The Ohio/Penn Dx PacketCluster
DX Bulletin No. 1156.2
BID: $OPDX.1156.2
March 31, 2014
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 WA4DAN, K5GS, K5ZD, DL1MGB and G3XTT for the following DX information.

CY0 PROJECT (Press Release)

"The CY0P DXpedition team recently presented Aaron, CYO/VA1AXC, a complete HF station for his upcoming return to Sable Island. Aaron returns to the island on or around April 16, weather per- mitting. The team has also ordered new antenna wire for his all band dipole. Gary, VE1RGB personally delivered the HF radio equipment to Aaron on March 17th. Aaron's station on Sable will now include an Icom 756 Pro 111, Heil Proset boom microphone, a Tokyo 1.1 solid state amplifier and a supply of coaxial jumpers and adapters. This is in addition to all of the antennas and coaxial cables that were used on the CY0P DXpedition. These were donated to Parks Canada at the conclusion of the DXpedition. Aaron wanted to personally thank the team for this unique opportunity and the true spirit of Amateur Radio".

TX6G UPDATE
Don, G3XTT, sent out the following update:

"We have posted some 'island life' pics on the website http://www.tx6g.com, We all enjoyed our short tour of the island yesterday (Friday). There's lots of history and some fantastic views.

With regard to QSLing, we have also posted the following:
OQRS - IMPORTANT
There seems to have been some confusion about the OQRS facility on Clublog, for which we apologise. We were intending that this should be turned on late in the expedition, so that those who worked us would make all their QSL requests in one go. However, many of you expected to see it earlier, so we have now activated it. Feel free to start making your QSL requests!

"Preparations for the 2014 Lagunaria DX Group DXpedition to Lord Howe Island are ongoing. We have booked our flights (which was not an easy task with so many people going to such a small island at the same time with a small plane). We finalized our station concept, are now putting together all the needed equipment and building also some new equipment.

Equipment
*********
While having all antennas already in our DXpedition stock, we will try to get up the yagis higher than 10m to take advantage of the better radiation pattern. For certain bands (i.e. 40m or 20m) where we expect propagation in both directions Europe and North America (which are 90° apart), we will provide a two-antenna setup combined through a stack-match unit. This allows us to hear in both directions at the same time or switch very fast between two directions. Additionally we want to try a setup with two radios manned by two operators. This operating technique which already has proven at numerous contests at DR1A, is a great way to increase the QSO rate in a huge pile-up (at least the first days we should have such situations). Also the two operators will be able to hear in different directions at the same time.

If you haven't already heard of SJ2W, you should visit http://www.sj2w.se. Besides a lot of information about this contest station, Mike, SM2WMV, provides also a PCB service for nice accessories like antenna switches (6 antennas - one or two radios), stackmatches or 4-Square controllers. For our DXpedition Mike generously sent us the stackmatch PCBs for free. Many thanks for your sponsoring!

Sponsoring
**********
Though the DXpedition's location can be reached by plane and includes a lodge, the transport capacities on the flight are stricly limited to 14kg per person. So we have to ship most of the equipment from Germany to Lord Howe Island by sea freight. Therefore we face transport costs of over EUR 15,000. We already have granted support from various DX clubs. Special thanks to the German DX Foundation (GDXF; http://www.gdxf.de) for their generous financial support! We also would like to thank the Chiltern DX Club (CDXC), Clipperton DX Club (CDXC), GMDX Group (GMDXG), European DX Foundation (EUDXF), LA-DX Group (LADXG) and the Danish DX Group (DDXG). Also some individual sponsors already showed their interest and gave us their financial support.

Working together on DXpeditions for more than 6 years now, Spiderbeam http://www.spiderbeam.com/gate.htm has always been and still is a very reliable and invaluable partner when it comes to antenna work. They are supplying us with masts made of glass fiber or aluminium, with antennas like their monoband yagis and many small accessories, but also their technical advice whenever needed.

In the past we already were using VHF handhelds made by Wouxun http://www.wouxun.com/. These small and cheap devices were not only reliable equipment on our last DXpeditions and enable operations on 2m and 70cm, but also work on Marine frequencies (which was very helpful when going on DXpedition by boat). This time we got a special sponsorship to use some new devices.

Please visit also our sponsor site

http://www.lordhowe2014.org/sponsoring/oursponsors/individuals.php to have look at all our sponsors.

Team
****
Originally planed with 15 people, our team size increased to 16 members. Michael, DL6MHW, a professor in informatics found some time in the winter semester 2014/2015 to join our group. Being a ham for over 30 years now, he is mainly active from his station at home or at club stations like DF0HQ, DR1A or DP9A. But also regularly on the road together with his family in the small bus, you can hear him from places all over Europe. Welcome Michael! Now we can say that the lodge on Lord Howe Island is fully booked with radio amateurs.

Callsigns assigned
******************
Thanks to the efforts of our team member Bernd, VK2IA, we received confirmation of our callsigns.

For the standard DXpedition operation we will use VK9DLX. Funny suffix, isn't it? Of course there is a story behind it. The first three DXers who send us (please use the contact form http://www.lordhowe2014.org/about/contact/index.php) the correct history about the special suffix (information can be found in the internet), will receive a foto book of our DXpedition ZL8X to Kermadec Island 2010.

For the CQWW SSB we will use the well-known callsign VK9LM. In memory of Rudi, DJ5CQ (silent key 1995), who was active from Lord Howe Island with this callsign several times in the 1980s and 1990s. And two of our team members already operated with this callsign together with Rudi: Dietmar, DL3DXX, and Joe, DL8WPX.

Feel free to visit the DXpedition website on http://www.lordhowe2014.org and subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed.

No idea who the Lagunaria DX Group is?
Just visit http://www.lagunaria-dx-group.org and learn more about the group, the people behind it and their goals."

1. After 2 full days of setting up equipment - 5 stations opened for business at 2:40PM local time, March 30th.
2. The boat is at anchor 500 meters from the reef.
3. Because of the coral heads that surround the island we can only transit to Mellish Reef during daylight hours, 5:30AM first trip and last trip of the day at 5:30PM.
4. Teams will alternate operating through the night.
5. We opened on 10, 15, 20 on CW and 12, 20 on SSB, working energetic but courteous pileups from Japan, Korea, Europe, South Africa, and the USA.
6. The temperature is in the 30s(C) during the day, with continuous 20 - 30 knot winds that required us to reset the tents and guys first thing this morning. There are no trees on the reef, no shade.
7. No antennas were damaged during the high winds.
8. Only the 160 meter antenna and low band receive antenna remain to be installed.
9. The team is in good spirits and happy to finally be on the air.
10. There are many sea birds nesting on the reef, they don't seem to be bothered by our presence. We are not bothered by any other local wildlife.
11. As with their other DX-peditions, the crew of Evohe is very helpful, bringing over all the equipment, doing all the heavy lifting, and keeping the team well fed.
12. We do have a problem with the computer used for the satellite ter- minal, we're working on a solution. We will start log uploads as soon as possible.

WRTC2014 PRESS RELEASE #24

Windham, NH -- March 31, 2014
WRTC2014 Receives Colvin Award Grant

WRTC 2014, Inc., host of the 2014 World Radiosport Team Championship competition, is pleased to announce that it has received a significant financial contribution in the form of a Colvin Award Grant.

The Colvin Award is managed by ARRL and funded by an endowment established by Lloyd D. Colvin, W6KG (SK). The Colvin Award is conferred in the form of grants in support of Amateur Radio projects that promote international goodwill in the field of DX.

"We are honored to receive this prestigious award," said Doug Grant, K1DG, Chairman of WRTC2014. "More than just a radio competition, WRTC is a place where competitors from around the world can create or renew lasting friendships."

More information about the Colvin Award is available at:

About WRTC2014 The World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC) is held every four years and consists of 50+ two-person teams of amateur radio operators from around the world competing in a test of operating skill. Unlike most on-the-air competitions, all stations are required to use identical antennas from the same geographic region, eliminating all variables except operating ability. Previous WRTCs have been held in Seattle (1990), San Francisco (1996), Slovenia (2000), Finland (2002), Brazil (2006), and Russia (2010). More information is available at www.wrtc2014.org or contact WRTC Chairman Doug Grant, K1DG, via e-mail at k1dg@wrtc2014.org .

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 NORTHERN OHIO DX ASSOCIATION'S WEB HOME PAGE:
http://www.nodxa.org

http://www.facebook.com/NorthernOhioDxAssociation