IK5ROS Ham Site

C2, NAURU. By the time you read this the C21TI DXpedition by Dani, EA4ATI/9M2TI, and should be on the air until August 23rd. According to his Web page, Dani seems to be alone on this operation. The Web page
states he will be staying at the "OD-N Aiwo Hotel", were previous DX- peditions have operated from, and he asks for patience especially on CW where he is not an expert. There is a chance he may meet C21RK.
Activity will be on all HF bands including 60m and 6m. The suggested frequencies mentioned (as of now) are:
 CW  - 1825.5, 3505, 7005, 10110, 14025, 18075, 21025, 24895 and 28025
 SSB - 1825.5, 3799, 7065, 14195, 18145, 21295, 24945 and 28495 kHz
 60m - 5403.05 (SSB)
  6m -  50.115 MHz (CW/SSB)
QSL via EA4ATI (see details on QRZ.com or the Web below). Look for possible updates on the Web page at:   http://c21ti.madrono.net/index.html

3B7, ST. BRANDON ISLAND. Ron, K5XK, updates OPDX that Rachid, 3B8FQ,
has departed Mauritius for St. Brandon Island (AF-015) on Tuesday last
week and was expected to be active as 3B7FQ on Wednesday, August 12th,
after arriving around 0200z. However, as of press time no QSNs have been
reported. According to Ron, barring unforeseen circumstances, Rachid now
expects to extend his trip, operating until sometime on September 3rd,
when the ship departs for 3B8. Remember, operating time will be shared
with Rachid's maintenance responsibilities at the St. Brandon meteoro-
logical station. Look for him on all bands, 30-10 meters, although Rachid
expects 40 and 20 meters to be most productive. See OPDX.920 for suggested
frequencies. He will use both CW and SSB, as conditions allow. Courtesy of
Carl, K9LA, the following propagation predictions for August HF conditions
to North America, Europe, and Japan, were made available (all times UTC):
 Area     80m        40m         30m        20m        17m        15m
 -----  ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------
 NA       ....     1300-1700  2000-0400  0200-0500  1300-1700    ....
                   2100-0300
 EU     1600-0200  1300-0400  1300-0400  0300-0700  0700-1600  0400-1900
                                         1000-2300
 JA     1300-0100  1100-0200  1000-0300  0100-2200  0200-1700  0200-1400

                NO PROPAGATION for NA on 12 and 10 meters
                EU - 12m (0700-1500) and 10m (1100-1200)
                JA - 12m (0400-1200) and 10m (0600-1000)

 QSL all of Rachid's operations via K5XK, direct preferred, as indicated
on QRZ.com

5B, CYPRUS (Update). Terence, G4MKP, will be active as 5B/G4MKP from Tsada
village near Pafos between August 14-25th. Activity will be mainly CW/RTTY
on 80-10 meters. Look for him during the mornings and evenings on CW/RTTY,
and if he can figure out how to do it, SSB also. Suggested CW frequencies
are around 7010, 14010, 21010 and 28020 kHz. RTTY anywhere in the band
segment. QSL via M0URX, direct or via E-mail request for a bureau QSL.
LoTW will be uploaded after the operation.

5Z, KENYA. Ernie, W8EH, informs OPDX that his brother Steve, W8SMH, has
just received his Kenyan license. He will active from Nairobi, Kenya, for
the next 3 years. His Kenyan callsign is 5Z4/W8SMH. Steve is on assignment
with the Salvation Army as second in command at their headquarters in
Nairobi. His travel schedule may limit his operating, and he is a rookie
at DX operations (So please be patient!). His other limiting factor is
that Nairobi is experiencing power shortages and as a result they are
doing rolling blackouts 2 or 3 days a week in his area. His equipment is
an Icom IC-718, dipoles and a multiband vertical. QSL direct to his home
callsign (QRZ.com) with an IRC or SASE. Logs will be uploaded to LoTW
and eQSL. His blog is at:  http://howardskenyanadventures.blogspot.com/
Kenyan club site:         http://www.qsl.net/arsk

9H, MALTA (EU-023). Wim, PA2AM, will be active as 9H3DZ between September
4-14th. Activity will be active mostly on 30/17/12 meters using CW and
RTTY. QSL via his home callsign.

A3, TONGA (News). OPDX contacted Paul, A35RK, this past week to make
sure Paul and his family were not on board the "Princess Ashika" which
capsized last Wednesday, 86km northeast of the Tongan capital of
Nuku'alofa. Some 93 people are presumed drowned after being trapped
in the vessel. Paul informed OPDX that "We're all OK, but the whole
country is dressing in mourning clothes. The search team found the wreck
yesterday, using sonar, but its too deep (110M) to dive to it. I don't
know if there will be a further attempt to recover the remains of the
94 souls trapped on board. I'm not sure where you folks in the States
are getting the news, but we're looking at: http://www.matangitonga.to
                                            http://www.nzherald.co.nz
                 Again, we appreciate your concern."
 ADDED NOTES FROM PAUL (August 16th): Paul states that he just got a
 telephone call from Dave, W6ZL, and here's what he said:
   "He arrived in Nuku'alofa late last night. He will only be able to
   stay in Tonga until Tuesday, August 18th, departing at 10am.

   He said that it was pouring rain and the power was out, so he didn't
   know if he could get an antenna up and get on the air today. If he
   isn't QRV today, then A35KL won't be QRV at all this trip.

   Dave said that he was only able to make 1 contact as YJ0ZL. The
   Tanna Island generator only ran for a couple of hours per day.

   Dave said that he will be back in Tonga later this year, but he has
   no definite return date set."


C6, BAHAMAS. Once again operators Pete/W2GJ, Ed/K3IXD, Dallas/W3PP and
Randy/K4QO will operate as C6APR in the CQWW DX SSB Contest (October
24-25th) as a Multi-Operator/Two-Transmitters (M/2) entry from the Crooked
Island Lodge (Grid FL22), Crooked Island, The Bahamas. The team will be
active from October 22-26th. Before and after the contest, look for C6AQO
on HF CW and SSB, and C6AXD on HF RTTY. Both C6AQO and C6AXD will be on
160-10 meters including the 30/17/12m bands. All the QSOs are good for
IOTA NA-113 and ARLHS lighthouse BAH-005. All QSLs via K3IXD.

CM1, CUBA. Fred, CM2IR, informs OPDX that he has been working tropospheric
ducts on VHF (145.500 MHz) from Cuba (IOTA NA-015, GRID LOC: EL83TC) since
August 11th and will continue until August 20th. He is using a collinear
antenna and 50 watts. QSL is preferred DIRECT (1 USD or IRC) using the
QRZ.com address.

CR3, MADEIRA ISLANDS. Jose, CT1BOH, will be using the special callsign
CR3E during the CQWW DX CW Contest (November 28-29th) as a Single-Op/
All-Band entry. All QSOs will be uploaded into LoTW or QSL via CT1BOH
direct. See his station at:            http://www.qsl.net/ct1boh

DXCC NEWS. If you missed special OPDX bulletin (OPDX.920.1) Bill Moore,
NC1L, Awards Branch Manager, reports that the following operations are
approved for DXCC credit:
 7O1YGF ­ Yemen; Operation from April 16-26th, 2000; See special details
          in OPDX.920.1 or visit the DXCC's Awards Weblog at:
               http://www.arrl.org/blog/Century%20Club%20Awards
 ZS8T - Prince Edward & Marion Island; Recent operation conducted by ZS6GCM

FO8, FRENCH POLYNESIA (Update). As reported last week Phil, F5PHW, who
will be in Tahiti for the next two years starting this month, has received
his new callsign on his 40th birthday - FO8RZ. Phil informed OPDX this
past week that he has installed the HF6V (GP) antenna last week and plans
to be active on 80-10 meters using CW. He states that propagation is very
poor especially to Europe and Asia, and he has worked mostly North America
stations on 30/20/15 meters. Phil will install a 3 elements beam 6 meters
up at the end of August and a dipole for 80/40m. He adds, "I have many
trees in the garden, so it's difficult to find a good place for antenna.
The online log is 'OK' on my Web site <http://f5phw.chez.com/> and it
will be updated every week or more. QSL is now 'OK' on LoTW. I received
the authorization from ARRL yesterday (August 14th). The log will be sent
every week or more to LoTW. QSL is also 'OK' via F8BPN, either direct or
via the French Ref-Union Bureau. QSLs are not printed yet."

GA/MA/2A, SCOTLAND (Special Prefix). Look for some Scottish amateurs to
use a special prefix until November 30th, to celebrate "The Year of
Homecoming". Only Scottish amateurs can replace the letter "M" in their
prefix for the letter "A" (for ALBA) after they apply for a callsign
variation (ex. GM4FDM = GA4FDM, GM4AGL = GA4AGL, 2M0AAW = 2A0AAW... etc.).
To celebrate Homecoming Scotland 2009, have a look at:
                    http://www.homecomingscotland.com

HB9, SWITZERLAND (Special Event). Members of the Tera Radio Club (HB9OK)
<http://www.hb9ok.ch> will be activating the special callsign HB9VELO
during the month of September. Activity will be on all HF bands using
CW, SSB, PSK and RTTY. QSL Manager is HB9OCR. Their activity is to promote
the cycling "UCI Road World Championships" being held in Mendrisio between
September 23-27th.  For more details, see:   http://www.mendrisio09.ch
The Tera Radio Club is organizing an award; more details are expected.

HL9, SOUTH KOREA. Mike, KE7WRJ, will be here for over 2 months starting
September 9th. He plans to be active as HL9QST no later than the 11th. His
tentative schedule is to operate from 4 different locations in South Korea
as follows:      September 10-12th: Seoul
                 September 14-24th: Camp Casey
                 September 25th-October 18th: Camp Humphreys
                 October 19-29th: Camp Carroll
                 October 30th-November 13th: Seoul
Activity will be on 40-10 meters, depending on the propagation, using CW
and SSB. Look for him to be in both the Extra and General portions of the
bands. His Equipment will consist of a 5000A by Flex Radio, a 3 element
Yagi in a Bag from Super Antennas. QSL via KE7WRJ.

INTERESTING WEB SITE OF THE WEEK! "Club Log" is a web-based application
which uses a database to analyzes amateur radio log files which are
uploaded in the common ADIF format. Using the logs, it is possible to
build band-mode league tables of amateurs' QSOs, provide efficient log
search tools and create most wanted lists for DXCC entities (both over
all time and in recent history, or by mode for example). Also, "Club Log"
can give back to its users the ability to find "wanted" DX spots, and
other analysis of their logs which might be hard to do with normal
logging software. More information at:   http://www.clublog.org