentic. Many cards are printed on home printers, and in many cases, the data is printed on card stock at the same time. Although this is technically acceptable, the process often makes verification difficult. In certain cases we may reject these cards. Cards should be personalized or otherwise made unique through the use of a stamp or other personal mark (signature or initials) across a label boundary.

Finally, the concept of obtaining a QSL card at no charge is a long-held tradition in ham radio and DXCC, and we endeavor to continue this tradition. QSL managers handling cards for DXCC submission must make cards available if adequate postage is supplied. Postage can be supplied by sending IRCs, direct funds, or SASEs. We consider it an ethics violation if cards can only be claimed through payment of a fee, and thus we will not accept cards for DXCC credit for which a fixed charge is made. A number of well-known DXpeditioners and QSL managers do not accept bureau cards, but we are not aware of any cases where a card will not be forthcoming if adequate postage is provided.

For its awards, the ARRL does not accept electronically transmitted QSLs that are printed by the recipient. There is no restriction placed on how log information is conveyed to an authorized QSL manager, however. Cards provided by QSL managers who make a reasonable effort to comply with the guidelines presented here will be gladly accepted for DXCC credit.

TM eQSL.cc is a trademark of eQSL.cc

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