The Ohio/Penn Dx PacketCluster
DX Bulletin No. 1046.1
BID: $OPDX.1046.1
January 24, 2012
Editor Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW
Provided by BARF80.ORG (Cleveland, Ohio)

Thanks to the Northern Ohio Amateur Radio Society, Northern Ohio DX Association, Ohio/Penn PacketCluster Network, AB5K & the AR TelNet Clusters Network, K2MGA, W2VU and G3SXW for the following DX information.

CQ PRES RELEASE
(ARRL, CQ, Sign Agreement to Provide Logbook of the World Support for CQ Awards)
The following press release was sent out by Richard Moseson, W2VU:

For more information, contact:
Harold Kramer (WJ1B)
Chief Operating Officer
ARRL - The national association for Amateur Radio
(860) 594-0200 / wj1b@arrl.org

Richard Ross (K2MGA)
President
CQ Communications, Inc.
(516) 681-2922 / k2mga@cq-amateur-radio.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 24, 2012 ARRL & CQ Sign Agreement to Provide
ARRL’s Logbook of The World Support for CQ's Awards

(Hicksville, NY and Newington, CT - Jan. 24, 2012) ­ CQ Communications, Inc. (CQ) and ARRL ­ the national association for Amateur Radio, have signed an agreement to begin providing support for CQ-sponsored operating awards by the ARRL's Logbook of the World (LoTW) electronic confirmation system.. The agreement was announced jointly today by ARRL Chief Operating Officer Harold Kramer, WJ1B, and CQ Communications President Richard Ross, K2MGA.

CQ's awards will be the first non-ARRL awards supported by LoTW and will be phased in, beginning with the CQ WPX award. Additional CQ awards will follow. The ARRL's LoTW system, an interactive database recording contacts between radio amateurs was created in 2003 and has been adopted by 47,500 radio "hams" worldwide. It already has records of 400 million contacts and grows weekly. The target date for beginning LoTW support for WPX is April 1, 2012. Amateurs will be able to use LoTW logs to generate lists of confirmed contacts to be submitted for WPX credit. Standard LoTW credit fees and CQ award fees will apply.

ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, observed that this step gives radio amateurs throughout the world an inexpensive and convenient means of gaining credits toward CQ’s popular operating awards. "LoTW has significantly increased interest and participation in the ARRL's DXCC, Worked All States and VUCC awards programs. We anticipate a similarly positive response to the addition of the CQ WPX award. Amateurs will be able to spend more time operating and less time chasing QSL cards."

CQ President Richard Ross, K2MGA, said he is very pleased to be able to move forward with Logbook support for CQ awards. "We have had excellent results with electronic confirmations for several years," he said, "and I am glad that we are now able to begin expanding that convenience to those participants in our award programs who use Logbook of the World. We look forward to a smooth launch for WPX, and to the expansion of LoTW support to include the rest of our award programs as well."

ARRL (www.arrl.org) is the national association for Amateur Radio in the United States and publisher of its membership journal QST. CQ Communications, Inc. (www.cqcomm.com) is publisher of CQ Amateur Radio and several other magazines. There are currently over 700,000 Amateur Radio licensees in the USA and approximately 2.5 million worldwide.

SPECIAL EVENT (Titanic Centenary ­ Station GR100MGY - Press Release No. 1, 23 January 2012)
The sinking of White Star Line's RMS Titanic on 15th April 1912 sent shock-waves around the world and has touched our hearts ever since. Those who perished in this disaster will be remembered on its 100th anniversary during many commemorative events.

Within amateur radio we recognise that this event marked the first time that Morse code saved so many lives at sea. Jack Phillips (1887-1912) was the liner's Chief Marconi Wireless Operator. He perished only after sending distress signals in Morse right until the ship foundered, thereby saving hundreds of lives. Jack was from Godalming, Surrey, where his heroism is constantly recalled. A group of local radio amateurs commemorated his heroism on the 90th anniversary of the sinking by setting up a radio station in Godalming with the call-sign GB90MGY. The letters 'MGY' were used by RMS Titanic for all its radio transmissions. Five years later, the Wey Valley Amateur Radio Group (WVARG), activated a similar commemor- ative station in Godalming, this time using GB95MGY.

For the 2012 centenary a much larger project to honour Jack's memory will be mounted in Godalming by the Wey Valley club. From Tuesday 10th April (when Titanic sailed from Southampton), until the day of the sinking, Sunday 15th April, two transmitters will be manned continuously, with the special call-sign GR100MGY (Godalming Remembers the Centenary of the Titanic Disaster). There will be a short pause in transmissions at 0547 GMT on the Sunday, the time when distress messages ceased minutes before the liner sank. The transmitters will make contacts around the world, mostly in Morse code, targeting 15,000 two-way exchanges. Each contact may be confirmed with a specially printed card depicting Titanic and Jack Phillips.

We offer our grateful thanks to Charterhouse for providing operating facilities at their excellent Godalming location, to Ofcom for allocating the special call-sign and to Waverley Borough Council and Godalming Town Council for their support and embodying this event in their commemorative programme.

During Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th April, from 12:00 noon until 4:00pm, the general public will be welcome to visit the station to observe the transmissions and to participate in this memorable commemorative event. Further information: Michael Shortland, G0EFO, michaelgs1@talktalk.net

For Amateur Radio Publications
Some fifteen operators will man two 400 watt transmitters on the eight HF bands from 3.5 to 28 MHz , using directional antennas. Only CW will be used except on the open days, 14-15th April, when SSB will help the public to understand the operation. Activity on VHF is also planned. QSL inform- ation can be found at:

GR100MGY will be located at 0° 37’ 18” West, 51° 11’ 49” North, Locator IO91qe: Charterhouse, Hurtmore Road, Godalming, Surrey, GU7 2DX.

PLEASE NOTICE (as of February 12, 2007), NEW ADDRESS CHANGES FOR THE OPDX INTERNET HELP/SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE REQUEST:

Help: opdx-request@barf80.org Subject:help
Subscribe: opdx-request@barf80.org Subject:subscribe
Unsubscribe: opdx-request@barf80.org Subject:unsubscribe

OPDX WORLD-WIDE WEB HOME (provided by John, K8YSE (k8yse@papays.com):
http://www.papays.com/opdx.html

ALSO VISIT THE NORTERN OHIO DX ASSOCIATION'S WEB HOME PAGE:
http://www.papays.com/nodxa.html