skimmer.dxwatch

Check each Band

Hosted by W5ALT and The ComPort Computing Company.

    Visitor

 

 

E51QQQ - North Cook Islands

 

JA1KAJ is currently active from Manihiki Atoll (OC-014). He will be on 80-10m using SSB and CW.

My computer shows the beam heading as 246° / 66° from Dallas. 

QSL direct or via the JARL bureau (bureau for JA stations only).

Manihiki is an island in the North Cook Islands known as the Island of Black Pearls. It is a triangular atoll 1160 km north of Rarotonga, and is said to be one of the group’s loveliest islands.

Manihiki sits atop an underwater mountain rising 4000 m above the ocean floor. Its stunning 4 km-wide lagoon is laced with 40 tiny motu (islets), which are strung along the reef. The reef provides excellent swimming and snorkelling, with colourful tropical fish to view.

Diving is a major attraction, and the offshore diving is among the region's best (visitors must first get a permit at the village of Tauhunu). There is good fishing in the open waters beyond the reef, including catches of Yellow-fin Tuna (bonito).

The island is renowned for its black pearls and there are pearl farms dotted around the lagoon. The largest farm maintains some 250,000 oysters for pearl production. Tours can be arranged to the farms to learn about the cultivation process, and to watch the seeding of oyster shells for future pearl harvest. Tauhunu, on the western coast, is known for its pearl carvers and the Fare Ariki – one of the old houses still standing after Cyclone Martin, which struck the island in November 1997.

I found some great pictures from the island HERE

LSDXA 80m net on Saturdays

 

Please don't forget the LSDXA information nets take place on Saturdays, on 3815 kHz +/- QRM at 09:30 local. Net control is Victor Paul, WB0TEV in Greenville, Texas. Purpose of the net is to exchange info on what DX has been heard and worked from this part 5 land in terms of bands and times. Reports on recently received QSLs will be exchanged as well.

 

Descheo

Desecheo KP5----2009 The Caribbean National Wildlife Refuge Complex has selected and announced a team of operators to activate Desecheo Island (KP5) sometime between January 15, 2009 and March 30, 2009.  The Team will be co-led by Dr. Glenn Johnson, WØGJ and Bob Allphin, K4UEE.

Background: On June 30, 2008, the Caribbean National Wildlife Refuge office in Puerto Rico sent a letter to persons that had previously made inquiries about an Amateur Radio operation from Desecheo.  They announced their decision to allow one group to activate the island and invited proposals that must adhere to strict guidelines and criteria. Applicant’s had 45 days to prepare and submit their proposals.

CNWR received seven written proposals. A panel of three Fish and Wildlife Service employees, from areas within the Service outside of the Caribbean refuge, spent September 24 & 25 reviewing and evaluating the proposals. The selection criteria used were those outlined in the proposal invitation letter. Points were awarded for how well criteria were addressed for thoroughness and documentation.

The proposal with the highest ranking was submitted by team leaders Dr. Glenn Johnson, WØGJ, and Bob Allphin, K4UEE.

Their plan involves a team of fifteen operators for a 14-day operation. USFWS has not announced the actual dates of the operation yet, but the DXpedition is expected to take place between January 15, 2009 and March 30, 2009. A Special Use Permit (SUP) will be issued as per USFWS regulations. We expect that the DXpedition team and DXers worldwide will have a minimum of 30 days notice.

The DXpedition team has announced that QSL processing for the Desecheo 2009 DXpedition will be handled by Bob, N2OO, and the members of the South Jersey DX Association. This is a very experienced group and the DXpedition is proud to have them on their team.

Toshi Kusano, JA1ELY, has been named the Asian Pilot station for the DXpedition.

A website is being developed HERE.

The LSDXA is proud to have contributed towards this dxpedition

Glorioso DXpedition Update.

From Didier, F5OGL, team leader Gloriosos 2008-08-13

Hi,

Considering numerous rumours spread by non authorized hams about the dates of the next Gloriosoe 2008 dxpedition, I think I have to give some information to avoid any more errors.

On the island, the anti-cyclonics shelters building is nearly finished. The taking over of the French Army sovereignty personnels and the return of the building workers will be effective at the end of this month. At the beginning of September, after the last checkings on the installations, especially on electricity, all the heavy building gear will be evacuated from the island.

I am, more than ever in very close contact with the military authorities of the French Forces for the South zone of the Indian ocean, in the Reunion Island.

I’ve met the new Head of state Chief warrant officer, before his starting for his new 3 years assignment to the zone.

He assured me of his entire support and help for this expedition.

The last problems to be solved are about some local logistic , especially the dates usable for the military planes flights and boats departures, which schedules haven’t nothing common with commercial ones.

I repeat that all the necessary authorisations are in hand.

Believe us about our will to do a most perfect as possible dxpedition to the Glorioso. For that, safety first is our goal .

Know if it could be easy to go, the Glorioso rank in the most wanted list will not be n°4.For another island in the Eparses, Europa 2003, we had to work several years to prepare it before doing.

All the ham operators are personnels of the French Military Defense and they have all a professional assignments which have priority over all, included the Ham radio Dxpedition.

The major risks on the zone doesn’t allow to include civilian ham ops in the crew.

No date is fixed to day, but I’m doïng all my best to lead Gloriosos 2008 before the end of this year, It must be said that without all combined elements gathered, I prefer postpone the operations as often as it will be necessary

I continue to work hard to put the Gloriosos on the air and know that’s not very easy.

73's QRO

Didier F5OGL - Glorieuses 2008 leader

Glorioso DXpedition website HERE

ZS8T is on Marion Island

Petrus will be on Marion Island for a year. Although he got there in April, he has been too busy for amateur radio operations yet.  The great news is he will have an Icom IC-7000, an Ameritron AL80B Amp, a Spiderbeam, A Steppir vertical and a Bencher paddle. Maybe my dreams of a CW contact with ZS8 will be fulfilled.

On 21st August, the ZS guys assisting Petrus issued news update number 3. It basically said they have been unable to contact Petrus for two months, and they don't know why he has not been active on the bands yet. The full text is on his web page linked below.

  As I update this web page in November, there has been no update on the ZS8T webpage, and no reports of activity on the cluster. That is six months without any activity. Maybe we should pass the hat around and buy some tickets for Petrus to get a visit from Roger and Nigel.
  

ZS8T web page HERE

3YØE web page HERE

Excel Spreadsheet by Jari, OH2BU - The "Mega DX Peditions Honor Roll".

MEGA DX PEDITIONS HONOR ROLL. Jari, OH2BU, has put together and maintained an interesting Excel spreadsheet over the last 12 years called - The "Mega DX Peditions Honor Roll". This Honor Roll listing currently includes data of 114 DXpeditions that have worked 30,000 or more QSOs since 1979. This unique listing includes data on:

• A summary on the DXpedition (dates, length, QSOs, stations..etc.)

• Information on Logs, Web site, QSL routes and if it is in LoTW

• List of operators of the DXpedition

• QSO statistics per continents, modes and bands

• Also continental, band and mode records

The whole purpose of this listing is to help future DXpeditions in planning their next operation, and to understand the possibilities in making QSOs to different continents and to optimize their efforts.

The LSDXA would like to thank Jari for permission to reproduce his amazing spreadsheet on this site. Please Click on the "Files" link in our menu to access it.

Current DX Cluster Spots - updated every 30 secs.

Possible DXCC changes

The Netherlands Antilles was to be disbanded on December 15, 2008. This dissolution is still planned, but has been postponed to an indefinite future date However, they still hope to have this completed by 1/1/2010. The idea of the Netherlands Antilles as a state never enjoyed full support of all islands. Political relations between islands were often strained. After a long struggle, Aruba seceded from the Netherlands Antilles in 1986, to form its own state within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The desire for secession has also been strong in Sint Maarten.

  Early November 2008 the President of European DX Foundation (EUDXF), Hans, PB2T, who visited ARRL HQ in July and had a discussion about the DXCC status of Netherlands Antilles, feels that after December 15th, 2008, it looks like four new entities will be added to the DXCC list in the future (Curacao, Sint Maarten, Saba, Sint Eustatius and Bonaire)."

It would seem that the new DXCC entities from the Netherlands Antilles are on hold for now. Guido van den Berg, PA0GMM, 1st Vice-President of the "Vereniging voor Experimenteel Radio Onderzoek Nederland" (VERON), informed OPDX that no new ones will take place on December 15th, 2008. He states, "Status of Netherlands Antilles will not be changed before 2010 (even 2010 is not guaranteed). "

I'm sure the following will never count for DXCC, but it's interesting to see who can declare independence......

• Hutt River in Australia.
• Molossia in USA.
• Sealand off the English coast.
• Forvik in the Shetland Islands.
• Buryatia in South-Central region of Siberia.
• Vikesland in Canada

 When this site was updated