425 DX News #1649

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425 DX News #1649

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10 December 2022                                          A.R.I. DX Bulletin
                                   No 1649

                         ===========================
                         *** 4 2 5  D X  N E W S ***
                         ****  DX  INFORMATION  ****
                         ===========================
                          Edited by  I1JQJ & IK1ADH
                        Direttore Responsabile  I2VGW

6W     - Earl, WA3DX  will be active  holiday style from Senegal  between 22
         December and 20 January.  He will operate FT8 and some SSB on 40-10
         metres. Specific locations may include Dakar and Mbao as 6W1/WA3DX,
         Kaolack  and  Marloj  (one  of  the  Saloum Islands,  not IOTA)  as
         6W6/WA3DX. QSL via LoTW, or direct to home call.
A6     - A60BHR is the special callsign for the Emirates Amateur Radio Soci-
         ety to take part in the celebrations of Bahrain National Day on 10-
         16 December.  QSL via EA7FTR.  Individual  operators  may  append a
         serial number  to the special callsign,  and be active as A60BHR/0,
         A60BHR/1, etc. (see qrz.com for the QSL routes).
A9     - Celebrating  the  Kingdom of Bahrain's  National Day,  the  Bahrain
         Amateur Radio Society  will be active as  A91ND  until 16 December.
         QSL via EC6DX.  Also  taking part in the celebrations  will be  the
         Saudi Amateur Radio Society as HZ1BHR on 10-16 December, as well as
         the Kuwait Amateur Radio Society as 9K9BHR on 12-18 December.
OH     - Celebrating  the  Christmas Holiday Season,  the OH9A team is  once
         again active as OG1XMAS on all bands and modes between  28 November
         and  26 December.  QSL via LoTW (preferred),  Club Log's  OQRS,  or
         direct to OH1NOA.
SM     - Once again the unique and still operational  long wave transmitter,
         with  call  sign SAQ, at  the  Varberg Radio  Station  at  Grimeton
         (southern Sweden) will be activated on VLF 17.2 kHz on 24 December.
         The  message  transmission  will  take place  at  8  UTC   and  the
         transmitter will be tuned up  from around 7.30 UTC.  Built in 1922-
         24, the  Varberg Radio Station  has been inscribed  on  the  UNESCO
         World Heritage list since 2004. As for the amateur bands,  Grimeton
         Radio Station  SK6SAQ  will be QRV on CW (3535, 7035 and 14035 kHz)
         and SSB (3755 and 7140 kHz). QSL SK6SAQ via the bureau or direct to
         Alexander  GVV  Radiostationen,  Grimeton 72,  SE-432 98  Grimeton,
         Sweden. See https://alexander.n.se/en/ for more information.
TR     - Roland, F8EN will be active as TR8CR from Gabon between 29 December
         and  mid-March 2023.  He will operate CW on 30-10m.  QSL via F6AJA,
         logsearch on http://LesNouvellesDX.fr/voirlogs.php. [TNX F6AJA]
VK9N   - Marcelo, ZL1MTO will be active holiday style as VK9MTO from Norfolk
         Island (OC-005) from 29 December to 5 January.  He will operate SSB
         and FT8/FT4 on 20, 15 and 10 metres. QSL via LoTW, Club Log's OQRS,
         or direct to home call.
VP8    - Jonathan, 2E0KZN now expects to be stationed at the Royal Air Force
         (RAF) Mount Pleasant Complex, Falkland Islands (SA-002) until some-
         time in January, as his stay has been extended [425DXN 1630]. He is
         QRV as V P8TAA from the RAF club station,  and as VP8TAA/p while on
         on SOTA activations. QSL via M0OXO's OQRS.
VU_ant - A member of the  42nd Indian Scientific Expedition  to  Antarctica,
         Sunny, VU2CUW will be based at Maitri Station, Antarctica for about
         one year.  In his spare time  he will be active  as AT42I.  QSL via
         VU2CRS.
ZF     - Edmondo, VA3ITA  will be active  holiday style  as  ZF2IT  from the
         Cayman Islands  (NA-016)  from  29 December to 5 January.  He  will
         operate SSB and digital modes on 40-10 metres. QSL only via LoTW.

CARIBBEAN TOUR ---> Heli, DD0VR  and  Bigi, DE3BWR  will visit and be active
from Aruba (P4/DD0VR) on 16-23 December, Curacao (PJ2/DD0VR) on 23 December-
5 January, and  Bonaire  (PJ4/DD0VR) on  5-13 January.  They will run  15-10
watts on SSB, and 5 watts on CW. QSL via home calls. [TNX DX World]

                         ===========================
                         *** 4 2 5  D X  N E W S ***
                         ****  GOOD TO KNOW ... ****
                         ===========================
                          Edited by  I1JQJ & IK1ADH
                        Direttore Responsabile  I2VGW

Access to the main functions of www.425dxn.org is provided by the 425DXN App
for Android. It is available on Google Play - free of charge, no ads. Enjoy!

425 DX NEWS MAGAZINE ---> The November 2022 issue is available for  download
at https://www.425dxn.org/. [TNX IZ3EBA]

3Y0J: SETUP PLANS & FT8 ---> On 7 December Ken, LA7GIA  posted the following
to the Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/3093983840726129/) of
the 2023 DXpedition to Bouvet.
  Our camp build up plan consists of 4 distinct steps that have been matured
  and developed  during the last 2.5 years,  based on  lessons learned  from
  other DXpeditions.  Lesson 1 is be prepared to go onshore Bouvet  during a
  short WX window.  Thus, if our only chance is going onshore during a 3h WX
  window,  we will bring  our  lightweight equipment  in Step 1.  Step 2  is
  defined as  expanding the station setup with yagis.  Step 3 is bringing on
  the lowband antennas,  and Step 4  is the final step where we complete our
  setup.
  We have had some feedback on FT8 and the operation. Because we plan to run
  12 stations at peak times, going QRO on FT8 is a question about logistics,
  fuel and risk.
  A lot of amplifier failures on DXped are due to high power and human fail-
  ures.  Thus our setup minimizes this risk by running the 4 FT8 machines as
  much as possible on the yagis, no setting changes allowed by operator. FT8
  operator  can adjust the number of streams,  redirect his call to specific
  continents or adjust the dB level of receiving stations.
  The machines will be running on fixed 100W.  We will start with 2 streams,
  and we might also go single stream. We will monitor our signal reports be-
  fore an adjustment.
  Bringing fuel for amplifiers is also a constraint logistic wise,  all fuel
  has to go into the zodiac and onto the shelf,  please understand that this
  is not a fly in/out DXPed - we're running on generators. We will on Bouvet
  continuously check the available fuel, we have an inline electronic meter-
  ing system. Based on available fuel we can
  (1) increase the heat in the tent (our tent is not heated 24/7!),
  (2) go QRO on CW/SSB,
  (3) go 500W on FT8, two machines max due to power output bottlenecks,
  (4) start the 1000W waffle machine.
  Please note the RF output power levels  are thus initial power levels dur-
  ing start up!  Thus FT8 QRO operation >100W is a question about logistics,
  power rating of the generator circuits  and how to dispatch the load,  but
  also an energy constraint and amount of fuel available.
  Given we can handle the power output  and  energy constraints, we will try
  2x500W on FT8,  that might as well include 160/80m.  However,  our lowband
  ops are likely to be able to man the 160/80 station during the 8h opening,
  only in the case we're not able to man the 160/80m  we will discuss to put
  the FT8 machines on lowband.
  We're not ruling it completely out,  but seeing  the strong team of CW/SSB
  ops this is unlikely to happen, but not impossible.  We have low band  ops
  paying $25,000  to go on this trip for  their lifetime 160m experience.  I
  personally doubt all of them will be sleeping during prime time!

ARRL SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE ---> On  15 December  between 9 and  13 UTC  "the
ARRL HQ network infrastructure  will have  a major upgrade  performed",  Bob
Naumann, W5OV, ARRL Director of Operations has announced. "While not specif-
ically related to LoTW, it is likely that  during this time period,  you may
not be able to reach the  LoTW system  (or any other ARRL system)  until the
upgrade is complete. Please try to avoid this timeframe".

QSL CQ7P ---> The  Portuguese DX Group,  CS5DX (ex CS1GDX)  is receiving QSL
requests for  recent QSOs with  CQ7P.  That was  the callsign used  by  Joao
Rafael, CT1BOP during this year's CQ WW DX SSB Contest,  and the QSLs should
go direct to  Joao Rafael Almeida, Colegio Campo de Flores, Estrada Nacional
10-1, Lazarim, 2829-514 Caparica, Portugal.  Cards already received  by  the
PDXG will be forwarded to him. [TNX CT4NH]

VK5KI ---> Effective 5 December, VK5KI is the new callsign for Tony, VK5AVB,
a resident on Kangaroo Island (OC-139)  who operates mainly SSB.  Originally
granted to VK5GR,  the callsign  was used  from Kangaroo thrice  (July 2020,
January 2021 and July 2022). Charles, M0OXO will continue as the QSL manager
for VK5KI (QSL via https://www.m0oxo.com/oqrs/logsearch.php) [TNX VK5GR]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

QSLs  received direct  or  through managers:  3DA0RU,  5R8LH,  5X7W,  7P8RU,
AP2FLY, E20AX/p (AS-107), E51BQ, EP2HAM, GB22HQ, HK0/PY8WW, HZ1HZ,  K7K (NA-
070), OZ5TG, PV8DX, S21SM, V31XX, V85T, VK0MQ, VP8ADR/40, VP8BTR/40,  YJ0CA,
Z6/KN4PRE, ZD7BG.

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               425 DX NEWS HOME PAGE: https://www.425dxn.org/

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               425 DX News is a free of charge weekly bulletin
      edited by Mauro Pregliasco, I1JQJ and Valeria Pregliasco, IK1ADH

            Its contents may be used, reproduced and distributed
                        in part or full provided that
               "425 DX News" or "425DXN" receive proper credit

          Contributors are invited to send their DX information to
              Mauro Pregliasco, I1JQJ  ([email protected])    
                      The deadline is 12 UTC on Fridays

****************************************************************************

                           Direttore Responsabile
                            Gabriele Villa, I2VGW
               Giornalista Professionista - Tessera n. 071675
                      Ordine Nazionale dei Giornalisti
                                Roma, Italia

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