Author - Charles M0OXO

GBØANT

2nd November 2009

GBØANT

WAP – Ø72

EPC # 17595

Antarctic Activity Week

AAW 2012 activity – 2479 qso’s – Thanks!

Qso’s for 2012 event now on LOTW (28/02/2012)

Thanks for all your support….

next operation…..

TBA in The ??? Antarctic Activity Week (AAW)

Thinking on how to improve the Worldwide interest around Antarctic Continent and its related matters, WAP (World Antarctic Programme) was born.

What to do to achieve better results? The idea to launch an Antarctica Week Activity began to be celebrated every year on TM8ANT

the last week of February, and in any case the week should incorporate the 22nd of February, where the Argentines are celebrating the ‘Dia de la Antartida Argentina’ (Argentine’s Antarctica Day).

This invitation IS open to all Radio Amateurs around the world, to the Clubs and Organizations who would like to join us, and share with us this initiative.

Lets me try to explain further….We are looking for Special Prefixes promoting Antarctica such as for example GB0ANT, IR8ANT, IR2ANT, TM…ANT, DL…ANT, UA2004ANT, ZX…ANT, KK…ANT, VK….ANT, VX…ANT and so on. In other words, a kind of Special Prefix from each Country with the suffix ANT.

Stations from Antarctica can join us and working as many Hams as possible. Club stations of the Antarctic Institutes, as well as Antarctic Organizations (such as LU2CN Servicio Auxiliar de la Armada who care the
Antarctic matters in Argentina, or IY0A in Italy, or any eventual other of such stations), can join the Antarctica Activity Week. Again our intention is to draw your attention on The Antarctic Continent, to understand what the Nations are doing to protect this corner of the world still non contaminated, to share a message of peace among the World.

Antarctic Activity Week coming soon…….

The 10th AAW is set to arrive pretty soon with dates scheduled for the event between 18th February to 26th February 2013. The event this Years is set to be as good if not better than previous Years with many more stations advising the team of their intended participation. WAP (World Antarctic Programme) is the main body that coordinates all activity as well as being the focus of attention as regards the Awards program.

The only UK station to participate is ‘GBØANT’ in ‘WAP-Ø72’ and this station will next be qrv during the 2012 Antarctic Activity Week on SSB, CW and Digital Modes.

More information on the initiative can be found on the WAP website at http://www.waponline.it/ .

**All Qsl requests received, direct, bureau and email have all been completed and none outstanding as of 20/02/2012.

Email me for further information and please, join in the event and apply for the Qsl on line.

(Tnx Max IK1GPG & Gianni I1HYW for info and extract)

Special Callsigns

2nd November 2009

Many of the Special Events that i am involved in can be found in this category.
The main two events over the last few Years have been with ‘GBØANT‘ and also ‘GB4IPY’.

‘GB0ANT’ has been running now once per annum as part of the Worldwide Antarctic Program (WAP) and we are currently just passed 10,000 q’s in the log as we starts 2010 event. ‘GB4IPY’ ran for two years (now ended) to help in raising awareness of ‘International Polar Year’ and total qso count for this station was 9,555 q’s.

More information is available on the respective pages which can be found in the main Menu to the left of this page.

Other Special Callsigns include those of short event such as ‘GB1TAN’, the activation of the ‘TanHill Inn’, Britains Highest Pub in Swaledale, Yorkshire Dales National Park and ‘GB0WFF’ for the World Flora Fauna programme.

More information on all these items can be found somewhere on the site and photographs can be found in the bank of Gallery Photographs again found via the main menu.

If you have any comments either positive or negative, I would be happy to receive them via the ‘Contact M0OXO’ form or alternatively by an entry in the Guestbook.

Please also check out the Awards that are available for these events. There are numerous Awards for the WFF Programme and also for the Antarctic Activity Week. They can be found by navigating the menu sidebar and for any other enquiries please email me.

73 for now, regards, Charles…

Page being re-written

2nd November 2009

Page undergoing a facelift!

	GFF-130	Barnsfield Pit	Kent
	GFF-131	Blean Woods	Kent
England	GFF-132	Cliffe Pools	Kent
England	GFF-133	Dungeness	Kent
England	GFF-134	Elmley Marshes	Kent
England	GFF-135	Hamstreet Woods	Kent
England	GFF-136	Lydden & Tempell Ewell Downs	Kent
England	GFF-137	Nor Marsh & Motney Hill	Kent
England	GFF-138	Northward Hill	Kent
England	GFF-139	Stodmarsh	Kent
England	GFF-140	Tudeley Woods	Kent

Cushcraft MA5B

2nd November 2009

Cushcraft MA5B, great antenna for restricted area.

SteppIR Antennas’

2nd November 2009

SteppIR Antennas

Tennamast

2nd November 2009

Tennamast

Comet H-422

2nd November 2009

comet

XR0Y – Easter Island

9th October 2009

“While 3 operators will be running all 3 stations almost 24h a day, the rest of 3 operators will have sufficient time to relax after high pileups and to visit the island entirely. No wonder everyone of us want to meet the island as much as possible. There’s no other place like Rapa Nui in the world!”

“Since Easter Island is a VERY popular tourist destination, our DXpedition requires special planning – regarding logistics and security. Our QTH will be situated out of the only town at the island – Hanga Roa. Our remote location is a perfect as there will be a total lack of any potential TVI/BCI and our little antenna farm will be fully secured from unexpected visitors exposed to RF fields. Moreover – we will be far away from potential low-band noise of industrial origin. In addition, our location will provide a bit better spot with a take off towards Europe than a typical location at Hanga Roa.”

Easter Island (small dot on the Globe Photo – right) is a volcanic high island, consisting mainly of three extinct coalesced volcanoes: Terevaka (altitude 507 metres) forms the bulk of the island. Two other volcanoes, Poike and Rano Kau, form the eastern and southern headlands and give the island its roughly triangular shape. There are numerous lesser cones and other volcanic features, including the crater Rano Raraku, the cinder cone Puna Pau and many volcanic caves including lava tubes. Singleman Poike used to be an island until volcanic material from Terevaka united it to Easter Island. The island is dominated by hawaiite and basalt flows which are rich in iron and shows affinity with igneous rocks found in Galapagos Islands. The large stone statues, or moai (Photo’s – left & above) for which Easter Island is world-famous, were carved during a relatively short and intense burst of creative and productive megalithic activity. A total of 887 monolithic stone statues have been inventoried on the island and in museum collections. Although often identified as “Easter Island heads“, the statues are actually complete torsos, the figures kneeling on bent knees with their hands over their stomach. Some upright moai have become buried up to their necks by shifting soils.

The period when the statues were produced remains disputed, with estimates ranging from 400 CE to 1500–1700 CE. Almost all (95%) moai were carved out of distinctive, compressed, easily worked volcanic ash or tuff found at a single site inside the extinct volcano Rano Raraku. The native islanders who carved them used only stone hand chisels, mainly basalt toki, which still lie in place all over the quarry. The stone chisels were re-sharpened by chipping off a new edge when dulled. The volcanic stone the moai were carved from was first wet to soften it before sculpting began, then again periodically during the process. While many teams worked on different statues at the same time, a single moai would take a team of five or six men approximately one year to complete. Each statue represents a deceased long-ear chief or important person. Only a quarter of the statues were installed, while nearly half still remain in the quarry at Rano Raraku and the rest elsewhere on the island, Anakena probably on their way to final locations. The largest moai is known as “Paro” weighing 82 tons. There are several others close to this size.

Moving the huge statues required a miro manga erua, a Y-shaped sledge with cross pieces, pulled with ropes made from the tough bark of the hau-hau tree, and tied fast around the statue’s neck. Anywhere from 180 to 250 men were required for pulling, depending on the size of the moai. Some 50 of the now standing statues have been re-erected in modern times. The first moai was re-erected on the beach of Anakena in 1958 using traditional methods during an expedition to the island by Thor Heyerdahl. (Photo right– Aeriel view of Easter Island from Space ‘ISS’)

Logs plan to be uploaded once a day around local midnight or morning hours (so approx. 6.00 or 12 UTC hours). Detailed Qsl information can also be found on the website at http://rapanui2009.org/ .

High on my ”IOTA Wanted” list, I wish all the team a safe journey and look forward to hearing them from Easter Island!

EasterPanor

73 de Charles…

P29 team good to go!

6th October 2009

PNG is ranked 91st most wanted in CDXC Clublog! … which puts it up with Willis and Palestine!! The three Islands however are claimed by less that 10% of IOTA chasers. Whatever the case, big pile ups are anticipated f Pacific_beach or sure so let’s hope propagation favours the UK (particularly the North for a change!). Operating times are expected to be around 18 hours per day (1600 – 0800 PNG time) on 160 through 15 metres with the possibility of additional activity on 12 and 10 metres, again dependent on conditions. Should anything untoward occur (bearing in mind the Earthquakes and Tsunami of recent weeks), then the operation will take place from Papua New Guinea mainland only, (IOTA OC-034).

The plans are to have four stations qrv, mainly CW and SSB although I understand that maybe RTTY will also be used. TX’s include an Elecraft K3, Yaesu FT-450 (CDXC loaned Rig), ICOM IC-706 Mk ll and a Kenwood TS-2000. They plan to have 3 amplifiers, one each for CW and SSB and another with mode allocation to be decided on site. Antennas will comprise of single band vertical dipoles for 15, 17, 20 and 30 metres, a loaded ground plane for 40M, an inverted L for 160 and 80 metres and a Butternut HF6V with 17m and 12m extensions.

Finally – the cost. Overall Budget is around $40,000 USD with team members contributing all of their personal costs. That includes their airfares, accommodation and the boat charter. They will also contribute towards the overall fuel and logistics. The DXpedition has a website with a Paypal donation facility through which donations would be gratefully received.

Good luck to all the team, I hope to hear and work you if possible from all locations. Thanks also to the group for the use of the photos on this page and for putting these intended Islands on the Air. Anyone wishing further information, or to make a donation towards the cost of the trip, please see their website at http://www.425dxn.org/dxped/p29_2009/

73 de Charles….

International Reply Coupons – a reminder!

25th September 2009

The current International Reply Coupons expire at the end of 2009. This isn’t new news but a reminder is always helpful. Postage can be costly and despite expecting ‘ham spirit’ in the hobby, you can guarantee some of the unscrupulous ‘colleagues’ will try and offload any expired coupons they have, on the unsuspecting Manager to whom they send them. For those of you who have not been involved with using these ‘IRC’s’ in the past, let me try and describe a little more about them.

The IRC is a postal product which is exchangeable for one or more postage stamps. The stamps would be to the value of the minimum postage for an ordinary priority letter for most post-mail items or, for an ordinary air-mail letter sent abroad. IRC’s were first issued in 1907 and 2.2 million coupons are used each year for various aspects. beijing2 The main users seem to be of course us, the Radio Amateurs who exchange Qsl cards and also Students. Students use them for exchanging correspondence with regards to their academic studies between the Universities and other teaching/learning institutions.

The current issue (called the ‘Beijing 2’ – Photo: Right) can be exchanged up to the 31^st December 2009 but will cease to be sold from the 31^st August 2009. The new IRC (called the ‘Nairobi’ model – Photo top left) went on sale on the 1^st July 2009 and is valid for exchange until 31^ST December 2013.

So, to summarise – take steps and try to get rid of all your ‘Beijing 2’ International Reply Coupons asap and in any event certainly before the end of the year. If you don’t, then you could end up seriously out of pocket!

73 de Charles