J5C - Guinea-Bissau in January 2008

The guys that brought you XT2C will be going to J5, Guinea-Bissau between January 11 and 21, 2008. They will concentrate on the low-bands (40-160-M) but will have 16 operators manning 5 full-time stations. HERE is their web site with many more details.

2007 BS7H (Scarborough Reef) DX'pedition Video

Thanks to Ted, W8KVK, HERE is a link to a YouTube video of the BS7H DX'pedition. It is just still photos with a music background but they have added motion to the still photos and it is a very nice presentation. The video runs 4 minutes and 48 seconds.

WVDXA Exclusive Telephone Call-Out List for E4

Alan, W8OP, has graciously agreed to set up a Telephone Call-Out list for WVDXA members for the upcoming E4, Palestine, DX'pedition. This is the procedure which worked so well for us on the VU7 and BS7H operations (well, except for the poor lady in Lincoln County who kept getting the 5 a.m. wake up calls instead of W8WEJ!)

If you want to be included in the Call-Out List, send your telephone numbers, and all pertinent info to Alan, W8OP, at W8op-at-AOL.com (change -at- to the @ symbol of course.)

The Call-Out list works like this: K4OM hears the E4 on 20-M. Pete looks at the Call-Out list and sees he is to call W8OI and he does. This alerts Garry to the E4 operation. Garry in turn calls the next on the list, W8WEJ, to alert John. If Garry does not get an answer, he then calls the person John should call (for example, W8TN) and alerts Clark. Clark then calls the next person on the list and so on.

Once you get on the air, also get on the WVDXA Chat Page and be ready to pass real-time info back and forth to other WVDXA Members. Good luck to all with the E4 Operation and THANKS to Alan for setting up the Call-Out List which will be published on the WVDXA Email Reflector.

E4, Palestine, December 14-22

According to the Ohio/Pennsylvania DX Bulletin, after 8 years of not being on the air, signals will soon be heard from E4, Palestine. E4/OM2DX should be operational from December 14-22 on 160-M to 10-M CW,SSB and RTTY with two stations. HERE is the web page for OM2DX describing the operation.

NASA Solar Cycle Prediction

HERE is the latest prediction from NASA (updated November 14th) regarding the next solar cycle. It is obviously difficult to predict (and be correct) in advance the behavior of a solar cycle. This prediction uses three different methods and comes to a very nice conclusion (for us 6-M types) for the upcoming solar cycle. Bring it on!

What Are Some of Your Most Prized QSL's?

A recent email from K8KFJ got me thinking - [DANGER, Will Robinson!] What are some of the QSL's you have received that are your "Most Prized" ones. Garie, K8KFJ, remarked, "One of my most prized DX QSLs would be ZA2RPS worked in June of 1971 on 20m SSB. We're told that shortly after this operation began, it was shut down by the Albanian authorities. Further, that there was no other operation from ZA until some 30 years later (ZA1A in 1991)."

So, leave a comment to this Post about your "Most Prized" QSL. If this subject sparks enough interest, send W8TN a JPG of the QSL and I'll post it on the Internet for all to see and enjoy.

What IS that Noise You Hear?

Ever wonder about those strange noises you hear in your receiver? Is QRN causing you to lose QSO's? Well, Ken, VE3HLS, has created a WEB PAGE to help you track down that offending noise. He has files on this site which he has identified that will help you track down what is causing the noise. The files are MP3 audio files and you can look at the waveform of the noise to see what it looks like on an oscilloscope.

Kick up Your CW Skills for the CQWWDX Test

At the WVDXA meeting in October, I demo'd a couple of CW training programs for the PC. One has been around for some time - Morse Runner. However it simulates a full QSO. This is good but for a change of pace, try - RufzXP. This is an interesting concept to improving your CW skills. It sends an actual ham callsign which you type into the keyboard then press Enter. If you got it right, you get a Happy Face and the next call is sent just a little bit faster. You can choose how many calls it sends and the starting speed. Then after the run you get scored. It keeps track of your scores for you so you can track your improvement. This doesn't take a long time and can be run many times just to improve your ability to copy call signs.

Snap Shots Removed from the Blog

Today I removed the Snap Shots feature from the Blog since the majority of those who responded to the poll indicated they did not use that feature. Whether or not you used the Snap Shots, if you now see that there has been a change in the speed with which the Blog loads in your Browser, please indicate by voting in the Poll in the Sidebar. Thanks!

UA4WHX Operations Approved by DXCC

DX'ers. The ARRL DXCC Desk has approved all the operations from Vlad's most recent trip. These include, but may not be limited to, the following: 5X1VB -- Uganda; 9U0VB -- Burundi; 9X0VB -- Rwanda; D20VB -- Angola; D60VB -- Comoros, and J20VB -- Djibouti. Other operations include: 3DA0VB -- Swaziland; 5R8VB -- Madagascar; A25VB -- Botswana; C91VB -- Mozambique; ST2VB -- Sudan; Z2/UA4WHX -- Zimbabwe; V51VV -- Namibia, and OD5/UA4WHX -- Lebanon. BTW, clicking on any of the above links takes you to the appropriate QRZ.com page but each has a different photo from Vlad's trips.

Revilla Gigedo DX'pedition 11/15 to 12/17

Socorro Island (NA-030) will be the site of a DX'pedition from Revilla Gigedo (XF4) for over 1 month starting November 15th. 6E4LM will be the callsign of the group. 160-M to 10-M plus 6-M and 2-M with operation on CW, SSB, Satellites and Digital modes. Logs will show up on LoTW after all direct QSL's have been answered. They will concentrate on 160-M and 6-M. HERE is their web page.

SnapShots Poll

There was not a great response in the Poll about those who do or do not use the SnapShots feature. It was suggested at the meeting that the SnapShots feature slows down the loading of the Blog. Since we only had 5 responses and 3 of them were negative, unless someone really objects, I'll remove the SnapShots feature. If you object to this, speak up by emailing either the WVDXA Reflector or W8TN.

South Cook Islands - E51MMM & E51NNN DX'pedition

George, K5KG, and Ron, KK9K, will operate from Rarotonga from November 12 through December 1. They will operate mostly HF on CW and some SSB, concentrating on 80-M and 160-M. HERE is their Blog, which details their operation.