Blog – Page 173

ONFF Awards now issued

5th September 2010

ONFF announced a few weeks ago that their WFF Awards were now completed and were ready for issue.

I am pleased to say that my first ONFF Award arrived yesterday courtesy of the ONFF Co-ordinator Gino ON3SSB. There are several Awards available (website click here) and he tells us:-

Rules to apply for the “ONFF Award” are simple :

– The award is free, and free only, and will be send to you by mail (electronic format), JPEG file.

– There are 3 different classes :

Class 3/Bronze : 10 QSO’s have to be made with 10 different ONFF references.

Class 2/Silver : 25 QSO’s have to be made with 25 different ONFF references.

Class 1/Gold : 50 QSO’s have to be made with 50 different ONFF references.

All bands, all modes are welcome and all contacts must be verified by the EW4DX Log search.

GL to Gino and the ONFF team, we wish them every success!

‘M2X’ hit the mark again this week with a nice new Contest Certificate.

This time was for the CQWW RTTY DX Contest in 2009 when John (G4RCG) managed Country Winner in the High Power Single Operator Class (20M).

Well done John!

3WØC paper confirmation arrives

17th August 2010

‘3WØC‘ Qsl Card confirmation arrived a few days ago for their activity from Con-Co Island, Vietnam (IOTA AS-185). This folded card (becoming the norm now for major Dxpeditions) fills a hole in the Asian section of my IOTA collection.
Côn Có was previously a top secret Vietnamese military base and so any ham-radio activity was unimaginable. And while tourists are today permitted to visit the island, it is not readily accessible, being several hours away by boat – and so rare QSOs with 3W6C were highly valued.

The team have responded to all those who sent their QSLs direct. QSL Manager Leo, HB9DWL, mailed more than 1000 letters around the world. Letters received with insufficient return postage or expired IRCs were QSL’d via the bureau (some people just never learn!).

Sunspot Tytonidae continues to amaze…

14th August 2010

…but not by good HF propagation!

Sunspot 1093 continues to amaze onlookers.

Earlier this week, it divided like a giant amoeba undergoing mitosis.
And “today it looks like an owl (family Tytonidae),” reports Rogerio Marcon of Campinas, Brasil. “What a beautiful configuration!”

Well it’s different I’ll give them that!

‘VYØX’ NA-208 bagged – wanted by 89% of IOTA chasers!

14th August 2010

Cezar (VE3LYC) is back on the air again, this time from another very rare island group in Nunavut (Kitikmeot Region), Canada.

The East IOTA Group, NA-208 (CQ Zone 2) has only been on the air once, 15 years ago, and is on the Most Wanted List, in demand by 89% of IOTA chasers.

‘VYØX’ had very good signals on 20 & 30M yesterday and of course this came with huge pile-ups, callers desperate to get this rare one in their log. Kitikmeot Region is an administrative region of Nunavut Canada. It consists of the southern and eastern parts of Victoria Island with the adjacent part of the mainland as far as the Boothia Peninsula, together with King William Island and the southern portion of Prince of Wales Island. The regional seat is Cambridge Bay (population 1,477).

Kitikmeot is the location of the coldest recorded wind chill in Canada of −78 °C (−108.4 °F)

13/08/2010 1230, first contact on 20M CW

14/08/2010 0527, second contact on 30M CW!

PY2MTV / PX2C Qsl Cards now being issued

9th August 2010

New Qsl Cards arrived this week and I have begun sending them out on behalf of Andre PY2MTV. As you can see the cards also hold his Contest Callsign PX2C on.

Anyone requiring a card please go through the normal proceedure and request via the ‘On-line Qsl Request System (OQRS)‘ for the fastest and most efficient dispatch.

Calm before the Storm on 17m

3rd August 2010

As we wait for the Storm to arrive (see previous post) I decided to have an hour on 17M just to see what was about. Things seemed poor but started on 10 and 12M with the odd EU contact and not much else.

Having qsy’d onto 17M I put a few calls out on RTTY and worked several Russian stations with reasonable signals when I heard the first JA calling.

One of the first in the log was Ume – JH7VHZ (see image left) from Towada, Aomori, Japan. It was a really strong signal (599 +10) and after a short qso with Ume, hopes were high of a few more from the Far East.

During the next 90 minutes I managed to log 27 JA stations in all. Interesting was that there were no other Countries in the log whatsoever other than the JA. With only one DX Cluster spot from JA, it seemed strange that no other DXCC was apparent. Nevertheless it was a great afternoon with most of the stations being new JCC/JCG areas for me – Happy Days! – Syonara Ume!

Complex eruption of the Sun – CME on it’s way

3rd August 2010

On August 1st, the entire Earth-facing side of the sun erupted in a tumult of activity.

There was a C3-class solar flare, a solar tsunami, multiple filaments of magnetism lifting off the stellar surface, large-scale shaking of the solar corona, radio bursts, a coronal mass ejection and more.

The movie recorded by extreme UV cameras onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory shows an enormous magnetic filament breaking away from the sun.

Some of the breakaway material is now en route to Earth in the form of a coronal mass ejection (CME)

Nuccio I0YKN – SK

31st July 2010

I was very saddened today to hear of Nuccio Meoli’s passing. Many of you would have worked him very regularly.

He was a keen activator of programs such as Italian Castle Awards, World Antarctic program and many others.

Our condolences from the UK to his family and many many friends in the Ham Radio community.

VYØV & news of another ‘new one’ from Cezar VE3LYC

30th July 2010

Great to receive confirmation of East Pen Island (IOTA NA-231) this week with another beautiful Qsl card from our friend Cezar VE3LYC. (…bringing me up to #485 IOTA claimed.). The images give you real examples of the pretty frozen, icy environment in which he lived for a few days activating this very rare IOTA. (see previous Blog entries for more information on his past activities).

With the card came news of his next trip to another new one, Pelly Bay Islands (NA-208). He has just been issued with the callsign VYØX, this operation intending to last for 5 days, August 11 thro 15th. Cezar tells me :-
”It will be the northernmost point that I have ever travelled to, overtaking Lulea in Sweden. Weather and propagation conditions are of concern”. He also has to bear in mind the unpredictability of the locals in these areas ‘‘who’s minds can also change like the northern weather hi”. Seriously though its a tough one!!
Anyone that would like to assist Cezar with funding for his trip is asked to make donations to [email protected] via Paypal.

Full details of the planned trip can also be found on Qrz.com using the call VYØX………………..all the best & safe journey Cezar, we’ll be listening for you!!

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