Archive - August 2014

Cezar (VE3LYC) and Bob (KD1CT) will attempt to operate from Matthew Is. (OC-218) for 4 days between Sep 1 and 9, 2014. They will maintain one station on the air around the clock, operating on all bands from 10 to 40 m, CW and SSB

Matthew Is. is located approximately 500 km east of Noumea, the capital city of New Caledonia. The island is a stratovolcano, with steep edges, quasi-circular in shape, and a radius of about 400 m. It actually includes two conical shaped islands linked by a rocky isthmus about 200 m long. This isthmus is submerged at strong tide and high ocean swell. Heavy rain floods its southern part forming a wetland.

Check out their website by clicking the image for more updates and information about the activation of this rare Island.

Russian Robinson Club (RRC) is celebrating 20 years since its foundation.

Check the excellent video presentation, which was first presented at the 50th Anniversary IOTA Convention in Windsor, London, UK (4-6, July, 2014).

Click the image to see this amazing presentation.

Richard, M0UOO will be qrv from Ukraine from September the 4th 2014.

He will use the Callsign UR3/M0UOO/P and will be QRV in the Koval region of the Ukraine on 40, 20, 17, 15 and 12m SSB.

Qsl via M0OXO OQRS

Nobby G0VJG, Dave EI9FBB, Richard G7GLW & Charles M0OXO will be qrv from EU-109 (Farne Islands) on the 6th and 7th September 2014.

Callsign issue awaited but probably be M0UKI/p.

This short operation may also include participation in the SSB Field Day contest. The team are aiming for Longstone Island, dependant on weather, (keep an eye on QRZ.com links for updates). They will be using multi-band Dipoles & vertical antennas and hope to give this IOTA to as many chasers as possible in the short time frame.

Qsl will be via M0OXO OQRS Direct/Bureau. Bureau cards MUST be requested via OQRS only. Do not send via the RSGB Bureau, we may not receive them.

You can find more information by clicking the image.

From 21 to 28 August, a group of radio Amateurs is planning to make an expedition to the Karaginsky island, Kamchatka, IOTA AS-064 (RRC-12-03).

This island has not being presented on the air for more than 15 years!

Minimal financial support is being sought.

English version of their website can be found by clicking the image to the left.

The European Space Agency’s Rosetta probe has reached 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and is maneuvering to go into orbit around the comet’s core.

This is an historic event. After Rosetta goes into orbit, it will follow the comet around the sun, observing its activity from point-blank range for more than a year.

Moreover, in November, Rosetta will drop a lander onto the comet’s strange surface.

Today’s events are being streamed live by the ESA.

Operating standards have been declining.

That is no news to any DXer. Even the IARU took notice and published a resolution encouraging operators to “operate to the highest levels of proficiency, with proper consideration for others using the amateur radio bands.”  Read the Full Resolution here.

The publication of DX Etiquette in the March 2010 issue of QST sparked a new world-wide effort to get all hams to operate in a manner consistent with that Resolution. To that end an international group of DXers have developed a DX Code of Conduct.  Since introducing it, hams from all continents have joined in this effort. You can play an important role in spreading the word. This is one project of which it can truthfully be said, “We are all in this together, and we can all benefit.”

Learn more about the DX Code Of Conduct by clicking here.

The new Solar forecast video is now available. See how long aurora conditions will last and how the Sun affects you this week.

Click the image to see the Video.

I hope this is a wake up call for many!

The volume of incoming bureau cards that as a Qsl Manager I have to deal with is amazing. Sadly, a massive amount of these are not required and just end up being recycled. I don’t even have time to look at the beautiful photos that appear on many of them

The Photos in this item show the amount of unwanted cards that I discarded yesterday. There were 46 Kilo, around 17-18,000 Qsl cards and most of these would have been shown in my Qsl information as ”Qsl Cards NOT required”.

OQRS is so important. Why send unwanted cards through the bureau when they are not required? If you use OQRS you can request your card just the same.  The only difference is that with OQRS you will get the card probably 2 years earlier than if you send via the Bureau and, it saves you money as you are not wasting your cards!

Before you request a bureau card from me, please check out this page. http://www.m0oxo.com/qsl-manager/callsigns-i-manage.html  This will tell you whether or not the station does or does not require your card. Please cut down on bureau wasteage, you will save your time and my time as well as saving yourself money.