The Ohio/Penn DX PacketCluster
DX Bulletin No. 508
BID: $OPDX.508
April 23, 2001
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, KT1J, K2KW, K3SWZ, W3UR & The Daily DX, K4VUD, N4AA & QRZ DX, K7BV, K8YSE, N8BJQ, 4Z5AY, BA1DU, DJ9IN, DL1EK & DX News Letter, EA7FTR, EA8AVB, F5NQL, F6AJA & Les Nouvelles DX, G3SXW, GM4FDM, JF6OJX, JI3DST, JT1KAA, PY7ZZ, S53R, SM5BFJ, SM7AED, VA3RJ, VE3BX, VK4CP, VK4FW, YS1AG, Z36W, ZK1CG, ZL1AMO and Prodromos Hytiroglou for the following DX information.

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: Linda and I would like to thank the many who sent congratulation messages on OPDX's celebrating its 10th anniversary in publication. We hope to continue to provide you with a possible new... Best 73 de Tedd/KB8NW and Linda/XYL.

DXCC COUNTRY/ENTITY REPORT: According to the AR-Cluster Network for the week of Sunday, 15/April, through Sunday, 22/April there were 226 countries active. Countries available: 3A, 3B8, 3D2, 3V, 3W, 3X, 4J, 4L, 4S, 4X, 5A, 5B, 5H, 5N, 5R, 5X, 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, C2, C3, C5, C6, C9, CE, CE0A, CE9, CM, CN, CP, CT, CT3, CU, CX, D2, D4, DL, DU, EA, EA6, EA8, EA9, EI, EK, EL, EP, ER, ES, ET, EU, EX, EY, EZ, F, FG, FJ, FK, FM, FO, FO/A, FP, FR, FW, FY, G, GD, GI, GJ, GM, GU, GW, HA, HB, HB0, HC, HI, HK, HK0/a, HK0/m, HL, HP, HR, HS, HZ, I, IS, J2, J3, J5, J6, J7, J8, JA, JT, JW, JX, JY, K, KG4, KH0, KH2, KH4, KH6, KH8, KL, KP2, KP4, LA, LU, LX, LY, LZ, OA, OD, OE, OH, OH0, OK, OM, ON, OX, OY, OZ, P2, P4, PA, PJ2, PJ7, PY, PZ, S2, S5, S7, S9, SM, SP, SU, SV, SV5, SV9, T7, T8, T9, TA, TF, TG, TI, TK, TL, TN, TR, TU, UA, UA2, UA9, UK, UN, UR, V2, V3, V4, V5, V7, V8, VE, VK, VK9M, VK9N, VP2E, VP2V, VP6, VP8, VP8/o, VP9, VQ9, VR, VU, XE, XT, XX9, XZ, YB, YI, YK, YL, YN, YO, YS, YU, YV, Z2, Z3, ZA, ZB, ZC4, ZD7, ZD8, ZF, ZK1/s, ZL, ZP, ZS. There were 39 CQ Zones available during the past week. CQ Zones that were not active are: 2. There were 53 ITU Zones available during the past week. ITU Zones that were not active are: 3, 4, 15, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 31, 34, 35, 43, 58, 59, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 74, 75, 90.

* PLEASE NOTE: The report "could" contain "Pirate/SLIM" operations. As always, you never know - "Work First Worry Later" (WFWL). OPDX InterNet Subscribers will receive an additional bulletin (due to its size) with a complete breakdown and "DXCC/Entities Chart of Activity".

2000 DXCC YEARBOOK IS OUT. Many have began receiving the "2000 DXCC Yearbook" and the ARRL has put out another excellent publication for members involved on the DXCC program. The yearbook not only has the top "100 Most Need DXCC Entities" and the DXCC Annual List, but great articles by Wayne/N7NG, Martti/OH2BH and Carl/N4AA. There is also, an article and interview with Bob Eshleman, W4DR, the 2000 DeSoto Cup's winner. The Top 10 Most Wanted Entities are:

3W, VIETNAM (Possible New IOTA). Look for Alan/BA1DU, Jin/BA4TA, Liao/BA7QT to team up with Bac Ai/3W6AR and Hau/3W6LI to activate Tam Island (new IOTA) from Vietnam. Tam Island is located in the South China Sea, about 12''10'N and 109''15'E. The team will use the callsign 3W7D and plans to operate from April 26th April to May 1st. They will set up two stations and work on CW and SSB on the normal IOTA frequencies from 40-10 meters. Their equipment will include FT-990 and TS-50 transceivers, GO-2KW linear amplifier, Cushcraft R5 vertical and multiband dipole antennas. The 3W7D team is supported by The Beijing DX Club, Chinese Radio Sports Association, The Vietnam Amateur Radio Club and sponsored by Island Radio Expedition Foundation Inc. QSL via BA1DU (E-mail: ba1du@arrl.net). Send directly to: P.O.Box 8091, Beijing 100088, CHINA, or Chinese QSL bureau.

4U, UNTIED NATIONS HQ (Update). Henry, KT1J, informed OPDX that: "Yes, we had 4U1UN on the air in PSK and SSTV for a short time again last Friday (April 13th). (We initially ran some tests back in February). It is anticipated that 4U1UN will be on in the digital modes fairly regularly in the near future, once a few computer issues have been resolved, and antenna improvements have been made."

6Y1, JAMAICA (Attention Prefix Hunters!). The rare prefix of 6Y1A will be activated by Tom/N6BT, Fred/KE7X, Walter/N6XG and Ken/K2KW in the CQ WPX CW Contest, May 26-27th, 2001. Outside the contest, look for operations using their homecall/6Y5 from May 20-29th. They will use KW amplifiers on 40-6 meters, and vertical arrays will be provided by Force 12. Special emphasis will be given on the WARC bands and 6m outside the contest. QSL 6Y1A and K2KW/6Y5 via WA4WTG, others via their home callsigns. Questions go to Kenny, K2KW at: k2kw@prodigy.net. For information, visit the Web page: http://www.k2kw.com.

AP, PAKISTAN. Robert, S53R, informs OPDX that he wil be starting a new assignment with the U.N. beginning in May and will start in Pakistan. He will try to sign AP2ARS as much as possible again. Operation will be on 40-10 meters, including the WARC bands, almost exclusively on CW. Robert told us that other operations from the region are also possible, and he will keep us posted.

BEACON CALLSIGN CHANGE. Yacov, 4Z5AY, informs use that the 4Z5AY 6 meter beacon located in Tel-Aviv has a new callsign. Look for 4X4SIX to be active on 50.080.20 MHz. More details are available at the Web site: http://www.iarc.org/~4z5ay/htmls/bea_tec.htm.

DAYTON DX DINNER BANQUET (Update). Steve Bolia, N8BJQ, informs OPDX that at the moment, all tickets for the DX dinner have been sold. All orders on hand have been filled and due to space constraints, no more can be sold. It is possible that some may become available just prior to the dinner. Also, Chuck Brady, N4BQW (3Y0C), will be the featured speaker and will talk about his 3Y expedition. For those that want to know more about Chuck's real job they can find it at: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/brady.html.

FH, MAYOTTE. According to Ted, JJ1LIB, who operated as S07U, 5T5U and 8Q7JY, he will be active as FH/JJ1LIB from April 29th through May 4th. Ted will use a TS-570 plus an IC2KL(500W), a 2 element HB9CV yagi for 20-10 meters, and a 6 element yagi for 6 meters. For the lower bands, he will use wire antennas. Operations will be on CW, SSB, and RTTY. The QSL for FH/JJ1LIB should be sent to JN1HOW.

H40RW WRAP-UP. Ron, ZL1AMO, informs OPDX that he is back home slowy recovering, and he has completed his H40RW DXpedition to Temotu on April 6th. He made about 11500 QSOs which includes about 300 on 6 meters (this was a suprise for Ron). Ron states that the weather there was really really hot and also extremely wet with constant electrical storms with deafening thunder. He also mentioned things have really changed in Honiara since his last visit in 1990. He also thanked OPDX for the write up on his DXpedition and congratulated OPDX on its ten years of dedication.

HK0, MALPELO ISLAND. Pedro, HK3JJH/HK0M, continues to be very active on 75-10 meters, usually not working split. He will be there until May 7th. QSL via N4AA.

HR, HONDURAS. Wolf, HR1BY, is active from Valle de Angeles on 6 meters. He is working QRP, only 8 watts. Check around 1830z and 2330z. QSL via EA7FTR.

HS, THAILAND. Charly, K4VUD, will be active from Bangkok as HS0ZCW from April 26-28th. He states to look for him on the higher bands.

IOTA NEWS...

• AS-079. Take, JI3DST, will be active from Miyako Island (Miyakojima Hirara-City Okinawa-ken) as JI3DST/6 from April 27th through May 6th. Activity will be on 80/40/17/15/12/10/6/2 meters on SSB (he is planning SSTV/RTTY). QSL via the Bureau.
• EU-030. Klaus, DL7UXG, will be active from Bornholm Island as OZ/DL7UXG/p from August 5-18th. Activity will be on 80/40/30/20/17/15/12/10 meters, using CW and SSB. QSL via DL7UXG.
• EU-047. Karl, DJ9IN, reports that DA0IMD was active from Borkum Riff Lightvessel during the "International Marcoi Day" this past weekend. Look for more activity from here using the callsigns DL0KBM and DL0BRF.
• EU-094. (Update) Team TM5N will be operators F2FZ, F4AJQ, F4BUX, F4BTP, F4TTR, F5FG, F5AGB, F5IKO, F6DOP, F6EGG, F8BUI, F8CTY, F8UHU and F9IE. Activity will be from St. Nicolas Island (Glenan Islands/DIFM AT-10) from April 26th through May 1st. They then will be active as F6KOP/P from Cigogne Island (DIFM AT-61) on April 28th or 29th. Operations will be on 160m-23cm. QSL via F6KOP.
• EU-127. Felix, DL5XL, will be active and signing DL5XL/p from Helgoland Island, July 28-29th. Activity will be on 80/40/20/15/10 meters, using CW only. He plans to participate in the RSGB IOTA Contest as a Single OP/24hr/CW/Island Class entry. QSL cards are "OK" via the bureau. Further information is available at: http://www.dl5xl.de/. QSL via DL5XL, P.O. Box 1253, D-30984 Gehrden, Germany.
• EU-148. The "Castres DX Gang", consisting of operators F5AUB, F5OSN, F5XX, F5RVI, F5DBX, F5UOE, F5BJW, F5BKB, F4CLO, F5JBR and F5VV, will be active from Fort Brescou Island, May 24-28th. Activity will be on CW/SSB, all bands 80-10 meters including the WARC bands. The will use the callsign F5XX/P, however, there will be a special entry in CQ WPX CW Contest CW using the callsign TM5B. QSL via F5XX direct CBA or via French REF Bureau. Other reference numbers for this operation are: French Metropolitan Islands Award - DIFM ME001; World Light Houses Award - 0500; International Light Houses Society - FRA 015; French Forts and Castles award - DFCF 34001
• EU-174. Will, N2DH, will operate as SV8/N2DH from Thassos, from April 27th through May 4th. Operation will be on 20-10 meters SSB with some possible 75 meters operation. QSL direct to home callsign N2DH.
• OC-171/OC-172/OC-187. Bill, VK4FW, reported this past week that he had to change his planned Queensland operation from OC-138, OC-171 and OC-172 slightly. Due to problems associated with OC-138, he has made the following arrangements. By the time you read this, he should be active from North Coast Centre Group (OC-172) on Monday, April 22nd, for 3 days. From there, he will then go to North Coast (North) Group (OC-187) for 3 days. From there he will head south to activate the North Coast (South) Group (OC-171) for 3 days. As this trip is not funded, Bill would appreciate if you could help a little when QSLing. He will spend most of his time on CW on all bands 80-6 meters.

JW, SVALBARD (Rare IOTA). Terje, JW3OHA, reports that he and others are planning/arranging a DXpedition to a rare Arctic island and are looking for operators. The operation is planned to take place this year from May 31st to June 9th from Prins Karls Forland (IOTA EU-063). If interested, check out the Web page: http://www.dxpedition.org.

PY0F, FERNANDO DE NORONHA. Dennis, K7BV, (k7bv@aol.com) will operate from Fernando de Noronha, May 24th through June 1st. He will sign with a special callsign throughout the DXpedition. Dennis will be active in the CQ WPX CW Contest, most likely entering as a SOABHP category. After the contest he will be very active on all bands 160-6 meters, generally on CW. Rod, WC7N, (wc7n@gb.wave.net) will serve as Pilot Station, assisting Dennis, helping 9BDXCC chasers fill empty bands. Logs will be posted on web site: http://www.qth.com/k7bv/PY0F. This web site is expected to be launched sometime this week with details of the DXpedition. Steve, KU9C, will handle QSL chores.

QSL INFO AND NEWS...

• Carl, N4AA, editor of "QRZ DX" reports that there has been some confusion on the callsign for the QSL Manager for 3V8SM and 3V8SQ. John, K1XN, of the GoList, tells Carl that the information he received was 3V8SM via DL1DBF: Manfred Wiedemann, Am Feldberg 43, D-57334 Bad Laasphe, GERMANY.
• The correct address for 3W2KF (operated by F5PBL) is: Claude Terrier, 18 allee du Mail, 92360 Meudon la Foret, France.
• Robert, S53R, informs OPDX that all direct requests for E4/S53R have been answered. All contacts made will also be confirmed via bureau when he is back home for a holiday in July 2001. Many requests for his recent operations as AP2ARS, EY8/S53R and UK8AXA were received. QSLs are being printed and will also be answered during the next holiday. Do not send duplicate requests.
• Fran, EA7FTR, reports that he is the QSL Manager for the following stations: CE3HKF, HR1BY, HR1RGA, HR1RQF and ZP6EM.
• It is reported that Ken, N8KR, is having printer problems on his QSL cards for his October 2000 operation from FP land. He states to please stand by and QSLs will be out as soon as he receives them. Also, his XYL wants the dining room table back!
• RAC CORRECT ADDRESS. Fred, PY7ZZ/PY0FZ, informs OPDX that there is a bad listing of his RAC address. The correct address is: Fred Souto Major, Rua Almedia Belo 241/302 - Bairro Novo, Olinda, PE 53030-030, Brazil.
• Leif, SM5BFJ, informs OPDX that he is QSL Manager for 5X1D, 9Q5TE, 9U5D and 9X/SM5DIC. The QSL information has been "via SM0BFJ", but from now on the QSL information is "via SM5BFJ". His address is: Leif Hammarstrom, PL 1053, SE-730 91 Riddarhyttan, SWEDEN.

SPECIAL EVENT. Look for the Mongolian special event station JU1O to be active from Ulaanbaatar between May 5-13th. We contacted Khos, JT1CD, explained what the special event is for and he stated that JU1O will be active during the "National Technical Olympiad". The children of the High Schools of the Mongolia will compete in these championships (which are Amateur radio direction finding, aeromodelling, Ship modelling and Car modelling... etc). QSL via JR0CGJ: Takashi Shimizu, P. O. Box5, Tateshina Kitasaku, Nagano 384-2305 JAPAN.

TT8, CHAD. Look for Eric, F5JKK, to be active starting the 2nd or 3rd week of May. He has asked for the callsign TT8JE again. Eric prefers 6 meters using and FT 847 w/100 watts (maybe more!) into a 5 element Yagi antenna. He states to listen for his CQ on 50.110 kHz and will begin listening on 50.200 kHz (5 to 10 up). His operations will be mainly CW, but there will be some SSB if conditions are good. Eric will be running a beacon using 25 watts on 50.096 kHz. The beacon will send: VVVVV DE TT8JE JK72MC -- (5'') and break (5''). IMPORTANT! Eric reports that he worked many stations in 1998, however, in 2001, he states, "NO dupe or I'll cancel old QSO. Listening carefully on my frequency, don't loose time for you and all others (Sample: When I say Alpha Bravo NO others like Alpha Kilo...). Education and courtesy, no need to say more." Eric will be on HF using the same radio but with a R7000, dipoles and loop antennas. His modes of operation will be RTTY/PSK31 and will try SSTV and CW. He suggests to look for him on the WARC bands and especially on 10 meters. QSL via F6FNU.

TX0, CHESTERFIELD ISLAND (Update). Andy, YS1AG, informs/reports to OPDX that he has received the following information from Kan, JA1BK, about the upcoming TX0 operation. Kan states that rumors of the upcoming TX0C DXpedition being cancelled is FALSE. Only Jacky/F2CW, and Akinori/JA4EKO have dropped out of the DXpedition. There will be only four operators now, Georges/FK8FS, Daniel/FK8FU, Dany/FK8VHY and Philippe/FO3BM. Activity is scheduled to take place April 27th through May 2nd, on HF and the 6 meters band. Pilippe will be the only operator that will listen to 6 meters using a 7 element beam and a FT-100D plus a small amp. All QSLs via JA1BK.

VK9C, COCOS-KEELING ISLAND. Dennis/G3MXJ, Roger/G3SXW and Nigel/G3TXF plan to be active from here as VK9CXJ, VK9CXW and VK9CXF, respectively, from April 28th through May 5th. Activity will be on all nine bands, CW only. As many other DXpeditions will be active during that week, there are two suggested frequencies for each HF band. They will try to always be on one or the other of them: 10108/118, 14008/018, 18078/088, 21008/018, 24898/908 and 28008/018. On the lower frequencies, try 7008, 3508 and 1825 kHz. For their propagation and other details, check the web site: http://www.G3TXF.com/dxtrip/vk9cxf/vk9c.html. QSL via home callsign.

VK9M, MELLISH REEF. After three days of sailing, the VK9ML team landed on the Mellish Reef Thursday, April 19th at 2321z. According to a press release by Adam, VK4CP: "There was some concern that Mellish Reef may not exist as such anymore as it has been a few years since the last DXpedition and there have been several cyclones in that area in recent years. Mellish Reef is only 1 metre above high tide, as was the case when the team arrived." The team is expected to be active until April 24th. Look for them on various bands. For more details on the Mellish Reef Site Survey DXpedition have a look at the web site: http://www.qsl.net/vk9ml.

VP8, FALKLAND ISLANDS. By the time you read this, the Scottish team of Gav/GM0GAV, Rob/GM3YTS, Tom/GM4FDM and Jack/GM4COX should be active as VP8SDX until May 8th. Activity will be on all bands 160-10 meters. Their suggested frequencies are:

   CW - 1823.5*, 3503, 7003, 10103, 14023, 18073, 21023, 24893, 28023
   SSB - 1843*, 3793, 7053, 14193, 18123, 21263, 24923, 28493
   RTTY - 14083, 21083, 28083
   PSK31 - 14069

* Other frequencies will also be used to accommodate specific country sub-bands (e.g for Japan). Their goal is to make 30,000 QSOs with two stations on the air. There will be lots of low band activity besides the HF. They plan to keep the WARC bands busy. There will be (as they state) "gallons of CW, a few pints of SSB, a glass or two of RTTY, and maybe a 'wee dram' of PSK31. Their pilot station will be Chris, GM3WOJ. You will be able to send your feedbacks, comments and suggestions to them via E-mail at: vp8sdx@talk21.com. QSLs can be sent via the bureau, E-mail or direct to GM4FDM: Thomas Wylie, 3 Kings Crescent, Elderslie, Renfrewshire, PA5 9AD, Scotland. Check out their interesting Web page at: http://www.hfdx.co.uk/vp8sdx.

VQ9, CHAGOS ISLANDS. VQ9IO has been active on 24904 kHz at 1445z and 21017 kHz between 1430-1530z.

Z3, MACEDONIA. Venco informs OPDX that since April 1st, he has changed his callsign from Z31JA to Z36W. He can usually be found on 40/20/17 meters CW after 2230z or on 10 meters after 1400z. QSL via NN6C, or the QRZ.com and CBA (using his old callsign). Venco states any contacts with him for skeds, info... etc, can be made via his E-mail address at: z31ja@mt.net.mk.

ZK1, NORTH COOK ISLAND. Victor, ZK1CG, reports to OPDX that Tuatai, ZK1MA, is back in Manihiki, North Cook Island after his long stay in Rarotonga, South Cook as ZK1CY. Tuatai is mainly a CW operator using FT-747GX and dipoles for antennas. His home and radio gear/antennas were completely wipe off the Atoll a few years ago during a hurricane that destroyed 85% of the Atoll. He is slowly recovering from this, Victor/ZK1CG sent Tuatai the FT 747GX to use with battery power. Victor is now operational from South Cook thanks to W7VV (Roger and Sue) who so kindly sent him a rig that he had as a spare. Victor states that they will be donating some antennas to Tuatai after their October CQWW SSB Contest operation. What Tuatai needs now is new a mike for his rig. If you have an old (not too used) mike for his FT-747GX laying around, please let Victor know and he will make arrangements to send it to Tuatai. Victor's E-mail address is: sales@computers.co.ck.

SPECIAL NOTE BY EDITOR: If you are having a problem receiving bounced mail by sending mail to me via "kb8nw@barf80.nshore.org", please send mail to me via "kb8nw@arrl.net"...... TNX de Tedd KB8NW

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Excerpts and distribution of The OPDX Bulletin are granted as long as KB8NW/OPDX/BARF80 receive credit. To contribute DX info, call BARF-80 BBS online at 440-237-8208 28.8k/14400/9600/2400/1200 and leave a message with the Sysop or send via InterNet Mail to: kb8nw@barf80.nshore.org - OR - kb8nw@arrl.net Use the VOICE or FAX answering machine at 440-237-8208 which shares the same phone line as BARF-80 BBS using a data/fax/phone switch. To access: 1) Dial Number. 2) Wait for first ring (the second ring should be a false ring from the fax/data switch box) and then dial four quick ones ("1111"). (NOTE: Some FAX machines that send single "BEEPS" every second will not have to do this step.) 3) The phone will pick up and after the "BEEP" leave your voice message or FAX.

Tedd Mirgliotta KB8NW
InterNet: kb8nw@barf80.nshore.org
Basic Amateur Radio Frequency BBS (BARF-80) +1 (440) 237-8208
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