OPDX Bulletin - Internet Edition
OPDX 556 April 1, 2002

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The Ohio/Penn Dx PacketCluster
DX Bulletin No. 556
BID: $OPDX.556
April 1, 2002
Editor Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW
Provided by BARF-80 BBS Cleveland, Ohio
Online at 440-237-8208 28.8k-1200 Baud 8/N/1

Thanks to the Northern Ohio Amateur Radio Society, Northern Ohio DX Association, Ohio/Penn PacketCluster Network, AB5K & the AR TelNet Clusters Network, ARRL Letter, NC1L, W3UR & The Daily DX, WN3VAW, KJ4UY, N4AA & QRZ DX, K6GNX, AA7UC, AC7DX, KL7AK, W7KEU, K8YSE, NE8Z, 4N1DX, DJ5JH, DJ2MX, DL1EK & DX News Letter, DK1MAX, F5NQL & UFT, FJ5DX & La Gazette du DX, HL1VAU, IK0DWN, IN3XUG, JI6KVR, LU1AEE, LU4BR, OZ1LQH, S53R, SP5UAF, UT5RP, UY2UF, VA3RJ & ICPO, VE2XO, VE9DX and VU2SDN for the following DX information.

SPECIAL NOTED FROM EDITOR
This week's bulletin is being issued early because of the contest weekend and holiday.

DXCC COUNTRY/ENTITY REPORT
According to the AR-Cluster Network for the week of Saturday, 23/March, through Saturday, 30/March there were 242 countries active. Countries available: 3A, 3B8, 3B9, 3D2, 3DA, 3V, 3W, 4J, 4L, 4S, 4U1I, 4W, 4X, 5B, 5H, 5N, 5R, 5V, 5W, 5Z, 6W, 6Y, 7Q, 7X, 8P, 8Q, 8R, 9A, 9G, 9H, 9J, 9K, 9L, 9M2, 9M6, 9N, 9Q, 9V, 9Y, A4, A5, A6, A7, A9, AP, BV, BY, C3, C6, CE, CE0A, CE0X, CE0Z, CE9, CM, CN, CP, CT, CT3, CU, CX, D2, D4, DL, DU, EA, EA6, EA8, EA9, EI, EK, EL, EP, ER, ES, ET, EU, EX, EY, EZ, F, FG, FJ, FK, FM, FO, FP, FR, FY, G, GD, GI, GJ, GM, GU, GW, H4, H40, HA, HB, HB0, HC, HC8, HI, HK, HK0/a, HL, HM, HP, HR, HS, HV, HZ, I, IS, J2, J3, J5, J6, J7, J8, JA, JD/o, JT, JW, JX, JY, K, KG4, KH0, KH2, KH4, 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, PY0F, PZ, S2, S5, S7, SM, SP, SU, SV, SV5, SV9, T30, T7, T8, T9, TA, TF, TG, TI, TI9, TJ, TK, TL, TR, TT, TU, UA, UA2, UA9, UK, UN, UR, V2, V3, V4, V5, V7, V8, VE, VK, VK9N, VP2E, VP2V, VP5, VP6, VP6D, VP8, VP8/h, VP8/o, VP9, VQ9, VR, VU, XE, XT, XU, XW, XX9, XZ, YA, YB, YI, YJ, YK, YL, YN, YO, YS, YU, YV, Z2, Z3, ZA, ZB, ZC4, ZD7, ZD8, ZD9, ZF, ZK1/s, ZK2, ZL, ZP, ZS,

* PLEASE NOTE: The report "could" contain "Pirate/SLIM" operations. As always, you never know - "Work First Worry Later" (WFWL).

3XY, GUINEA (IOTA Op)
Francois, VE2XO, will again be active from Kassa Island (Los Islands, AF-051) as 3XY8A from April 15-19th. He will be mainly active on SSB and PSK31 on 20 and 15 meters. Preferred SSB frequencies are 14195/14260 and 21295/21260 listening up 5 to 10 kHz. There will be some activity also on 17 and 12 meters, and some possible activity on RTTY on 20 and 15 meters. He will be using 1KW (Acom 1000) into Sigma-5 and SVDA verticals by Force 12. QSL via home call.

5W0IR DXPEDITION UPDATE
Tommy/VK2IR and Bruce/VK2KLM have been active during the past week mainly on 20/15/10 meters SSB. Activity will last until April 3rd. Watch around 14195, 14226, 21295 and 28480 kHz. IMPORTANT UPDATE: Tommy, VK2IR, at the last minute decided to go with a QSL Manager. This will make QSLing easier, and quicker. The QSL Manager for the 5W0IR DXpedition will be DJ2MX: Mario Lovric, AM Oelberg 11, D-61231 Bad Nauheim, GERMANY (E-mail: dj2mx@qsl.net). Mario's address is also good at QRZ.com. QSLing will be direct only, SAE - 1 new IRC or 2 USDs to DJ2MX. ADDED NOTE: Mario, DJ2MX, informed OPDX that if you already QSLed directly to Tommy's address in Australia, you don't have to send additional card to DJ2MX, your original request will be answerd as soon as the cards are out of print. For more information about Tommy's DXpedition to Western Samoa, please visit the two Web pages:

http://www.qsl.net/va3rj/5w0ir.html
http://www.dj2mx.com

CORRECTIONS
Two weeks ago, under the heading "XZ, MYANMAR" we mentioned that Warren Hill's callsign was N7NG; this is an error, and we meant to correct it in last week's bulletin. Warren Hill's correct callsign is K7WX. The callsign N7NG is Wayne Mills, now at ARRL. (ed. We are getting old and the mind is going! Just turned 50th - March 27th.....hihihihi)

Also, we were informed by Max, UY2UF, that his QSL route was incorrectly listed in OPDX.538 (under the NG3K CQ WW DX CW Contest listing). UX2UF is not his QSL Manager. QSL UY2UF to UY2UF.

CQ WW WPX SSB CONTEST STATIONS - March 30-31st (Last Minute Updates)
4L, GEORGIA. Omari, 4L5O, will be active in the CQ WW WPX SSB Contest. QSL Info K1WY.

AL1, USA. Ron, AC7DX, informs OPDX readers to look for AL1G to be active in CQ WW WPX SSB Contest. QSL via AC7DX.

CE, Chile. Ivan, CE4EBJ, Chairman of the Southern Cross DX Group (SCDXG) provided the following information on Chilean stations that will be active during the 2002 CQWPX Phone Contest (all QSL route is via homecall, except the last one):


              CE8EIO   Op. CE8EIO, Luis       Entry: SOABHP
              3G5A     Op. XQ5SM, Ferdi       Entry: SOABHP
              CE3NR    Op. CE3NR, Carlos      Entry: SOHP 7 MHz
              3G1X     Op. XQ1IDM, Nick       Entry: SOHP 14 MHz
              XQ1ZW    Op. XQ1ZW, Dan         Entry: SOLP 28 MHz
              CE4Y     Op. CE4FXY, Ferdy      Entry: SOHP 28 MHz
              XQ4EM    Op. XQ4EM, Pat         Entry: SOHP 28 MHz
              CB4A     Ops. CE4USW, CE4PBB    Entry: M/S  (Box 128,
                                                     Talca, Chile)

There is an informative web page for CB4A at:

http://www.qsl.net/cb4a
Log will be posted there around 0500z, April 1st. The CB Chilean prefix has been first issued to CE4USW especially for this contest. Some rare prefixes such as 3G's and XQ's will be on the air as well. All operators are members of the Southern Cross DX Group, (SCDXG).

ET, ETHIOPIA. Paul, ET3PMW, plans to operate in the CQ WPX SSB Contest as a 10 meter station. QSLs go to the regular manager W7KEU.

IR, ITALY (IOTA Op). Walter, IN3XUG, reports that he will be active from Ischia Island (IA NA-001) now through April 2nd. He will participate in the CQ WW WPX Contest as IR3Z. Outside of the contest he will sign IC8/IN3XUG. Activity will be on SSB around the IOTA frequencies. QSL via IN3XUG, either the bureau or direct.

L20, ARGENTINA. Oscar, LU5EVK, will use the special callsign L20E in the CQ WPX SSB Contest. QSL via bureau or direct (ok in QRZ.COM). Oscar, LU5EVK, is a very active member of the LU-CG "LU CONTEST GROUP".

For additional information, check out the listing of announced operations on a Web page provided by Bill, NG3K, at:

http://www.ng3k.com/Misc/wpxs2002.html

DXCC NEWS
The "ARRL Letter" reports this week: "The ARRL DXCC Desk has announced that the 2001 DXCC Yearbook is currently being assembled and should be ready for mailing sometime in late May or early June. The period for the Annual List in this issue is from October 1, 2000, to September 30, 2001. 'If you submitted an application postmarked during this period and you are a current ARRL member, you are entitled to one free copy,' said ARRL DXCC Manager Bill Moore, NC1L. 'You are also entitled to one free copy if you qualified for the DXCC Honor Roll during this period and were an ARRL member, even if you did not submit an application.' Those not eligible for a free copy may order one (or more) from the DXCC Branch after June 1. Copies are $5 each, postpaid. For more information, contact the DXCC Desk, dxcc@arrl.org."

HC8, GALAPAGOS ISLANDS
Pedro/HC1OT and Alfredo/HC1HC will be operating from HC8 now through about April 2nd. They were due to leave from Quito March 26th to join the HC8N contest group. Here is the QSL info for the following stations:
HC1HC/HC8 -- QSL via NE8Z
HC1OT/HC8 -- QSL via NE8Z
HC8Z/HD8Z -- QSL via NE8Z
HC8N via AA5BT
HC8/XE1KK via XE1KK
ADDED NOTE (from NE8Z): Please view the Galapagos Islands DX Award at:

http://www.octavia.com/qsl/awards/htm

IOTA NEWS
AS-045. Per Jean-Louis, 6W6JX, the Dakar Radio Club will be active from Goree Island now through April 1st. No callsigns were provided. QSL accordingly per the instructions by the operator.

AS-093. Operators Han/HL1VAU, Han/DS2GOO and Chae/DS5BSX will be active between April 4-7th from Taehuksan Island (Main Island of Huksan Archipelago). They will sign homecall/4. Activity will be on 40-10 meters CW/SSB using wire antennas. HL1VAU will concentrate on CW. They expect to have two stations active simultaneously. QSL for HL1VAU/4 is via homecall and other operators QSL via DS2GOO. More detailed information and a log search will be available at:

http://www.qsl.net/hl1vau/as093/

AS-152. Look for operators Vasily, UA0QMN/p, and Alexej, UA0QHZ/p, to be active from Bolshoy Begichev Island now through April 2nd. QSL via Eugene, RZ3EC, direct or bureau.

AS-155. The team will sign BV9K and BV2B/9 from Kuei-San Island (Turtle Hill Island) now through April 1st. Activity will be on HF CW and SSB plus 6 and 2 meters. Team members include BV1ED, BV2AH, BV2KI, BV2KS, BV2NT, BV2QB, BO2AB/2, BM2AAL, BM2ACE, BX4AF, BV4AS and BV5DL. QSL via BV2KI.

NA-NEW. Operators Rick/KL7AK, Blaine/KL7TG, Linda/NL7RE, Larry/KF6XC and Jim/K9PPY will activate Deer Island, part of the Southern Alaska Peninsula West group, an unnumbered IOTA island group. They will use the callsign KL7AK. They are projecting they will be on the island late in the evening on the 31st of July, UTC, until mid-afternoon on the 5th of August, UTC. Their main station will be a Kenwood TS-570S(G) HF transceiver with an Ameritron AL-80A amp, using a Mosley Mini-33 tri-band Yagi up about 30 feet. A Cushcraft R-7000 will be used for 40 and 80 meters. Rick/KL7AK, has found during his many Alaska island DXpeditions that 20 meters is the optimum band, there in Alaska. They normally have propagation up to 20 hours a day. However, they will operate 80-10 meters, both SSB and CW, including the AO-27 and UO-14 Amateur Satellites. They will operate on or near the IOTA frequencies on each band. The QSL Manager is Fred Stenger, N6AWD, good in the callbook/Internet databases.

OC-032. FK8HC/p was expected to be active from Puen Island (DIFO FK067) from March 29-31st.

JD1, OGASAWARA
Look for operators JM3FVL/JD1, JG4LSR/JD1, JL4CVB/JD1, and JE5DTS/JD1 to be active from Ogasawara Islands (AS-031) from April 28th to May 4th. Activity is planned to be on CW and SSB on all bands. QSL to home callsigns.

PIRATE ALERT
Station signing BS7H/BA1HAM was a work of a pirate. The real BA1HAM, OM Chen, has confirmed this with Max, DK1MAX.

PSK31 CONTEST
It has been announced that the 1st Annual CQC PSK Contest will be held on May 11, 2002. It is sponsored by the Colorado QRP Club. For more details and info, check the following Web site:

http://www.cqc.org/contests/index.htm

QSL INFO AND NEWS
Zik, 4N1DX, informs OPDX that he will be moving to Canada from Serbia in April. PLEASE NOTE: You will still be able to send QSL cards via bureau, and all cards will be handled by members of RC Zemun (Radio Section Ugrinovci), YU1AVA. Their direct address is: RC Zemun, PPS Ugrinovci, Beogradska 1, 11277 Ugrinovci, Yugoslavia. Zil mentions that around 700 QSL cards will be answered via the bureau very soon. PLEASE do not send QSL cards to K1WY/ON4CAT. The YU bureau is still OK or direct to YU1AVA.

Tom, SP5UAF, informs OPDX that he has met Mirek, SP5IXI (aka-7X0DX). Mirek has given Tom the log files, and now the 7X0DX log is on-line and available at: http://www.7x0.sp5zcc.waw.pl/ (just follow the links) Tom also has an updated photo page and information about Mirek's activity. By the way, Mirek does not know if he will vist 7X again, but it is possible.

Ron, WN3VAW, reports that Willy, EL7X, who was active in the early 1990's, is now PA0WWV. Willy tells him that he still has the logs and will QSL via bureau or direct (1 USD for postage) for anyone who still needs his card.

Roberto, LU4BR, President of the Radio Club Argentino (LU4AA), informs OPDX that all QSL cards for the LU80AA/D (IOTA SA-055 - LH ARG 045) operation have been released both direct and via the bureau.

Please QSL V47UY or KJ4UY to his new temporary address at: Lawrence (Larry) W. Wolf, 4330 Mahogany Run, S.E., Winter Haven, Florida 33884-2945. All QSLs have been answered to date, so if you have not received a return QSL, please resubmit it to this address. All DX journals and reflectors, please pass this on to our ham friends. When Larry moves again, he will pass on the new address, but he will be in this apartment for a couple of months.

Marco, IK0DWN, informs OPDX that he finally received a YE8I QSL card (which he sent via the bureau and received it direct) from Syam, YB8NA, the QSL Manager for the 1995 IOTA operation. However, with the card there was a note apologizing for the delay. Syam is asking to spread the following message: "My very apologize the QSL delayed. I hope it is not tie up your IOTA program. But it's desirable to inform you that in 3 years of the last time, the situation of my district area is unsafe, chaotic which is sometime critical, explosive, no DXing or another activities on the VHF or HF bands. In the meantime, I have never forget our amateur radio friends who is need of the YE8I's QSL. Thanks God, it's now over from last month. My other need is you would like give me understood and also to inform other friends about this. Many thanks for all. Greetings from Palu City, Central Sulawesi. God bless us. De Syam, YB8NA."

SILENT KEY
Gene Willbanks, N5BLK, an INDEXA staff member, became a Silent Key on Thursday, March 21, 2002. As an INDEXA staff member, Gene participated daily in the INDEXA Information Session on 14236 kHz at 2330z. Gene, along with fellow staff members, provided QSL routes and DX information to the amateur radio community. In addition to his contributions to the DX community, Gene was an active County Hunter who especially enjoyed HF mobile operation, helping many amateurs to contact new counties for their USACA award. Gene will be missed by his family, his INDEXA colleagues, and radio amateurs around the world.

SPECIAL EVENT
The world famous writer Hans Christian Andersen was born on April 2nd, 1805. Each year from 2000 to 2004 the special call OZ5HCA will be used to celebrate his birthday during the week of April 2nd. In 2005 OZ5HCA will be used during the entire month of April. This year OZ5HCA will be active from April 1st through April 7th. OZ3FYN has made an award to celebrate this event. The award has a picture of the house where Hans Christian Andersen lived as a child, and it will be signed by the mayor of Odense. The rules are as follows: You must work OZ5HCA once on three different bands. All modes count. The price of the award is 3 USD or 3 IRC. Send application (GCR list) and green stamps to the following address. OZ3FYN, P.O. Box 134, DK-5100 Odense C, Denmark.

SPRINGTIME DX MEETING
Wolff, DJ5JH, would like to inform the readership of OPDX, that the 2002 springtime DX meeting of the South German DX Group (SDXG) takes place in Oetisheim near Karlsruhe/Germany on Saturday, April 27th, at 1330 CET. All interested DXers are invited to join the meeting. For further information, please visit:

http://www.sdxg.net

VU PIRATES
Sahruddin, VU2SDN, President of the Amateur Radio Society of India, informs OPDX that their QSL Bureau has been receiving a very large number cards of pirated stations using Indian callsign series. Accordingly, it is requested that widest publicity be given to the fact that only the following callsigns are being authorized by the Indian Administration:

* Callsigns beginning with VU2 followed by 2 or 3 letters and VU3, followed by 3 letters are only valid.

* Contest callsigns are AT0, AT2 and AT3, followed by 1 or 2 or 3 letters.

* Since there is a blanket ban on operations from Andaman, Nicobar and Lakshdeep Islands, callsign VU4 and VU7 have not be assigned to anyone since 1992.

* Callsigns with prefixes like AU to AW, VT, VV to VW and 8T to 8Y are not authorized callsigns.

They have received a few hundred cards from several countries indicating QSOs with amateurs using the above prefixes as well as VU4 and VU7. In addition to the above info, radio amateurs, as well as QSL Bureaus, please be informed that the following big time DXers do not accept Bureau cards: VU2AU, VU2DX, VU2FOT, VU2TMP, VU2TRI, VU2WAP and VU2XX. The Amateur Radio Society of India will be grateful if appropriate publicity is given to the above information.

VP6 OPERATIONS
The VP6DI team went QRT on March 26th around 1530z. It was announced that they made about 52,000 QSOs. The team travelled to Henderson Island for the IOTA enthusiasts and stayed about two days. The operators used their own VP6 callsign on Henderson. The last report, they made over 2000 QSOs. The IOTA designations for Ducie is OC-182 and Henderson is OC-056. Per a press release, "logs will not appear on the web site until a later date. Please don't panic." Also a reminder that Ducie QSL cards are via VE3HO (JA1BK for six meters). They added that the QSL cards will not be available at Dayton.

XR0X, SAN FELIX
The XR0X team closed down operations at 1415z on March 26th. The last QSO was with W8WFN. The total number of QSOs is just over 70,000. The XR0X team arrived back in Santiago on March 28th. Everyone was fine. They ask to please not send the team members E-mails to check the logs. The corrected logs will be posted on-line in a few days on the DXpedition's Web site:

http://cordell.vwh.net/SFX/

YA, AFGHANISTAN (YA5T Update)
Robert, S53R, informed OPDX that on the 26th of March he left Kabul to Islamabad and will continue to Dubai, from where he will be travelling home for a break. He states, "Last two months have seen quite some activity from YA5T, since Mark and myself were there. Peter also came for a short visit, but working comittments kept him from operating. There are 22,571 QSOs in total made from Kabul in January, February and March. Mark was on a 10 day trip to Fayzabad, in one of the most remote places in Afghanistan and made additional 404 QSOs from there. And as you know, Peter initially made over 2000 Qs in December. We will be back in Afghanistan starting May, so get ready for more activity. The YA5T logs are now up-to-date on Andy's, VE9DX, Web page at:

http://www.ve9dx.com/ya5t/ya5t.html
ADDED NOTE: QSL Manager Steve, KU9C, informed OPDX that there was a pirated YA5T operation on March 27th around 0200z or so..... that was the work of SLIM...per a note from Mark, ON4WW.

SPECIAL NOTE BY EDITOR: If you are having a problem receiving bounced mail by sending mail to me via " kb8nw@barf80.nshore.org ", please send mail to me via " kb8nw@arrl.net "...... TNX de Tedd KB8NW

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