From kb8nw at barf80.nshore.org Sun Dec 2 10:55:00 2018 From: kb8nw at barf80.nshore.org (Tedd Mirgliotta (KB8NW)) Date: Sun, 02 Dec 2018 10:55:00 -0500 Subject: [DX] Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin #1392 Message-ID: SB DX @ WW < KB8NW $OPDX.1392 Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin No. 1392 The Ohio/Penn DX PacketCluster DX Bulletin No. 1392 BID: $OPDX.1392 December 3, 2018 Editor Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW Provided by BARF80.ORG (Cleveland, Ohio) Written/Sent from Strongsville, Ohio Thanks to the Northern Ohio Amateur Radio Society, Northern Ohio DX Association, Ohio/Penn PacketCluster Network, AB5K & the AR TelNet Clusters Network, NJ1Q & W1AW, NG3K & ADXO, W3UR & The Daily DX, AA6YQ , WB6RSE, K8GI, K8PGJ, K8YSE, KU8X, W8GEX & 60m DX News, W9ILY, DL1SBF, DL7UXG & The DX News Letter, DxCoffee.com, DXNews.com, DX-World.Net, EA5GL, ES1CW, F5NQL, F6AJA & Les Nouvelles DX, I1JQJ/IK1ADH & 425 DX News, I2MQP & DX Italia News, JG7PSJ, OZ6OM & 50 MHz DX News, Pete Rayer & ISWL, PP1CZ, Sixitalia Weekly and VA3RJ & ICPO for the following DX information. ** PLEASE TAKE NOTE: Two weeks ago the OPDX mailing list received an usual amount of E-mail bounces (in the hundreds). The majority of the bounces were from the following ISPs: COMCAST, COX and GMAIL. We are not totally sure why this happened, but if your ISP blocks the OPDX Bulletin, please send a complaint to your ISP. If you did not receive the bulletin, there are other ways to receive bulletin. The bulletin is posted every week at the following URLs: The OPDX (Mailing List) Archives: http://hamnet.org/pipermail/opdx The OPDX Web page (provided by John, K8YSE): http://papays.com/opdx.html The weekly bulletin (issue #) is also posted (for the above URLs) on FaceBook and Twitter . Let's hope this problem will clear-up. Thanks for your understanding..... 73 de Tedd KB8NW DXCC COUNTRY/ENTITY REPORT: According to the AR-Cluster Network for the week of Sunday, 25th/November, through Sunday, 2nd/December there were 227 countries active. Countries available: 3A, 3B8, 3B9, 3D2, 3DA, 3V, 3W, 4J, 4L, 4O, 4S, 4U1I, 4W, 4X, 5A, 5B, 5H, 5R, 5T, 5U, 5W, 5X, 5Z, 6W, 6Y, 7Q, 7X, 8P, 8Q, 9A, 9G, 9H, 9J, 9K, 9L, 9M2, 9M6, 9Q, 9V, 9X, 9Y, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, A7, A9, AP, BV, BY, C2, C3, C5, C6, C9, CE, CE0Y, CE9, CM, CN, CP, CT, CT3, CU, CX, D4, DL, DU, E5/n, E5/s, E6, E7, EA, EA6, EA8, EA9, EI, EK, EP, ER, ES, ET, EU, EX, EY, F, FG, FK, FM, FO, FR, FS, FY, G, GD, GI, GJ, GM, GU, GW, H4, HA, HB, HB0, HC, HH, HI, HK, HL, HP, HR, HS, HZ, I, IS, J6, J7, J8, JA, JD/o, JT, JW, JX, JY, K, KG4, KH2, KH6, KL, KP2, KP4, LA, LU, LX, LY, LZ, OA, OD, OE, OH, OH0, OK, OM, ON, OX, OY, OZ, P2, P4, PA, PJ2, PJ4, PJ7, PY, PY0F, PZ, S0, S5, SM, SP, ST, SU, SV, SV/a, SV5, SV9, T2, T5, T7, T8, TA, TF, TG, TI, TK, TN, TR, TU, TY, TZ, UA, UA2, UA9, UK, UN, UR, V2, V3, V4, V5, V6, V7, V8, VE, VK, VK0M, VP2E, VP2M, VP2V, VP5, VP8, VP8/h, VP9, VR, VU, XE, XT, XU, YB, YI, YL, YN, YO, YS, YU, YV, Z2, Z3, Z6, ZA, ZB, ZD7, ZF, 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". 3Y0I BOUVET DXPEDITION NEWS. The following was posted December 1st: "3Y0I to invite additional operators -- Some fresh news from Cape Town, South Africa. The 3Y0I Team is about to deal with another extensive training next week + gathering some additional equipment we'll need at Bouvet Island. Also, new possibilities emerge: we can take 2 additional operators (CW + SSB) with us. If you're flexible operating - and weather- experienced individual, and willing to join 1-month long adventure of your life time, drop a msg asap at: k38dom at gmail.com. Be quick!" Also, there has been several QSNs reported on the DXclusters by E51DOM/MM (mostly on FT8). This is reportedly Dom, 3Z9DX, "probably" operating from the ship that they will use to take them to Bouvet. Dom has stated that he will use this callsign during his sailing trips to several different locations in the World and "probably" on his way to Bouvet. Departure dates are still not known. It is still a mystery... Remember, they plan to stay on the island for at least 2 weeks, if the weather cooperates. The 3Y0I DXpedition's band plan ? frequencies (160-6m) and modes (CW/SSB/FT8) can be found at: https://www.rebeldxgroup.com https://bouvetoya.org/3yoi-bandplan QSL via ClubLog's OQRS (preferred), LoTW or via 3Z9DX. For more details and updates, we suggest to watch the following Web pages: https://bouvetoya.org https://www.rebeldxgroup.com http://jouban.jp/3y0i_ja (For JA stations) https://www.facebook.com/bouvetoya.org https://www.facebook.com/rebeldxgroup https://twitter.com/Bouvetoyaorg 9U, BURUNDI. Shabu, M0KRI, will be active as 9U4RI from Burundi between February 15-25th, 2019. Activity will be on 40/30/20/17/15/10 meters using CW, SSB and PSK31. Shabu states, "Look out mostly around 14.222 kHz for voice and very lower end of 40m and 20m for CW. I will be more active on CW than on voice." QSL via M0KRI direct. C4, CYPRUS (Special Event). Alex, 5B4ALX, will be active as C4XMAS between now and December 31st. Activity is to celebrate the Christmas season. Operations will be on 160-6 meters using CW, SSB and the Digital modes. QSL via IZ4AMS, direct, by the Bureau or ClubLog. C5, THE GAMBIA. Andre, ON7YK, is once again active as C5YK from Bijilo until March 9th, 2019. Activity will be on 60/40/30/20/17/15/12/10/6 meters using mostly FT8 as well as CW, SSB, JT65, JT9 and RTTY. QSL via his home callsign, direct, LoTW or eQSL. Please NO QSL direct to his home address before March 15th, 2019!!!! Visit his Web page at: http://www.on7yk.eu/index.html C6, BAHAMAS. Dom, M1KTA, will once again be active as C6AKT from Eleuthera Island (NA-001) between March 6-16th. Activity will be mainly QRP on 80/40/20/15/10 meters using CW. His primary purpose is to be in the Commonwealth Contest (BERU) [March 9-10th]. Dom's band schedule for the contest will be posted on the QRZ.com page. QSL via M1KTA, direct, by the Bureau, ClubLog's OQRS or LoTW. DXCC'S MOST WANTED (ClubLog). The "DXCC Most Wanted" entities list has been updated on ClubLog as of November 28th. The list contain 340 entities and here are the top 10 entities (which has not changed since last month): 1. P5 DPRK (North Korea) 6. BV9P Pratas Island 2. 3Y/B Bouvet Island 7. KH7K Kure Island 3. FT5/W Crozet Island 8. KH3 Johnston Island 4. BS7H Scarborough Reef 9. VK0M Macquarie Island 5. CE0X San Felix Islands 10. FT5/X Kerguelen Island The complete "DXCC Most Wanted" entities list is available at: https://secure.clublog.org/mostwanted.php FP, ST. PIERRE & MIQUELON. Eric, KV1J, will once again be operating from the Island of Miquelon (NA-032, DIFO FP-002 WLOTA 1417, Grid GN17) as FP/KV1J between September 24th and October 8th. This is his 13th trip to the island. Activity will be on 80-10 meters using CW, SSB, RTTY, FT8 (but primarily SSB, RTTY and FT8) and the satellites. He will generally be on the highest frequency band that is open (favoring 12/10m). He will be active in the CQWW DX RTTY Contest (September 28-29th). ADDED NOTE: Eric will usually try to be on as many Satellite passes as he can when the WX is good, generally favoring the FO-29, XW-2x, AO-7, and possibly the FM birds. Weekends may be limited since he will be concentrating on the low(er) bands and contests. QSL via KV1J, direct or by the Bureau. Also eQSL and LoTW. For more details and updates, check out his Web page at: http://www.kv1j.com/fp/Sep19.html HH, HAITI. John, W2GD, will be active as HH2AA from Radio Club D'Ha?ti in Obleon during the ARRL International DX SSB Contest (March 2-3rd) as a Single-Op/All-Band/Low-Power/Assisted entry. He states, "Remote operation from the USA courtesy of RHR." QSL via LoTW only. HI, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. Peter, DD1GG, will be active as DD1GG/HI (or as HI/DD1GG) from the Dominican Republic (NA-096) between December 4-19th. Activity will be holiday style on various HF bands. QSL via his home callsign. IOTA NEWS.............. AF-037. (Update) Members of the F6KOP Team will be active as 9LY1JM from Banana Islands, Sierra Leone, between January 9-21st, 2019. Operators mentioned are Frank/F4AJQ (Team Leader), Jean-Luc/F1ULQ/AK8DX (Co?leader), Patrick/F2DX, Andreas/ DL3GA/AB8AY, Jimi/F4DLM/AF7JJ, Jean-Baptiste/F4ERY, Frank/ F5TVG, Julien/F8AVK, Herman/ON4QX/KM6CPP and Eric/ON7RN. Activity will be on 160-10 meters using CW, SSB, RTTY, PSK and FT8. There will be 4 stations on air: 4X Kenwood TRX-590s into VDA antenna 10 to 20m & Spiderbeam mast for low band 30 to 160m. QSL via F5GSJ, direct, by the Bureau. Also, QSL via ClubLog or LoTW. For more details and updates, see: https://9l2019dx.wordpress.com AS-153. Members of the West Bengal Radio Club (VU2WB) will be active as AU2HAM from Ganga Sagar Mela Island between January 10-17th, 2019. Activity will be on various HF bands. QSL via VU2NRO. NA-057. Tom, N9EAW, is now active as HQ9T from Roatan Island (NA-057), Honduras, until December 18th. Activity will be on various HF bands using CW and SSB. Equipment is an Icom IC-7300 trans- ceiver into a dipole antenna. QSL via N9EAW direct. OC-022. Emmanuel, F5LIT, will once again be active as YB9/F5LIT from Bali between January 27th and February 6th, 2019. Activity will be on various HF bands. QSL via his home callsign, direct or LoTW. OC-042. Christian, F4EBK, will be active as DU3/F4EBK from Luzon Island sometime in February and March of 2019. He plans to participate in the ARRL International SSB Contest (March 2-3rd). QSL via info on QRZ.com for DU3/F4EBK. OC-113/ (Reminder) Operators Cezar/VE3LYC and Adrian/KO8SCA will operate OC-279. as TX0A from Maria Est Atoll in the Acteon Group (OC-113), and as TX0M from Morane Atoll in the Morane Group (OC-297P) between December 4-18th. The only amateur radio activity from the Acteon Group took place more than 28 years ago by Robert Berry (FO5BI/P). He operated in April 1990 from the Marutea Sud Atoll. This IOTA reference is currently ranked #6 on the Most Wanted IOTA Listing, needed by 98% of the IOTA members. Since at the time of this operation there will be 1126 IOTA references activated to date, compared to 340 current DXCC entities, the rarity of this IOTA group corresponds to #2 on the DXCC Listing. The Morane Atoll is the only counter of the New IOTA Group OC-297. It fits the "Remote Island Group" criterion (IOTA Programme Structure B.1.3). Both Atolls are uninhabited. The plan is to operate from each Atoll for 5 full days. Activity will be on CW, SSB and 40-10 meters concentrating on the bands that will exhibit the best propagation conditions within specific time windows for each region. They will maintain one station on 20 m as long as the propagation will permit in order to maximize the number of unique stations logged. This is a complex and extremely expensive project, and they need your support to defray some of the considerable costs incurred! All donors will be timely acknowledged on their Web site at: https://tx0a-tx0m.weebly.com QSL via VE3LYC, direct, by the Bureau or ClubLog's OQRS. PLEASE NOTE: Since the Webmasters of the new have decided NOT to post or dedicate a Web page to announce upcoming IOTA operations, PLEASE send your IOTA operations information to the OPDX, and we will post it here in an upcoming bulletin...... ISWL CALLSIGNS (For December). The following ISWL club callsigns will be used throughout the month of December 2018: G4BJC & GX4BJC - Operated from Broad Oak, in East Sussex, by Arthur, G0KOC (WAB Square - TQ62 - England, IOTA EU-005, WLOTA 1841). MX1SWL/A - Operated from Clacton on Sea, in Essex, by George, G1IPU (/A WAB Square - TM11 - England, IOTA EU-005, WLOTA 1841). ALL QSLs will be handled by Dick, M5DIK - The QSL Manager and NOT the individual operator. The I.S.W.L. is a member of the European PSK Club. All QSL info is on or or or via . NO LoTW. JD1, OGASAWARA. Harry, JG7PSJ, will once again be active as JD1BMH from Chichijima Island (AS-031) between December 17th and January 2nd. This will be his 22nd visit. Activity will be on 160-10 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL via the Bureau to JD1BMH or direct to JG7PSJ. Visit his Web page for more details at: http://sapphire.es.tohoku.ac.jp/jd1bmh Also, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jd1bmh OH9, FINLAND (Special Event/Reminder). The Santa's Radio Club will be active as OH9S from the Arctic Circle until December 8th. Activity will be mainly on 80-6 meters using all modes; also including the popular FT8 Digital mode. QSL via ClubLog's OQRS (Preferred) or LoTW. QSOs will automatically be QSLed via the Bureau. For some additional info, see: https://oh9s.fi https://fb.me/oh9santa PROPAGATION FORECAST/REPORT (December 3-9th)....... Dec/03rd AN Dec/06th AN Dec/08th AN Dec/04th AN Dec/07th HN Dec/09th AN Dec/05th HN SOLAR REFERENCE KEYS/INDEXES AND GEOMAGNETIC REFERENCE ====================================================== NORMALITY GEOMAG K Values Alpha ----------------- ------ -------- ------ AN - Above Normal Quiet K=0-1 0-7 HN - High Normal Unsettled K=2 8-15 LN - Low Normal Active K=3 16-29 BN - Below Normal Minor Storm K=4 30-49 DIS - Disturbed Major Storm K=5 50-99 VRY DIS - Very Disturbed Severe Storm K=6-9 100-400 ** REALTIME BAND CONDITIONS WEB SITE is still down. Nothing to report. Meanwhile, check out the following Web sites: * VOACAP predication Web page at: http://www.voacap.com/hf * DX.QSL.NET Propagation page: https://dx.qsl.net/propagation * A daily HF radio wave propagation forecast can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/thomasfranklingiellaw4hm * SolarHam Web page: http://www.solarham.net * Radio Propagation/Space Weather/Sunspot Cycle Information at: http://sunspotwatch.com * Also on Twitter: https://twitter.com/@GiellaW4hm PY0F, FERNANDO DE NORONHA. Leo, PP1CZ, will once again be active as PY0FW or possibly PY0F/PP1CZ from Fernando de Noronha (SA-003, DIB OC-01, WLOTA 1208, WWFF PYFF-016) between December 3-8th. He does state, "This time I'll concentrate my efforts to the tower maintenance (for Morena/PU0FNI), but for sure I'll be on the air. As 60 meters band is now allowed in Brazil, starting November 28th, I'll try to be on the air from this new Band to use." QSL INFO AND NEWS................... QSL-INFO from DB0SDX by Lothar, DL1SBF ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4O1HQ via 4O1HQ (L) H7/RC5A via RC5A SP315PAF via SP5KCR CO2RQ via EC6DX H7/RM0F via RM0F SP317PAF via SP5KCR CR5E via CT1ILT HA7A via HA5MK SP85NISKO via SQ7FPD & (L) CR5O via CT7AJL & (L) HF6FIRAC via SP6IEQ (B/L) TM420CCAE via F6FMT CT9/DJ2YA via DJ2YA J8NY via VE7NY UP0L via DL8KAC CT9/DL1CW via DL1CW LO5D via LU8EOT VP2MSK via NS7K (d) CT9/DL8JJ via DL8JJ OP5MA via ON5MA VR2FUN via VR2FUN DF0YOTA via M0SDV (O) OR2M via ON4IA XV9D via EA5GL DG5BQ/AM via DG5BQ PA/SP1MVG/P via SP1MVG YB0ECT via W2FB Only EA5/G3XGS via G3XGS (d) PB18XMAS via PD2RKG YT1R via YT1EA EA8/DL9BJ via DL9BJ SN6O via SP6PAZ EP4MMM via WA3FRP SP307PAF via SP9KAO (e) eQSL only (d) direct only (B) Bureau only (*-B) DX's- Bureau (O) OQRS only (C) ClubLog only (L) LoTW only (N) No QSL needed (I) No IRC (P) PayPal (NB) No Bureau LOGS ONLINE AT CLUBLOG.ORG THIS WEEK...... https://clublog.org/logsearch/Z68HZ (Updated) QSLS AVAILABLE VIA EA5GL. Pedro, EA5GL, informs that he is the QSL Manager for the following stations: C6AQQ, HK7AAG, HC7AE, UK7AL, XV2D and XV9D. QSLS RECEIVED VIA LoTW: 5W0GC (OC-097), 9X0T, C37NL, F6ARS, JL1ELQ, JL1SAM, LA6K/P (EU-036), NH6D/KH4 (2000), PD1BHZ, PY5OD, SV2ASP/A, UA0FO, VA3MJR, VP8EME, XT2AW and YR8D QSLS RECEIVED VIA MAIL: 4B4B, 9X0T, 9X0Y, F/DK2RO/P (EU-156), RT65KI (AS-065), VK9XG, VU2GSM and Z66X QSLS RECEIVED VIA THE BUREAU: 3V8/ON7HLU, 3XY5M, 4K6FO, 4L1MA, 4W/PE7T, 5V7FMD, 8J17OCV, 8J60JARE, 8J75RS, 9H3G, 9M2TO, 9M4DXX, AH2K, A41KB, AM8TRV, AO8LH, C31CT, CS9/PD3EM, CU2A, DJ18FWC, DM65MVP, EA6FB, EA8AF, EA6ZS, EA8AJY, EA8BWL, EA8CPN, EA8CDJ, EA8DAO, EA8DG, EA8IM, EA8KL, EA8MT, EA8QP, EA8TV, EF4HQ, EE8A, EF8U, EG8ARO, EG8COR, EG8URT, EH8FDC, J5B, JD1BMH, MJ/PA1AW, OJ0V, ON90IARU, PJ2/HB9BJL, S9WL, SV5/OO4O, SV8/DK7TX, SX10TARG, TA1TB, TT8M, UN7FU, UN7JZ, UN7LAN, UN9LBZ, UP4L, UQ50L, VI2R, VI103WIA, VK1MT, VK3XL, VK4VIL, VK4ZD, VK5CE, VK6NC, VK6RO, VK7AD, VK8CAW, VY2ZM and XU7TAS --- We would like to see more QSL Bureaus (such as AS/US/SA/AF.. etc) send in their info.... SX60, GREECE (Special Event). Look for special event station SX60RAAG to be active until December 31st. Activity is to celebrate the 60th anni- versary of the Radio Amateur Association of Greece (RAAG). Operations will be on all HF bands and modes. QSL via LoTW, eQSL or ClubLog's OQRS (for direct and by the Bureau). Awards are available for 4 classes. For more details, log search and downloadable awards, go to: http://www.raag.org/news.asp?ITMID=1177&LANG=EN http://sx60raag.hamlogs.net TR, GABON. Roland, F8EN (ex-CN8EM, FO8BV, 3C3CR), who recently just turned 90, will once again be active as TR8CR from Gabon for 3 months starting on December 16th. Activity will be on 40-17 meters (possibly on 80m) using CW and SSB. QSL via F6AJA, by the Bureau or direct. When possible, the logs will be uploaded to: http://LesNouvellesDX.fr/voirlogs.php TT8KO DXPEDITION NEWS (Update/Complete Story). Ken, LA7GIA, who had his TT8KO operation shut-down by the national security police earlier than planned, was only active between October 9-10th. He logged 2135 QSOs which are all uploaded to ClubLog and LoTW. Read his complete story at: http://dx-world.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/TT8KO-story.pdf XT2, BURKINA FASO. Max, DK1MAX, will once again be active as XT2MAX from Burkina Faso between April 17-25th, 2019. Activity will be holiday style on all bands using mostly CW and FT8. QSL via DK1MAX, LoTW, eQSL (no SWL reports) and ClubLog. NO PAPER QSLs. YOTA HAS BEGAN!!! During the entire month of December several youngsters will become active with the "YOTA" suffix in the callsign. The idea for this is to show the amateur radio hobby to the youth and to encourage youngsters to be active on the ham radio waves. As of December 1st, here are the participating stations known so far: 4O18YOTA Montenegro HA6YOTA Hungary R18YOTA RUSSIA 5H3YOTA TANZANIA HB9YOTA Switzerland SH9YOTA Sweden 6V1YOTA SENEGAL HG0YOTA Hungary TF3YOTA Iceland 9A0YOTA Croatia II3YOTA Italy TM18YOTA FRANCE 9A18YOTA Croatia II5YOTA Italy WK1DS/YOTA USA AO1YOTA SPAIN JH1YDT/YOTA Japan YO0YOTA ROMANIA AO5YOTA SPAIN LY5YOTA Lithuania YT18YOTA Serbia AP3YOTA Pakistan LZ0YOTA Bulgaria YU18YOTA Serbia DF0YOTA Germany OE0YOTA Austria Z30YOTA Macedonia E71YOTA Bosnia&Herzegovina OH2YOTA Finland Z39YOTA Macedonia EG2YOTA Spain OL18YOTA Czech Republic Z60YOTA Kosovo EI0YOTA Ireland OM18YOTA Slovakia ZL6YOTA New Zealand ES9YOTA Estonia ON4YOTA Belgium ZS9YOTA South Africa ET3AA Ethiopia PA6YOTA The Netherlands GB18YOTA United Kingdom PD6YOTA The Netherlands Complete details about the event and the available awards can be found at . QSLs are via ClubLog's OQRS (direct or Bureau ONLY) or direct to M0SDV. Also, statistics by participating stations, by bands & modes and awards are available at: https://events.ham-yota.com/stats YS, EL SALVADOR (Update). Tom, KC0W, will be active as YS1/KC0W from El Salvador between February 16-22nd, 2019. Activity will be on 80-6 meters using CW only. QSL via his home callsign. NO LoTW or NO Bureau. ADDED NOTE. Read about Tom's planning (or as he calls it the "Anatomy of a DXpedition") at: https://www.eham.net/ehamforum/smf/index.php/topic,123022.0.html ZF, CAYMAN ISLANDS. Pete, K8PGJ, will once again be active as ZF2PG on the Sunny Grand Cayman Islands (NA-016) during the week of January 17-20th. Activity will be on 160-10 meters during the NAQP SSB Contest (January 19-20th). Outside of the contest, look for him work on the 17th, especially on 160-40 meters during the evening hours. Then all day on the 18th and the mornings of the 19th and 20th. Pete states that he will be trying to motivate 10 meters. LoTW will be utilized and direct QSL via his home callsign. A weekday schedule will be posted on QRZ.com. ZL7, CHATHAM ISLAND. Nobuaki "Nobu", JA0JHQ, will be on a short vacation from the Chatham Islands (OC-038) as ZL7/JA0JHQ between January 17-20th. Activity will be mainly FT8 on 160 meters and 6 meters as well as 160-10 meters CW. QSL via his home callsign, direct or by the Bureau. For updates, watch his home page at: http://pandasan.jimdo.com ADDED NOTE: Nobu may try to go to Auckland and be active.... -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- TO BE ADDED TO THE OPDX MAILING LIST -- Click or send requests to: Help: Subscribe: Unsubscribe: OPDX WORLD-WIDE WEB HOME PAGE (provided by John, K8YSE): http://www.papays.com/opdx.html NOW ON TWITTER: https://twitter.com/kb8nw_opdx ALSO VISIT THE NORTHERN OHIO DX ASSOCIATION'S WEB PAGES AT: http://www.nodxa.org/ http://www.facebook.com/NorthernOhioDxAssociation -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- * All excerpts and distribution of "The OPDX Bulletin" are granted as long as KB8NW/OPDX/BARF80 receives credit. ** To contribute DX info, please send via InterNet Mail to: OR OR Information can now be faxed to the following phone line at: 1-419-828-7791 (F A X only!) /EXIT -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW - E-mail addresses: Editor of the Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin (OPDX - DXer's Tool of Excellence) President of the "Northern Ohio DX Association" (NODXA) DX Chairman for the "Northern Ohio Amateur Radio Society ARRL Assistant Director of the Great Lakes Division Sysop of the "Basic Amateur Radio Frequency BBS" (BARF80.ORG) From kb8nw at barf80.nshore.org Sun Dec 9 11:10:00 2018 From: kb8nw at barf80.nshore.org (Tedd Mirgliotta (KB8NW)) Date: Sun, 09 Dec 2018 11:10:00 -0500 Subject: [DX] Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin #1393 Message-ID: SB DX @ WW < KB8NW $OPDX.1393 Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin No. 1393 The Ohio/Penn DX PacketCluster DX Bulletin No. 1393 BID: $OPDX.1393 December 10, 2018 Editor Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW Provided by BARF80.ORG (Cleveland, Ohio) Written/Sent from Strongsville, Ohio Thanks to the Northern Ohio Amateur Radio Society, Northern Ohio DX Association, Ohio/Penn PacketCluster Network, the AB5K's AR Clusters Network, NJ1Q & W1AW, N2OO, NG3K & ADXO, W3UR & The Daily DX, WB6RSE, K8GI, K8YSE, W8GEX & 60m DX News, W8HC, W9ILY, DL1SBF, DL7UXG & The DX News Letter, DM2TO, DxCoffee.com, DXNews.com, DX-World.Net, ES1CW, F5JY, F5NQL, F6AJA & Les Nouvelles DX, I1JQJ/IK1ADH & 425 DX News, I2MQP & DX Italia News, JI3DST, OZ6OM & 50 MHz DX News, RW6HS, Sixitalia Weekly, UT5UY and VA3RJ & ICPO for the following DX information. DXCC COUNTRY/ENTITY REPORT: According to the AR-Cluster Network for the week of Sunday, 2nd/December, through Sunday, 9th/December there were 216 countries active. Countries available: 3A, 3B8, 3B9, 3D2, 3DA, 3W, 4J, 4L, 4O, 4S, 4W, 4X, 5A, 5B, 5R, 5T, 5U, 5W, 5X, 5Z, 6W, 6Y, 7X, 8P, 9A, 9G, 9H, 9J, 9K, 9M2, 9M6, 9N, 9Q, 9V, 9X, 9Y, A2, A4, A6, A7, A9, AP, BV, BY, C3, C5, C6, CE, CE9, CM, CN, CP, CT, CT3, CU, CX, D2, D4, DL, DU, E5/n, E5/s, E7, EA, EA6, EA8, EA9, EI, EK, EL, EP, ER, ES, ET, EU, EX, EY, F, FG, FK, FM, FO, FP, FR, FS, FY, G, GD, GI, GJ, GM, GU, GW, H4, HA, HB, HB0, HC, HH, HI, HK, HK0/a, HL, HP, HR, HS, HZ, I, IS, J2, J3, J6, J7, J8, JA, JD/o, JT, JW, JY, K, KG4, KH2, KH6, KL, KP2, KP4, LA, LU, LX, LY, LZ, OA, OD, OE, OH, OH0, OK, OM, ON, OX, OY, OZ, P4, PA, PJ2, PJ4, PJ5, PJ7, PY, PY0F, PZ, S0, S2, S5, S7, SM, SP, ST, SU, SV, SV5, SV9, T2, T32, T7, TA, TF, TG, TI, TK, TR, TY, TZ, UA, UA2, UA9, UK, UN, UR, V3, V5, V8, VE, VK, VK0M, VP2E, VP2M, VP8, VP8/h, VP9, VR, VU, XE, XT, XU, XX9, YA, YB, YI, YL, YN, YO, YS, YU, YV, Z2, Z3, Z6, Z8, ZA, ZB, ZD7, ZF, 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". 3Y0I BOUVET DXPEDITION NEWS. The following was posted (with pictures) on December 8th: "3Y0I fire-fighting training completed! -- The team building and high spirits are crucial when it comes to deal with danger. And you need firefighter training when you're getting ready to set the world on fire. :) Seafarers Firefighting Training continues in Cape Town, South Africa." No other details to report, other than there were a few 3Y0I pirates active recently. Departure dates are still not known. It is still a mystery... Remember, it takes 12 days to get to Bouvet from South Africa, and they plan to stay on the island for at least 2 weeks, if the weather cooperates. The 3Y0I DXpedition's band plan ? frequencies (160-6m) and modes (CW/SSB/ FT8) can be found at: https://www.rebeldxgroup.com https://bouvetoya.org/3yoi-bandplan QSL via ClubLog's OQRS (preferred), LoTW or via 3Z9DX. For more details and updates, we suggest to watch the following Web pages: https://bouvetoya.org https://www.rebeldxgroup.com http://jouban.jp/3y0i_ja (For JA stations) https://www.facebook.com/bouvetoya.org https://www.facebook.com/rebeldxgroup https://twitter.com/Bouvetoyaorg 4X0, ISRAEL (Update/Special Event). Members of the Holy Land DX Group will operate from the heart of "Masada Fortress" as 4X0M (M=Masada) between January 4-6th, 2019. Built by King Herod the Great, Masada, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage in 2001. From its strategic perch in the Judean Desert overlooking the Dead Sea, this historically famous palace fortress is one of the most visited tourist sites in all of Israel. For more info, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masada Activity will start on Friday, January 4th, at 0730 UTC, and close down on Sunday, January 6th, 0600 UTC. They will have two stations on the air on 80-10 meters using CW and SSB. Operators mentioned are Ruben/4Z5FI, Mark/ 4Z4KX, Alex/4Z4AK, Ros/4Z5LA, Yuli/4X6HP, Vladimir/4Z5IW, Amir/4X6YA, Arthur/4X4DZ, Jan/4X1VF and Hal/W8HC. QSL Manager is Antonello, IK2DUW. 4X0, ISRAEL. Members of the Israel Amateur Radio Club (I.A.R.C) are pleased to announce the 2018 XMAS activity for its national award program: Holy-land Christianity On The Air (HOCOTA). The program includes numerous sites with major significance to Christianity - well-known to every Christian and based by the language and citation from the holy books, Christian tradition, beliefs and heritage, as well documented archeology and other researches. This is the third year of the program and the activity will be commenced during the 2018 Christmas season (December 25-29th) by 5 special event multi-operators stations. The current sub-program includes Christian sites from various sectors of the program including Kar Nachum, Caesarea, Jerusalem, Latrun and Massada. Look for the following to be active: 1. Callsign 4X2XMAS; KFAR NACHUM - ?(Capernaum) Church of the Holy Apostles; Ref. No. (WW. Loc. KM72SV, HOLYLAND Loc. K-07-YZ, HOLYLAND N05KN and 4XFF-0064); Operators 4Z1DZ, 4Z5SL, 4Z1SH, 4X6ZM, 4Z1KD and 4X1KW; QSL ONLY via LoTW and eQSL.CC; NO BUREAU - DO NOT WASTE YOUR CARD or YOUR TIME 2. Callsign 4X3XMAS; CAESAREA - Crusader Fortress; Ref. No. (Category F-01, WW. Loc. KM72KM, F-09-FD and 4XFF0161); Operators 4Z1NB, 4X1OM, 4Z1KM and 4X6FR; QSL ONLY via LoTW and eQSL.CC; NO BUREAU - DO NOT WASTE YOUR CARD or YOUR TIME 3. Callsign 4X19HNY; JERUSALEM; Ref. No. (WW. Loc. KM72 and J-18-JS); Operators 4X1KS, 4X1ZZ and 4X1TQ; QSL ONLY via LoTW and eQSL.CC; NO BUREAU - DO NOT WASTE YOUR CARD or YOUR TIME 4. Callsign 4X9XMAS; LATRUN; Ref. No. (WW. Loc. KM71LU and G-17-RM); Operators 4X1IG, 4Z4DX, 4X6RE, 4Z4UO, 4X5AR and 4X5ZS; QSL ONLY via LoTW and eQSL.CC; NO BUREAU - DO NOT WASTE YOUR CARD or YOUR TIME 5. Callsign 4X0M; See details above under "4X0, ISRAEL (Update/Special Event)"; QSL via IK2DUW For more details, see QRZ.com for each callsign..... BLOCKED/BOUNCED OPDX BULLETINS (Update). Some OPDX Bulletins are still being BLOCKED. However, the good news is that the bouncing of bulletins seems to have stopped. The majority of the bounces/blockings are from the following ISPs: COMCAST, COX and GMAIL. We are not totally sure why this is happening, but if your ISP blocks the OPDX Bulletin, please send a complaint to your ISP. We were informed this past week that if you use one of the above ISPs there is away to stop the blocking. If you are an ARRL member, try using their mail forwarding service (see ). This service will pass the bulletin through to your ISP. If you did not receive the bulletin, there are other ways to receive it. The bulletin is posted every week at the following URLs: The OPDX (Mailing List) Archives: http://hamnet.org/pipermail/opdx The OPDX Web page (provided by John, K8YSE): http://papays.com/opdx.html The weekly bulletin (issue #) is also posted (for the above URLs) on FaceBook and Twitter . Let's hope this problem will clear up. Thanks for your understanding..... 73 de Tedd KB8NW DF13, GERMANY (Special Event). Look for special event stations DF13DEJU, DF13BLN, DF13BUD, DF13MUC, DF13PAR and DF13STO to be active between January 1st and June 30th, 2019. Activity is to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the maiden flight of the Junkers F-13, the mother of all commercial aircraft. All QSOs will be automatically confirmed after July 15th, 2019, with a QSL card via Bureau. If you do not need a QSL card, let them know. This saves their money and time. Send direct QSLs via DM2TO cards -- shipping starting after August 1st, 2019. For more details and info on awards, see their QRZ.com page. E4, PALESTINE. YL Elvira, IV3FSG, is once again active as E44YL from Bethlehem until December 18th. Activity will be on various HF bands. Look for Elvira to operate SSB and the Digital modes (RTTY and FT8). QSL all SSB and Digital mode QSOs via IK3GES. Logs will be uploaded to both LoTW and ClubLog after the operation. FK, NEW CALEDONIA. Phil, F6OBD, will be active as FK/F6OBD from New Caledonia between December 18th and February 10th (2019). Activity will be holiday style on various HF bands, using the Digital modes with a FT-857 into wire antennas. QSL via F6OBD. IOTA NEWS.............. AS-032. Take, JS6RRR/JI3DST, will be active from Nishinoomate-City, Tanega Island, between 0900z, December 26th and 0000z, January 7th. He will use the following callsign: JI3DST/6 for DX, and JS6RRR/6 & JL3YWN/6 for JA stations. Activity will be on 80/40/30/20/17/15/12/10/6 meters using CW, SSB, FM, RTTY and FT8. Operations may vary in case of heavy rains or other conditions. QSL routes are as follows: JI3DST/6 via JI3DST; JS6RRR/6 via JS6RRR and JL3YWN/6: ONLY 1 WAY (Please don't send QSL to him). Please check QRZ.com for details. Look for logs to be posted on ClubLog. NA-079. Operators Faith Hannah (AE4FH), Hope (KM4IPF), and Dad (WX4TV) will be operating amateur radio from the Dry Tortugas National Park from December 14-17th. Their call will be N4T. QSL via WK1DS. This trip to the Dry Tortugas is a dry run to see if it is feasible to take other young amateur radio operators to the island to give them the experience of going on an amateur radio DXpedition. If this trip is successful, the plan is to form a 501-C3 non-profit to begin to take two or three young hams each year to the Dry Tortugas or other islands to give them this experience. The Dry Tortugas are a desired entity in the amateur radio world, so the team expects to make lots of contacts during the three days that they are on the air from the island. They will be operating on HF (shortwave) and also the amateur radio satel- lites, in an attempt to contact as many other amateur radio operators as possible. Reference numbers are: IOTA NA-079, USI# FL013S, WFF ref# KFF-0023, GRID EL-84, and the National Parks on the Air: Dry Tortugas K-0023. To prepare for this trip, the girls and Dad camped in the Crane Point Hammock in the Florida Keys and operated during the RSGB IOTA Contest in late July, 2018. The girls gained experience in primitive camping skills, preparing food over open fires, and operating from a tent with battery and solar power. The National Park Service and the Yankee Freedom Ferry do not allow liquid fuels or accelerants on the island, so they needed to find a way to boil water using dry fuel. They tried many different ways to boil water for food preparation and every one of them failed?until they found the Kelly Kettle. They will be using the Ultimate Stainless Base Camp Kit for food preparation. Watch the YouTube channel for a video that they will be producing about this very soon! NA-250. NEW IOTA! A couple of sources are reporting that operators Mike/K9AJ and Bruce/KD6WW are planning to be active from Yakutat County Group, Coastal Groups (Alaska), sometime between May 10-13th, 2019. Look for more details to be forthcoming. PLEASE NOTE: Since the Webmasters of the new have decided NOT to post or dedicate a Web page to announce upcoming IOTA operations, PLEASE send your IOTA operations information to the OPDX, and we will post it here in an upcoming bulletin...... J2, DJIBOUTI. DX-WORLD.net reports: "A DXpedition to Djibouti (J2) in the early part of 2019 is currently in planning stages. Full details in the coming weeks, however DX-World understands that side-trips to both IOTA groups AF-053 and AF-059 are under consideration. A license has been applied for and a callsign should be known soon." P4, ARUBA. Ben, DL6RAI, is once again active as P4/DL6RAI from Aruba (SA-036) until December 27th. Activity will be holiday style with a focus on CW, the low bands and some part-time activities in contests. QSL via LoTW or ClubLog. P4, ARUBA. John, W2GD, will once again be active as P40W from Aruba (SA-036) during the ARRL International DX CW Contest (February 16-17th) as a Single- Op/All-Band entry. He will be there between February 18-25th. Operations outside of the contest are usually on 160/80m and 30/17/12 meters as time permits. Watch 160m on the hour and 80m on the half hour. QSL via LoTW or direct to N2MM, Bureau cards are no longer accepted. Logs will be loaded on LoTW upon his return to the USA. PROPAGATION FORECAST/REPORT (December 10-16th)....... Dec/10th AN Dec/13th AN Dec/15th AN Dec/11th AN Dec/14th AN Dec/16th AN Dec/12th AN SOLAR REFERENCE KEYS/INDEXES AND GEOMAGNETIC REFERENCE ====================================================== NORMALITY GEOMAG K Values Alpha ----------------- ------ -------- ------ AN - Above Normal Quiet K=0-1 0-7 HN - High Normal Unsettled K=2 8-15 LN - Low Normal Active K=3 16-29 BN - Below Normal Minor Storm K=4 30-49 DIS - Disturbed Major Storm K=5 50-99 VRY DIS - Very Disturbed Severe Storm K=6-9 100-400 ** REALTIME BAND CONDITIONS WEB SITE is still down. Nothing to report. Meanwhile, check out the following Web sites: * VOACAP predication Web page at: http://www.voacap.com/hf * DX.QSL.NET Propagation page: https://dx.qsl.net/propagation * A daily HF radio wave propagation forecast can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/thomasfranklingiellaw4hm * SolarHam Web page: http://www.solarham.net * Radio Propagation/Space Weather/Sunspot Cycle Information at: http://sunspotwatch.com * Also on Twitter: https://twitter.com/@GiellaW4hm QSL INFO AND NEWS................... QSL-INFO from DB0SDX by Lothar, DL1SBF ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3W1T via XV1X (d) LZ532PSO via LZ1KCP SO750W via SP6CES 4Y1A via UA3DX OH9S via OH9S (O/L) SP/DJ1AA/M via DJ1AA B5/IK7YTT via IW7EGQ (d) PD18SANTA via PD2RKG TC630MECCA via TA3X C5A via OM2FY PF2018SNK via PA0MBD & (L) TM8AB via F4KJQ DU1/JH1FNS via JH1FNS (d**/e) R2AA via RW3RN TX0M via VE3LYC EG1AQ via EA1URO & (e) S510SOTA via S58R UZ2M via US0LW EH40CE via EA7URM S511PMC via S59DCD YP2XMAS via YO2MSB GW4J via GW0ETF (d/L) SN0UNESCO via SP9KDU HP3/NL8F via N7RO SN5M via SP5UAF (e) eQSL only (d) direct only (B) Bureau only (*-B) DX's- Bureau (O) OQRS only (C) ClubLog only (L) LoTW only (N) No QSL needed (I) No IRC (P) PayPal (NB) No Bureau (**) direct to DU address QSL MANAGER Vasiliy, RW6HS, informs that he is now the QSL Manager for all of the following stations: RZ4AZ, RZ4AZ/P, RZ4AZ/6, RZ4AZ/7/M, RZ4AZ/QRP, RY4AAE, RY4AAE/QRP, R110B, R163VW, R164VW, R165VW, RP72FV and UE64AS. QSLS RECEIVED VIA LoTW: 5Z4LS, A45XR, AA4V/VP9, C6AAT, DJ0SP, DL1DAW, DL1YAY, DP0GVN, FG/F6ARC, FG/SM7RYR, FM5FJ, FY5KE, IS0/OE2LCM, J68GD, J73WA, KG4HF, LA1MFA, LU2FGL, LZ33MM, LZ73ZZ, MD/DL7JOM, N1RNJ, OA4SS, OG7A, OH0Z, ON6VL, PI4CC, PJ7AA, RI1ANL, TI5/N3KS, TK0C, TO40CDXC, TO60K, V26K, VP2MUW, VP2MXP, VP2V/K6NAO, XE2JS, YJ0GC (OC-035), ZL7X (OC-038) and ZP4KFX QSLS RECEIVED VIA MAIL: 7X4AN, 9X0T, EK3SA (02/2010 and 11/2011) and TO6OK. QSLS RECEIVED VIA THE BUREAU: 2M0DDS, 4L1MA, 5H1WW, 5V7BD, 6Y1LZ, A61ZX, CE3/UA4WHX, CR2X, CU9AB, DL0JBB, DL1BUG, GM4ULS, HB9LB, HB9TNW, HP1/IZ6BRN, HZ1XB, IN3ZNR, JA1OJJ, OA7/DL1CW, OH0V, SP9FOW, UA2FL, Z35T and ZD8N --- We would like to see more QSL Bureaus (such as AS/US/SA/AF.. etc) send in their info.... TI5, COSTA RICA. Operators Mike/W1USN and Bob/AA1M will be active from Atenas, Costa Rica, as homecall/TI5 between February 2-13th, 2019. They will be operating on CW, SSB, some Digital modes, and they hope to catch a few of the FM satellites. All QSLing will be through LoTW, by the Bureau and direct to CBA. YP[2-9], ROMANIA (Special Event). Look for the following special event Santa Claus stations to be active during December. Activity will be on various HF bands using CW, SSB and the Digital modes. An electronic award will be issued for working stations on at least 3 different bands upon request. QSL via YO2MSB or see QRZ.com (under YP2XMAS) for more details. Here are the special event stations and their locations: YP2XMAS - Timisoara (QSL via YO9FNP) YP7XMAS - Arges (QSL via YO2MSB) YP3XMAS - Bucuresti (QSL via YO9FNP) YP8XMAS - Suceava (QSL via YO2MSB) YP4XMAS - Cernavoda (QSL via YO2MSB) YP9XMAS - Buzau (QSL via YO9FNP) YP5XMAS - Transilvania (QSL via YO9FNP) YP0XMAS - Giurgiu (QSL via YO9KYO) YP6XMAS - Brasov (QSL via YO2MSB) YS, EL SALVADOR (Update/Callsign & Date Change). Tom, KC0W, will be active as YS2/KC0W (not YS1/KC0W as first announced) from El Salvador between February 15-22nd, 2019. Activity will be on 80-6 meters using CW only. QSL via his home callsign. NO LoTW or NO Bureau. ADDED NOTE. Read about Tom's planning (or as he calls it the "Anatomy of a DXpedition") at: https://www.eham.net/ehamforum/smf/index.php/topic,123022.0.html Z6, KOSOVO. Operators Philipp/DK6SP, Tomi/HA8RT, Flo/OE3FTA and Horia/ YO3IMD will be active as Z66DH from Pristina between December 10-22nd. They state, "Who are we? ... We are 4 enthusiastic young amateur radio operators aged between 20 and 25 years old." Activity will be on all HF bands using CW, SSB and the Digital modes (FT8 - mostly F/H - DXpedition Mode!) They will have three stations on the air. QSL Manager is Jamie, M0SDV (direct). Also, QSL via LoTW or ClubLog (for direct and Bureau). For any questions, special skeds etc, don't hesitate to contact the team directly at . ZK3, TOKELAU ISLANDS. An international team led by operators Roman/UR0MC and Alex/UT5UY is planning an DXpedition to Tokelau Islands sometime between October-November 2019. ZK3 is currently #42 on the DXCC Most Wanted List. Alex informs OPDX that ZK3 is very highly rated on the low bands and EME. Look for more details to be forthcoming. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- TO BE ADDED TO THE OPDX MAILING LIST -- Click or send requests to: Help: Subscribe: Unsubscribe: OPDX WORLD-WIDE WEB HOME PAGE (provided by John, K8YSE): http://www.papays.com/opdx.html NOW ON TWITTER: https://twitter.com/kb8nw_opdx ALSO VISIT THE NORTHERN OHIO DX ASSOCIATION'S WEB PAGES AT: http://www.nodxa.org/ http://www.facebook.com/NorthernOhioDxAssociation -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- * All excerpts and distribution of "The OPDX Bulletin" are granted as long as KB8NW/OPDX/BARF80 receives credit. ** To contribute DX info, please send via InterNet Mail to: OR OR Information can now be faxed to the following phone line at: 1-419-828-7791 (F A X only!) /EXIT -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW - E-mail addresses: Editor of the Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin (OPDX - DXer's Tool of Excellence) President of the "Northern Ohio DX Association" (NODXA) DX Chairman for the "Northern Ohio Amateur Radio Society ARRL Assistant Director of the Great Lakes Division Sysop of the "Basic Amateur Radio Frequency BBS" (BARF80.ORG) From kb8nw at barf80.nshore.org Sun Dec 16 10:59:00 2018 From: kb8nw at barf80.nshore.org (Tedd Mirgliotta (KB8NW)) Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2018 10:59:00 -0500 Subject: [DX] Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin #1394 Message-ID: SB DX @ WW < KB8NW $OPDX.1394 Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin No. 1394 The Ohio/Penn DX PacketCluster DX Bulletin No. 1394 BID: $OPDX.1394 December 17, 2018 Editor Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW Provided by BARF80.ORG (Cleveland, Ohio) Written/Sent from Strongsville, Ohio Thanks to the Northern Ohio Amateur Radio Society, Northern Ohio DX Association, Ohio/Penn PacketCluster Network, the AB5K's AR Clusters Network, NJ1Q & W1AW, NG3K & ADXO, W3UR & The Daily DX, K6XT, WB6RSE, K8GI, K8YSE, W8GEX & 60m DX News, W9ILY, DL1SBF, DL7UXG & The DX News Letter, DxCoffee.com, DXNews.com, DX-World.Net, EA5GL, ES1CW, F5NQL, F6AJA & Les Nouvelles DX, I1JQJ/IK1ADH & 425 DX News, I2MQP & DX Italia News, JG7PSJ, OZ6OM & 50 MHz DX News, PY3DF, Sixitalia Weekly and VA3RJ & ICPO for the following DX information. DXCC COUNTRY/ENTITY REPORT: According to the AR-Cluster Network for the week of Sunday, 9th/December, through Sunday, 16th/December there were 216 countries active. Countries available: 3A, 3B8, 3B9, 3D2, 3DA, 3V, 3W, 4J, 4L, 4O, 4S, 4W, 4X, 5A, 5B, 5H, 5R, 5W, 5Z, 6W, 6Y, 7X, 8P, 9A, 9G, 9H, 9J, 9K, 9M2, 9M6, 9Q, 9V, 9X, 9Y, A2, A4, A5, A6, A7, A9, AP, BV, BY, C3, C5, C9, CE, CE0Y, CE9, CM, CN, CP, CT, CT3, CU, CX, D4, D6, DL, DU, E5/s, E6, E7, EA, EA6, EA8, EA9, EI, EK, EL, EP, ER, ES, ET, EU, EX, EY, F, FG, FK, FM, FO, FP, FR, FW, FY, G, GD, GI, GJ, GM, GU, GW, H4, H40, HA, HB, HB0, HC, HH, HI, HK, HL, HP, HR, HS, HV, HZ, I, IS, J3, J6, J7, JA, JD/o, JT, JW, JY, K, KG4, KH0, KH2, KH6, KL, KP2, KP4, LA, LU, LX, LY, LZ, OA, OD, OE, OH, OH0, OK, OM, ON, OX, OY, OZ, P4, PA, PJ2, PJ4, PJ7, PY, PY0F, PZ, S0, S2, S5, SM, SP, ST, SU, SV, SV5, SV9, T32, T7, T8, TA, TF, TG, TI, TK, TN, TR, TT, TU, TY, TZ, UA, UA2, UA9, UK, UN, UR, V3, V5, V8, VE, VK, VK0M, VP2E, VP6, VP8, VP8/h, VP9, VR, VU, XE, XT, XU, XX9, YA, YB, YI, YL, YO, YS, YU, YV, Z2, Z3, Z6, Z8, ZA, ZB, ZD7, ZF, 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". 3Y0I BOUVET DXPEDITION NEWS. On December 9th, the following was posted: "The 3Y0I Team has decided to follow the new FT8 standards and change our software to WSJT-X Version 2.0 Expedition Mode (Fox /Hound). NOTE: We would like to remind you that older versions 1.8, 1.9 (or JTDX) WILL NOT decode signals sent from WSJT-X Version 2.0." They also posted: "Today, December 10, starting at 1700Z we will conduct 24 hours of testing via FT8 Expedition Mode version 2.0 on our listed 3Y0I Band Plan frequencies. We welcome all Hams using version 2.0 to partici- pate in this 24 hour test. This will be helpful for us and all who make contact when we land on Bouvet. Our Callsign during this 24 hour test will be E51DOM/mm." On December 12th, the following was posted about "Ham Radio Foundations & Clubs": "As I write, and as you see on our "Sponsors" page (*), we have not listed a single Amateur Radio foundation or DX club that has donated to our cause (yet). (*) To answer a friends inquiry as to, "why is that?" ? well, we've yet to see an offer from a foundation or club that did not come with "strings attached". Let's be clear, IF a foundation or a club wants to donate to our cause they can ? and we'll gladly accept those donations to buy more Satellite Internet minutes, and we'll also list them as a Donor, but don't expect the Rebels to accept your list of members, your logo, requests for free QSL cards, LoTW requirements, online log specifications, QSL via bureau requirements, list of remote control ops and on and on, and on The Rebel DX Group thanks all of our listed Sponsors(*) who have donated to date!" No other details to report, other than that there were a few 3Y0I pirates active recently. Departure dates are still not known. It is still a mystery... Remember, it takes 12 days to get to Bouvet from South Africa, and they plan to stay on the island for at least 2 weeks, if the weather cooperates. The 3Y0I DXpedition's band plan ? frequencies (160-6m) and modes (CW/SSB/ FT8) can be found at: https://www.rebeldxgroup.com https://bouvetoya.org/3yoi-bandplan QSL via ClubLog's OQRS (preferred), LoTW or via 3Z9DX. For more details and updates, we suggest to watch the following Web pages: https://bouvetoya.org https://www.rebeldxgroup.com http://jouban.jp/3y0i_ja (For JA stations) https://www.facebook.com/bouvetoya.org https://www.facebook.com/rebeldxgroup https://twitter.com/Bouvetoyaorg 3Y0Z NEWS (UPDATE to the DX community: REFUNDS of unused DXpedition funds ). The following was posted December 15th, 2018, on the 3Y0Z FaceBook page: We are pleased that we can now offer refunds to ALL those that helped support the 2018 Bouvet DXpedition (3Y0Z). This will begin early in January 2019. Please QRX for the official press release with details, your options and instructions. ALL contributors (DX Foundations, DX Clubs, the DXpedition Team and Individual DXers) will be treated equally with the same percentage (%) of their contribution available to them. For those of you that do NOT want any money back, you will have other options. We believe you will be pleased as between 45-50% refund will be available. 73 and thanks for your patience ! Bob-K4UEE 9G, GHANA. Matt, IZ4YGS, will soon be active as 9G5GS from Sanzule, West Takoradi (Western Region), Ghana. His length of stay is unknown. Activity will be on various HF bands. QSL via IZ4YGS, direct or eQSL. 9X, RWANDA (Update). Harald, DF2WO, will once again be active as 9X2AW from Kigali between January 18th and February 14th. He is currently preparing his 160m antenna and will build a Hexbeam with Bamboo Sticks for working on 20/17/15/12/10 meters using mainly Digital modes (FT8, PSK31, JT65 and RTTY), CW and SSB. QSL via M0OXO's OQRS. AFRICA TOUR. Carl, ZS1KM, plans to travel to Namibia (V51KM) and Botswana (A25KM) between mid-December and mid-January. Activity will be mostly on SSB with some Digital modes on 80/40/20 meters. QSL via his home callsign. BLOCKED/BOUNCED OPDX BULLETINS. Some OPDX Bulletins are still being BLOCKED. However, the good news is that the bouncing of bulletins seems to have stopped. The majority of the bounces/blockings are from the following ISPs: COMCAST, COX and GMAIL. We are not totally sure why this is happening, but if your ISP blocks the OPDX Bulletin, please send a complaint to your ISP. We were informed this past week that if you use one of the above ISPs there is away to stop the blocking. If you are an ARRL member, try using their mail forwarding service (see ). This service will pass the bulletin through to your ISP. If you did not receive the bulletin, there are other ways to receive it. The bulletin is posted every week at the following URLs: The OPDX (Mailing List) Archives: http://hamnet.org/pipermail/opdx The OPDX Web page (provided by John, K8YSE): http://papays.com/opdx.html The weekly bulletin (issue #) is also posted (for the above URLs) on FaceBook and Twitter . Let's hope this problem will clear up. Thanks for your understanding..... 73 de Tedd KB8NW C6, BAHAMAS. Heli, DD0VR, (along with XYL Bigi, DE3BWR) will be active as C6A/DD0VR from Bahamas between January 21st and February 2nd, 2019. Look for Heli to possibly operate on various HF bands from different Islands. QSL via his home callsign, direct or by the Bureau. ADDED NOTE: Heli also mentions that he will be active in 2019 from the following locations: in September 2019, to Fiji (3D2) between September 2-9th, Samoa (5W) between September 9-16th, Tonga (A3) between September 16-21st, and back to Fiji again between September 23-27th. They are currently trying to obtain the licenses. CT9, MADEIRA ISLAND. Georg, NZ1C, will be active as CT9/NZ1C from Santana on Madeira Island (AF-014) between December 16-25th. Activity will be holiday style on 40-10 meters with a focus on CW and FT8, with some SSB, RTTY and PSK. QSL via DD5ZZ, LoTW or eQSL. CX, URUGUAY. Ghis, ON5NT, will be active as CX5DNT from Montevideo between December 16-18th. Activity will be holiday style on various HF bands. QSL via ON5NT. FG/TO7, GUADELOUPE. Jean-Pierre, F6ITD, will once again be active as FG/F6ITD from Guadeloupe and one of its islands between January 14th and March 13th (2019). This is his 10th trip. Island mentioned is La Desirade Island (IOTA NA-102, Lighthouse GUA005 and French Flora Faune FFF 1000). Activity will be on all HF bands (80-6m) using CW, SSB, FT8 and the Digital modes. Look for him to use the callsign TO7D during some contests. Radio equipment is a FT-450D + Tokyo 550 Power 500w. QSL via his home callsign, direct or LoTW (preferred). Logs will be uploaded to ClubLog and LoTW. FM/TO5, MARTINIQUE (NA-107). Albert, F5VHJ, will once again be active as TO5A from FM5BH's QTH during the ARRL International DX SSB Contest (March 2-3rd) as a Single-Op/All-Band entry. QSL with SASE to WA6WPG. All others by F5VHJ, LoTW and the REF Bureau. Logs will be uploaded to LoTW. An OQRS will be available via ClubLog. IOTA NEWS.............. AS-101. Erich, HB9FIH, is now active as HS0ZLS from "Near Pattaya" and Koh Samui Island, Thailand, between now and January 10th, 2019. Activity will be on various HF bands using CW, the Digital Modes and some SSB. QSL via HB9FIH, LoTW or eQSL. NA-026. Bodo, DF8DX, will be active as KT3Q/2 from Long Island between December 18-23rd. QSL via DF8DX, by the Bureau or direct. NA-029. Operator Mike, G3VYI, will be active from Prince Edward Island in eastern Canada using the VY2TT superstation (Grid Square FN76vs, CISA PE-001) during the Commonwealth Contest (March 9-10th). He hope to be there the Wednesday before BERU so look out for VY/G3VYI on CW especially on the LF bands on the evenings preceding the kickoff. NA-091. Mikhail "Mike", VE7ACN, will be active as VE7ACN/7 from Cortes Island between January 25-29th. Activity will be holiday style on 160-15 meters (depending on the propagation). QSL via ClubLog's OQRS (preferred), LoTW, direct or bureau to VE7ACN. PLEASE NOTE: Since the Webmasters of the new have decided NOT to post or dedicate a Web page to announce upcoming IOTA operations, PLEASE send your IOTA operations information to the OPDX, and we will post it here in an upcoming bulletin...... J8, ST. VINCENT ISLAND. Tom, KC0W, has announced that he will be active as J8CW from Saint Vincent Island (NA-109) sometime during the summer of 2019. Activity will be 100% CW on various HF bands. QSL via KC0W direct. NO LoTW or Bureau. Look for more details to be forthcoming. JD1, OGASAWARA (Reminder). Harry, JG7PSJ, will once again be active as JD1BMH from Chichijima Island (AS-031) between December 17th and January 2nd. This will be his 22nd visit. Activity will be on 160-10 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL via the Bureau to JD1BMH or direct to JG7PSJ. Visit his Web page for more details at: http://sapphire.es.tohoku.ac.jp/jd1bmh Also, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jd1bmh P4, ARUBA (Update/Date Change). John, W2GD, will once again be active as P40W from Aruba (SA-036) during the ARRL International DX CW Contest (February 16-17th) as a Single-Op/All-Band entry. He will be there between February 11-18th (not 18-25th as first announced). Operations outside of the contest are usually on 160/80m and 30/17/12 meters as time permits. Watch 160m on the hour and 80m on the half hour. QSL via LoTW or direct to N2MM, Bureau cards are no longer accepted. Logs will be loaded on LoTW upon his return to the USA. PJ2, CURACAO. Andy, DK5ON, will once again be active as PJ2/DK5ON from Curacao (SA-099, WLOTA 0942) between March 14-30th. Activity will be on 80-6 meters including the 17/12 meter bands using CW, SSB, RTTY and the Digital modes (RTTY/PSK/JT65/FT8). QSL via his home callsign, direct, by the Bureau, LoTW or ClubLog's OQRS. NO eQSL. PROPAGATION FORECAST/REPORT (December 17-23rd)....... Dec/17th AN Dec/20th AN Dec/22nd AN Dec/18th AN Dec/21st AN Dec/23rd AN Dec/19th AN SOLAR REFERENCE KEYS/INDEXES AND GEOMAGNETIC REFERENCE ====================================================== NORMALITY GEOMAG K Values Alpha ----------------- ------ -------- ------ AN - Above Normal Quiet K=0-1 0-7 HN - High Normal Unsettled K=2 8-15 LN - Low Normal Active K=3 16-29 BN - Below Normal Minor Storm K=4 30-49 DIS - Disturbed Major Storm K=5 50-99 VRY DIS - Very Disturbed Severe Storm K=6-9 100-400 Meanwhile, check out the following Web sites: * VOACAP predication Web page at: http://www.voacap.com/hf * DX.QSL.NET Propagation page: https://dx.qsl.net/propagation * A daily HF radio wave propagation forecast can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/thomasfranklingiellaw4hm * SolarHam Web page: http://www.solarham.net * Radio Propagation/Space Weather/Sunspot Cycle Information at: http://sunspotwatch.com * Also on Twitter: https://twitter.com/@GiellaW4hm QSL INFO AND NEWS................... QSL-INFO from DB0SDX by Lothar, DL1SBF ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4K9W via DL6KVA J42CPMV via SV2HXV & (L) SK50AJ via SM5CBN 4U1XMAS via UA3DX J62DX via EB7DX ST2NRD via ST2M DF1000ZEIL via DG3NCZ (B) K2L via K2RYD TM1VG via F4FCE EG40CE via EA5KB LX/PA3EZC/P via PA3EZC (L/e) UN9GD via DL8KAC EG7PIE via EA7DA N4T via WX4TV (d/L) YP5XMAS via YO9FNP FM5BH via W3HNK N9NC via OM2SA YT27AP via YT1T HF100I via SP4LVK PF2018HAR via PA0MBD Z66DH via M0SDV (O/L) HS18NBTC via HS18NBTC (HS-B) PT3T via PY3AA (e) eQSL only (d) direct only (B) Bureau only (*-B) DX's- Bureau (O) OQRS only (C) ClubLog only (L) LoTW only (N) No QSL needed (I) No IRC (P) PayPal (NB) No Bureau LOGS ONLINE AT CLUBLOG.ORG THIS WEEK...... https://clublog.org/logsearch/E51DWC https://clublog.org/logsearch/RI1ANV https://clublog.org/logsearch/Z66DH ATTENTION LOTW USERS. The latest version of the LoTW's Trusted QSL program (TQSL v2.4.3) is now available at: http://www.arrl.org/tqsl-download TQSL is available for MS Windows (PC), Apple OS X (Mac) and Linux operating systems. You do not have to uninstall older versions of TQSL. QSL MANAGER Pedro, EA5GL, informs OPDX that he is now the QSL Manager for 9V1EA and PZ5JW. QSLS RECEIVED VIA LoTW: 6Y3T, A52BH, A71AM, CO8CML, FM5BH, JD1BON, JJ2SEE, LX/PA3EZC/P, LZ8E, OD5ZZ, P33W, PY7XC, RD1A/P (EU-133), TX0C, UW5Y and Z23MD QSLS RECEIVED VIA MAIL: 3C0W, 5A0AA, DS2GOO/3, EZ8CQ, FR4OO, J68GU, KH8C, K6VVA/6, KP4/EI9FBB (NA-249), NL8F,OJ0W, R18BRA, RU4SS, TI8II, TO6OK and XT2AW QSLS RECEIVED VIA THE BUREAU: 4L1MA, 4O/ES1JA, 4W/PE7T, 6W/PA3EWF, 8J1RL, 8P5A, 8P6DR, A41KB, A35JP (OC-064), AM725RCV, AN400S, AO190DD, BM0LF, BT100EV, C5YK, C81G, C93PA, CT9/EA5KA, CX/PA2CHR, DF0WRTC, EA6AZ, EA6XQ, EA8AAH, EA8ACW, ED8AIU, EF0F, EG8WRD, EH0P, EK/DK7AJ, J5W (AF-020), IS0BBY, JD1BLY (AS-031), HB0/HB9AON, HF2016HNY, OH0/ES2TT, P4/DL5RMH, P29LL, PT70FEB, S9CQ, S9YY, SV5/DL3DRW, SV7GD, SY9AAA, TF/DL6JZ/P, TF/DO2JX, TM0RHUM, V51WH, VP6EU, XT2AW and YF1AR/8 --- We would like to see more QSL Bureaus (such as AS/US/SA/AF.. etc) send in their info.... RI1, ANTARCTICA (New Callsign). Alex, RD1AV (Season Team Leader), just arrived at base for the new campaign, and has been active since December 6th as RI1ANC during his spare time from the Vostok Station (AN-016, WFF RFF-168) in the Antarctica. On December 24th, the RI1ANC license will end, and will be replaced with a new license RI1ANV. Alex will be at the base station until February 2019. QSL via RN1ON, direct, by the Bureau or ClubLog's OQRS. S7, SEYCHELLES. Mike, OE6MBG, will be active as S79AA from Mahe Island (AF-024) between January 5th and February 2nd, 2019. Activity will be from Baie Lazare for two weeks and two weeks from Anse Boleau. Operations will be on 160/80/40/20/15/10 meters (possibly 6m) using CW and SSB. QSL via ClubLog's OQRS or LoTW. VP6 PITCAIRN ISLAND DXPEDITION (Update). The October 2019 DXpedition to Pitcairn Island now has their Web page active at: https://pitcairndx.com A FaceBook page at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/580069859103416 Also a Twitter page at: https://twitter.com/2019Island The Pitcairn team has posted the following update: "Dec. 10, 2018: Six of us spent last weekend in Peoria, IL doing preliminary staging of our DX- pedition equipment. This involved unloading the ill-fated Bouvet DXpedition sea container; sorting items for disposal, sale, or use on Pitcairn; and then re-loading the items we will take to Pitcairn Island. Those of us participating in the exercise were N4GRN, K9CT, W0GJ, N9TK, W8HC, and K0IR. We will return just after the Dayton Hamvention to inventory our equip- ment, double check it, and then repack it in a smaller, 20 ft. sea con- tainer. The container will be shipped to New Zealand in June so its contents can be put aboard the RV Braveheart in early August. The gear will come ashore with us on Pitcairn in October. See the photos at: https://pitcairndx.com/news-and-updates Our DXpedition dates are looking more and more like the last two weeks of October of 2019." The following operators have been named for the DXpedition: Ned/AA7A, Nodir/EY8MM, Hal/JR4OZR, Ralph/K0IR, Pat/K0PC, Craig/K9CT, Lou/N2TU, George/N4GRN, Arnie/N6HC, Glenn/W0GJ, Mike/W0VTT, Gregg/W6IZT, Hal/W8HC, and Jerry/WB9Z. WSJT-X 2.0 (Full Release Now Available; FT8 Enthusiasts Urged to Upgrade Now). It has been announced that the new WSJT-X 2.0 software suite has been released by developer Joe Taylor, K1JT. It was also mentioned that FT8 and MSK144 users are urged to upgrade to the new standard because the FT8 and MSK144 protocols have been enhanced in a way that is not backward compatible with older versions of the program. This includes any of the older 1.9 version releases. As of December 10th, the new protocols will become the worldwide standards, and all users should upgrade to WSJT-X 2.0 by January 1, 2019. Joe Taylor, K1JT, states, "After that date, only the new FT8 and MSK144 should be used on the air." The new version can be obtained on the WSJT-X home page at: https://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx.html Users are encouraged to read the new Quick Start Guide for WSJT-X at: https://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/Quick_Start_WSJT-X_2.0.pdf Gary Hinson, ZL2IFB, has released an FT8 Operating Guide at: http://www.g4ifb.com/FT8_Hinson_tips_for_HF_DXers.pdf Z8, SOUTH SUDAN. Diya, YI1DZ, is once again active as Z81D from Juba, South Sudan, for the next 6 months. Activity will be limited to his spare time on 80-10 meters using SSB and some Digital modes. QSL via OM3JW. He also use ClubLog and LoTW. ZF, CAYMAN ISLANDS. Colin, G4CWH, will once again be active as ZF2CA from the ZF1A club station on Grand Cayman Islands (NA-016) early March. Activity will be on 160-10 meters using CW and SSB. His activity will also include an entry in the 81st 2018 BERU (British Commonwealth) Contest (March 9-10th). QSL via his home callsign direct. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- TO BE ADDED TO THE OPDX MAILING LIST -- Click or send requests to: Help: Subscribe: Unsubscribe: OPDX WORLD-WIDE WEB HOME PAGE (provided by John, K8YSE): http://www.papays.com/opdx.html NOW ON TWITTER: https://twitter.com/kb8nw_opdx ALSO VISIT THE NORTHERN OHIO DX ASSOCIATION'S WEB PAGES AT: http://www.nodxa.org/ http://www.facebook.com/NorthernOhioDxAssociation -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- * All excerpts and distribution of "The OPDX Bulletin" are granted as long as KB8NW/OPDX/BARF80 receives credit. ** To contribute DX info, please send via InterNet Mail to: OR OR Information can now be faxed to the following phone line at: 1-419-828-7791 (F A X only!) /EXIT -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Additional Bulletin for OPDX InterNet Subscribers. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Announcing 2019 Dayton Contest University - celebrating 13 years From Tim Duffy, K3LR I am proud to announce that student registration is now open for the 2019 Dayton ConTest University ("CTU") to be held all day on Thursday May 16, 2019 at the Crowne Plaza in Dayton, Ohio. http://contestuniversity.com This is the day before Hamvention opens in Xenia, Ohio Eight different countries have hosted CTUs over the past thirteen years. USA, Australia, Russia, Germany, Italy, England, Brazil and Finland. Over 7500 students have attended these CTUs with more than 100 CTU Professors sharing their contesting experiences. 2019 will be the 13th year in a row for CTU Dayton. To give you an idea of the quality of the CTU content and activities you can see videos and PDFs from past CTUs on the CTU web site at http://contestuniversity.com The 2019 CTU Professor line up is outstanding and is posted on the CTU website. Thanks to our returning professors NC0B, W0YK, N6TV, W3YQ, N0AX and K1DG. You will notice several NEW professors for 2019. I am proud to welcome Bryant, KG5HVO who will present new ideas for attracting youth in contesting. Dan, N6MJ and Chris, KL9A (Gold Medal Team WRTC2014) will each present advanced operating papers. Randy, K5ZD returns to the CTU staff after a multiyear break. CTU professor stalwart Frank, W3LPL is on sabbatical this year. Frank has taught many many sessions at CTU over the past 12 years. He deserves a break! Frank will attend CTU Dayton 2019 and answer questions, but he will not have any teaching duties this year. Congrats to W3LPL! The 2019 CTU Dayton course outline will be posted soon. Check the CTU website for updates. Each presentation is carefully prepared with up to date information. There are scholarships (registration fee paid) available for CTU through a grant from the Northern California DX Foundation (NCDXF) for those students 25 years old and younger. Please use the "contact us" button on the CTU website to get more information. 2019 Student registration information is on the CTU web site http://contestuniversity.com CTU registration makes a great Christmas gift! Important - as we did last year - if you want to sign up for CTU 2019 Dayton and you have given (or will give one by Hamvention 2019) a talk about Amateur Radio to any club, Hamfest or group since May 16, 2018 - you qualify for a $10.00 registration fee discount. Please choose the "Registration with Club talk discount" option to get the $10.00 discount. Spreading the word about amateur radio is lots of fun and can save you money at CTU! Thanks to all of the CTU sponsors including Icom America, DX Engineering, the Northern California DX Foundation, YASME, the Radio Club of America and CQ Magazine for making CTU possible. Thanks to K8MNJ and K1SO for all of their help with CTU. Special thanks to Scott, KA9FOX from QTH.com for hosting and constructing the CTU headquarters web site. CU in Dayton at CTU 2019 and Merry Christmas, Tim K3LR Contest University Chairman -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW - E-mail addresses: Editor of the Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin (OPDX - DXer's Tool of Excellence) President of the "Northern Ohio DX Association" (NODXA) DX Chairman for the "Northern Ohio Amateur Radio Society ARRL Assistant Director of the Great Lakes Division Sysop of the "Basic Amateur Radio Frequency BBS" (BARF80.ORG) From kb8nw at barf80.nshore.org Sun Dec 23 10:45:00 2018 From: kb8nw at barf80.nshore.org (Tedd Mirgliotta (KB8NW)) Date: Sun, 23 Dec 2018 10:45:00 -0500 Subject: [DX] Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin #1395 Message-ID: SB DX @ WW < KB8NW $OPDX.1395 Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin No. 1395 The Ohio/Penn DX PacketCluster DX Bulletin No. 1395 BID: $OPDX.1395 December 24, 2018 Editor Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW Provided by BARF80.ORG (Cleveland, Ohio) Written/Sent from Murfreesboro, TN Thanks to the Northern Ohio Amateur Radio Society, Northern Ohio DX Association, Ohio/Penn PacketCluster Network, the AB5K's AR Clusters Network, NJ1Q & W1AW, WO2N, NG3K & ADXO, W3UR & The Daily DX, K5GS, WB6RSE, K8GI, K8YSE, W8GEX & 60m DX News, K9EL, W9ILY, W0TT, DL1SBF, DL7UXG & The DX News Letter, DxCoffee.com, DXNews.com, DX-World.Net, ES1CW, F5NQL, F6AJA & Les Nouvelles DX, I1JQJ/IK1ADH & 425 DX News, I2MQP & DX Italia News, IZ4YGS, OZ6OM & 50 MHz DX News, Pete Rayer & SWL, Sixitalia Weekly and VA3RJ & ICPO for the following DX information. *** SPECIAL NOTE FROM EDITOR (Tedd, KB8NW): My family (wife/OPDX's chief proof-reader Linda, son Teddy [TJ] and his wife Jessi, daughter Katie and her husband Kevin and son Lliam and daughter Lilly Grace), and I (KB8NW) would like to wish all DXers, Contesters and OPDX readers a very "Happy Holiday, Merry Christmas, Season's Greetings and Happy New Year". Thanks to the many individuals who have provided DX information over the past year. Without you there would not be an OPDX Bulletin. Also, thanks to the many individuals who sent holiday wishes to my family and me...... 73 and Have a Great Holiday de Tedd KB8NW DXCC COUNTRY/ENTITY REPORT: According to the AR-Cluster Network for the week of Sunday, 16th/December, through Sunday, 23rd/December there were 211 countries active. Countries available: 3A, 3B8, 3B9, 3D2, 3DA, 3V, 3W, 4J, 4L, 4O, 4S, 4X, 5A, 5B, 5H, 5R, 5W, 5Z, 6Y, 7X, 8P, 9A, 9G, 9H, 9J, 9K, 9L, 9M2, 9M6, 9Q, 9V, 9X, 9Y, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, A7, A9, AP, BV, BY, C3, C5, C6, CE, CE9, CM, CN, CP, CT, CT3, CU, CX, D2, D6, DL, DU, E4, E5/n, E5/s, E6, E7, EA, EA6, EA8, EA9, EI, EK, EL, EP, ER, ES, ET, EU, EX, EY, F, FG, FK, FM, FO, FP, FR, FY, G, GD, GI, GJ, GM, GU, GW, HA, HB, HB0, HC, HH, HI, HK, HL, HP, HR, HS, HV, HZ, I, IS, J6, J7, J8, JA, JD/o, JT, JW, JX, JY, K, KG4, KH2, KH6, KL, KP2, KP4, LA, LU, LX, LY, LZ, OA, OD, OE, OH, OH0, OK, OM, ON, OX, OY, OZ, P2, P4, PA, PJ2, PJ4, PJ5, PJ7, PY, PY0F, PZ, S0, S2, S5, SM, SP, ST, SU, SV, SV5, SV9, T7, T8, TA, TF, TG, TI, TK, TR, TY, TZ, UA, UA2, UA9, UK, UN, UR, V3, V5, V8, VE, VK, VK0M, VP2E, VP2M, VP2V, VP6, VP8, VP8/h, VP9, VR, VU, XE, YB, YI, YL, YO, YS, YU, YV, Z2, Z3, Z6, Z8, ZA, ZB, ZD7, ZD8, ZF, 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". 3Y0I BOUVET DXPEDITION NEWS. On December 20th, the 3Y0I team posted a very large update on their Rebel DX Group Web site at: https://www.rebeldxgroup.com In short, the press release talks about their "50-day long training and preparation period" prior to their DXpedition "to Amateur Radio?s ?Mount Everest?; 3Y0I from Bouvet Island." They also wrote about their boat/ship that they will use for the DXpedition. The name of the ship was not provided, but the ship has been "entirely refurbished and refitted", and "at a cost north of a million dollars." The team also talks about their zodiac ?type? high power boats, ham radio equipment and their "unique QSL cards designed by Stan, SP8S, (there are no such cards in the history of ham radio, yet). Again, the complete press release update can be found on the above Rebel DX Group Web site (or OPDX subscriber can read it below at the end of the bulletin). No other details to report, other than that there were a few 3Y0I pirates active recently. Departure dates are still not known. It is still a mystery... Remember, it takes 12 days to get to Bouvet from South Africa, and they plan to stay on the island for at least 2 weeks, if the weather cooperates. The 3Y0I DXpedition's band plan ? frequencies (160-6m) and modes (CW/SSB/ FT8) can be found at: https://www.rebeldxgroup.com https://bouvetoya.org/3yoi-bandplan QSL via ClubLog's OQRS (preferred), LoTW or via 3Z9DX. For more details and updates, we suggest to watch the following Web pages: https://bouvetoya.org https://www.rebeldxgroup.com http://jouban.jp/3y0i_ja (For JA stations) https://www.facebook.com/bouvetoya.org https://www.facebook.com/rebeldxgroup https://twitter.com/Bouvetoyaorg 5K6, COLUMBIA (Special Event). Look for special event station 5K6RM to be active during the Manizales Fair between January 5-12th. This activity is to commemorate and promote the fair. Operations will be on 160-2 meters using CW, SSB and the Digital modes. Operators mentioned are HK6JIL, HK6BRK, HK6JCF, HK6F, HK6JG, HK6J, HK6PVA, HK4D/HK6, HK4GOO/HK6, HK4LIS/HK6, HK6ERU, HJ6PDA, HK6KDK, HK6GAU, HJ6RMM and HK6RUA. QSL via direct, by the Bureau, LoTW or eQSL. For more details, see: http://5k6rm.blogspot.com 6W, SENEGAL. Willy, ON4AVT, will once again be active as 6W/ON4AVT from Mbour, Senegal, between February 20th and March 30th, 2019. Activity will be on 40/20/10 meters using CW, SSB, PSK31 and PSK63. Equipment is a Yaesu FT891 transceiver into a Buddipole antenna. This time Willy will also take an end-fed for 3 bands (40/20/10m). QSL via his home callsign. 9G, GHANA (Update). Last week we mentioned that Matt, IZ4YGS, is active as 9G5GS from Sanzule, West Takoradi (Western Region), Ghana. Matt informed OPDX of the following [edited]: "I'm travelling to Ghana almost every month for work reasons and it will be so throughout 2019. I'd like to be on-air from 80-6m, but it will take some time to be operational on all bands. I'll start with an FT-891 and wire antennas, SSB and FT8, mainly in the evening after work. Ham radio won't be my main activity in Ghana, but I'll do my best to let everybody have fun." QSL via IZ4YGS, direct or eQSL. BLOCKED/BOUNCED OPDX BULLETINS. Some OPDX Bulletins are still being BLOCKED. However, the good news is that the bouncing of bulletins seems to have stopped. The majority of the bounces/blockings are from the following ISPs: COMCAST, COX and GMAIL. We are not totally sure why this is happening, but if your ISP blocks the OPDX Bulletin, please send a complaint to your ISP. We were informed that if you use one of the above ISPs there is a way to stop the blocking. If you are an ARRL member, try using their mail forwarding service (see ). This service will pass the bulletin through to your ISP. If you did not receive the bulletin, there are other ways to receive it. The bulletin is posted every week at the following URLs: The OPDX (Mailing List) Archives: http://hamnet.org/pipermail/opdx The OPDX Web page (provided by John, K8YSE): http://papays.com/opdx.html The weekly bulletin (issue #) is also posted (for the above URLs) on FaceBook and Twitter . Let's hope this problem will clear up. Thanks for your understanding..... 73 de Tedd KB8NW DX MARATHON NEWS. John, K9EL, DX Marathon Manager, reports the following: We are pleased to announce that online log submission is now available for CQ Magazine?s annual DX Marathon. Email submissions are still OK, but if you prefer to submit online, the upload page is: http://www.dxmarathon.com/logupload.htm The online system will do basic checks to make sure that your log entry is complete. We thank everyone for their participation in the 2018 DX Marathon. Submission deadline is January 5th, 2019. Complete details about the DX Marathon are available at: https://www.dxmarathon.com Please contact K9EL with any questions or comments. HI, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. Holger, DK1FY, will be on air as HI6/DK1FY/p near the biggest salt water lake, "Lago Enriquillo", in Galv?n between December 31st and January 19th. Activity will be just barefoot with max. 100 wtts, using a Yaesu FT857D into a vertical antenna (40-10 meters), mainly using CW, SSB and eventually some Digital modes. QSL via DK1FY. IOTA NEWS.............. AF-019. Drago, S59A, will be active as IG9/S59A from Lampedusa Island between January 21-31st, 2019. Activity will be on 160-10 meters, and this will include the CQWW DX 160m CW Contest (January 25-27th) as a Multi-Op entry. QSL via his home callsign. AS-060. Operators Tae-Su/DS3EXX and Son/DS3HWS are now active as DS3EXX/4 and DS3HWS/4 from Shin Ji Island, South Korea, until December 24th. Activity will be on 160-10 meters using CW, SSB and FT8. QSL via DS3EXX, direct or LoTW. OC-066. Hiro, JI1JKW, will be active as FO/JI1JKW from Fakarava Atoll, Tuamotu Islands, French Polynesia, between December 23-26th. Activity will be on 40-6 meters using CW, SSB and FT8. QSL via his home callsign. PLEASE NOTE: Since the Webmasters of the new have decided NOT to post or dedicate a Web page to announce upcoming IOTA operations, PLEASE send your IOTA operations information to the OPDX, and we will post it here in an upcoming bulletin...... ISWL CALLSIGNS (For January). The following ISWL club callsigns will be used throughout the month of January 2019: GX4BJC/A - Operated from Eastbourne, in East Sussex, by Peter, G0NQZ, (WAB Square - TQ50 - England, IOTA EU-005, WLOTA 1841). MX1SWL/A - Not yet allocated. The operator will give details If heard/ worked. (/A WAB Square - ? - England, IOTA EU-005, WLOTA 1841). ALL QSLs will be handled by Dick, M5DIK - The QSL Manager and NOT the individual operator. The I.S.W.L. is a member of the European PSK Club. All QSL info is on or or or via . NO LoTW. KG4, GUANTANAMO BAY. David, AC8AY, is now active as KG4AY from Guantanamo Bay (NA-015) until March 21st. Activity will be on 80-10 meters using only SSB. QSL via AC8AY, direct, eQSL, LoTW or QRZ.com Log Book. NEW OFFICERS FOR 2019. The Mississippi Valley DX/Contest Club has elected its officers for 2019: President ? Udo Heinze, NI0G Secretary ? Eric Zust, W0TT Vice-President ? Chuck Guenther, NI0C Treasurer ? Bill Wiley, WA0BSW The Mississippi Valley DX/Contest Club (MVDX/CC) is an ARRL affiliated Amateur Radio club in the St. Louis Missouri and Southern Illinois area. The club specializes in Long Distance (DX) Amateur Radio communication, and in Amateur Radio contesting. The club also sponsors the Tenth Call Area ARRL Incoming QSL Bureau. The club callsign is KM0DX. Membership is open to all, and club meetings are held at 7:00 pm on the second Thursday of each month at: St. Luke?s Hospital conference center Level 2 of North/South Medical Bldg. 232 S Woods Mill Rd, Chesterfield, MO 63017 For more information please contact: Eric Zust, 636-530-5930, w0tt at charter.net OF9, FINLAND (From Santa Radio, Finland). Martti, OH2BH, sent out the following on December 19th (edited): FROM THE VILLAGE OF SANTA CLAUS, FINLAND THE NEXT GENERATION SANTA CLAUS AT OF9X, WITH A GLOBAL MISSION https://www.visitfinland.com/lapland Thank you kindly for the many letters addressed to Old Father 9 Xmas, OF9X. Many have wondered what has happened to old Santa Claus and his communication arm Santa Radio? Has he faded away with the poor radio conditions or simply gotten old and unable to travel the world for Christmas? The answer is Ho-Ho. All is fine and Santa Radio is ready to pass on short Xmas messages to people of all ages around the world. This year, however, the actual radio operations will be led by the younger elves. The seasoned elves from the different villages of this land of Christmas ? Finland ? will be substituting. The "Hunt for Santa Claus" (HSC) will start on Friday, December 21st at 1800 UTC. It will end at 2400 UTC on Monday, December 31st. This year Niko, OH5CZ (18), Otava, OH3OT (16) and Arttu, OH2FB (15) are heading the mission along with many others from their age group, while the more seasoned elves bang the drums in between. The youngsters will be 25 pointers, and you can identify them by a two-letter X-report. For example Niko will give you 59 XN. The regular elves will give you 5 points and a three-letter identity, such as 59 RAI or 59 TIM. Your target is to contact OF9X once on each band-mode. For example once on 20m CW, once on 20m SSB, etc. Your score is band-modes (5 pointers) added together plus number of X-QSOs (25 points each). The five (5) highest scores from each continent will be awarded and all high-scorers (up to 10 from each continent) will participate in a lucky draw of a unique first prize ? one that only Santa's office is aware of at this point. This year's Santa Radio is organized by three regional groups: Radio Team Mustila, OH5Z, The Radio Club of Pusula, OH9W, and northern Radio Arcala, OH8X, with their associated elves, supported by the Finnish Amateur Radio League (SRAL). Watch the OF9X QRZ.com webpage and Club Log (www.clublog.org) for your progress and the latest news. Enjoy the Hunt for Santa Claus, which is dedicated to two prime causes this year: * First, counting on young elves for this Christmas, as the future of Amateur Radio. * Second, please kindly consider sharing in a common mission to save our planet. Santa's operations are carbon neutral. We balance our carbon footprint and believe that all institutions and individuals with sufficient means ought to consider doing the same. We trust our fellow amateur radio operators to be good citizens and we value honest dedication to promote local and global social good. Radio Arcala, OH8X, has partnered with the Norwegian Worldview Inter- national Foundation (www.wif.care) in its mission to restore the mangrove forests in Asia. They have planted 90,000 mangrove trees in WIF's Thor Heyerdahl Climate Park, located on the west coast of Myanmar. The late Thor Heyerdahl was a world-renowned explorer and used amateur radio (LI2B) when he was sailing his balsa-wood Kon-Tiki raft across the Pacific Ocean, from South America to the Polynesian Islands. Please join the Thor Heyerdahl spirit and our Santa mission to do your share in saving our planet. All Club Log donations of ten (10), twenty-five (25) or one-hundred (100) U.S. dollars will result in the planting of 10/25/100 mangrove trees in the dedicated Santa Claus section at WIF's Thor Heyerdahl Climate Park in Myanmar. It is targeted that 10,000 new trees will be planted as part of the 2018/2019 Santa activity. This represents a new frontier of Amateur Radio in this good global cause.. You can use the Club Log donation option that will be opening soon to have your support transferred directly to WIF. The OQRS for OF9X QSL requests and the OF9X QSO leaderboards will also be operational soon. OPERATORS WANTED FOR HQ9X. Paul, K1XM, reported the following: We're planning a multi-2 at HQ9X and currently have three operators, K1XM, KQ1F, and KC1CWF. We're looking for another. The oper- ation is from a house, described here: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/4126978?guests=1&adults=1 That website doesn't show the shack or antennas though. This is a place you can bring your spouse or family - we probably have two or three available bedrooms. DXpedition experience is not necessary. The local airport is RTB and there have been some pretty good airfares recently. If you are interested or want more information contact me directly. PJ4, BONAIRE. Operators John/K4BAI, KU8E, Noah/K2NG and John/W2ID will be active from the "PJ4G Radio House" on Bonaire (SA-006, WLOTA LH-1279) between February 11-20th. Look for them to sign PJ4A during the ARRL International DX CW Contest (February 16-17th) as a Multi-2 entry. QSL PJ4A, PJ4/KU8E and PJ4/K4BAI via K4BAI. ADDED NOTE: Usually the team operators will all be active as PJ4/homecall before and after the contest. Checkout the PJ4G Radio House Web page at: http://www.pj4g.com PROPAGATION FORECAST/REPORT (December 24-30th)....... Dec/24th AN Dec/27th AN Dec/29th HN Dec/25th AN Dec/28th AN Dec/30th AN Dec/26th AN SOLAR REFERENCE KEYS/INDEXES AND GEOMAGNETIC REFERENCE ====================================================== NORMALITY GEOMAG K Values Alpha ----------------- ------ -------- ------ AN - Above Normal Quiet K=0-1 0-7 HN - High Normal Unsettled K=2 8-15 LN - Low Normal Active K=3 16-29 BN - Below Normal Minor Storm K=4 30-49 DIS - Disturbed Major Storm K=5 50-99 VRY DIS - Very Disturbed Severe Storm K=6-9 100-400 Meanwhile, check out the following Web sites: * VOACAP predication Web page at: http://www.voacap.com/hf * DX.QSL.NET Propagation page: https://dx.qsl.net/propagation * A daily HF radio wave propagation forecast can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/thomasfranklingiellaw4hm * SolarHam Web page: http://www.solarham.net * Radio Propagation/Space Weather/Sunspot Cycle Information at: http://sunspotwatch.com * Also on Twitter: https://twitter.com/@GiellaW4hm QSL INFO AND NEWS................... QSL-INFO from DB0SDX by Lothar, DL1SBF ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3W1T via XV1X (d) EM150I via UR7IWW(B); UW5IM(d) OG95AA via OH8AA 5W1SA via JA1DXA (d/L) EM30N via UR4NWW OH0Z via W0MM & (L) CN18JIM via EA7FTR GB0XMS via M0TVU R115RAEM via R4AS CT8/OH2IO via OH2IO HF80PGB via SP2TMT SN1918WAR via SP5AXL CT9/NZ1C via DD5ZZ & (L) HI9/F5PLR via F5PLR & (L) SP85NISKO via SQ7FPD & (L) DG5BQ/am via DG5BQ HP1/HI8JSG via HI8JSG (d/L) SP9IZ via K9FA (B/d) EA6/DK1XAM via DK1XAM (d) HZ50SAT via HZ8SAR YF9CDL via IK2DUW & (L) EA7/OH8WW via OH8GDU (d/L) LY2018XMAS via LY2QT YP2019HNY via YO3KPA EH5TYF via EA5RK OE120MF via OE6XMF ZP4KFX via IK2DUW (e) eQSL only (d) direct only (B) Bureau only (*-B) DX's- Bureau (O) OQRS only (C) ClubLog only (L) LoTW only (N) No QSL needed (I) No IRC (P) PayPal (NB) No Bureau LOGS ONLINE AT CLUBLOG.ORG THIS WEEK...... https://clublog.org/logsearch/OF9X ARRL?s LoTW (Logbook of The World) Tops 1 Billion QSO Records. Read the ARRL Press Release at: http://www.arrl.org/news/view/arrl-s-logbook-of-the-world-tops-1-billion-qso-records QSLS RECEIVED VIA LoTW: 7X3WPL, A35EU, FS/N9NU, HC5RB, OD5ZZ, ON2MD, and SQ7OBH QSLS RECEIVED VIA MAIL: 3Y0C, UK9AA and VK9MA QSLS RECEIVED VIA THE BUREAU: 6V7T, OT70DST, OT70TLS and OT70WRA --- We would like to see more QSL Bureaus (such as AS/US/SA/AF.. etc) send in their info.... V3, BELIZE. Paul, VE3AXT, is once again active as V31AX in the northern part of the country, Consejo Shores, Corozal, until mid-May. His rig is an IC-7300 with 100 watts into a Hexbeam G5RV dipole. QSL via M0URX and OQRS. Bureau QSLs are via OQRS ONLY at . Please do not send YOUR QSL card via the Bureau. For more info and pictures, see his V31AX QRZ.com Web page. V84, BRUNEI. Operators Kom/9M6KOM, Choigonjav/JT1CO, Krassimir/K1LZ, Jeffrey/K1ZM, Patrick/KK6ZM, Adrian/KO8SCA, Nikolay/LZ1NK, Atilano/PY5EG, Roman/RN5M, Adi/S55M, Chris/VK3FY and possibly others will be active as V84SAA from Istana Pantai, Brunei, between February 7-18th, 2019. Activity will be on 160-10 meters with a focus on the low bands and the WARC-79 bands. Look for more details to be forthcoming as well as a Web page. VP5, TURKS AND CAICOS. Operators John/AF3K and Ross/W2TT will once again be active as VP5/homecall from Providenciales Island between March 27th and April 1st, 2019. Activity will be holiday style on 80-6 meters using CW, SSB, RTTY, FT8 and 6M MSK. They will also be in the CQWW WPX SSB Contest (March 30-31st) using the callsign VP5P as a Multi-2 entry. QSL VP5P via N2OO or ClubLog. QSL VP5/W2TT via N2OO, direct or LoTW. QSL VP5/AF3K via N2OO, LoTW or ClubLog. VP6D DUCIE ISLAND UPDATE [Edited]. "Having returned home in time for the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, and now with Christmas already here, we are busily working on the year end project close activities. The Braveheart returned to New Zealand on December 18th, our equipment was moved to the warehouse on December 19th. The customs broker will collect the shipment after the holidays for return to San Francisco. We are designing the QSL card and expect to have it to the printer in the next few weeks. The cards will be printed in, and mailed from, Europe. You can expect to see them sometime in February. Of course, buro cards will take longer to arrive. We will notify the DX bulletins when the Direct Mail cards are posted. Happy Holidays from the VP6D team XV9, VIETNAM. Operators Bogdan/SP2FUD and Zenon/SP2GCJ will be active as XV9FUD and XV9ZT, respectively, from Vietnam, between February 5-18th, 2019. Activity will be on various HF bands and modes. QSL via their home callssigns. ZK3, TOKELAU ISLANDS (Update). An international team led by operators Hrane/YT1AD, Roman/UR0MC and Alex/UT5UY are planning a DXpedition to the Tokelau Islands as ZK3X between October 1-15th, 2019. ZK3 is currently #42 on the DXCC Most Wanted List. Alex informs OPDX that ZK3 is very highly rated on the low bands and EME. Activity will be on 160-6 meters using CW, SSB and the Digital modes (RTTY, PSK31 and FT8). QSL via UR3HR. Operators mentioned are Hrane/YT1AD, Alex/UT5UY, Roman/UR0MC, Alex/US0KW, Yaroslav/UW7LL, Nickolay/UT8IO, Alexander/UX0LL, Igor/UA2FZ, Andrey/RW7K, Serge/R7KW, Chris/VK3FY, Dusko/ZL3WW and one more operator. Look for more details to be forthcoming. ADDED NOTES: Checkout Hrane's, YT1AD, Web page at: http://www.yt1ad.info/dxped.html Also, Hrane states to look for more information after February 10th, 2019, about his visits to Tokelau (ZK3), Fiji (3D2) and Apia, Samoa (5W). -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- TO BE ADDED TO THE OPDX MAILING LIST -- Click or send requests to: Help: Subscribe: Unsubscribe: OPDX WORLD-WIDE WEB HOME PAGE (provided by John, K8YSE): http://www.papays.com/opdx.html NOW ON TWITTER: https://twitter.com/kb8nw_opdx ALSO VISIT THE NORTHERN OHIO DX ASSOCIATION'S WEB PAGES AT: http://www.nodxa.org/ http://www.facebook.com/NorthernOhioDxAssociation -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- * All excerpts and distribution of "The OPDX Bulletin" are granted as long as KB8NW/OPDX/BARF80 receives credit. ** To contribute DX info, please send via InterNet Mail to: OR OR Information can now be faxed to the following phone line at: 1-419-828-7791 (F A X only!) /EXIT -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Additional Bulletin for OPDX InterNet Subscribers. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 3Y0I Update 20 Dec, 2018 December 20, 2018 Bouvet DXpedition Update We've just completed our 50-day long training and preparation period prior to our DXpedition to Amateur Radio's ?Mount Everest?; 3Y0I from Bouvet Island. No wonder South Africa became our ?little homeland?. Fine weather, excep- tional hospitality from the locals and especially the warm welcome offered by local Hams resulted in good vibes across our entire team. There is nobody rushing us. Being independent creates more chances, opportunities and flexibility in terms of our project's goals. We approach our goals in small steps, but yet we're always moving forward. As a team, we've dedicated a lot of time and effort into improving our condition and practical skills at: First Aid Training Marine Fire-Fighting Training Water Safety Training Rescue Techniques STCW95, ENG1, First Aid All training we've participated in (and all certified by SAMSA ? South African Maritime Safety Authority) were completed successfully and all participants have received their graduation certificates. Despite the high cost ($1,600 USDs), taking part in this training mattered deeply to us for two important reasons; first, we wish to provide the highest skill measures for all team members and by doing so ? to meet all require- ments of international marine regulations. Very few folks are aware sending non-trained teams as crew members to locations like Bouvet, is illegal. Individuals taken on board all commercial (non tour) vessels must receive proper certified training and prove they qualify. Secondly, we wish each and every team member to have ? at a minimum ? an idea of what we expect to deal with during our cruise and during landing at the island. Each team member must know the crucial basics of providing safety and support to others. The Rebels are not the type who arrive 1, 2 or 3 days before departure without any preparation and basic knowledge. The experience we've all just gained will last forever and be useful on our next project (not just Ham Radio). Certainly some of you are familiar with our landing plan at Bouvet Island: with zodiac ?type? high power boats. With these type of boats we can safely transport up to 200kg of gear to the shore while facing 2-2.5m waves. Nobody has said it's going to be an easy task, but we are ready. Additionally, by splitting our gear into rounds, we'll minimize the risk of accidents in the rough water and we'll be able to take more items. There's another big advan- tage of zodiacs over helicopters: cost reduction and much more flexibility in terms of weather conditions. In case of worsening conditions we'll be able to ?wait it out? and to proceed with our ?Bouvet attack? under a more suitable and safer ?weather window?. Once ashore, our equipment will be transported up the glacier with pro- fessional alpine gear. An interesting fact: the glacier at Bouvet contains a lot of salt water. That's because waves crashing Bouvet's cliffs create sea water droplets taken by strong winds that fall over the islands ice cap. Our camp will be ice covered up to several dozen meters above volcanic land. These two factors mean our antenna environment should be genuinely radio- suitable and effective. Today, we continue preparations of our expedition vessel for this demanding trip. Taking part in these preparations has been a part of our plan from the very beginning. This is an entirely refurbished and refitted ship at a cost north of a million dollars. It is extremely suitable for running the deep South in rough sea conditions. Our vessel is able take up to 300 tonnes of cargo and 160,000 liters of fuel, making is fully self-sufficient for up to a 4-month long trip ? without the need to refuel at a sea port. The ship will wait off-shore while the team stays on the island and will be in reach in case of medical support or evacuation. Its vast and spacious interior has allowed us to pre-assemble some of our antennas and even our dome tent. A new hydraulic crane will help us load/unload the zodiacs. Our vessel is fully equipped with all new electronics, including redundant radio, satel- lite and navigation systems. Many of you ask for details regarding our Ham Radio and technical ?back- stage?. We'll utilize the following while at Bouvet Island: 3 x 2-element directional multiband Yagi antennas by Kohjinsha: http://www.kojinsha.jp/en_index.html 3 x 8-band verticals 2 x verticals for 80 and 160m bands Sloper for 80 and 160m, elevated from a cliff towards ocean beach Dipole antennas (backup) Over 2km of coax 4 diesel power generators 6.5 kW each (+ backup) 4 transceivers (+ backup) 4 x 1.3 kW power amplifiers For logging: military grade robust laptops by Panasonic Toughbook 2 x BGAN satellite modems Iridium satellite phones and communicators Professional gear for image and 4K movies taken from the ground and air In addition to the above, there is over a ton of outdoor and technical equipment (eg. ladders, tools), alpine gear (crampons, lifts, pickax, harnesses, lines, helmets, sledges) and marine (sea water suits, vests etc.) loaded in the cargo hold. More than 1 year of preparation and 4,200 lbs. of cargo already loaded. Our contacts made at Bouvet Island will all be confirmed with unique QSL cards designed by Stan, SP8S (there are no such cards in the history of ham radio, yet) and via LoTW. Stan is known for his QSL for such major DXpeditions as K5D, FT5ZM, HK?NA, XR?Y, JX5O, VK9LA, TI9/3Z9DX, P5/3Z9DX, T31T and many others. We are very thankful for ALL donations received, thank you, thank you, thank you! Sponsors of 3Y0I All the best of sunny greetings from South Africa. Stay tuned for more exciting 3Y0I news in the following hours/days. A quick reminder to those ?republishing? this 3Y0I update, please include a link back to this original post, thank you! Merry Christmas from the Rebel 3Y0I Team! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW - E-mail addresses: Editor of the Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin (OPDX - DXer's Tool of Excellence) President of the "Northern Ohio DX Association" (NODXA) DX Chairman for the "Northern Ohio Amateur Radio Society ARRL Assistant Director of the Great Lakes Division Sysop of the "Basic Amateur Radio Frequency BBS" (BARF80.ORG) From kb8nw at barf80.nshore.org Sun Dec 30 11:29:00 2018 From: kb8nw at barf80.nshore.org (Tedd Mirgliotta (KB8NW)) Date: Sun, 30 Dec 2018 11:29:00 -0500 Subject: [DX] Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin #1396 Message-ID: SB DX @ WW < KB8NW $OPDX.1396 Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin No. 1396 The Ohio/Penn DX PacketCluster DX Bulletin No. 1396 BID: $OPDX.1396 December 31, 2018 Editor Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW Provided by BARF80.ORG (Cleveland, Ohio) Written/Sent from Murfreesboro, TN Thanks to the Northern Ohio Amateur Radio Society, Northern Ohio DX Association, Ohio/Penn PacketCluster Network, the AB5K's AR Clusters Network, NJ1Q & W1AW, W1VV, NG3K & ADXO, W3UR & The Daily DX, WB6RSE, K8GG, K8GI, K8YSE, W8GEX & 60m DX News, W9ILY, DL1SBF, DL7UXG & The DX News Letter, DL7VEE, DxCoffee.com, DXNews.com, DX-World.Net, EI9FBB, ES1CW, F5NQL, F6AJA & Les Nouvelles DX, I1JQJ/IK1ADH & 425 DX News, I2MQP & DX Italia News, OZ6OM & 50 MHz DX News, PY2ZA, Sixitalia Weekly and VA3RJ & ICPO for the following DX information. *** SPECIAL NOTE FROM EDITOR (Tedd, KB8NW): My family (wife/OPDX's chief proof-reader Linda, son Teddy [TJ] and his wife Jessi, daughter Katie and her husband Kevin and son Lliam & daughter Lilly Grace), and I (KB8NW) would like to wish all DXers, Contesters and OPDX readers a very "Happy New Year". Thanks to the many individuals who have provided DX information over the past year. Without them there would not be an OPDX Bulletin. Also, thanks to the individuals who sent holiday wishes to my family and me..... 73 and Have a Great/Safe/Healthy New Year de Tedd KB8NW P.S. Sorry for the small content this week. I have been busy with the grandkids and family during the holiday week...... DXCC COUNTRY/ENTITY REPORT: According to the AR-Cluster Network for the week of Sunday, 23rd/December, through Sunday, 30th/December there were 214 countries active. Countries available: 3A, 3B8, 3B9, 3D2, 3DA, 3V, 3W, 4J, 4L, 4O, 4S, 4X, 5A, 5B, 5H, 5R, 5W, 5Z, 6Y, 7X, 8Q, 9A, 9G, 9H, 9J, 9K, 9L, 9M2, 9M6, 9Q, 9V, 9Y, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, A7, A9, AP, BV, BY, C3, C5, C6, CE, CE0Y, CE9, CM, CN, CP, CT, CT3, CU, CX, D4, DL, DU, E4, E5/n, E5/s, E7, EA, EA6, EA8, EA9, EI, EK, EL, EP, ER, ES, ET, EU, EX, EY, EZ, F, FG, FJ, FK, FM, FO, FP, FR, FY, G, GD, GI, GJ, GM, GU, GW, H4, HA, HB, HB0, HC, HC8, HH, HI, HK, HK0/a, HL, HP, HR, HS, HV, HZ, I, IS, J2, J3, J6, J7, JA, JD/o, JT, JW, JY, K, KG4, KH2, KH6, KL, KP2, KP4, LA, LU, LX, LY, LZ, OA, OD, OE, OH, OH0, OK, OM, ON, OX, OY, OZ, P2, P4, PA, PJ2, PJ4, PJ7, PY, PY0F, PZ, S0, S2, S5, S7, SM, SP, ST, SU, SV, SV/a, SV5, SV9, T7, T8, TA, TF, TG, TI, TJ, TK, TR, TY, TZ, UA, UA2, UA9, UK, UN, UR, V3, V5, V8, VE, VK, VP2E, VP2M, VP8, VP9, VR, VU, XE, XU, XX9, YB, YI, YJ, YL, YN, YO, YS, YU, YV, Z3, Z6, Z8, ZA, ZB, ZD7, ZF, 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". 3D2 & FW, FIJI AND WALLIS & FUTUNA ISLANDS. Nobby, G0VJG, will be active from Fiji between May 3-5th, Wallis Island (OC-054) [and possibly OC-118] between May 6-20th, and Fiji again from May 20-22nd, 2019. Callsigns are pending at this time. Activity will be on 80-10 meters using SSB and FT8. His equipment will be a FT-857 with 300 watts into Hex beam. QSL via M0OXO's OQRS. 3W, VIETNAM. Neven, LZ1COM, will be active as 3W9ND from Hoi An between December 30th and January 5th, 2019. Activity will be mainly 20 meters. QSL via his home callsign. 3Y0I BOUVET DXPEDITION NEWS. On December 25th, the 3Y0I team posted the following update with pictures on the Rebel DX Group Web site at: https://www.rebeldxgroup.com "Merry Christmas from the 3Y0I Rebel Team! -- Everything has been shut down here on the Western Cape of South Africa for Christmas and the New Year's Holidays. Stores, offices, warehouses and the shipyard are closed until early January. So in the meantime we will also enjoy the Season Holiday's too. But in a Ham Radio way! The 3Y0I Rebel Team is spending our holidays in the cargo hold of our ship pre-assembling some of our gear. One advantage of doing this inside the ship is that we've got natural air conditioning here ? sea waters cool the vessel nice and easy, and we're also protected from the fierce subtropical sun. In Stan's (SP8S) pictures we are pre-assembling our multiband verticals. Tomorrow we'll assemble the Kohjinsha beams. Better to prepare now, because once landed, there will be no time or mercy for mistakes! Stay tuned for more news coming soon." No other details to report, other than that there were still a few 3Y0I pirates active recently. Departure dates are still not known. It is still a mystery... Remember, it takes 12 days to get to Bouvet from South Africa, and they plan to stay on the island for at least 2 weeks, if the weather cooperates. The 3Y0I DXpedition's band plan ? frequencies (160-6m) and modes (CW/SSB/ FT8) can be found at: https://www.rebeldxgroup.com https://bouvetoya.org/3yoi-bandplan QSL via ClubLog's OQRS (preferred), LoTW or via 3Z9DX. For more details and updates, we suggest to watch the following Web pages: https://bouvetoya.org https://www.rebeldxgroup.com http://jouban.jp/3y0i_ja (For JA stations) https://www.facebook.com/bouvetoya.org https://www.facebook.com/rebeldxgroup https://twitter.com/Bouvetoyaorg 5V, TOGO. Members of EIDX Group will be active as 5V7EI from Main Street, Togo, between March 14-26th, 2019. Operators mentioned are Dave/EI9FBB (Team Leader), Jeremy/EI5GM (Co-Leader), Declan/EI9HQ, Pat/EI9HX, Enda/ EI2II, Thos/EI2JD, Niall/EI4CF, Jim/EI4HH, Norbert/DJ7JC, Heye/DJ9RR, Alain/F5JTV, John/F5VHQ and Gabi/YO8WW. Activity will be on 160-10 meters using CW, SSB and the Digital modes. They plan to have up to 5 stations on the air. This is the same group that activated 9N7EI and 7Q7EI earlier in 2018. QSL via M0OXO OQRS, direct, by the Bureau (OQRS) or LoTW (3 months after operation). For more info and updates, watch: https://5v7ei.com C5, GAMBIA. Przemyslaw, SP3PS, who became a resident of Gambia in 2017, is once again active as C5SP from Sanyang. Checkout his house being built on QRZ.com (under C5SP and SP3PS). He was heard on 20 meters using FT8 on December 29th at various times. According to Przemyslaw QRZ.com page, he can be active on the following bands: 80/40/30 meters using SSB and FT-8, into dipole antennas 30/20/17/15/12/10 meters using SSB and FT-8, into a Directional MultiBand-7-PL Antenna from Julian, SP3PL QSL via SP3PS, direct, LoTW or eQSL. E5, SOUTH COOK ISLANDS (Update). Hans-Martin, DK2HM, will be active as E51HMK from Rarotonga Island (OC-013), South Cook Islands between March 14-22nd, 2019. Activity will be on various HF bands using SSB. QSL via his home callsign, direct, by the Bureau, LoTW, ClubLog's OQRS or eQSL. HC8, GALAPAGOS ISLANDS. Gerhard, OE3GEA, will be active as HC8GET from three of the Galapagos Islands (SA-004) between January 13-25th, 2019. Activity will be from Santa Cruz, Isabela and San Cristobal Islands. Operations will be on 30-10 meters. QSL via his home callsign, direct or by the Bureau. ADDED NOTE: After his HC8 activity, look for Gerhard to be active from Guadeloupe (FG), Dominica (J7) and Martinique (FM) for approximately 6 days each. IOTA NEWS.............. AF-018. Operators Ivan/LZ1PM and Dimitar/LZ1UQ will be active from Pantelleria Island between January 24-31st. Activity will be on 160-10 meters with operators signing IH9/homecalls. Look for them to be in the CQWW 160 Meter CW and UBA Contests signing as IH9/LZ1UQ. QSL via their home callsigns. NA-092. Rich, WA5LFD, is now active as WA5FLD/p from North Padre Island until January 14th. Activity will be on 80-10 meters using CW, SSB, and RTTY. QSL via LoTW or WA5LFD direct. SA-071. Junior, PY2ZA, informs that he will be active as ZY2FM from Moela Island (DIB SP-06 and DFB SP-07) and the Lighthouse (ARLHS BRA-043 and WLOTA 1335) during the American Lighthouses Weekend (February 14-17th, 2019). Activity will be on CW and SSB. Look for more information on QRZ.com. PLEASE NOTE: Since the Webmasters of the new have decided NOT to post or dedicate a Web page to announce upcoming IOTA operations, PLEASE send your IOTA operations information to the OPDX, and we will post it here in an upcoming bulletin...... J2, DJIBOUTI. Last week we mentioned that DX-WORLD.net reported: "A DX- pedition to Djibouti (J2) in the early part of 2019 is currently in planning stages." This week they reported that the callsign would be J20DX. Look for more details to be forthcoming. PJ4, BONAIRE. Operators Fred/WW4LL and Mike/NN9DD will be active as PJ4/WW4LL and PJ4/NN9DD, respectively, between February 4-10th. Activity will be on FT8, RTTY and SSB, on all bands, and including the CQWW WPX RTTY Contest (February 9-10th) as PJ4Z. For paper QSLs, please QSL via K4BAI, but LoTW is the preferred method for all QSLs (PJ4Z, PJ4/WW4LL and PJ4/NN9DD). Log will be uploaded post contest. PJ5, ST. EUSTATIUS ISLAND. David, W9DR, will be active as PJ5/W9DR from Sint Eustatius Island (NA-145, WW Loc. FK87ml) between June 25th and July 2nd, 2019. Activity will be on 6 meters only using CW, SSB and FT8. QSL via W9DR direct. PROPAGATION FORECAST/REPORT (December 31st-January 6th)....... Dec/31st AN Jan/03rd LN Jan/05th LN Jan/01st HN Jan/04th LN Jan/06th HN Jan/02nd LN SOLAR REFERENCE KEYS/INDEXES AND GEOMAGNETIC REFERENCE ====================================================== NORMALITY GEOMAG K Values Alpha ----------------- ------ -------- ------ AN - Above Normal Quiet K=0-1 0-7 HN - High Normal Unsettled K=2 8-15 LN - Low Normal Active K=3 16-29 BN - Below Normal Minor Storm K=4 30-49 DIS - Disturbed Major Storm K=5 50-99 VRY DIS - Very Disturbed Severe Storm K=6-9 100-400 Meanwhile, check out the following Web sites: * VOACAP predication Web page at: http://www.voacap.com/hf and http://www.voacap.com/prediction.html * DX.QSL.NET Propagation page: https://dx.qsl.net/propagation * A daily HF radio wave propagation forecast can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/thomasfranklingiellaw4hm * SolarHam Web page: http://www.solarham.net * Radio Propagation/Space Weather/Sunspot Cycle Information at: http://sunspotwatch.com * Graphic propagation tool by DR2W: http://www.dr2w.de/dx-propagation * Point to point propagation at: http://www.predtest.uk/p2p.html * Realtime propagation at: http://www.predtest.uk * Also on Twitter: https://twitter.com/@GiellaW4hm QSL INFO AND NEWS................... QSL-INFO from DB0SDX by Lothar, DL1SBF ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6Y6Y via W8YCM (d) F/DF3FS via DF3FS PH2A via PH2A (L/e) 9A60KDE via 9A1AA HB0/DJ4MF via DJ4MF SN50CUG via SP3CUG 9L1YXJ via KW4XJ (d) HB0/DK3RED/P via DK3RED SO100PWJ via SP3J & (L) 9V1YC via W5UE HF19NY via SP5Y SO750W via SP6CES AL7KC via AL7KC (d/L) HI3Y via RW6HS (d/L) TJ/PD3AFI via PD3AFI C5SP via SP3PS HI8S via EA5GL (d) UN6T via UN6T (d/L) CT7/EI4JT via EI4JT LZ/4X6TT via N4GNR (d/L) UP4L via UN7LZ DJ5I via DJ5FI LZ/EA3HSO via N4GNR (d/L) V5/ZS1WO via DH3WO DP1POL/P via DL1ZBO N1F via K1TA (d) VK2SR via VK1TX (d) EG1PPE via EA1AUM OK8DCC via DL3DCC & (L) W2T via W2ZQ EM1111U via US7UU OQ5M via ON5ZO (L/e) YT100SF via YU1SRS EO70UWC via UT4UWC OZ/DJ1AA via DJ1AA ZZ5P via PY2GTA (e) eQSL only (d) direct only (B) Bureau only (*-B) DX's- Bureau (O) OQRS only (C) ClubLog only (L) LoTW only (N) No QSL needed (I) No IRC (P) PayPal (NB) No Bureau NOT THE QSL MANAGER. Bill, W1VV, informs OPDX that occasionally he receives a QSL for VP2MVV. He states, "I have never been a QSL Manager for any VP2M__ operation, and never will." QSLS RECEIVED VIA LoTW: 3B8CW, 5B4AMX, 6W1SU, A35EU, CE3YP, CU5AM, EA1ALE, EA3EW, EA5GHD, EL2BB, ET3AA, FO5QB, JD1BOI, LB7ZG, OH0Z, OH4NDU, OZ1FHU, R71RRC, RI0X, S55OO, SP2LIG, TK/S57K and VE3CGR QSLS RECEIVED VIA MAIL: E6Y, FM/DL7VOG, J68GU, KP4/EI9FBB, OX3LX, RT65KI and TT8KO QSLS RECEIVED VIA THE BUREAU: NONE REPORTED THIS WEEK!!!! --- We would like to see more QSL Bureaus (such as AS/US/SA/AF.. etc) send in their info.... V84, BRUNEI (Update). Operators John/9M6JC, Kom/9M6KOM, Nur/9M6ZAE, Faiq/ 9M6ZIM, Choigonjav/JT1CO, Krassimir/K1LZ (team leader), Jeffrey/K1ZM, Patrick/KK1ZM, Adrian/KO8SCA, Nikolay/LZ1NK, Andrey/LZ2HM, Atilano/PY5EG, Dmitri/RA9USU, Roman/RN5M, Adi/S55M, Chris/VK3FY, Hrane/YT1AD and the honorary Brunei members (Tamat/V85TL and Azril/V85AN) will be active as V84SAA from Sera Kanangan Beach in the Tutong District, Brunei, between February 7-18th, 2019. From their new Web page : "The team will be operating with the special call V84SAA, thanks to the support of V85T, Tamat Lampoh, and the Brunei Darussalam Amateur Radio Association. Team members will begin to arrive February 4th, meet on February 5th, begin setting up the antennas and stations on February 6th, to be ready to begin operations at 0001 local time on February 7th (1601Z February 6th). The license is good through 2359 local time on February 18th (1559Z February 18th). The team will focus on the low bands, but will also have a presence on the WARC-79 bands and higher bands. For antennas the team will use verticals on 160 and 80 meters and a four square on 40 meters located on the beach. Plans call for two Beverages: one on Europe and another towards North America. Topband Guru K1ZM, Jeff, a member of the V84SAA team, noted that the greyline at V8 sunset will match up great with the sunrise in North America starting in NorthEast Canada. So, all of North America will have some portion of common darkness with the V84SAA team." QSL Manager is Tony Stefanov, LZ1JZ, direct or by the Bureau. During the DXpedition, they will upload their log DAILY to ClubLog. W2, UNITED STATES (Special Event). To celebrate the 20th annual Ham Radio University educational conference and 2019 ARRL New York City Long Island Section Convention, look for club station W2HRU to be on-the-air from Sunday, December 30th, through the day of the event, Saturday, January 5th, 2019. Activity will be at various times with operations on 3923, 7273 and 14273 kHz +/- QRM. An online printable QSL Certificate available at: https://www.elemcoshopfloor.com/w2hru_cert An Electronic QSL will be available via eQSL and LoTW. Paper QSLs are via W2 QSL Bureau or direct w/SASE to Phil Lewis, N2MUN, 22 Belle Terre West, Lindenhurst, NY 11757. Ham Radio University on January 5, 2019, will be a day of education, sharing knowledge and friendship at LIU/Post College in Brookville, Long Island, New York, with more than thirty ham-related forums and workshops. Further information is online at: http://www.HamRadioUniversity.org XX9D MACAO 2019 DXPEDITION NEWS (Bulletin #2, dated December 17th). So far so good: We are collecting and distributing the equipment we want to use in Macau, always having in mind that we have to minimize the freight-costs. By the way, most of the equipment is private property of the team-members. Thanks to our generous sponsors, foundations and individuals, we were able to complete our equipment with a new 2-element full-size wire beam for 10 to 20 meters. This antenna has been modified by LZ Antenna for our special expedition-purposes. That means low weight and easy to handle. We are looking forward using this antenna and are sure that it will perform well together with our new Pentaplexer from LBS. We also were able to add a VA5 antenna analyzer from FUNKAMATEUR to our equipment list. Tuning and pruning our antennas will be much easier with that. As announced earlier we will show up more frequently on all low-bands. We will have therefore separate antennas for every single band this time. So we can work 160-80-40 m the same time. Please have a look on our homepage news from time to time to be informed about the newest developments. As in 2017 we will have a daily update of our ClubLog online log. To avoid dupes we ask you to have a look on ClubLog before you give us a call. It's just a question of fairness. Sorry that we have to inform you, we got the official information, that 60 m-activities are not allowed in Macau. FT8 seems to be a more and more popular mode for DXpeditions. We will use this mode on the usual frequencies as well as the dxpedition mode on the announced frequencies. Please consider, that we will use the newest version WSJT-X 2.0, which is the regular one from January 1st, 2019. Don't call us on our audio frequency and make sure that you follow the hints given on the WSJT-homepage. Hopefully the conditions will be fair or better. All 4 to 5 stations will be manned around the clock. Having the antennas relative close to- gether, we can only have one active station per band the same time. We will have no pilot-stations worldwide, but reports about band openings are welcome via internet. Please accept that we will not arrange skeds. LoTW uploads will made for our supporters first, all others 6 months after the last day of our expedition. For now we wish you and your families a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. See you in 2019 on all bands and modes. 73 Rolf, DL7VEE -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- TO BE ADDED TO THE OPDX MAILING LIST -- Click or send requests to: Help: Subscribe: Unsubscribe: OPDX WORLD-WIDE WEB HOME PAGE (provided by John, K8YSE): http://www.papays.com/opdx.html NOW ON TWITTER: https://twitter.com/kb8nw_opdx ALSO VISIT THE NORTHERN OHIO DX ASSOCIATION'S WEB PAGES AT: http://www.nodxa.org/ http://www.facebook.com/NorthernOhioDxAssociation -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- * All excerpts and distribution of "The OPDX Bulletin" are granted as long as KB8NW/OPDX/BARF80 receives credit. ** To contribute DX info, please send via InterNet Mail to: OR OR Information can now be faxed to the following phone line at: 1-419-828-7791 (F A X only!) /EXIT -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW - E-mail addresses: Editor of the Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin (OPDX - DXer's Tool of Excellence) President of the "Northern Ohio DX Association" (NODXA) DX Chairman for the "Northern Ohio Amateur Radio Society ARRL Assistant Director of the Great Lakes Division Sysop of the "Basic Amateur Radio Frequency BBS" (BARF80.ORG)