Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin No. 406
April 26, 1999


The Ohio/Penn DX PacketCluster
DX Bulletin No. 406
BID: $OPDX.406
April 26, 1999
Editor Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW
Provided by BARF-80 BBS Cleveland, Ohio
Online at 440-237-8208 28.8k-1200 Baud 8/N/1 (New Area Code!)

Thanks to the Northern Ohio Amateur Radio Society, Northern Ohio DX Association, Ohio/Penn PacketCluster Network, K1XN & The Golist, N2OO, N4GN, W4AU, N9JR, CT1AXS, DJ5AV & DX News Letter, DL2RUM, DL6MHW, EA5GMI, F5NOD, F6AJA & LNDX, G4BUE & DX News Sheet, I2WIJ, I4UFH, IK1QBT, JA8VE, JM1LJS, OH2BH, ON4ASW, UA0SJ, 9K2HN and ARRL DXCC for the following DX information.


THE HOT DX TOPIC OF THE WEEK! P5, NORTH KOREA. Well known DXer Martti Laine, OH2BH, has once again surprised the DX Community. Martti was able to be active as P51BH for a very short time on April 21th, for about 2 hours. During Martti's short operation, he was able to make 263 QSOs. The operating was done from a telecom center. Were some North Koreans climbed a 150 ft. tower to hoist the antennas. Martti states that "the antennas were left right there together with the Yaesu FT-847 equipment. It is just a matter of switching the power on - when the time is ripe - to allow North Korea to join the ranks of amateur radio." In short (from Martti's press release), "the operating was done between 1436-1640 Korean Time. First JA QSO was JA2DO, Europe OH5MBF, Oceania KH6WU and the United States W6WKE. The operation covered 14 MHz CW and SSB plus 21 MHz SSB. The documentation will be sent to the ARRL shortly, and QSL cards will be released from the OH2BH Finland address as soon as possible." Martti has currently left North Korea on Thurday and is back in Beijing, China. The complete press release by Martti, along with a special DXCC Press Release, will be sent out to all OPDX InterNet Subscribers as an additional bulletin. ADDED NOTE: Audio from this operation may be heard on 9K2HN's home page. The URL is: http://www.qsl.net/9k2hn/

SPECIAL NOTE FROM EDITOR. Last week we had an unfortunate thing happen to OPDX.405 which was completely out of our hands and responsibility. Some (not all) OPDX InterNet Subscribers received multiple bulletins, but the hardest hit seem to be the NJDXA's DX Reflector with each subscriber receiving about 19 bulletins. Let me asure you that OPDX only sent out one bulletin (check the headers -- dates/times/Message ID were all the same). Even BARF-80 BBS's (system where the bulletin is sent) mail log shows one copy left the system. After I learned what happened on Monday (and receiving many complaints), I sent an announcement that I would look into what happened and explain the problem did not come from this end. During some investigating, it was explained to me by local ISPs that the following "may" have happened: "It has become known a major backbone for SMTP mail, a hub for hundreds ISP's processing over 30,000 E-mail messages per minute, had its hub in Chicago go flakey starting Sunday in the early afternoon...... Knowing how SMTP mail is delivered, it may be that the Chicago hub had failed to acknowledge received E-mail and ISPs were retransmitting over and over again waiting for an acknowledgment." I want to thank the many who were very sympathetic to the situation.

3C, EQUATORIAL GUINEA (New IOTA!). The "DX News Sheet" reports that Jean, TR8XX, is planning to be active May 22nd from Corisco Island (in the Rio Muni Province Group). His length of stay is not known, but more details are to follow.

3D2, FIJI. Look for Mat/JA1JQY, Sasi/JA1KJW, Kaoru/JA3MCA/1 and Kuni/ JA8VE/1, of the Yamato ARC (JA1ZEK), to be active as 3D2SH, 3D2HI, 3D2TK and 3D2KZ, April 30th through May 1st. Suggested frequencies are:

Please QSL via their home callsigns. The group plans to move on to Tuvalu after this operation (See T2).

9K, KUWAIT. Mohammed Al-Holi, 9K2DR, KARS Manager, announced that the DX group of Kuwait Amateur Radio Society have currently organized a trip to the Kuwait Island of Faylaka (IOTA AS-118) for the third time. This operation should have started by the time you read this and will last until April 30th. Activity will be on all bands using the callsign 9K2F. QSL via 9K2RA. The direct address is: Kuwait Amateur Radio Society, P.O. Box 5240, 13053, Safat, Kuwait.

BI5, DONGTOU ISLAND (New IOTA). Just a quick reminder. The BI5D IOTA DXpedition team will be active next week from Dongtou Island in the Zhejiang Province Group, April 29th through May 3rd. Please refer to OPDX.403.

FO, MARQUESAS AND AUSTRALES ISLANDS. The "LNDX" reports that Alain, F2HE, will be FO/F2HE from Marquesas starting June 4th. In July, he will return to Tahiti with stop overs in Tuamotu Archipelago (OC-066) and Raiatea (OC-067). In August, he will be in the Australes on the Island of Tubuai (OC-152). He will go back to France in early September.

FT5W, CROZET ISLANDS (Bad news!). Gil, F5NOD, reports that as of April 17th, Gilles's (FT5WH) Transceiver went QRT! While he was transmitting, he saw a "flash" inside and can't transmit at all. He is looking for a solution and is absolutly disappointed. Gil will keep the DX community updated.

HK, COLOMBIA. Gerard, F2JD (now ex-HK3/G0SHN), has received his new callsign HK3JBR. He has been active this past week on 80 meters around 3794 kHz after 0400z. Gerard will be here for 2 years. See OPDX.400 for more details.

IOTA NEWS.....

L2, ARGENTINA. LU1FI is another station that will be active as L21FI during the celebration of the 75th aniversary of the contact between Carlos Braggio (r-CB8) and Ivan O'Meara (z-2AC) in 1924. QSL L21FI via LU1FI by the bureau or direct to: Montevideo 441 P.5, Zip 2000, Rosario (Santa Fe), Republica Argentina. For more details or questions, send an E-mail to: lu1fi@hotmail.com Also, look for "Luc", LU7EC, wto be active as L27EC. QSL via LU7EC, Lucas Mariano Elichagaray, C.P. 2703, Carabelas Bs As, ARGENTINA (with a S.A.S.E.) or bureau.

NEW WEB SITE AND NEW SERVICE. John, K1XN, reports that "The Golist" has a new Web Site and some new features on the Web. The Web site is at: http://www.itis.net/golist/ The site now has NEW features for Guests and Registered Users, such as "Online Look ups from the Golist database". This database will be updated periodically during the month. OPDX InterNet Subscribers will receive the complete details and press release by John as an additional bulletin.

QSL INFO AND NEWS......

SPECIAL EVENT. Commemorating the 500 anniversary of the University of Valencia, a special callsign has been issued which will be on the air April 30th through May 2nd. The callsign will be EG5UV, and a special QSL card will be available for all contacts. There will be two operators: EA5DFV and EA5GMI. Please look for them on all bands including the WARC bands. QSL via EA5GMI, preferably via the bureau.

SPECIAL EVENTS (French)......

SV9, CRETE. Bob, I2WIJ, will operate as SV9/I2WIJ during his summer vacations, July 12-26th. He will also participate in the IOTA Contest as a Single Op (24H CW) DXpedition Mode entry. During his first week there, he will be mainly on vacation. During the second week he will be more active on the radio. He will be using a Cushcraft R7 and ICOM IC706 MkII. Look for him on the usual IOTA frequencies and the WARC Bands. For more news and updates, also on-line logs after his operation, check out Bob's Web page at: http://www.qsl.net/i2wij/

T2, TUVALU. After their 3D2 operation (See 3D2 above), look for Mat/JA1JQY, Sasi/JA1KJW, Kaoru/JA3MCA/1 and Kuni/JA8VE/1, of the Yamato ARC (JA1ZEK), to be active from Funafuti Atol May 2-9th. They will sign T22JY, T22KJ, T22TK and T22VE. Suggested frequencies are:

Please QSL via their home callsigns.

T30 & T33, WEST KIRIBATI AND BANABA ISLANDS. A German team from the Berlin DX Group will go in October-November (1999) to T30 and T33 for three weeks. The team consists of 11 members, 8 which are ham operators. The operators are: Tom/DJ6TF, Wolf/DL2NWK, Tom/DL2RUM, Tom/DL7BO, Sigi/ DL7DF, Frank/DL7UFR, Rudi/DL7VFR and Marianne/DD6UYL (YL operator). The rest of the team consists of two XYL's and one YL (Norma, Christiane, Sabine). All of the operators have DXpeditions experience since 1990. They expect to arrive on the Island of West Kiribati on the morning of October 19th. Their licence is in order, but their callsigns are still not assigned. They will try to use two callsigns, one for SSB and one for CW/RTTY. They will have four complete stations with PAs with them (actually they will have six TRCVRs with them). They may run three stations around the clock and all stations simultanusly. The team has three beams antennas (a 5 element Tribander, a 3 element Tribander and a 3 element for WARC. They hope to get a second WARC beam). They will also have two fullsize 1/4 verticals for 80m. It is planned to erect both antennas, and phase it for better gain. These antennas are also used for 160m. For 40m and 30m, they will also use verticals. They hope to find enough space on the islands to erect all antennas. They plan to be active on CW/SSB and also on RTTY. After about a week of operation, four of them will go to Banaba, with half of the equipment. The ship for their 2.5 days of sailing is already booked. They have everything they need (Water, food, fuel, generators, beer, ....). It is planned to be on the island from October 28th through November 2nd. In Banaba, there is a guest house all ordered, but they will need special permission to visit the island. They will run with two complete stations with PAs and a third Low-Power staion for "local" QSOs with JA and NA. They will depart from Kiribati the morning of November 11th. For more details and update-to-date info, check out the Web site at: http://www.qsl.net/DL2RUM/

T8, BELAU. The "DX News Sheet" reports that Hiro/JH3FJG and Kenji/JI3DLI will be active July 20-25th, as T88JR and T88DX. Activity will be CW/SSB/FM on 80-6 meters. QSL via their home callsign. Just a quick reminder and update to look for Misao/JJ1DWB, Hide/JM1LJS and Hiro/7N1KAE to be active as T88MT, T88LJ and T88YH April 27th - May 6th (Refer to OPDX.403). Hide, JM1LJS, informs OPDX that he will be on 3795 kHz (April 27-May 1st) everyday between 2000-2100z.

XU, CAMBODIA. Jani, YB0US, will be active from here as XU7AAP, April 22-26th. Activity will be on 80-6 meters (look for him on the high end of the band). QSL via N2OO, Bob Schenck, P.O. Box 345, Tuckerton, N.J. 08087 USA.

YK, SYRIA. Michael, DL6MHW, informs OPDX that he plans to operate as YK/DL6MHW some time this week. He will be attending a conference on April 28th, but wants to operate at least 6 days on the air. He wants to demonstrate PSK31 and Pactor to Syrian amateurs. He will become active with the help of YK1AO, Dr. Omar Shabsigh, who is the president of the Technical Institute of Radio, the Syrian amateur radio society. According to information by Omar, Michael will use the call YK/DL6MHW for his visit. He will be operating SSB and CW all bands, depending on available antennas. Michael states, "The main goal is to support as many as possible stations with an new one (YK is somewhere on the Top 30 in the World and North America). For that I will focus to one main band, if pile-ups are booming." Check out his Web page for details/updates at: http://wwwiti.cs.uni-magdeburg.de/~hoeding/hamradio/yk_main.html

ZK1, NORTH AND SOUTH COOK ISLANDS. Look for the Wolf/DL2SCQ and his wife Ann/DL1SCQ to activate a few IOTAs from these two islands during the month of August. Their callsigns will be ZK1SCQ and ZK1SCR and their planned schedules are as follows:

Bands/Modes activity were not mentioned. QSL via DL6DK, Peter Voilts, Uhlandstr 28, D-59192 Bergkamen, Germany.

SPECIAL NOTE FROM THE EDITOR. Please send all DX announcements/information "ONLY" to the addresses below and "NOT" to the distribution InterNet address of: dxinfo@barf80.nshore.org

OPDX INTERNET SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE REQUEST: opdx-request@nshore.org
OPDX WORLD-WIDE WEB HOME (provided by John, K8YSE):
http://www.en.com/users/k8yse/opdx.html
OPDX SPANISH WEB SITE. (provide by "QTC Magazine" and Tony Pernas, EA1CSI):
http://www.intercom.es/qtc/qtcopdx.htm

Excerpts and distribution of The OPDX Bulletin are granted as long as KB8NW/OPDX/BARF80 receive credit. To contribute DX info, call BARF-80 BBS online at 440-237-8208 14400/9600/2400/1200/300 and leave a message with the Sysop or send InterNet Mail to one of the two following addresses: kb8nw@barf80.nshore.org -or- aq474@cleveland.freenet.edu - OR - Send a message via packet to KB8NW @ WA8BXN.OH.USA.NA - OR - Use the VOICE or FAX answering machine at 440-237-8208 which shares the same phone line as BARF-80 BBS using a data/fax/phone switch. To access: 1) Dial Number. 2) Wait for first ring (the second ring should be a false ring from the fax/data switch box) and then dial four quick ones ("1111"). (NOTE: Some FAX machines that send single "BEEPS" every second will not have to do this step.) 3) The phone will pick up and after the "BEEP" leave your voice message or FAX.

Tedd Mirgliotta KB8NW
InterNet: kb8nw@barf80.nshore.org
Basic Amateur Radio Frequency BBS (BARF-80) +1 440/237-8208
"Totally devoted to Amateur Radio" - 24 Hrs a day 8/N/1 14.4k-300 baud