The Ohio/Penn Dx PacketCluster
DX Bulletin No. 693
BID: $OPDX.693
January 10, 2005
Editor Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW
Provided by BARF-80 BBS Cleveland, Ohio

Thanks to the Northern Ohio Amateur Radio Society, Northern Ohio DX Association, Ohio/Penn PacketCluster Network, AB5K & the AR TelNet Clusters Network, AA1M, K1XN & GoList, W1JR, W1NK, N2CKH, NG3K, W3HQ, W3UR & The Daily DX, K4VUD, N4AA & QRZ DX, NI4Y, K8YSE, 9A6AA, 9A7K, DL1EK & The DX News Letter, DL5EBE, EC8AUA, F5CWU & La Gazette du DX, F5NQL & UFT, I1JQJ/IK1ADH & 425 DX News, I1HYW, IZ8BRI, IZ8CCW, J6KVR & JA-IOTA Islands News, OK1DOT, OK1JR, OZ8ABE, PG5M, SP4GFG, VA3RJ & ICPO, VE7HA, VK3DYL, ZK1CG and ZS4BS for the following DX information.

DXCC COUNTRY/ENTITY REPORT
According to the AR-Cluster Network for the week of Sunday, 2nd/January, through Sunday, 9th/January there were 218 countries active. Countries available: 3A, 3B8, 3B9, 3C, 3D2, 3DA, 3V, 3W, 4J, 4L, 4S, 4X, 5B, 5H, 5N, 5R, 5T, 5U, 5V, 5Z, 6W, 6Y, 7P, 7Q, 7X, 8P, 8R, 9A, 9G, 9H, 9J, 9K, 9L, 9M2, 9U, 9V, 9Y, A2, A3, A4, A6, A7, A9, AP, BV, BY, C2, C3, C6, CE, CE9, CM, CN, CP, CT, CT3, CU, CX, D2, D4, DL, DU, EA, EA6, EA8, EA9, EI, EK, EP, ER, ES, ET, EU, EX, EY, EZ, F, FG, FH, FK, FM, FO, FR, FY, G, GD, GI, GM, GU, GW, HA, HB, HB0, HC, HC8, 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, P2, P4, PA, PJ2, PJ7, PY, PZ, R1FJ, S5, S9, SM, SP, ST, SU, SV, SV/a, SV5, SV9, T5, T7, T9, TA, TF, TG, TI, TK, TR, TT, TU, TY, UA, UA2, UA9, UK, UN, UR, V3, V5, V6, V7, V8, VE, VK, VK0M, VP2E, VP2M, VP5, VP8, VP9, VQ9, VR, VU, VU4, XE, XU, XX9, YA, YB, YI, YJ, YK, YL, YN, YO, YS, YU, YV, Z2, Z3, ZA, ZB, ZC4, ZD7, ZD8, ZD9, ZF, ZK1/s, ZL, ZL7, 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" (WFWL).

2004 DXCC (Year in Review by K1JR)
Joe Reisert, W1JR, has once again provided OPDX with his annual "DXCC Year In Review". He reports to your editor that 2004 was one of the poorest years for DXing, and he is really disappointed with his totals and the DX available during the year. Anyway, you may agree or disagree with him, but the following is always fun and interesting to read.

THE 2004 DXCC YEAR: "As you may remember (from my report last January), since 1988 I have been trying to work as many DXCC entities each year that I can catch without losing sleep or upsetting my XYL 'TOO' much. In a typical year, that is 275-285 with 293 (2001) being my highest total. All modes are used (CW, SSB and Digital). Furthermore, each year I try to add a little twist. One year was 100 Watts maximum, another 4 Watts maximum and one with only an R7 vertical. In 2004, I decided to see how many (I can work) on all three modes. It really was lots of work.

The final totals were as follows: 273 different entities worked overall, 258 on CW, 248 on SSB and 201 on Digital modes. I reckon I missed 12 entities meaning that about 285 entities were active during 2004 (pirates not counted!).

Heres the list of the entities that I believe were not active in 2004. It can serve as a list of rare DX hi.:
AF : 3B6, 3C, 3C0, 3Y/B, 9X, D6, E3, FR/G, FR/J, FR/T, FT/W, FT/X, FT/Z, J5, VK0H
ANT: 3Y/P
AS : 1S, 7O, BS, BV9P, E4, P5, VU7
EU : JX
NA : CY9, CY0, FO/C, KP1, KP5, TI9
OC : 3D2/C, 3D2/R, H40, KH1, KH3, KH5P/J, KH5KR , KH7, T31, VK9M, VK9W, VK0M, VP6/D, ZK1/N (*), ZL8, ZL9
SA : CE0X, HK0M, PY0T, VP8SAND

*N. Cook maybe but not sure.

Finally, for fun, I started DXCC over again when I moved to my new QTH in New Hampshire in 1991. As a gauge for those chasing DXCC, it took about four (4) years to be Honor Roll eligible. The final ten worked took until now when VU4 was finally activated after a seventeen year hiatus.

I hope this info helps DX'ers trying to work them all! Then, for the final challenge, you can try to work them all on 10 bands for the DXCC Challenge Award, but not in ONE YEAR!"....... 73, Joe, W1JR

3C, EQUATORIAL GUINEA (Interesting Callsign Of The Week!)
Activity by a station signing 3CAK (Yes, this is the complete callsign) and stating his name as Vladimir in Malabo on Bioco Island (AF-010), has been active on 20 meters (around 14200-205 kHz) at various times. We highly recommend to "Work First Worry Later" (WFWL) and not send for any QSLs on this one until reliable information about the operator/operation can be obtained. Operator states he will be there until April. QSL info has been reported as: Vladimir Arseniev, Gagarina St. 14A/1, Zelenogradsk 238530, Kaliningrad, Russia.

3G0, EASTER ISLAND
Operators Oystein/LA5QKA, Ole/LA6EIA and his wife Kari/LA8FMA, Terje/LA8BCA, Torbjorn/LA8ELA, Reidar/LA9DK, Norleif/LA9FG, Svein/LA9KKA, Harald/LA9SN and Soren/OZ1FTU are now active from here until January 18th. They will operate as 3G0YP (CW and Digital modes) and 3G0YM (SSB). Activity seems to be on all bands. QSL via LA6EIA:

A35, TONGA
YL operators Elizabeth/VE7YL and Gwen/VK3DYL will operate from Nuku'alofa and Vava'u between May 23rd and June 7th. Their callsigns and detailed QSL information will be forthcoming at a later date.

ACIA AND ACIAG INFO/LOG AVAILABLE
Kresimir, 9A7K, informs OPDX readers that information about the "All Croatin Islands Award Group" and "All Croatian Islands Awards" can now be found in English, Croatian and the German language ( coming very soon in the French language) on the Web page of the ACIAG at:

CT9, MADEIRA ISLANDS
Operators Gyuri/HA5JI, Szabo/HA5SX, Gyorgy/VE3NZ and Lali/VE3NE will be active from here between January 22nd and February 3rd. They will be an entry in the CQWW 160m CW Contest as CT9M.

D4, CAPE VERDE
Alex, 4L5A, will be active as D4B during the CQ WW 160m CW Contest (January 29-30th) as a Single-Op/High-Power entry. QSL via K1BV.

IOTA NEWS
AF-004. Members of the Canary Islands DX Society will be active from Burrero Rock as EF8BDX, February 12-13th. Burrero Rock is valid for the Spanish Islands Award (D.I.E) S-349, the D.M.E. 35.011 and the Grid Locator: IL27HV. Activity will be on 15 meters SSB only. The team that is activating AF-004 are licensed EC8 operators. They are restricted to only operate below 21200 kHz, but will also be split sometime TX 21200 and RX 21300 +/- 5 kHz for restricted operators in the IARU Zone 2. QSL Manager is EC8ADU Dunia (more details on QRZ.com). All QSLs will be sent through the URE Bureau after their operation. To see their special QSL of this activity, please visit at:

AS-012. Operators JJ6FTT/6 and JK6RCO/6 were expected to operate from the Hime Island (JIIA AS-012-013) Oita Pre from January 9-10th. QSL via the bureau or direct home call.

EU-016. Operators Fredy/DE0MST, Sven/DF9MV, Mathias/DL5MFL, Boro/9A3KB, Daki/9A2WJ and Emir/9A6AA will be active as 9A0CI from Struga Island/Lighthouse from May 14-21st. Other reference numbers are: IOCA CI-051, WLOTA LH-0815, MIA MC-196, ARLHS CRO-148 and ADLL E3544. QSL via DE0MST. Visit their Web page at:

EU-166. Activity scheduled by the IO9TA team from Lunga Island had to be cancelled due to bad sea conditions. The team hopes to activate this IOTA in the near future as soon as possible.

OC-150. Stan, YB0AJR (OK1JR), will operate from Gili Air Island as YB0AJR/9 between January 8-12th. He plans to concentrate on 40/30/20/15 meters CW. Stan will also try to make some QSOs during the ARRL RTTY Roundup. QSL via OK1JN.

PIRATE ALERT
Bo, OZ8ABE, informs OPDX readers that the station signing OH0/OZ3GF is probably a PIRATE. He has contacted their National Telecom Agency, and they informed him that the callsign OZ3GF has been terminated since April 14, 2000.

QSL INFO AND NEWS
Bob, 9V1GO, was active as YB5/9V1GO this past week. QSL info is via Petr, OK1DOT.

NOT THE QSL MANAGER. Frank, W1NK, reports receiving QSL cards for XF3T and states that he is "NOT THE QSL MANAGER". The correct QSL Manager is N1NK.

VI3GP QSLS. The Club handling this callsign apologizes for the long delay in acknowledging cards received. All direct cards (with return postage) have now been sent out with Bureau cards to follow shortly.

SILENT KEY
Gerben, PG5M (ex-PA0GAM, PA5NT), informs OPDX that Geert Heemstra, PA0GIN, became a "Silent Key" (SK) on December 23, 2004. Geert was a long time radio amateur and a great CW enthusiast. He was the inspiration for many young and old aspirant ham radio operators and the driving force behind many activities such as organizing one of the major Dutch ham fairs and contest station PA0GN (later PI4GN). He was heavily involved in the Dutch amateur radio society. Gerben states, "I personally was one of the many people that received a CW training from Geert which for me was the start of becoming a CW and contest enthusiast. Later Geert acted as my QSL Manager (PA0GAM/ST2, etc.) which he did with great dedication. We have lost a great radio operator and radio friend." OPDX and its readers would like to send our deepest sympathy to his family and friends.

SPECIAL EVENT
The Pretoria Amateur Radio Club, one of the oldest amateur radio clubs in South Africa, is celebrating their 75th anniversary in 2005. Starting from January 1st (2005), the club will be using the special callsign, ZS75PTA, for the rest of the year. QSL either via the bureau or direct to: PARC, PO Box 73696, Lynnwood Ridge 0040, RSA.

SPECIAL EVENT
Steve Hajducek, N2CKH, OMARC Club Secretary/Membership Chairman, reports that from 1400z, January 15th to 0000z, January 16th the Ocean Monmouth ARC will operate from the historic Diana site to commemorate the first ever successful moon bounce experiment as conducted by the U.S. Army Signal Corps held on January 10, 1946. OMARC shall operate CW/SSB and possibly other modes in the General and Novice/Technician sub-bands of the 80, 40, 20, 15, 10 meter bands and possibly elsewhere. For a historical perspective, please refer to the ARRL QST article in the May of 1946 QST titled "A DX Record: To the Moon and Back, How the Moon-Radar Feat was Accomplished" written by Herbert Kaufpman, W20QU. For more information on the Diana Project and for QSL info, please visit the OMARC Web site at:

SPECIAL EVENT
The Radio Club "GFG Family" (SP4YFG) will operate as HF4IARU from January 25th to April 25th celebrating the 75th anniversary of PZK and the 80th anniversary of IARU. QSL via SP4GFG, by the bureau or direct to: Tadeusz Bres, PO Box 147, 15-959 BIALYSTOK 2, Poland.

TG, GUATEMALA
Bill/NI4Y and his wife Tricia/AB4XQ will be in Guatemala City from January 18-24th. They plan to operate portable /TG and will be operating mostly on CW at the bottom of the bands on 40/30/20/17 meters. QSL via the bureau or NI4Y.

V4, ST. KITTS
Mike/W1USN, Bob/AA1M and Scott/W1SSR will be active from here between February 24th and March 4th, signing V4/homecall. They hope to operate CW, SSB and PSK on all authorized HF bands. QSL via the bureau or their CBA.

VK0M, MACQUARIE ISLAND
Dave, VK3KR, a Senior Communications Technical Officer, is now active as VK0MT from Macquarie Island (WAP AUS-11) using an ICOM IC-706, 100 watts and a long wire antenna. He can be active only during night times. Soon he will start with 2 meters scatter experiments as reported by Masa San, JE1LET. His other duties on the base are Anaesthetics Assistant, Waste Management, SAR Team and Webmaster. Over the past week, Dave was working from a small hut at Water Fall Bay using only a multi-band dipole that was only 10 or so feet off the ground. He was heard on 80/40/20/17/15 meters SSB. Activity was between 1000-1330z on or around 3795, 7085 and 14185 kHz (+/- 5 kHz). Currently, most of his operations will be SSB, but CW, PSK and RTTY may be an option later. By the time you read this, Dave should be back at the main base. Victor, ZK1CG, reports that Dave may show up on some nets like the Southern Cross DX net on 14239 kHz at 1100z, the W7PHO net on 14245 kHz at 1400z, the ANSA net on 14183 kHz at 0515z and the 247 net on 14247 kHz at 2100z. Masa, JE1LET, is his QSL Manager. Dave will send logs to Masa and a nice picture of the Island for the QSL card.

VP2V, BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS
Look for operators Sigi/DL7DF, Frank/DL7UFR and Wolfgang/DL4WK to be active from here February 22nd through March 9th. Callsign will be VP2V/homecall. The team will have three stations with two linears available (at least one station will be on 24 hours a day). Activity will be on all bands (mainly low bands) CW/SSB/RTTY/PSK31/SSTV. Antennas mentioned are: 21m Vertical, R7, Hexbeam and Yagi for 6m, for RX K9AY loop and beverage antenna. QSL via DL7DF.

VP2V, BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS (Update)
Last week we announced that Curt, W3HQ, will be here January 26th through February 5th for the CW CQ Worldwide 160 Meter Contest. Curt informed OPDX this past week that he will be on the Northeastern Coast of Virgin Gorda, BVI, in a house on the beach. His callsign will be VP2V/W3HQ. Activity before the contest will be "CW ONLY" on 160/80/40/30/20/15 meters (primary bands will be 160/80). Curt states,

"I may not have E-mail on the island, so any SKED requests need to be sent and confirmed prior to departure."

VP8, SOUTH GEORGIA ISLAND
Lars, DL9LB, is expected to be active as VP8DIF, January 18th through February 18th. He will be working from Husvik, and his activity will be mostly on SSB around the IOTA frequencies (no WARC bands). However, his operating time will be limited due to his work schedule. QSL via DB3LSP (QRZ.com).

VU, INDIA
Reports indicate that a VU station has been active on 160 meters CW. Look for Kumar, VU2BGS, on the 160 band, starting around 100z and almost as late as 0000z (then he moves to 80m CW). QSL via the operators' instructions.

VU4, ANDAMAN ISLANDS
Charles, K4VUD, provided a few updates over the past week about the following items. He talked to Suri, VU2MY, Director of NIAR, on January 5th, and he stated that "QSL cards were arriving at NIAR in Hydrabad with all kinds of contents (green stamps, etc.) in good order and were not tampered with in any way prior to final delivery at NIAR." He encourages that method of QSLing, i.e., directly to NIAR. Suri also stated that once the personnel at the NIAR has free time, they will post on the NIAR Web site a list of "cards received" for everyone to read. He also spoke of plans to put the VU4 logs on that Web site once the time is available. All the logs are safely locked up in Hydrabad now. Now for the real good news. Charles stated, "The India government is allowing any VU licensed ham to go and operate on VU4, including Nicobar Island. I do not think anyone, however, has the guts (myself included) to go there simply to do DX contacts while the emergency is still going on." Stay tuned to the NIAR Web site at:

XU, CAMBODIA
By the time you read this, Peter, NO2R, should be active as XU7ACY until January 20th from Sihanoukville. He plans to concentrate on 160-40 meters CW/SSB. QSL via K2NJ.

YJ, VANUATU
YL operators Elizabeth/VE7YL and Gwen/VK3DYL will operate from Port Vila and Aore Island between May 2-19th. Their callsigns and detailed QSL information will be forthcoming at a later date.

ZK2, NIUE (Update)
Murray, VE7HA, informs OPDX that things are solidifying nicely for his Niue trip with his wife Konomi. They leave Vancouver on February 2nd bound for Niue via Honolulu and Samoa. They don't actually arrive in Niue until early February 7th, since they must wait 4 days in Samoa for their plane connection. The Managing Director of Niue Telecom has informed Murray that his callsign will be ZK2ML. He will receive the licence upon his arrival. Murray adds that since they plan to be in Niue for about 2 months, he hopes to be active to some degree in the ARRL DX CW and SSB Contests, and also CQ WPX SSB Contest. Murray now has WinPSKse installed on his laptop and is working on the physical interface for the rig. So PSK operation is a possibility which he presumes would be appreciated from ZK2. Weight limits on Polynesian Airlines are really restricting what Murray can take. Otherwise he states that they seem to be a great airline considering their economical fares and helpful staff.

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