A nice suprise in the mail this morning as you can see! 9th place overall and 1st place (Country Winner) for the UK.

I think it’s my second only Contest ‘win’ for Digital Modes so very happy to receive the Award.

Congratulations to all who took part, hope to meet you again next year on screen.

73 de Charles

Stations who have requested Qsl cards (Direct or Online System) for VP8DMN please be patient for a few days longer. I am awaiting delivery of Cards from Michael (G7VJR) for his trip to the Falkland Islands and expect should be with me in a few days time.

As soon as the cards are received I will have them dispatched within 24 hours, sri for any inconvenience caused by the Qsl Manager change.

73 de Charles

John Dunnington G3LZQ, arrived on Rodrigues Island (IOTA AF-017) on the 5th March where he will remain until the second of April.  No coincidence of course that the trip coincides with the RSGB Commonwealth Contest this weekend.

John has suffered delays with equipment which arrived late but all are now on the Island. He spent most of yesterday building antennas and at sundown still had a little work to do. All things being equal we should expect him to be qrv from today upon completion of the antenna build.

John is a CW only Op. and he will be concentrating on low band activity where possible using the callsign 3B9WR. Qsl Cards (left) will be available on his return via G3LZQ.

Good luck John!

….and over the last few weeks we have been busy running the special event station for Antarctic Activity Week.

Operating times and modes varied but all in all it was a good event and was well attended as regards contacts. This Year we worked 2602 q’s which was one of the better years we have had bringing our total qso’s to 12654 for GB0ANT. For me the highlight was last week on 15M.

It was early for 15M but I started call on SSB at around 0740utc. It started very quiet for a few minutes and then there was a rash of activity from Asia with Ukraine, Asiatic Russia and Kazakhstan stations flying in very strong. I was very surprised to hear a VU calling but he wasn’t too strong and therefore didn’t make the grade to gain a place in my log. Shortly after than I was called by JR1NHD (Foto Right) from Kanagawa prefecture in Japan. We had a brief exchange and then all hell broke loose, what a pile up of JA! Its several Years since i have worked into JA and received such a fearsome response.

One after another then got into the log and they just kept coming. Strange as it was, there were none of the ‘usual suspects’ in the mix either, many of them new entries in the logbook.

At 0834 I logged the last two stations JR4CEB and JA2LHG from Japan which brought a total of 71 JA stations in the brief window, what a run! (Extract of Logbook shown below for those who may not quite believe it!)

Lets pray that things continue as they are now for a long time whether we are climbing out of the Solar Minimum or whether we are not. Its certainly a big boost to anyone’s enthusiasm when DX such as that can be worked on the higher band for a change.

Thanks to all the guys that worked and the team that operated during the week, it was a good event this Year and lets hope that we have many more in the Years to comes as AAW (Antarctic Activity Week) grows stronger, bigger and better.

Thanks (to Japan!) and 73 to all….de Charles….

Charles MØOXO & Ian MØIAA will be Qrv as GBØWFF on Tuesday 2^nd March 2010 from the  Derbyshire Dales Nature Reserve (GFF-091 [new]) and on Wednesday 3^rd March 2010 from the Lower Derwent Valley (GFF-010 [new]).

Antennas will be Dipoles at 10M and running barefoot from the Yaesu FT-897D. All being well and pending any disasters on the day we should be qrv around or just before 12.00 UTC.    

**Areas may be subject to change on the day due to Snow and other WX issues.

Qsl as always will be via M3ZYZ / MØOXO and bureau cards can be requested via the On-Line Qsl Request Form (OQRF).

All other Qsl options such as paying via Paypal for Direct Cards can be found by clicking here. Photo’s of the trip will also be found in the World Flora Fauna section of this website in the coming days.

73 & 44 de Charles

So all is well.  Linda has not rung her mother who also lives in Chile but Valdivia is quite far south of the epicentre.  Imagine we are 600 miles north of the epicentre and the effect it had here.”

We wish you all good luck in the coming days David & Linda, our thoughts with you all.

73 de Charles….

Alerted to this situation, the General Manager and members of the Board undertook their own investigations, including a personal visit by the General Manager to the RSGB QSL Bureau, currently managed under contract by Richard Constantine G3UGF. It is apparent that Richard has been on a steep learning curve since taking on the bureau and his early focus was on fixing some longstanding issues with the sub-manager network, and the distribution of incoming cards.

With regard to outgoing cards, shipping costs, at the start of the year had already begun to rise sharply. Costs outside the EU began to rise more than could have been reasonably predicted, due to the worsening economic situation. This could not have occurred at a more inopportune time, when the bureau was turning its attention to building up the overseas distribution. By the first quarter costs had risen 25%, with no sign of slowing, and the Board was made aware of concerns. The bureau’s main provider pulled out of several destinations, including America, Russia and other ex-Soviet destinations, also increasing costs to Europe and the Pacific Rim.  In the second and third quarters  the bureau had to  use several different companies and routes, including costly personal air mail, shopping around for each dispatch, in order to maintain service , whilst trying to find another long-term partner, prepared to offer trade distribution rates.

This proved to be an extremely frustrating period as all carriers appeared reluctant to take on new business and prices changed per shipment, against the value of the pound. Increasing the average weight to popular destinations, from 10kg to 25 kg, brought some short term cost savings, but did not resolve the issue. However, even with additional sorters it became apparent that whilst the bureau’s remit is not to be the quickest way to send a QSL card, only the most cost effective, that increasing the package size to gain a cost saving would not ultimately meet some user expectations and that delays would continue.

It also brought the bureau into conflict with Customs in certain countries as they refused to accept large shipments as non-commercial, printed paper, imposing customs charges. Fortunately, by the last quarter, it was possible to find another provider, capable of distributing to all IARU destinations. Costs were significantly reduced and volumes began to increase in the final quarter and have continued into the New Year. The bureau is now more positive that it can continue to stay within its budget, having shipped approximately 400,000 cards by weight, over the last year. This being 25% down on its own internal projection. The position has been recovered and provided that there are no more shocks to come in the wider economy, there is now a stable platform on which to build in 2010. More importantly for RSGB QSL Bureau users, Richard has agreed to produce a monthly report for RadCom, starting in the April edition, covering RSGB QSL Bureau and listing recent shipments.

The Society regrets any problems with the bureau, whether real or perceived. While the RSGB QSL Bureau is no substitute for direct mail, it is a valuable membership benefit to many. It should be emphasised, incidentally, that intra-UK cards have been flowing freely throughout. It is unfortunate that there continue to be some abuses of the Bureau, for example by members sending cards on behalf of overseas friends who are not members. Indiscriminate QSLing by some contest groups and special event stations have also served to slow down the overall flow of cards.

Any questions relating to the RSGB QSL Bureau should be emailed to Richard at [email protected] but it is hoped that the regular bulletins in RadCom will help to reduce his correspondence and give him and his team more time for getting those cards through.

73 de Charles……