Ten X DX News
March 3, 1996
Several DX topics have been 'hot news' the past three
months. Since band conditions have been the poorest in
years, I want to talk about DX issues, members going
places and new on-line features.
The ARRL Awards Committee voted Romeo
Stepanenko disqualified from DXCC. Romeo submitted
documentation for his 1993 P5RS7 North Korea operation
and was unanimously voted down under two rules
concerning operating ethics because he cheated. This DQ
means he is not eligible to participate in the DXCC
program in any manner. This includes, disallowance of
contacts made with any station or DXpedition operated by
him from now on! Operations before this action count but
forget working him in the future.
Now the rest of the story: Romeo 3W3RR/AH0M, (no ten
ten) who lives in Moscow, Russia, is rumored to be a
salesman (arms dealer) and has contacts in many Asian
countries. Romeo has been making a name for himself in
the DX community as he has operated from several rare
countries where his Russian position helped get his radio
license. Romeo and others faked the P5RS7 North Korea
operation and were caught cheating, like submitting
pictures from the P5RS7 operation and now these pictures
have been identified as locations not in North Korea. A
source in the S.Pacific told me two years ago, that Romeo
operated from Vladivostok, Russia just over the border of
N. Korea and this location was verified by Japanese
stations using directional equipment.
OK, I doubt Romeo is going to loose any sleep over the
black list but this action has upset many DXers! Some
now want to disallow ALL of his operations, which
including myself, are counting for DXCC credit. I worked
hard to get him from Myanmar, Afghanistan and
Vietnam, he was there and these cards count for DXCC.
Even though Romeo was in Libya, it may never count due
to political pressures and now the black list. Unfortunately,
when you cheat, you live with the consequences!
_______________________________________________
A big controversy has erupted over the proposed
destruction of DXpedition logs by Karl Leite PS7KM
#39920. "In January 1997, all logs and QSL cards of the
past will be destroyed. So, if you would like to get a QSL,
mail your card with sufficient green stamps to his address."
Karl is the manager for several PY0 operations that have
taken place: PY0F Fernando de Noronha Isl., PY0T
Trindade Isl., PY0S St. Peter & Paul Rocks. He
manages over two dozen calls from these islands! Can you
imagine the uproar that has come back at Karl for
proposing such a travesty?
N2OO Bob Schenck #12732 has come forward asking for
the logs and QSL cards if Karl or anyone else decide they
want to destroy logs. Several things immediately come
to mind: 1) Bob needs to decide the framework under
which he will provide this service, and once decided,
obtain the blessings of as many DX organizations as
possible; 2) Get the word out as widely as possible; 3)
Computerize the images of these logs for safe keeping. I
will keep you informed of developments to this story.
_______________________________________________
Last issue I talked about Scarborough Reef, BS7H by
KJ4VH Tim #41856, and Pratas Island BV9P, being the
next new DXCC countries. The DXAC voted to accept
Pratas Island in January. Scarborough was approved over
the objections of the DX Advisory Committee by the
ARRL Membership Services Committee in February. The
DXAC, made up of 15 DXers, voted NO to Scarborough
being a new country. The ARRL MS Committee voted
YES and overrode the DXAC group and Scarborough is
now a new country! The start date for Scarborough is
January 1, 1995. Only QSOs made after that date are
eligible for credit. Thus, the 1994 operation did not
qualify. QSL cards for both countries will be received by
the DXCC Desk starting April 1, 1996. QSLs for BV9P to
Steve Wheatley (KU9S #31988), POBox 5953, Parsippany
NJ 07054. The QSL cards for Scarborough Reef BS7H
goes to JA1BK.
_______________________________________________
The Sunday 555DX net had no activity for the past month
and I have closed the net until next winter. I hear skip
south into Central & S.America but signals are weak. I
expect the number of sun spots to increase in late 1996
when the winter DX season opens for the US. The
Maximum Usable Frequency (MUF) will go up as we
move from Cycle 22 to 23. Conditions will improve so
keep working the short skip looking for 10-10 numbers.
The news about P5 North Korea is not good as they have
had a very bad winter. Possibly in a few months, there
could be an announcement of an upcoming P5 operation
by Finish operators. China amateurs are helping North
Korea get more experience with Amateur radio, like
direction finding, which is a big pastime in China.
The United Kingdom is going to stop issuing callsigns
beginning with G. On April 1, 1996, all new callsigns will
begin with the letter M. So MM will be Scotland, MW
will be Wales, MI will be Northern Ireland, plain M will
be England, etc. Existing callsigns will remain unchanged
in the United Kingdom.
Upcoming DXpeditions & New 10-10 Country Activity:
(Editor: I need to verify the following operations
worked on ten and swapped numbers with someone!)
Gerard, F2JD #63443, was active as S79JD, left the
Seychelles in December and 5R Malagasy in January
1996. He will be leaving Malagasy after 2-3 months.
LIBYA 5A. Reports indicate LZ1WR Ted #51524 will be
in Libya in March 1996. Ted and his non member daughter
LZ1HH hope to use the call 5A1A, (get his 10-10 number
as 5A1A is not a member). 3V8BB Tunisia Club Station
by DL8OBC Felix #55519 QSL direct to DL2OBF
Heinrich Langkopf, Ritterstrasse 42, D-31174 Schellerten,
Germany. RWANDA 9X4WW. Mark, ON4WW #
49103, who was signing 9X/ON4WW has received his
new callsign and has been active on 75-15 meters mostly
CW. New 10-10 Country pending all of these calls.
KH9/AL7EL - The Wake Island DXpedition was active
February 1-7. The operators were WB2DND Don #27629,
with non members AL7EL, KC7V and K4HQI. They only
made 30 SSB contacts on ten! QSL via K4HQI, Lloyd
Westbrook, Box 638, Commerce, GA 30529.
KD7P Bob #26991 is closing out many of his NH4, NH5,
NH6, NH7, 5W1GB and other logs. Send to Bob Winters,
314 A Bedrock Dr., Everett WA. 98203.
FO5VO French Polynesia by N6VO Ron #9550, will be
operating from Tahiti (OC-046) from February 12 to
March 31. Ron likes CW mostly and QSL to his callsign.
3A/I1YRL Monaco by Luc #58966 is expected back in
Monaco in March but no specific dates have been given.
TI/W7TSQ Costa Rica by Bob #35684 operated Feb. 21
to March 5. HK0/ San Andres Isl. (NA-033) Feb. 13-20.
HR2/ Honduras March 5-11. HR6/ (NA-057) March 11-
18. QSL to Bob Preston, 809 Carry Rd., Edmonds, WA
98020.
TD9IGI Guatemala (TG) by Scott KA9FOX #31122
operated Feb. 22 to March 3. After setting a new 15 meter
world record in last year's ARRL DX SSB Contest, Scott
used a new TD9 prefix. QSL to Scott Neader, 629 King
St., LaCrosse WI 54601.
V47NZ Nevis Isl. & FS/N0BSH St. Martin by Mike
#29804 was active from Feb. 14 to March 6. QSL to Mike
Tessmer, 1702-1/2 Lomis St., LaCrosse, WI 54603.
VP2VF British Virgin Isl. by Dirk #28450 on his usual
frequency of 28450 at 1500Z now has his antennas back.
Dirk was the only 10-10 DX station I worked in February.
VP5JP Turks & Caicos by Joe #22977 operated mostly
CW in Feb. QSL to his new address: Joe Pontek, POBox
59573, Schaumburg, IL 60159-0573.
ZL8 Kermadec Isl. DXpedition upcoming in May 96.
Ken Holdom ZL2HU #37889 is the organizer of a six man
team going to Raoul Isl. in the ZL8 group. Donations are
being sought for the ship expense of $25,000 to: Ken
Holdom, POBox 56099, Tawa, Wellington, New Zealand.
On-line DX information:
Thanks to JA1QGT Toku #5379 for his Email information
on band conditions and stations heard. He has worked into
Guam KH2, Mariana Isl. KH0, S.Cook ZK1,
W.Malaysia 9M2 and Australia VK this past month.
Also JA4DWZ Yasu #15046, thanks for the DX news.
You can obtain QSL information via Email by sending
a message to qsl-info@aug3.augsburg.edu. In the
message just type the callsign of interest, nothing else, and
return. ONE call per line, but certainly you can list several
calls. This service is by WQ5L Ray Rocker #42108.
Subscribe to the on-line DX Reflector which is a DX list
server like the TENTEN-L. Subscribe requests: dx-
REQUEST@ve7tcp.ampr.org DX info on the web:
http://ve7tcp.ampr.org/DX/ . I get about 20 messages/day.
If you are looking for the "Daily Solar Radio Noise flux"
use: http://www.drao.nrc.ca/web/solar.shtml.
Propagation: Solar flux will range from 67-83 in the
Spring/Summer of 96, as I write this, the Solar flux is 72,
the A index 6 and K index 1, about the same as last
quarter. Expect flux dips to 65, high A indexes greater
than 20 and the K index greater than 4, will occur 30% of
the time. For stations in the US, expect a 5% chance of
DX propagation to be East-West paths into Europe, Asia
and Africa. For stations in S.America, expect a 15%
chance of DX skip into Europe and Asia. Expect sporadic
E Layer conditions to be 1-2 hop skip from 400 to 1600
miles with fading. Remember to listen for the beacons
(28.2-28.3) to check conditions.
Letters & Cards Received:
Congratulations to DL7IO Holger #22401 and DL7IQ
Birgit #62276 who delivered a 7 lb. 6oz. girl Saskia
Moana on December 26,1995! Holger was DL7VTM and
Birgit was DL7VTZ. Corrected address: Holger
Hannemann, Rudolf-Seiffert-Str. 58, 10369 Berlin,
Germany.
Thanks to: Russ Gauthier #1525 (N5EJS@linknet.net) for
his assistance; To everyone for the letters and photos that
you have been sending; To the on-line DX Reflector,
QRZ-DX & Ohio/Penn DX Bulletins. Send photos to
Mike Davidson, 3518 Bellefontaine, Houston, TX 77025
USA or Email to Mdavidson@infosvcs.tmh.tmc.edu or
KC5CP@aol.com.
Good DX & 73. ... Mike Davidson KC5CP #24949
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