The Ohio/Penn Dx PacketCluster
DX Bulletin No. 657
BID: $OPDX.656
April 19, 2004
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, K1XN & GoList, NG3K, W3UR & The Daily DX, N4AA & QRZ DX, N4ES, N4GN, K8YSE, K9QVB, 9M2/G3TMA, DL/VE3ZIK & www.contesting.info, DL1EK & The DX News Letter, DL7AFS, F5CWU & La Gazette du DX, F5NQL & UFT, I1JQJ/IK1ADH & 425 DX News, JI6KVR & JA-IOTA Islands News, M5AAV, MM0DFV, PA2R, PA4JJ, SP2FAP, T93Y, TA3J, VA3RJ & ICPO, VE3EXY, VK4AAR and ZL2AGY for the following DX information.

DXCC COUNTRY/ENTITY REPORT
According to the AR-Cluster Network for the week of Sunday, 11th/April, through Sunday, 18th/April there were 225 countries active. Countries available: 3A, 3B8, 3B9, 3V, 3W, 4J, 4L, 4S, 4W, 4X, 5B, 5H, 5N, 5R, 5T, 5U, 5V, 5W, 5X, 5Z, 6W, 6Y, 7Q, 7X, 8P, 8Q, 8R, 9A, 9G, 9H, 9J, 9K, 9L, 9M2, 9M6, 9N, 9Q, 9V, 9Y, A2, A3, A4, A6, A7, A9, AP, BV, BY, C2, C3, C6, C9, CE, CE9, CM, CN, CP, CT, CT3, CU, CX, D2, D4, D6, DL, DU, EA, EA6, EA8, EA9, EI, EK, EL, EP, ER, ES, ET, EU, EX, EY, EZ, F, FG, FH, FJ, FK, FM, FO, FP, FR, FY, G, GD, GI, GM, GU, GW, H4, HA, HB, HB0, HC, HI, HK, HL, HP, HR, HS, HZ, I, IS, J6, JA, JT, JW, JY, K, KG4, KH0, KH6, KL, KP2, KP4, LA, LU, LX, LY, LZ, OD, OE, OH, OH0, OK, OM, ON, OX, OY, OZ, P2, P4, PA, PJ2, PJ7, PY, PZ, S2, S5, S7, S9, SM, SP, ST, SU, SV, SV/a, SV5, SV9, T2, T30, T33, T7, T9, TA, TF, TG, TI, TJ, TK, TN, TR, TT, TU, TY, TZ, UA, UA2, UA9, UK, UN, UR, V2, V3, V4, V5, V6, V7, V8, VE, VK, VK9N, VP2E, VP5, VP8, VP8/h, VP9, VQ9, VR, VU, XE, XU, XX9, YA, YB, YI, YK, YL, YN, YO, YS, YU, YV, Z2, Z3, ZA, ZB, ZC4, ZD7, ZD8, ZF, ZK1/s, ZL, ZL7, ZP, ZS, ZS8

* 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).

3B9, RODRIGUES ISLAND
The 3B9C operation went QRT on April 12th with a little over 153,000 QSOs.

5N, NIGERIA
Vlado, ZS6MG, is expected to be active this week as 5N0DKV/6. He is here on a business trip between April 20-30th, so activity will be limited due to his work schedule. It is suggested to look for him after 1600z possibly on the HF bands or 6 meters.

7Q, MALAWI (Update/Reminder)
By the time you read this, the UK Malawi DXpedition should have started. As this was being typed Sunday morning (1530z), the UK team was not active. The callsign to be used by the UK Malawi DXpedition between April 18th and May 1st will be 7Q7MM. For more details, please refer to OPDX.650 and OPDX.655, or visit the UK Malawi DXpedition Web page at: http://www.malawi.digital-crocus.com QSL via G3LQP direct (Roger Brown, 262 Fir Tree Road, Epsom KT17 3NL, England) or via the bureau.

8Q, MALDIVES
Pierre, HB9QQ, is now active as 8Q7QQ from Velighoo (North Atoll) until April 27th. He has been hitting the WARC bands (30/17/12m) a lot. QSL via his home callsign.

9M2 & V8, WEST MALAYSIA AND BRUNEI (Borneo IOTAs)
Ian, 9M2/G3TMA, informed OPDX that Derek/G3KHZ, Maurizio/IZ1CRR and he will activate a couple of Borneo IOTAs during the next couple of weeks. Look for the following:
OC-184 (Pulau Muara Besar, V8) - Operation will start on April 21st. OC-165 (Pulau Satang Besar, 9M8) - Operation will start around April 28th. QSL both activity via G3KHZ.

AM6/AN6/ED6, SPAIN (Attention Prefix Hunters!)
Julio/EA3AIR, Wolf/OE2VEL and Juan/EA5BM will activate the EA6IB station during the CQ WPX CW Contest as a Multi-Single entry. The prefix of the station will be AM6, AN6 or ED6IB (probably this last one) during the contest. QSL via EA6IB's CBA address.

DXCC NEWS
Jan, PA4JJ, announced this past week that he received an E-mail from Bill Moore, NC1L, that the C56JJ DXpedition is approved for DXCC.

ELECTED OFFICIALS FOR 2004-2005
The following were re-elected for another term of office as Northern Ohio DX Association officials:

       President    : Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW
       V. Presidient: Dwaine Modock,   K8ME
       Secretary    : Ron Borkey,      K8VJG
       Treasurer    : Mary Michaelis,  N8DMM
   Newsletter Editor: David Autry,     WD8IOU

EW, BELARUS
Andrei NP3D, will be visiting his homeland from April 17-27th, to see his parents and friends. He will be active from there using his home callsign EW1AR on all modes and bands. Also, look for him to be active in the SP DX RTTY Contest as Single-Op/All-Band/Low-Power entry. QSL via W3HNK.

FRENCH NEWS AND ACTIVITY
There seems to be plenty of French special events and activities (some for D-Day) in the coming weeks and months. Look for the following to take place:
TM60VS - From the Vercors area, will celebrate the 60th anniversary of Isere liberation by partisans on June 6th. QSL per operator's instructions.

TM6OGM - From the Sarthe area (near Le Mans), look for Jean-Marie, F5NLX, plus other ops and SWLs, to be active on CW/SSB, especially on 80, 40 and 20 meters, from June 3-7th. QSL via F5NLX, either the bureau or direct (SAE+postage).

TM6SME - From the Normandy, Sainte Mere Eglise, "Omaha and Utah Beach areas", Michel, F6IPS, will be active on all bands CW/SSB from June 6-20th. QSL by request only to F6IPS direct (SAE+postage) or via the bureau.

TM7HAM - From HAMEURO, this Ham show happens on June 13th in Longlaville (Northeast of France not far from Nancy). The F6KWP ARS will air this special callsign from June 5-19th. Their Belgian friends will also air at the same time with the callsign ON4HAM. QSL both callsigns via F6KWP ARS, direct (SAE+postage) or via the bureau.

TM7OAA - For the 70th anniversary since the French Air Forces were founded, the 128th French Airborne ARS, F6KAT, will air this special callsign from June 6-20th. Activity will be on all bands from 160m to 70 cm, all modes. QSL via F6KAT by the bureau or direct (SAE+postage).

TM8MAI - For the 59th anniverssary of the end of WWII, the F6KWP ARS will air this special callsign on May 8-9th, from the Maginot Line and on the 16th from the Mai Lorrain d'Ugny. QSL via F6KWP ARS, direct (SAE) or via the bureau.

GB0, SCOTLAND (Special Activity)
Members of the West of Scotland ARS and Scottish HAM Portal team will be active as GB0SHP to present the new "Scottish HAM Portal" on the air. The station's QTH: Hardgate, Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire; QRA Locator IO75TW and WAB NS47. The dates of their activity: April 19-25th (2004). Pertinent equipment available to their station: Transceiver Kenwood TS-940S, Amplifier SB-220. The antennas are: Cushcraft X7, Delta Loop 80 m, Delta Loop 40 m, and a number of portable antennas. Contacts will be carried out on all HF bands, CW, SSB and Digital Modes. A special QSL card will be issued. Any operator is welcome to the club's shack to operate as GB0SHP. Further information will be presented on the Scottish HAM Portal Web page at:

INTERNATIONAL MARCONI DAY (IMD)
This annual event day will take place April 24th to celebrate the birth of Guglielmo Marconi (April 25, 1874). The Cornish Radio Amateur Club (G4CRC) organizes this event each year and will be active as GB4IMD. Also, look for other special event stations to be active from historical Marconi sites during IMD. For more details on IMD as well as awards and a listing of participating station in this year's event, please visit the Web page at:

IOTA NEWS
NEW IOTA DIRECTORY. The 40th Anniversary Edition of the IOTA Directory is expected to be published around April 19th and will be available from RSGB HQ shortly afterwards. For details, please visit the RSGB Web page at: http://www.rsgb.org/shop/ The new directory is larger than ever with 136 pages.

AS-067. Operators Joe/JA4PXE and Kou/JH4WXV are expects to be active as JA4PXE/6 and JH4WXV/6 from Uji Island (JIIA-067-009), April 29th through May 2nd. Look for them to be on CW/SSB on 160-6 meters. QSL to their home callsigns either direct or via the JARL Bureau.

EU-031. Looking for members of the Vesuvio DX Team to be active as IC8/homecall from Procida Island (I.I.A. NA-002, I.T.A. H072, and D.C.I. NA-053), April 24-25th. Operators are: IZ8DDG, IZ8DQH, IZ8FAV, IZ8FDH, IW8DON and IZ7ATL. Activity will be on HF, 6 and 2 meters CW/SSB. QSL to their home callsigns.

EU-129. Look for German operators Axel/DL8RL, Klaus/DL8DZL, Falk/DF3UFW and Joerg/DL2DSL to be active from Usedom Island (O-13 for the German Islands Award), April 23-30th. The team also plans to activate Schlossinsel (O-31) and Grosser Wotig (O-35). QSL via the Bureau.

EU-148. Members of the Castres DX Gang will once again be active as homecall/p from the Fort Brescou Island (DIFM ME001), from May 27-31st. The gang will also be active as TM5B in the CQ WPX Contest CW Contest. Outside of the contest, look for them to be on all modes on HF/VHF. Other references are: WWLighthouses WLH 500 and French Castles DFCF 34001. QSL via Bernard, F5XX.

EU-177. Kent, SM0ELV, will be active as SM0ELV/5 from the Island of Lilla Olson. Activity will be on 80-10 meters CW and SSB, maybe also digital. There may be a possibility of 6 meters. He will also be an entry in the RSGB IOTA Contest (July 24-25th). QSL via his home callsign.

OC-NEW/ OC-071. Alan, VK4AAR, informs OPDX that operators Wally/VK6YS, Dan/VK8AN, Bruce/KD6WW and Ron/VK8NRI are still on track for Viney Island, Bonaparte Archipelago (OC-???) starting April 23-24th for 4-5 days as well as activity from Long Island (OC-071) from April 27-28th through May 2nd. They will be signing VK6AN from Viney Island and VK6LI from Long Island. Depending on the limited availability of transportation, they will have two transceivers and vertical antennas with the possibility of a tribander for 10, 15 and 20 meters. Plans are to operate CW, SSB and PSK31 and to work "very hard at making as many NA and EU operators as happy as we can". QSL both operations direct to VK4AAR: Alan Roocroft, P.O. Box 421, Gatton, QLD 4343, Australia.

JT4/JU4/JV4, MONGOLIA (Attention Prefix Hunters)
Look for the following three special event stations to be active until May 15th to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the Dornod Radio Club (JT2KAA) (the second amateur radio club in Mongolia). Stations active will be JU45D and JV45D (from Ulaanbaatar), and JT45D (from Choibalsan, Eastern Mongolia). QSL via JT2AN: P.O.Box 94, Dornod, Mongolia.

JW, SVALBARD
Manuel, CT1BWW/OK8BWW, and possibly others (according to the following Web pages) will be active as JW/CT1BWW form June 7-14th. There will be three stations active on 160-6 meters on CW/SSB/RTTY/ PSK31/SSTV. QSL via CT1BWW. For more details, visit the following Web pages at:

NEW BOOK ("Ham Radio for Dummies" by Ward, N0AX)
Details from a press release: "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- Every new ham has the 'What do I do now?' feeling after passing the exam. Similarly, how can a prospective ham find out about the great things ham radio has to offer and how to participate? Addressing these issues is why I wrote 'Ham Radio for Dummies', available on April 12th. The book is designed to make ham radio easier to understand whether you have a license or not.

QSL INFO AND NEWS
Nenad, VE3EXY, reports that the 3B8 QSL Bureau is CLOSED. Do not send 3B8 cards via the Bureau. More details to be forthcoming.

QSL CO3VK/4 via IZ8EBI. Activity was by Jose from La Juventud (NA-056) between April 14-18th.

The following is a list of the callsigns that are being confirmed by QSL Manager Babs, DL7AFS.

     Calls and Year of Activity         Calls and Year of Activity
     --------------------------         --------------------------
     V51/DJ7ZG, V51/DL7AFS (1991)       C98DC Inhaca          (2001)
     Z2/DJ7ZG, Z2/DL7AFS   (1995)       H44ZG, H44LB, H40T    (2002)
     VK5AFS                (1994)       VK6ZG, VK6LB          (2002 now)
     VK5AIO, VK5AIP        (1996)       C98DC Bazaruto        (2002)
     C53HP, C50YL          (1996)       5X1DC                 (2003)
     VK5APZ,VK5AQA         (1998)       Z38Z                  (2003)
     S79ZG, S79YL, S79FAG  (1999)       9A/DL7AFS, 9A/DJ7ZG   (2003)
     EA6/DJ7ZG, EA6/DL7AFS (2000)             Pag Island
     YJ0AZG, YJ0AYL        (2000)       SP1/DL7AFS, SP1/DJ7ZG (2003)
     A35ZG, A35YL          (2000)             Wollin Island
     HI9/DJ7ZG, HI9/DL7AFS (2001)       9Y4/DL7AFS, 9Y4/DJ7ZG (2003)
     ZB2/DJ7ZG, ZB2/DL7AFS (2001)       VK9LL, VK9LB        (2/2004)
     EA9/DJ7ZG,EA9/DL7AFS  (2001)       VK9NG ,VK9NB        (3/2004)

QSL address is: Babs Linge, Eichwaldstrasse 86, 34123 Kassel, GERMANY. Also, "most" logs are available online at:

FM/T93M QSL requests. Boris, T93Y, would like to remind the DX community that the QSL Manager for Danny's recent FM/T93M operation is Mario, DJ2MX and direct requests should be sent to: Mario Lovric, Kampenwandstrasse 13, D-81671 Muenchen, Germany (instead of Danny's "home" address listed on QRZ.com). However, all envelopes received in Sarajevo will be forwarded to Mario from time to time, and operators who sent QSLs this way should expect some delay in processing their requests.

QSL HS72B via E20NTS: Mr. Supote Saripan, P.O. Box 5, Klongtanon, Bangkok, 10222, Thailand. Activity this past week (April 12-17th) was from Chang Island (AS-125). Operators were: E21LSE, E20NTS, HS1CKC, HS0GBI and HS6NDK (XW1N).

Berkin, TA3J, reports that he sent out QSL cards for TA3YJ, TA3YJ/0, TA3YJ/3, TA3YJ/3 (LH), TA3YJ/4, TA3YJ/4 (LH), SV1/TA3YJ, LZ2/TA3YJ, TA3J, TA3J/0, TA3J/1, TA3J/2, TA3J/3, TA3J/3 (LH), TA3J/4, TA3J/4 (LH), SV1/TA3J, LZ1/TA3J, LZ2/TA3J, YM3BU, YM3ATA, YM3SV, YM75TA, YM21TA, YM3LZ/WPX2000 and YM3LZ/WAE2000 to the QSL Bureaus of Germany, Denmark, India, ITU (International Amateur Radio Club) and Spain direct on April 16, 2004.

John, K9QVB, informed OPDX that all the VP5K, VP5/AG9A and VP5/K9RS cards which were received have been answered. There has been some confusion about the QSL Manager. The proper QSL Manager for these stations is K9QVB. If you have not received a card, please send another card or E-mail John with the QSO info, and a card will be put in the QSL bureau. John's E-mail address is: k9qvb@arrl.net

Z2 CAUTION. Graham, M5AAV, informs OPDX readers that any mail to Zimbabwe which indicates anywhere on their envelope that either the sender or the recipient is a Radio Amateur is being opened, and IRCs/Greenstamps...etc are being removed then envelopes resealed with scotch tape.

T33C BANABA DXPEDITION
The T33C team arrived safely back on Tarawa on April 17th after a successful eleven day operation from Banaba Island. The complete log of 75,000 QSOs will be available to view on-line by April 18th. Direct QSL requests should go to F5CWU. The T33C team encourages all bureau QSL requests to be submitted by the O(nline) Q(sl) R(equest) system. OQRS information is available on the expedition Web site at:

WERE YOU ACTIVE APRIL 18TH?
Just a reminder! If you were active April 18th, you can apply for the "World Amateur Radio Day 2004 Award". The WARD 2004 Award is designed to commemorate the "World Amateur Radio Day" celebrated by IARU on April 18th each year. The Award is issued by the MK QTC, Polish Amateur Radio Journal, with support of PZK (The Polish Amateur Radio Union). The WARD 2004 will be granted for at least the following numbers of contacts: either 10 QSOs on HF bands, or 5 QSOs on VHF+ bands. All contacts must be made between 0000 and 2400z on April 18, 2004. Send a standard application form (log extract), including the list of QSOs, to: Redakcja MK QTC, ul. Wielmozy 5b, 82-337 Suchacz-Zamek, Poland (on or before May 31, 2004). The price of the WARD 2004 Award is 10 IRCs or 5.00 USD or 5.00 EURO. It is a full color award, size: 210 x 297 mm. The WARD 2004 Award is also available to SWLs for the same numbers of reports.

WP2, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS
Bill/N4ES and Rich/N4ESS will be active as WP2Z during the CQ WPX CW Contest (May 29-30th) as a Multi/One entry. QSL via KU9C. The two operators will be active from May 26th to June 1st. Outside of the contest, they will be active mostly evenings and early morning hours on CW with some SSB. They will set up on 160-10 meters, but depending on propagation their activity will primarily be 40 meter CW.

YA, AFGHANISTAN
Johnny, YA8G (LA5IIA), continues to be very active on various bands, usually after 1130z for about an hour and again at 0030z for a few hours. Word on the "TOPBAND Reflector" is that YA8G is on almost every day at 0030z on 1815 kHz listen up 2 kHz. QSL via LA4YW. The online logs are updated 2-3 times per week at:

ZM6, NEW ZEALAND
Tony, ZL2AGY, informs OPDX that various club members from the ZL6CL Wairarapa Branch (46) of the NZART will operate the callsign ZM6CL until the end of May from their home stations. The CW operation will be done by Tony, ZL2AGY, and the other members may operate SSB from time to time. The use of the ZM6 prefix is to celebrate their town of Masterton's 150th anniversary. QSL via the NZART QSL Bureau or direct to: Box 860 Masterton, New Zealand (This will require a SASE with one IRC or two USD to cover the postage cost. Any cards received direct but without this will be QSLed via the bureau).

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