Category - Blog

M0OXO.com website upgrade

8th December 2019

 

After eleven years using Joomla CMS for publishing my web content (which has been an integral part of my QSL Management System), it became apparent that it was time to upgrade from the Joomla platform and to progress with innovation.

The problem was, that Joomla was becoming increasingly difficult and more costly to upgrade to newer versions. I had to look around for newer Platforms which would still give me a good service but without a huge hike in costs. Some features of the site would clearly have to be redesigned or rebuilt and again, time and money are always an issue in these situations especially when the service is self-funded. Also I had the added problem that the Online QSL Request System (OQRS) is written using the latest PHP versions with which the old Joomla version cannot work. So after discussing this with my IT guys, it was clear that the most cost effective way to go forward was to migrate the site to WordPress.

Several new pages have been added and whilst I am still working on Text, Fonts and other issues on some pages, I hope you will find the site easy to navigate and find the information you require quite easily.

Many thanks to James at BarclayJames for the time and work he has put in to migrate the site, and for his advice and support which has been vital to the continued work here at M0OXO QSL Service.

So welcome to my new web page!

VP8/VP8DXU, South Orkney Islands

8th December 2019

2020 DXpedition

For Immediate Release
Press Release #8
Dec.3,2019
South Orkney Islands DX-pedition
VP8/VP8DXU
(AN-008)
Team Staffing
We’re sorry to report that Dave WD5COV had to leave the project,replacing Dave is:

Alan Cheshire VK6CQ
Originally from Scotland, Alan has lived in Perth, Western Australia for many years and was first licensed as G4EEL in 1975 whilst studying for his commercial Merchant Marine Radio Officer ticket. He holds degrees in Physics & Telecoms Engineering and is a consultant telecom engineer in the offshore oil and gas industry.

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2020 IOTA Honour Roll – Annual Listings – Reminder

8th December 2019
”IOTA enthusiasts, if you have been planning to submit an application for IOTA, consider doing it now before the late December / January rush. For those waiting for the very last QSL to secure their highest possible position on the 2020 Honour Roll and Annual Listing, you are reminded that the last date for mailing score updates to checkpoints for inclusion is 31 January 2020.
 
If postmarked after that date, and each year we receive some, they are processed in the normal way but the scores are held over to the following year’s listing. In countries where the postal service to the checkpoint is often subject to delay, it is best to mail cards early so as to avoid complications. It is important that participants who have not updated since the 2015 annual listings and wish to remain listed should make a submission before 31 January 2020.
 
Repeated for clarification: if the last Honour Roll or Annual Listing you entered was the 2015 or an earlier one, you will need to update to be listed in the 2020 one. Furthermore, if you have not logged into your record for more than two years, you will need to re validate your registration through [email protected]. Do not leave it to the last moment as you may run out of time.”
 
G3KMA October 2019 IOTA-World Website

VY0ERC, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut

8th December 2019

Logs have been received this morning courtesy of Alex VE1RUS & Pierre VE3KTB for their recent operations at the Eureka Station on Ellesmere Island (IOTA NA-008) in Nunavut. They are now QRT.
 
This will please a few of you as the Station is located in CQ Zone 2 and since he was active in several contest such as CQWW CW, CQWW SSB & WAE RTTY, I understand quite a few of you need this as your final Zone.
 
There are also several logs uploaded for their Satellite Operations too.
 
For the Weather men among us, current temperature up there is -19C (minus 19)
 
Logs are available for searching and QSL Card requests on the link below;
 
https://www.m0oxo.com/oqrs/logsearch.php 
 

A50BOC & A50BPC Bhutan

7th December 2019

De Max ON5UR

”Where do we go next…? The question that was haunted by different heads. Finally it’s time, we’re going to Bhutan.

It was quite exciting days… behind the scenes, there was a lot of work in Japan and Bhutan to get all the official documents in order. Almost daily we received messages from ms ishidade the secretary of Zorro jh1ajt. No news, still no news, something hope visa will be soon etc etc… finally yesterday came the redeeming news, all visas and documents were ok. Pfff what a nice feeling, only five days before our departure.

Callsign:
A50BOC (Bhutan Olympic Committee ).
A50BPC (Bhutan Paralympic Committee).
Kingdom of Bhutan.

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UK County Plaques

7th December 2019

This website has now had the new Pages added for the UK County Plaques (by the Most Wanted DX Plaques Team). There are 5 Plaques available in total;

All England, All Ireland, All Scotland, All Wales and the final one for working All UK Territories.

You can navigate to the pages by hovering your mouse over the MW DX Plaques header on the title bar above this entry. Information on the required contacts is listed on a separate page for each of the Awards.

We will have logging software that will cater for these Award Programme coming soon but at the time I write this, the programme is not quite ready to roll out so back to the Paper and pen for now!

Good luck with the hunting, drop me a line should you need any assistance.

Winners of the Russian Robinson Club nominations (2018-2019)

7th December 2019

embl

Winners of the Russian Robinson Club nominations (2018-2019)

In the nomination:
Best RFFA Expedition 2018-2019
Winner, team:
R3RRC / 6 (R6AW, R3BY, RX6CM, R7LP, RU5D)
Visited RFF New One in Crimea “Swan Islands”

In the nomination:
Best RLHA activity / expedition 2018-2019
There were many applicants:
RK3SWB / 1, RV6AWZ / p, RU5D / 6 / M, RM0M / LH, UA1ATD / P, R0LS / P, RI1OM
Winner:
Maxim Arkhipov RU5D / 6
Visited 4 New One RLHA programs

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Our lopsided Moon was likely hit..

26th November 2019
MoonsfarsideLRO

The standard story of the Moon’s formation is that sometime in Earth’s early history, a planet-sized body struck our planet, throwing material high into space, where it eventually coalesced into the Moon we see today. But even this dramatic tale can’t explain all the oddities of Earth’s Moon, like the difference between the Moon’s near and far sides.

A clue came in 2012, when NASA’s GRAIL mission showed that the lunar near side has a thinner crust than the far side.

So over the years, as both sides suffered numerous asteroid strikes, the near side cracked open. The outpouring lava filled basins and hardened into the dark maria, or plains, we see today. But the far side has a thicker crust, so there’s just a lot of cratering. But the puzzle of why the two hemispheres have different thicknesses to begin with is harder to explain.

One way to solve the problem is if a small world – about the size of the dwarf planet Ceres, which resides in the asteroid belt – were to have hit the Moon’s near side after it had already formed and solidified. The impact would have thrown up material, and when the material resettled, it could have fallen mainly on the far side of the Moon, burying it under 3 to 6 miles of lunar regolith. Zhu and colleagues ran a series of computer simulations to test this scenario, and found that an object ramming the early Moon at between 14,000 and 15,000 miles per hour would recreate the Moon as we see it today. That may sound fast, but it’s only about a quarter the speed of most small meteors that hit Earth.

The impact could also help clear up some of the long-standing questions about the materials that make up the Moon. They are both very Earth-like in some ways – a sign that the Moon did indeed form out of Earth debris – and dissimilar in other ways, pointing to additions from an outside world.

8T2G, GANGA SAGAR MELA ISL. (AS-153)

26th November 2019
8T

Operated by Members of West Bengal Radio Club (Amateur Club) VU2WB, Sodepur, Kolkata, India (http://wbrc.in/) between 10th & 17th January 2020
Supported by National Institute of Amateur Radio (NIAR), Hyderabad, India (www.niar.org) & Indian Institute of Hams, Bengaluru (www.indianhams.com)
QSL via VU2NRO
Previous callsigns for Ganga Sagar Mela:

2019 : AU2HAM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb4fZjJe90I)
2017, 2018 : AU2WBR
2016 : 8T5GSM 2015 : 8T5MQT 2014 : AU2MQT