I.C.P.O. Bulletin (Dec 27, 2007 - Jan 04, 2008) Islands, Castles & Portable Operations. Listing is by calendar date (day/month/year). Note: Listings with announced digital operations are in italics.17/12/2007: Felix, DL5XL has arrived at Neumayer 2 Base (AA DL-03, WAP DEU-02, AN-016) last week (December 17th) via Cape Town, where he met well known friend Oleg, UA1PBA at the ALCI office. He will stay on Neumayer 2 Base (WAP DEU-02 approximately 3 months in order to assemble the new Neumayer 3 Base. The modules of the new station are on board of the supply vessel NAJA ARCTICA which got stuck in the pack-ice 18 km off the shelf-ice break. The vessel can be visited by skidoos, but the final unloading position has not been reached yet and thus the schedule for mounting the modules is getting pretty tight. Felix, who is part of the assembling team, thus has some free time for ham radio besides his other duties. The QSL route for DP0GVN Neumayer 2 clubstation is via DL5EBE and a general new QSL will be printed soon as we expect another operator (Torsten, DD1TG, from BGR) later this season. [F5NQL]
27/12/2007: Didier, F4ELJ will be active as CN4MC from Morocco from December 27, 2007 to January 3, 2008. He plans to operate on 80-10 metre SSB. QSL via home call. [425 DX News]
27/12/2007: Look for JS6RRR and JI3DST/JS6 to be active from the Miyako Islands (AS-079) from December 27, 2007 to January 7, 2008. The main QTH will be Miyakojima (JIIA AS-079-005), with side trips to Ikema-jima (AS-079-001), Kurima-jima (AS-079-003) and Ogami-jima (AS-079-006). QSL via the bureau only. [425 DX News]
27/12/2007: Ron, KC0JQO will be QRV as homecall/p or /m at Split Rock lighthouse (ARLHS USA-783), Lake Superior, Minnesota, on December 27th from 1900 - 2200 UTC. Activity will primarily be on 14.270 MHz SSB. QSL direct to KC0JQO with SASE/SAE + postage. [ARLHS]
28/12/2007: MJ/F5CWU (Flo), MJ/F4EGD (Sylvain), MJ/F5MOO (Terry) and GJ4FDM (Tom, GM4FDM) are heading to the isle of Jersey (EU-013, WLOTA LH-0818) for the New Year! Those needing GJ should check mostly on the low bands, 12, 17 and 30 metres as well as RTTY. They will begin on December 28th and continue through January 6th. Plans are to have three stations for HF and one for VHF (2 metres). They have a Web site at http://jersey2008.f5cwu.net, which will have on-line logs. QSL via their home calls either direct or via the bureau. [F5NQL]
28/12/2007: Kazu, JA0VSH and his wife Miyuki, JG0PBJ will be active from Pohnpei, Micronesia (OC-010) from December 28th to January 3rd. They will operate V63KZ (Kazu), V63MP (Miyuki) and V63BBQ (club call) on 160-10 metres CW and SSB. All QSLs direct to JA0VSH (Kazuhide Maruyama, 1-25-49 Iruma, Chofu, Tokyo 182-0004, Japan). [425 DX News]
28/12/2007: Igor VE3ZF will be active as a VE2IDX from Orleans Island (NA-128, CIsA QC-007), December 28th/29th during RAC Canada Winter Contest. Before and after contest he will use his regular call sign VE3ZF/2. His main frequencies will be 14260 kHz (daytime) and 3795/7260 kHz (during the night). SKEDs are welcomed at: Igor.Slakva_at_smithsdetection.com This is a good chance to work for the Canadian Islands Trophy (CISA Award program). Rules concerning the CISA Award program can be found at: http://www.qsl.net/ve3tpz/cisa/ . QSL via VE3ZF: Igor Slakva, 105 La Rose Avenue, PH #1410, Etobicoke, Ontario, M9P 1A9 Canada. [VE3ZF]
29/12/2007: Harry, JG7PSJ will be QRV December 29th to January 4th from Chichi-Jima (AS-031, JIIA AS-031-003, WW Loc. QL17CC, JCG 10007), Ogasawara Islands, using the call sign JD1BMH. Activity will be on 160-10m using CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL via JG7PSJ, direct (Hiroyuki Kawanobe, 1-4-1,Mikamine, Taihaku, Sendai, Miyagi 982-0826 JAPAN) or by the bureau. Further info and log search can be found at: http://sapphire.ganko.tohoku.ac.jp:8080/jd1bmh/ [NG3K]
30/12/2007: Giovanni, IZ2DPX, will be active as EA8/IZ2DPX from the island of Fuerteventura (AF-004, DIE S-006 for the Spanish Islands Award, WLOTA LH-0883) between December 30th and January 6th. Activity will be on 40/20/17/15/12/10 metres using a Kenwood TS-50 with a MFJ Tuner into a Spar I1UJX multiband vertical antenna. QSL direct to IK2DUW or by the bureau. [OPDX]
31/12/2007: Ben, DL7UCX will be active from Kenya as 5Z4/DL7UCX from December 31st through January 12th. Activity will be on 160-17 metres, mainly on CW and a focus on the lower bands. This will be a holiday style operation using 400 watts into a 18m vertical. QSL via DL7UCX, by the bureau or direct. [OPDX]
01/01/2008: Tom, DL2OBO will operate from the old QTH Chalet Barsüla in Liechtenstein again from January 1-9th. He will start with 40m on his day of arrival 1.1.08 (late arrival 2200 local time, so just a vertical for 40m in the first night). 2 element wire beams for 80m and 160m to USA will follow in the next day(s). Tom had great success with this setup the years before. Single vertical for JA/ASIA, sorry, there is no chance for the 2 element in that direction. It's again a one-men-show, using FT1000MP, AL1200 amp, mostly CW. QSL via home call. [K1XN & The GOLIST]
01/01/2008: Pete, SM5GMZ, reports that he will be traveling through South-East Asia starting in January 2008. He states, "Unless something odd happens, I will stay in the region until April and - when not working - try to operate as much as possible." His schedule is as follows:
January - Activity as HS0ZFI from Thailand (all bands and all modes), concentrating on 30/17/12 metres and the low bands.
January/February - Activity as XU7ADI from Cambodia (all bands and all modes).
March - Activity as 9M6/SM5GMZ from East Malaysia. He will also be active in the WPX Contest from Sarawak as 9M8Z. Also, activity from Brunei (V8).
April - Still open. Maybe some surprises! All QSLs are via SM5GMZ. Hopefully more up-to-date details will be forthcoming before the new year. Stay tuned! [OPDX]
02/01/2008: Peter, DL9DAK will be active from Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands early next year: January 02-11th as DL9DAK/HC1 from Quito, Ecuador; January 15-18th as DL9DAK/HC8 from the Galapagos Islands (SA-004); and January 19-21st as DL9DAK/HC2 from Guayaquil, Ecuador. He will operate only digital modes (PSK, Olivia, RTTY, Feldhell, etc.) on 17, 20 and from time to time 40 metres, with vertical dipoles and 50 watts. QSL via home call. Further information at: www.dl9dak.de/ [425 DX News]
05/01/2008: The 4M5DX Group is organizing a DXpedition to Paramaribo, Suriname, to take place January 5-11th. A multinational team of skilled and experienced operators is being gathered and plans are to have three stations active for 10 days. They will operate, as PZ5YV, on all bands (160-6 metres) CW, SSB and RTTY. Team members will be: Olli/OH0XX, Spiros/SV8CS, Pedro/HK1X, Alex/YV5SSB, Ramon/XE1KK, José/YV5TX, Diego/LU8ATX, Pasquale/YV5KAJ and Ramon/PZ5RA. Financial assistance is requested to offset the costs, for further information please visit: http://www.pz5yv.4m5dx.info/index.html . QSL via IT9DAA, direct or bureau. Logs will be uploaded to LoTW. [IT9DAA]
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LOOKING AHEAD -
14/01/2008: Gregg, W6IZT is joining the RC of the Association des Radio-amateurs de St Barthélemy (FJ5KH) as a full privilege member. He will be on St Barthélemy (NA-146, WLOTA LH-0377) from January 14-16th and will be active as FJ/W6IZT from the FJ5KH club station, if he finds accomodation. QSL via home call. [F5NQL]
01/02/2008: The Swedish Heathkit Club, SK7XN located in Huskvarna, Sweden, will be QRV February 9th (0700z-1800z) for Heathkit Activity Day and to celebrate the birth of Howard Anthony. Look for activity on 3.540, 3.700, 14.040 and 14.287 MHz. A special QSL card will be available by sending a direct request to: Swedish Heathkit Club, Mats Gunnarsson, Baldersgatan 6, Ljungby SE-341 33, SWEDEN. The Swedish Heathkit Club web site can be found at http://www.heathkit.se/ [SK7XN]
09/02/2008: Look for Yuris, YL2GM to be QRV as D4C from the MonteVerde contest station, Mindelo, Ilha do São Vicente (AF-086 LH-1976), as a Single-Op/All-Band/High-Power entry during the CQ WW RTTY WPX Contest (February 9-10th). QSL via IZ4DPV, direct or bureau. [NG3K]
16/02/2008: Girts, YL2KL will be QRV as D4C from the MonteVerde contest station, Mindelo, Ilha do São Vicente (AF-086 LH-1976), as a Single-Op/All-Band/High-Power entry during the ARRL DX CW Contest WPX Contest (February 16-17th). QSL via IZ4DPV, direct or bureau. [NG3K]
11/06/2008: Georg, DK7LX will be active holiday-style as FH/DK7LX from Mayotte Island (AF-027, DIFO FH-001, WLOTA LH-0376) between June 11-23rd. He will be QRV mostly using CW, on all bands with an emphasis on 30/40/80m. Antennas will be vertical-arrays as well as dipoles. QSL via home call. Further information can be found at
http://www.dk7lx.mayotte.2008.ms/ [NG3K]
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SPECIAL EVENTS -
25/12/2007: Special event station 8N0SNOW will be aired from December 25, 2007 until February 22, 2008 to celebrate the 63rd Winter National Athletic Meet. Look for activity on all bands and modes. QSL via the JARL bureau. [JJ1WTL/AC6IM]
29/12/2007: Paul, ZL3TX and local Radio Clubs operators will be active as ZM6JAM during the 18th New Zealand/International Scouts Jamboree, to be held in Christchurch, South Island (OC-134, WLOTA LH-0342), from December 29, 2007 to January 5, 2008. The main activity will take place between 0800-2000 UTC each day, apart from New Years Eve when the station will remain active till 1200 UTC. ZM6JAM will be active on 80-10 metres mainly SSB and Digital Modes, along with Echolink via the ZL3CAR repeater Node 101553 and ILRP on 145.625 repeater Node 6900. QSL via ZL3TX. For further information or for those wanting to set up skeds please email http://zm6jam@yahoo.co.nz [425 DX News]
01/01/2008: Ludwig, ZS6WLC will be active as ZS7BYRD from the South African Antarctic base SANAE IV [Vesleskarvet] (AA ZS-03, WAP ZAF-03) during January-February 2008. He expects to operate SSB on 14180 kHz and AM on 14280 kHz; CW will be supported using straight key. QSL to Ludwig Combrinck, P.O. Box 443, Krugersdorp 1740, South Africa. ZS7BYRD will be a commemorative station for Admiral Richard E. Byrd's 1930 and 1934 expeditions, where they used the McMurdo Silver crystal circuit for selectivity and the Collins pioneered class B AM modulator for the first voice transmissions to the USA from Antartica respectively. [425 DX News]
01/01/2008: The Balkan Contest Club will operate as LZ130LO from January 1st through March 31st to commemorate the 130th anniversary of the end of the Russo-Turkish War, which established Bulgaria as an autonomous principality. QSL via LZ1KZA, bureau preferred. Information on the relevant award can be found at qrz.com under LZ130LO. [425 DX News]
01/01/2008: On 1 January 2008 the official currency of the Republic of Cyprus will change from the Cyprus Pound to the Euro. To celebrate this historic event, members of the Pafos District of the Cyprus Amateur Radio Society will use the call C4EURO throughout 2008. Expect activity on the HF and VHF bands, SSB, CW and digital modes. QSL via 5B4AGC. [425DX News]
01/01/2008: The special event call sign EI100SI will be aired from January 1 to December 31, 2008 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts in Ireland. QSL info will be available on QRZ.com. [F5NQL]
01/01/2008: Special event station 8J7OZE will be aired between January 1st and September 30th to commemorate "The Birth of Oze National Park". Opened on August 30, 2007, the park is an area consisting of wetlands and mountains in Chubu, Japan. The park's area includes the marshes and the mountains in the Oze area, formerly part of the Nikko National Park, and other nearby areas including the Aizu-Komagatake and Tashiroyama mountains. The park is 37,200-hectares in area and includes parts of Fukushima, Tochigi, Gunma and Niigata prefectures. QSL via the JARL bureau. [JJ1WTL/AC6IM]
01/01/2008: Lions Clubs International, the world's largest volunteer service organization, will be sponsoring an amateur radio special event station to be operated by Great Britain's Bedworth Lions Club January 1-28th. The station will operate on 2 metre FM and 80-10 metre SSB with the call sign GB4BLC. Additionally for 2008, contacts via amateur satellite are planned. QSL via G8GMU, direct or via the RSGB bureau. Further details at: http://www.bedworthlionsclub.co.uk/evawa.htm [Southgate ARC]
U.S.A. Special event station information can be found at: http://www.arrl.org/contests/spev.html
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LIGHTHOUSE CALENDAR - 27/12-7/1/08 JI3DST/JS6: Miyako Shima (Henna Saki) WLOTA:0249 QSL H/C(b)
27/12-7/1/08 JS6RRR: Miyako Shima (Henna Saki) WLOTA:0249 QSL H/C (b)
27/12 KC0JQO/P: Split Rock ARLHS:USA-783 QSL H/C (d)
28/12-6/1/08 GJ4FDM: Jersey Island (main) WLOTA:0818 QSL GM4FDM (d/b)
28/12-6/1/08 MJ/F4EGD: Jersey Island (main) WLOTA:0818 QSL H/C (d/b)
28/12-6/1/08 MJ/F5CWU: Jersey Island (main) WLOTA:0818 QSL H/C (d/b)
28/12-6/1/08 MJ/F5MOO: Jersey Island (main) WLOTA:0818 QSL H/C (d/b)
29/12-5/1/08 ZM6JAM: New Zealand (S. Island) WLOTA:0342 QSL ZL3TX (d/b)
30/12-6/1/08 EA8/IZ2DPX: Isla de Fuerteventura WLOTA:0883 QSL IK2DUW (d/b)
01/01-31/12 C4EURO: Cyprus (Main) WLOTA:0051 QSL 5B4AGC (d/b)
01/01-31/12 EI100SI: Ireland (Eire) WLOTA:2484 QSL QRZ.com
02/01-07/01 OC1I: Isla Lobos de Tierra ARLHS:PER-053, WLOTA:1521 QSL DL5WM (d/b)
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New Prefix for Bosnia-Herzegovina Officially Announced -
In response to a request from the Ministry of Communications and Transport of Bosnia and Herzegovina in August, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) withdrew the call sign prefix allocation T9A-T9Z for Bosnia and Herzegovina and made a new allocation, E7A-E7Z.
The change was made initially on a provisional basis under authority of the ITU Secretary-General and was confirmed by the 2007 World Radiocommunication Conference to be effective November 17, 2007.
According to International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Secretary David Sumner, K1ZZ, the Ministry of Communications and Transport (BiH) held a press conference in Sarajevo on December 18 to formally announce the change. Minister Dr Bozo Ljubic explained the desirability of changing a prefix that initially was allocated during wartime and how it was now being replaced with one that has no connection to that troubled time; similar steps have been taken with regard to passports, drivers' licenses and automobile registrations, he said. Ljubic also observed that the costs associated with the change were minimal compared to the benefits.
Amateur Radio station licenses bearing E7 prefixes will be issued beginning in January 2008, and the use of other prefixes will be phased out.
Sumner and IARU Region 1 President Ole Garpestad, LA2RR, of Norway, were invited to speak at the press conference. Accompanying them was IARU Region 1 Executive Committee member Nikola Percin, 9A5W, of Croatia. They expressed congratulations and support for the change, eliminating an issue that has complicated relations among the radio amateurs of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Also invited to speak was Miroslav Nikse, President of the Union of Radioamateur Associations of Bosnia and Herzegovina (URAS), a recently formed umbrella organization of amateur radio associations based in different parts of the country. He thanked those involved in promoting the change. In his remarks, Dr Ljubic pledged support from the Ministry of Communications and Transport to the umbrella organization for the development of Amateur Radio repeater and digital networks that would cover the whole of the country, enhancing emergency communications capabilities. [ARRL]
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J5C by F6KOP team, press release -
Hi friends,
All is quite ready to go.
The team members, located near Paris have spent a lot of time to package the antennas, coaxial and guys, the four PA's and five transceivers. Are also in the box all the micellaneous pieces of gear, like connectors, solder and irons, measure gear, laptops and so on. The laptops net and all interfaces have been controlled and tested, they all run well. The Cat systems are on also.
Frank F4AJQ, said me on Xmas Eve, he has in hand both licences and flight tickets.
Know they had to pay 4 licences; One for J5C, the official DXpédition call sign, and one for each operator's different nationalities (1 for F, OE and K).
And to answer some inquiries, the expedition callsign will be:
J5C (Julliett five charlie).
They all regret Serge, F6AML's missing, They have all warm welcomed Jean Marc, F8IXZ who accepted to join them at the last moment.
They will depart from Roissy CDG on January 11th to Bissau, then transshipment towards Bubaque Island late in the afternoon.
Even with the great knowledge and skill about mounting antennas (Spiderbeams, verticals and wires) and settling stations, they gained in previous expeditions, it seem very difficult to expect the first signals before 1500 utc on January 12th.
The pilote stations, Thierry, F4TTR and Bruno, F5AGB, will look at these operations on real time and put the first signal on the air, directly on the various clusters (They will have just to play Enter on the keyboard).
During the expedition Pascal, F5JSD, will try to send information every day to be forwarded on Internet.
To join the expedition please only via: pilots@j5c.eu
Frank, F4AJQ, expedition leader and all of the crew members want to say Many Thanks, to all of you who sent donations, those who sent their contributions and encouragements; thanks to all of those who signed our guest book.
Your help is always very appreciated.
For other information, have a look on the bilingual French & English languages J5C's website at: http://www.j5c.eu/
To all of our friends, have a nice end of 2007 and warm and best wishes for 2008.
Rendez Vous from Guinée Bissau, January 12th to 21st.
For the J5C team
Maurice, F5NQL, Official Internet communications Officer for J5C [F5NQL]
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CQ MAGAZINE DX MARATHON 2008 -
The "CQ" magazine invites everybody to join the 3rd annual DX MARATHON in 2008. The 3rd DX Marathon starts on Jan 1 and you should work as many countries and zones as possible until the end of the year 2008. If you want to join please read the rules at: www.dxmarathon.com/ [DX Newsletter]
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** I wish you, your family and your friends: **
** A HAPPY, HEALTHY & PEACEFUL NEW YEAR 2008 **
73 and Good DX!
Dave Raycroft - VA3RJ
Home of ICPO: http://webhome.idirect.com/~va3rj/
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