425TROPHY
The "425 DX News" group has announced a new survery is being taken. The group has selected 14 DXpeditions for you to vote on as the best 2003 DXpedition. The "425TROPHY" will be given to the winner during a DX Convention (to be announced). The group is also accepting donations EXCLUSIVELY for the 425TROPHY. The callsigns/names of the donors will be engraved on the TROPHY and listed on the 425 Web site. To vote, please visit the Web page at:

4U1I, ITU HQ (Taking 160m Requests)
Ivan, OM3CGN, states he will be in Geneva until December 15, 2004. He is taking requests for 160 meters contacts via E-mail. His E-mail address is: om3cgn@nextra.sk

5V, TOGO (Update from the 5V7C crew and F6KOP, Provins ARC)
Operators Dominique/F5VHQ and Franck/F5TVG will arrive in Togo on the 4th of March to pick up the licences and begin to install the gear; especially the antennas on the traffic site. They will also do some testing. You may be able to contact 5V7C earlier than the 6th of March. This is when the rest of the crew will join F5VHQ and F5YVG. Visit the 5V7C Web site at:

AT0, INDIA
Did you work AT0D this past weekend? This was Ram, VU3DJQ. He informed OPDX that he has permission to operate as AT0D (or possible AT0DJQ) during contests. Look out for him between now and the end of March. Operations will be on 20 meters only. QSLs go to EA7FTR.

C5, THE GAMBIA
Jan, PA9JJ, will be active as C56JJ from March 29th until April 5th from a QTH in Kololi (Senegambia Beach Hotel). Jan states he will try to put up an antenna for 160 meters but is not sure if he can work 160 due to the very high QRN and QRM levels. Jan tells OPDX that he will also be using RTTY and/or PSK31 and focus on the Warc bands if 80 and 160 meters are no good. There will be no activity on 6 meters for he has no antenna for this band. This will be a one man DXpedition and he will use a FT-100 and a G5RV. QSL via the address on QRZ.com. Jan states, "NO E-QSL request for I do not use e-qsl."

C6, BAHAMAS (IOTA and Lighthouse Op)
Wade, AA8LL, informs OPDX that he and Liz, K8LIZ, will be active again as AA8LL/C6A and K8LIZ/C6A and will operate from Pittstown Point on Crooked Island (IOTA NA-113), Jaunary 16-19th. This operation also counts for Bird Rock Lighthouse, ARLHS BAH-005. On January 17-18th, they will operate as C6ALB from the Bird Rock Lighthouse proper. This counts for WLA LH-0118 in addition to ARLHS BAH-005 and NA-113. Activity will be mostly SSB from 40-10 meters (They love the WARC bands!) but other bands/modes are possible. QSL to AA8LL or K8LIZ direct or bureau.

CE9, SOUTH SHETLAND ISLANDS
Ricardo, CE3HDI, is expected to be on the air as CE9R from King George Island (IOTA AN-010 and DICE ICE-901) "Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva Base" (WABA CE-03) from now until February 24th. Activity will be on all bands CW/SSB. QSL via CE3HDI.

CASTLE ACTIVITY
The Association of Radioamadores de Coimbra will activate Castle Lousa as CS6ARC/p on Janaury 18th. QSL via the CBA. The reference number for the Diploma of the Castles and Forts of Portugal is: DCFP C-065

DX MAGAZINE'S MOST WANTED SURVEY (Results Are In!)
The DX Magazine has announced the results of its annual "Most Wanted Survey" which was taken between late September and ended during mid-October of 2003. The total results are published in the January/February 2004 issue of the DX Magazine. The magazine breaks down the results by world-wide, Europe only, world-wide (No Europe or USA), overall USA, USA/NA Eastern Time Zone, USA/NA Central Time Zone, USA/NA Mountain Time Zone and US/NA Pacific Time Zone. Here are the top 10 Most Wanted:

 1) Scarborough Reef (BS7)           6) Yemen (7O)
 2) Andaman & Nicobar Islands (VU4)  7) Juan de Nova & Europa (FR/J & FR/E)
 3) North Korea (P5)                 8) Navassa Island (KP1)
 4) Lakshadweep Islands (VU7)        9) Desecheo Island (KP5)
 5) Peter I Island (3Y)             10) Aves Island (YV0)

This survey was taken by Carl Smith, Editor of QRZ DX and The DX Magazine. For more information on these publications, please visit the Web page at:

FM, MARTINIQUE
Guy, F5MNW, will be active as FM/F5MNW between February 21st and March 6th from the main island (NA-107 and DIFO FM001). Activity will be CW only on the HF bands. Guy will be active during his spare time. QSL direct via his HC (SAE + 1 IRC or 2 USD - One green stamp is no more sufficient to cover today's postal fees for a card sent to the Americas, Asia or Oceania) or via the French REF Bureau.

FO (FO/A & FO/M), FRENCH POLYNESIA, AUSTRAL AND MARQUESAS ISLANDS
Gerard, ON4AXU (ex-C21XU, T30XU, 3D2XU, ZK1AXU (North/South), 5W0GD and A35XU) has informed OPDX that his plans for 2004 are to go to FO, FO/A and FO/M between May 13th and June 13th. His plans/schedules are as follows:
May 12-13th - He leaves Amsterdam to London to LAX to Papeete
May 13-16th - Papeete, French Polynesia (OC-046)
May 16-24th - Tubuai (Austral) (OC-152)
May 26th-June 1st - Papeete-Moorea (OC-046), Huahine (OC-067)- Raiatea (OC-067)-Papeete
June 2nd - Papeete-Hiva Oa (Marquesas OC-027)
June 11th - Hiva Oa-Papeete
Callsigns and bands/modes of operations have not yet been announced. However, Gerard has a Web page and is looking for comments/suggestions for this operation. Please visit:

FS, FRENCH ST. MARTIN
Operators Dave/K3LP (Team Leader), Larry/N7DD, Steve/N3SB, Tyler/K3MM, Jeff/N8II, Clint/W3ARS and Kam/N3KS will be on the island from February 18-24th. They will operate from Mort's (W1UQ's) QTH at Paradis Peak (1,400 elevation). Each team member will operate with their own FS/homecall prior to and after the ARRL Contest. During the ARRL DX CW Contest (February 21-22nd), the team will be active as FS5UQ during the contest as a Multi-Multi entry. All QSLs are via www.QRZ.com.

HC1, ECUADOR
Rick, NE8Z, informs OPDX that he will be operating as HC1MD from Tumbaco, Ecuador, January 22-28th. Tumbaco is located "just over the hill" from HCJB's massive antenna complex in Pifo, Ecuador. Rick will be using a TS850s + SB200 + Carolina Windom on 80-10 meters CW/SSB. He will be paying special attention to the WARC bands on this trip. On Monday, January 26th, Rick will be monitoring 50.110 MHz all day. That will be the only day that he will have access to 6 meters (100w + 5 element Cushcraft yagi). Please view the HC-DX Awards at:

IOTA NEWS
SA-031. Marco, CE6TBN, plans to be active as CE6TBN/8 from Riesco Island (DICE ICE-804), January 12-15th. Activity will be on 40, 20, 17, 15, 12 and 10 meters SSB, using monoband vertical antennas and a TS-140. QSL via N1IBM: Morris E. Maze III, 847 Dolan St., Lanoka Harbor, New Jersey 08734, USA.

SA-032. Marco, CE6TBN, plans to be active as CE6TBN/8 from Wellington Island (DICE ICE-802), January 17-20th. Activity will be on 40, 20, 17, 15, 12 and 10 meterd SSB, using monoband vertical antennas and a TS-140. QSL via N1IBM: Morris E. Maze III, 847 Dolan St., Lanoka Harbor, New Jersey 08734, USA.

SA-047. Emilio, PU5HAS, will be active as PY5/PU5HAS from Mel Island, January 15-17th. Activity will be on 80-10 meters, SSB only (limited license). QSL via his home callsign, direct or by the bureau.

KG4, GUANTANAMO BAY (Op Cancelled)
Bill, KG4DX (W4WX), informs OPDX that his January 13-19th operation to GTMO is cancelled due to shortage of billeting at GTMO. He will try again later.

LU, SOUTH ORKNEYS ISLANDS
Martin, LU3DO, the new medical doctor for the Orcadas Base on the South Orkneys, is expected (might) be active as LU3DO/Z for about one year until March 2005. He will use the equipment which Henry, LU4DXU, will leave behind on the island after his departure to Laurie Island (January 23rd).

NEW OFFICERS FOR 2004
Robert Paquette, W6ZPL, Secretary of the Southern California DX Club (SCDXC), informs: "We are pleased to announce the election of following amateurs to serve as officers in the Southern California DX Club (SCDXC) for 2004. History was made with this year's elections; for the first time in the clubs 58 year history we have elected our first woman president. Cathy Gardenias, K6VC, is a well know amateur radio operator and a first class DXer. Cathy has won the SCDXC Clipperton Award (1998-99) for the member who worked the most DXCC entities in their first year as a member. She has also been awarded the SCDXC DXer of the Year Award which she won along with her husband ARRL Orange Section Manager (Southwest Div.) Carl Gardenias, WU6D. Cathy has been a great asset to the SCDXC, and we are proud to add her to the very distinguished list of amateurs who have served this club as president.

   President        Cathy Gardenias, K6VC           E-mail: k6vc@scdxc.org
   Vice President   Jim Shryne, N6DHZ               E-mail: n6dhz@scdxc.org
   Secretary        Bob "Bubba" Paquette, W6ZPL     E-mail: w6zpl@scdxc.org
   Treasurer        A.J. "Doc" Holub, WA6OGO        E-mail: wa6ogo@scdxc.org
   Membership       Larry Mallek, K6YUI             E-mail: k6yui@scdxc.org
   Director         Charlotte Iseda, KB6FXS         E-mail: kb6fxs@scdxc.org
   Director         Howard Elovitz, W6EGZ           E-mail: w6egz@scdxc.org
   Ex Officio       Herb Rosenberg, KG6OK           E-mail: kg6ok@scdxc.org

The official mailing address for all SCDXC correspondences during 2003
will be:          Southern California DX Club (SCDXC)
                  Attn: Robert Paquette, W6ZPL, Secretary
                  2253 W. Whittier Bl.
                  La Habra, CA 90631
                  E-mail: secretary@scdxc.org

Please visit the SCDXC Web site for the latest club information at:
                     
http://www.scdxc.org

P4, ARUBA (Update)
Last week we mentioned that John, W2GD, would be active as P40W in the ARRL DX CW Contest as SOAB entry. John has told OPDX that he will be there between February 18-23rd. Before and after the contest there will be some operation on all bands SSB and CW, with an emphasis on 160 meters at night, 10 meters during the day. QSL via N2MM.

PJ5, ST. EUSTATIUS
Jim, K1NA, will be active as PJ5NA during the ARRL DX CW Contest (February 21-22nd) as a Single-Op/All Band entry. QSL via K1NA.

QSL INFO AND NEWS
POSTAGE CONTINUES TO INCREASE
Mart, DL6UAA, informs OPDX that as of Janaury 2004, the postage for a airmail letter from DL to outside of Europe is now a bit higher. OLD: 1.50 (EURO) NEW: 1.55 (EURO). Wolf, DJ5JH, adds that currently this is 1.99 USD at the rapidly deteriorating exchange rate (1 EURO = 1.28 USD). He states, "Soon 2 USD will not be enough to postage for direct QSL." Some hams still continue to add only 1 USD with their QSL card as return postage.

Alan Roocroft, VK4AAR, informs OPDX: "I must finally capitulate but I DID try to avoid the inevitable increase like other VK and ZL managers. When sending QSLs to me for one of my people, I must humbly ask DXers to send USD 2.00 as long as our dollar remains this strong against the US dollar. 'Greenstamps' are the preferred way as IRCs are a pain in the 'you-know-where'. By the way, there is no surface mail to overseas destinations from Australia (with the exception of large parcels etc). Air mail is the only possibility for cards and letters."

Ken Holdom, ZL4HU, reports: "In my previous E-mail I advised that due to the strong value of the New Zealand Dollar all cards received directly with one green stamp or USD will be replied to via the bureau. Today I exchanged some U.S. currency and the rate was 1 USD = NZD 1.40. This is the worst it has been in our times of DXing and DXpeditioning. Our current ecconomy postal charges worldwide are NZD 1.50 so as you can see there is a real difference. Airmail is at NZD 2.00. As our Association does not have sufficient funds to meet the additional postage costs, cards with insufficient postage WILL be replied to via the BUREAU. I am sorry for this but it is simply beyond our control and I hope you will all appreciate our situation...... Kind Regards and Good DXing... Ken Holdom ZL4HU Kermadec DX ASSOCIATION"

NEW QSL MANAGER Rashad/4J9RI and Stan/UA3SAQ report that as of Janaury 1, 2004, the Radio Club 4K7Z (also 4K1V, 4J1S, 4K60AA and 4K7DWZ) has a new QSL Manager: Uljanov Vladimir (UA3FDX), P.O. Box 10, Moscow, 121615 Russia.

A61AJ QSL UPDATE: George, K2UO, reports that 7,000 QSLs have been processed and sent out directly or via the bureau. This clears up the backlog of cards with the exception of those from QSLs with "missing log segments", these number about 1,000, both direct and bureau. Most of the missing log segments are in 2002. Ghis and the boys in A6 are trying to find the missing log segments and hopefully will be successful. ALL direct cards are being answered the "same day" they are received (IF K2UO has logs for ALL QSOs requested). K2UO is the QSL manager for U.S., U.S. possessions, North and South America and the Caribbean. DJ2MX is QSL manager for Europe/Asia/Africa/Pacific.

LOGS NOW ON LOTW! Bill, W9OL, reports that the following logs have been upload and are now available on the "Logbook of The World":
A4XYS - Logs for September 1983 through March 1984
KB4ATV/4S7 - Logs for April 4, 1984 through April 8, 1984
He states that he is still working on some of them and will continue to provide hardcard QSLs upon request. USA only requires a SASE. Non USA only requires a SAE, 1 IRC is sufficient. All bureau requests will be replied via the bureau. Bill states, "If you feel that you have a QSO that is not included in the LoTW log, feel free to E-mail me with particulars and I will re-examine the log." His E-mail address is: w9ol@billnjudy.com

QSLs for IR7LH, a special activation of a beacon that is on the air between November 1st (2003) to April 30th (2004), should be QSled via IK7JWX, by the bureau or direct with a SASE. Operators are: IK7JWX on SSB and I7PXV on CW.

Special event station N2MO was activated by Ocean Monmouth ARC (OMARC) this past weekend. Operations were from the historic Project Diana site and activity was to commemorate the first ever successful moon bounce experiment as conducted by the U.S. Army Signal Corps held on 10th of January 1946. QSL via N2MO. For more information on the Diana Project and for QSL info please visit the OMARC web site at: http://www.omarc.org Also visit the InfoAge Learning Center for more Diana Project history at:

SPECIAL EVENT
Chris, HA5X, informs OPDX that on May 1, 2004, the Republic of Hungary becomes a full member of the European Union (EU). The EU which currently consists of 15 member states will become a union of 25 European countries. Throughout the year of this accession, members of MOM Radioclub will be using the special amateur radio callsign, HA2004EU. Their aim is to make the year 2004 a remarkable event for ham radio operators world wide, whether or not they live in or outside the EU, which is carrying out its biggest ever enlargement. They would like to make as many amateur radio contacts as possible using different amateur radio equipment and various operating techniques. They are looking forward to a year full of interesting experiments and amateur radio ventures. One of the principles of the EU is the easy travel within the Union. To symbolize what that freedom of movement means for amateur radio operators, they plan to visit several current and new members states of the EU, and make amateur radio contacts from all the countries they visit. Beside the operation of the special callsign from Hungary and other member states, the MOM Radioclub also plans to issue an award to those amateur radio operators of the world who can fulfill its requirements. For more information, expedition announcements and stories, please visit the following Web page at:

TO5, MARTINIQUE
Albert, NH7A, will be active as TO5A during the ARRL DX Phone Contest (March 6-7th) as a Single-Op/All Band entry. QSL via F5VHJ.

V31, BELIZE (Lighthouse Activated)
Gerd/DJ4KW and Gisela/DK9GG are expected to be active as V31YN (CW) and V31GW (RTTY), respectively, from Consejo Shores, between now and February 29th. Activity will be on 160-10 meters. From February 2-6th, they will be active as V31YN/P from Lighthouse Reef (IOTA NA-123). This activity will be 40-10 meters CW only. QSL via their home callsigns, direct or by the bureau.

XU7, CAMBODIA (Update/Correction)
Peter, NO2R, was not active from here last week as reported in OPDX.642. However, Pete told OPDX that he will be leaving for Cambodia January 31st and expects/hopes to be on the air by February 2nd for 7 days. He will concentrate his activities on 160 meters and 80/40 meters. QSL via K2NJ, direct.

Z22, ZIMBABWE
Dudley, Z22JE, can be found daily, usually on 21290 kHz (+/- 5 kHz) starting around 1830z. OPDX was informed by John, K3CT, that Dudley is also looking for a manual for a Robot 800 RTTY Terminal Unit. He has one but it is lacking the manual. His QSL manager is K3PD.

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