Fourth WVDXA "Virtual" Meeting

August 15, 2020, "Virtual" Meeting

Well this was a fantastic gathering of the WVDXA!  Saturday, August 15, 2020, SIXTEEN members of the WVDXA took the time and made the effort to show up AND to participate in a "virtual" gathering via Zoom.  Attendance was up 60% over the June meeting which was really good to see.

You can see a screenshot of the meeting on the left side of this Post.  Click on the picture to see a larger image.  

New members were welcomed, all members introduced themselves, and announcements were made about the WV State ARRL Convention next Saturday and about the current donations being taken by Hal, W8HC, for the JXØX DX'pedition.  Also, lots of information was exchanged back and forth, and members showed off their newly acquired WVDXA Mugs plus some recent awards and QSL's.  Charlie, N8RR, showed off his 3,000 ARRL Challenge Award and that garnered the greatest response from the group!

It was announced that the WV State ARRL Convention, usually held at Jackson's Mill near Weston, WV, this year will be held on ZOOM next Saturday, August 22, 2020.    Remember that the DX Forum is scheduled for 3:45 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 22nd.  The Topic will be "VP6R Pitcairn Island 2019 DX'pedition" presented by WVDXA member, Hal Turley, W8HC.  Details and a schedule of events can be found on the State Amateur Radio Council's website here:  http://qsl.net/wvsarc/

We had a great number of WVDXA members attend this meeting from outside the state of West Virginia.  Those were:

Don, W8UZ, Woodburn, IN
Tom, K8TW, Columbus, OH
Wey, K8EAB, Cumming, GA
John, W4ER, Mobile, AL
Bert, N8NN, Summerfield, FL

Also, a moment of silence was observed to honor the passing of WVDXA member, Karl Thompson, K8KT.  He was an outstanding ham and an even better "gentleman."  He will be missed by many! 

The meeting ended very abruptly when the 40-minute time limit was reached.  In the past, Zoom has given us some grace beyond that 40-minutes but today, the clock ran out suddenly.  Lesson learned for future meetings.

If you have not joined the WVDXA "Virtual" meetings, you might think of doing so for the next one.  Members attend using external Webcams, built-in laptop cameras and a couple even use their cell phones. We hope to see you then!

Lists for the Serious DX’er

In light of the recent discussions on the WVDXA Email Reflector about the necessity of being “in the know” in order to be a serious DX’er, I was struck by the “How’s DX?” column in the August 2020 QST.  This column is written every month by long-time WVDXA member, Bernie, W3UR.  Knowing how seldom the following entities appear on-the-air will alert you to when you need to "pull out all the stops" to work one when it does show up.

The August column gives a HUGE amount of pertinent information needed by the aspiring DX’er.  I have re-printed below (with permission) three “Lists” that can provide the DX’er with a wealth of knowledge about what countries are the rarest.  There is a good deal more valuable information in the printed “How’s DX?” column and I suggest you read it to get the most out of what Bernie, W3UR, has put together.

The following “Lists” are from the How's DX? column on pages 76-77 of the August 2020 issue of QST which is edited by WVDXA member, Bernie, W3UR.

=====  Re-printed from QST with permission. =====

Top Ten Most-Wanted List

Most of the loyal readers of this column are familiar with Club Log's Top Ten Most-Wanted List (https://clublog.org/mostwanted.php). It's a listing of the rarest DXCC entities.  As of the end of May 2020, the top 10 most-wanted DXCC entities were (in order from 1 – 10):

P5  –  North Korea

3Y/B  –  Bouvet lsland

FT5/W  –  Crozet lsland

BS7H  –  Scarborough Reef

CEØX  –  San Felix lsland

BV9P  –  Pratas lsland

KH7K  –  Kure lsland

KH3 –  Johnston lsland

3Y/P  –  Peter I lsland

FT5/X  –  Kerguelen lsland

 

Inactive List

Another list that some like to follow is the top ten most-inactive countries list.  This list includes the DXCC entities that have shown no activity for the longest duration. The top ten for this list (in order by years, not time on the air) are:

CEØX  –  San Felix lsland (18 years)

KH3  –  Johnston lsland (17 years)

BV9P  –  Pratas lsland (16 years)

KH7K  –  Kure lsland (14 years)

3Y/P  –  Peter I lsland (14 years)

YVØ  –  Aves lsland (13 years)

EZ  –  Turkmenistan (13 years)

BS7H  –  Scarborough Reef (13 years)

3Y/B  –  Bouvet lsland (12 years)

KP5  –  Desecheo lsland (11 years)

 

Activity List

This list may be unfamiliar to most readers. It's the top ten most-wanted countries that have had one or more active amateur radio operators within this year. These countries are:

SV/A  –  Mount Athos (SV2RSG/A)

4U_UN  –  United Nations Headquarters (4U1UN)

6O  –  Somalia (6O1OO)

T3Ø –  Western Kiribati (T3ØTM)

KH8  –  American Samoa (AH8M)

ZL7  –  Chatham Islands (ZL7DX)

S2  –  Bangladesh (S21ED).

Z6  –  Republic of Kosovo (Z61DX, Z62FB, etc.)

TT  –  Chad (TT8SN)

5A  –  Libya (5AlAL and 5AØYL)

It should be noted that there are multiple licensed amateur radio operators in Turkmenistan (EZ), however, they have not been authorized to get on the air since August 2006.  Syria (YK) has several licensed operators, but they've said they won't go back on the air until the civil war is over.  South Orkney Islands (VP8/O) has an Argentine Naval Base on Laurie Island, LUlZA, and is occasionally on the air with authorized military operators.  Tristan Da Cunha and Gough Islands (ZD9) have Andy Repetto, ZD9BV, but he has not been active for a while.

 

=== "Reprinted with the permission of W3UR and the ARRL. © Copyright ARRL." ===