WVDXA Straight Key/Glowbug Night

December 31st is the 3rd Annual running of the WVDXA Straight Key/Glowbug Night operating event. The event only lasts 1-1/2 hours so it does not interfere with much of your New Year's Eve activities. The "rules" are posted below.

Some folks have mentioned that they no longer use a Straight Key to send CW. Most have bugs, external keyers or keyers built into their rigs. Some just have their computers generate their CW. If you are in that category and no longer have a Straight Key handy for this event, don't let that keep you from operating. I have recorded a short video that will show you a suitable alternative - to view it, CLICK HERE. WARNING! Always check the voltages on your key-line before using this method as some older tube-type rigs may have HIGH Voltage present on the key-line. This could be LETHAL!

The rules are quite simple:

Begin on 80-M then move to 40-M for DX!

0030 GMT (Jan. 1st) = 7:30 p.m. EST (Dec. 31)
  3.565 MHz + / - QRM

0100 GMT (Jan. 1st) = 8:00 p.m. EST (Dec. 31)
  7.030 MHz + / - QRM

Call "CQ AH" (for W8AH - the club call)

Use your Glowbug rigs (hollow state) if you have
  them and can get on the above frequencies.

Use your Straight Key (or bare wires) -
  thus the speed will be SLOW CW.

Minimum exchange is a signal report.
More "exchange" if you want.

Use the WVDXA Chat Page
<http://www.wvdxa.org/chat/>
for coordination.

BOTH 80-M and 40-M can be used if the number
of WVDXA members warrants that.

Event positively ENDS at 0200 GMT (9:00 p.m. EST)

So, dust off that "hollow-state" rig, clean up that straight key, and join the WVDXA on New Year's Eve. We'll have fun!

WVDXA is major sponsor of KP5 DXpedition

The WVDXA logo now appears on the "club sponsor's" page of the KP5 DXpedition web site http://kp5.us/ and will appear on the QSL card for the coming operation on Desecheo Island. Thanks to at least twenty members of WVDXA well more than $1,000 was raised and was forwarded to the DXpedition by WA8WV. $500 was the sponsorship level required to be shown in logo form on the QSL and our club contributed more than double that.

As a member of the DXpedition team, and a loyal member of WVDXA, I especially appreciate the club's support. Lots of larger DX clubs around the country made much smaller donations than we did and that makes me really proud. It is an expensive proposition and the members of the team will put up more than half of the money required (far more than half if we include airline travel to the staging areas in Puerto Rico and hotel bills on the way there and back). So donations are critically needed, and big ones like WVDXA's are a wonderful help.

I am personally indebted to the following WVDXA members who chipped in to make this sponsorship a reality:

K3XO, K4OM, KZ8E, N8NN, N8RR, W8GG, W8HC, W8IW, W8JA, W8OI, W8OP, W8QHG, W8QY, W8RAH, W8TN, W8UV, W8WEJ, W8XF, WA8VPN, WA8WV.

It is my hope that I work every one of you guys from KP5. I'll be listening for you!

KP5, Desecheo Is. Update

KP5, DESECHEO ISLAND (Press Release #2, November 23rd - DXpedition Dates Announced)"The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has notified the team that February 12-26, 2009, will be the dates allocated for the radio operation. These dates are coordinated with other USFWS research activities scheduled on other parts of Desecheo Island as well as scheduling USFWS security personnel for the camp.
Fifteen operators will be allowed on the island at any given time. A total of 6-8 stations will be operational, including 160-6 meters.
A reconnaissance trip to Desecheo is scheduled for Friday, December 19th. Three team members, USFWS personnel and an UXO (unexploded ordnance) expert will sweep and clear the assigned area of UXO and other hazards. There will be no radio operations.
The 15-man team will assemble in Puerto Rico on February 8, 2009, for mandatory UXO training. The next three days will include team operations training, and last minute preparation and staging of the several tons of equipment for transport. On February 12th, landing will commence and two stations will be immediately activated. Likewise, stations will continue to operate until the final moments before departure on February 26th.
Halfway through the operation, on February 19th, approximately half of the operating team will be replaced with fresh operators for the final week.
The team has been diligently planning antennas and propagation paths to take advantage of every possible band opening to Asia, where Desecheo is #2 on the Most Wanted List and to Europe, where it is #3 on the Most Wanted List.
Contributions are being solicited. To assist us and for the latest news, please go to the team's website:
http://www.kp5.us
73,Glenn Johnson, W0GJBob Allphin, K4UEEDesecheo 2009 co-leaders"

DX Bulletin Reader 1.0 Software

WOW, here is ANOTHER neat program from Alex, VE3NEA. Alex has produced CW Skimmer, DX Atlas, MorseRunner, and loads of other ham software. DX Bulletin Reader is a tool for viewing, archiving and searching the DX news bulletins. It works on Windows 95/98/ME/NT4/2000/XP. What this program does is that it "reads" the DX Bulletins and HIGHLIGHTS information on countries you designate as your NEEDED ones. Also, it highlights prefixes, callsigns, IOTA references and grid squares in different colors! Thus, you don't get bogged down in reading through the bulletins looking for particular information - it just jumps out at you!

Every highlighted item has a pop-up tooltip with more information like the IOTA Group Name and Prefix, the name of the country, latitude and longitude of grid squares, etc. AND, it has a text search that will search through all archived bulletins for that particular piece of information you remember reading but just can't find! Amazing!

You can see a screen shot of DX Bulletin Reader HERE and download it from the same page. Oh, and it's FREE!

A Month Without Sunspots

The sun has reached a milestone not seen for nearly 100 years: an entire month has passed without a single visible sunspot being noted.

The event is significant as many climatologists now believe solar magnetic activity – which determines the number of sunspots -- is an influencing factor for climate on earth.

Sunspot Numbers

Sunspot numbers for August 14-20 were 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 and 0 with a mean of 0.

P29 - Papua New Guinea in October

Five operators: AD6E, G3KHZ, K6HFA, CT1AGF, and W5GAI will operate from three islands in Papua New Guinea during October. They have room for one more operator if you want to make the trip. See their web site HERE for more information. They may do 160-M on the trip but since it will cost $1,500 to transport the 160-M amplifier and antennas to that location and back, they are asking for donations via a PayPal link on the above web site to help fund that band. If you don't use PayPal you can send your donation to W5GAI. They plan to operate from these IOTA locations: OC-008, OC-181 (P29VLR), OC-041 (P29NI), and OC-025.

DXCC with 1/2-watt at the Bottom of the Sunspot Cycle

Have you given up trying to work any DX at the bottom of the Sunspot Cycle (except on the low bands?) Do you ever turn the rig to 15-M or 10-M at all? Well, JQ2UOZ set a challenge for himself. The challenge was to try to work DXCC at the bottom of the sunspot cycle running just 500 milliwatts to a dipole antenna on the 17-M band or higher frequencies. He began this quest on November 25, 2006, and as of August 4, 2008, he has reached 100 countries! Nothing short of WOW! Check out his web page HERE and his Challenge stats HERE. Read through some of the stations he worked - it even includes BS7H!

W8QHG's Hint for Pointing Your Antenna

Bob Hall, W8QHG, mentioned to me today that for many years he has used a printed list of "Beam Headings" in order to point his antenna toward the DX. The list he has used for a long time was made in 1980 and called "Beam Buddy." However, it is now drastically outdated in that many country names and prefixes have changed in the last 28 years.

But, Bob recently found a web page that would allow him to print out a current "Beam Heading List" which was customized for his particular location. That web page is one of the "DX Tools" of the North Jersey DX Association. Here is a screen shot of what Bob's list looks like:

All you need to do is to visit THIS Web Site and enter your information (Name, Callsign, ZIP Code or Latitude/Longitude) and click on the "Generate" button. Shortly the list will be created on your screen and you can use File | Print to print a hard copy for your station.

Thanks to Bob, W8QHG, for sharing this Hint with the WVDXA. If you have a Hint or Kink that you would like to share, contact one of the "Blog Authors" listed on the bottom right-column of this Blog.

KH3, Johnston Island - News

Susan Meckley, Skipper of the USSV Dharma, and amateur radio operator, W7KFI, has been authorized to operate from Johnston Island, KH3, (see photo at Left.) This may very well be the LAST operation from there. Susan has been told that the Air Force and the Fish and Wildlife Service are declaring Johnston Island a "closed" island. It took her 7 months to acquire permission to make a stop there. Note, Susan is a 73-year old Grandmother!

Susan has had many troubles in her effort to reach Johnston Island - the engine on her boat quit, she had to return to Hawaii for emergency oral surgery, and, always at the mercy of the weather, had to lay over in Hawaii for the Hurricane season. But, just last week, Alan, W8OP, received an email from Susan stating that she hopes to head out before the end of the summer. Here is Susan's email:

Ahoy:

I rec'd your nice letter, thank you. Yes, according to the powers that be, I am the last "officially approved" landing on KH3. The island is a nature preserve and is now "closed", much like Howland, Baker, Kure, Swan, etc. The only priviso from the Govt was that I take everything with me, leave nothing, and stay out of the water, the army galley used to dump their garbage in the water, thus th shark population is horrendous. I have a rule, I don't east raw fish, they (Hopefully) dont eat raw me.

I now have $5,000 saved for the engine change out....another thousand and the work begins, so I hope to be out of Honolulu before the summer is over. When I do leave, I will notify everyone...the trip there should take me a week, and then a day or so to set up. I have purchased an additional 27.5 gal water tank, so I should be able to remain at least a week, that is , if there is no rain. With rain, I stay longer.

Again, thank you very much.

Susan, W7KFI-mm
USSV Dharma

If you don't change direction you will arrive exactly where you're headed!!
Susan Meckley, Skipper - USSV Dharma

Let's hope she is able to make a safe voyage and work all WVDXA Members who need KH3.

HERE is a link where you can see a photo of Susan and listen to a conversation she had with radio host, Art Bell, while she was 200 miles off the coast of Hawaii.

Christmas in July

With temperatures in the 90's some days the phrase "Christmas in July" sure sounds good to me. In this case, I'm referring to the upcoming DX'pedition to Christmas Island.
According to their WEB SITE, the operation will now take place from July 14 to 21 because of a change in air transportation. Equipment consists of a Kenwood TS-480SAT, Yaesu FT-857, Alinco DX-70T, and an Acom 1010 amplifier. Antennas are a Spiderbeam and a Force 12 XK40 vertical. Modes planned are CW, SSB, RTTY, SSTV, PSK31 and FM on all bands from 80 thru 6 meters (possibly they will operate on 160-M but that is not considered too likely.) But, they plan to run THREE stations (1 high power and 2 at 100-watts.) Their goal is to give as many folks as possible a chance for a QSO for a New One. Christmas Island ranks No. 66 on the Worldwide Needed List.
Check out their web site. It is very extensive. GL to all.

4W6R, East Timor, June 10 to 24

Several members of the Union de Radioaficionados Españoles, URE, (The Spanish Amateur Radio League) will operate from Timor-Leste as 4W6R from June 10th through 24th. Activity will be on 160-6 meters, using CW, SSB and RTTYwith two stations on the air. Suggested frequencies are: CW - 1824/1832, 3508, 7008, 10118, 14018, 18078, 21018, 24898 and 28018. SSB - 1824/1845, 3785, 7065, 14185, 18135, 21295, 24945 and 28485. RTTY - 3615, 7038, 10145, 18105, 21085, 24925 and 28085. 6m - CW/50098, RTTY/50300 and SSB/50155 kHz

QSLs will be via EA4URE, by the Bureau or direct to: P.O. Box 220, 28080, Madrid, SPAIN. See their web site HERE for more info. (TNX Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin for this info.)

WVDXA Invades the Dayton Hamvention

The 2008 Dayton Hamvention saw a HUGE number of WVDXA Members attend. It seemed like you could hardly turn a corner on the flea market or pass a vendor's booth that you didn't run into a club member. Many were congregated around Rick, W8ZT's, flea market space as it appeared to be the "home base" for those in the flea market. The DX Dinner had no less than TWELVE WVDXA members in attendance! Here are a couple of shots of the two tables it took to hold all of us. BTW, Hal, W8HC, was not in his seat for this photo and, of course, I was behind the camera.


Hal previously posted a list of all WVDXA members he spotted at this year's Hamvention and it included: W8TN, WA8WV, WA8VPN , WA8ZDL, K4OM, W8FG, K8OQL, WB8JPJ, KØCS, KC8UHE, W8OP, K8TW, W8GG, W8OI, W8HC, AB8RL, W8ZT, W8HYX, K4KL, KC8FVE, W8UI, K8MN, and N8NN, for a Grand Total of TWENTY-THREE WVDXA Members. Obviously, the group made its mark this year in force!

DX Summit has a New URL

For those of you who use DX Summit to either look for current DX spots or to look back in their archives for past DX spotting information, they have moved to a NEW location on the Internet and a NEW look to the page. If you have gone to their site recently you will find you have been "re-directed" to the new location. In any event, you should CHANGE your Bookmark or your Favorite to reflect the new URL as the old one will no longer work shortly. HERE is the new URL for the homepage and HERE is the URL for the DX Spots page.

DX Summit was first launched in 1998 and has provided the DX world with a huge tool for finding that elusive DX. Now with the help of YASME they have upgraded their hardware to the latest technology and with the servers located in California, provide much faster service so your DX spots will appear on your computer much quicker. More info is available at their web site.

Don't forget to also change any other Bookmarks or Favorites you may have for "Spot Database Search" or for specific band searches.

We're losing our best 6 meter beacon

Do you 6 meter buffs realize that come February 17, 2009 we will no longer be able to tune our TV sets to an unused low channel (say channels 2, 4, 5 or 6 here in Charleston-Huntionton, WV) and wait to see a picture from far away to tell us that a sporadic E opening has made 6 meters come alive? Alas it is true.

For so many years a TV picture on an unused local channel was often our first indication of a sporadic E opening into places far, far away. But in Feburary 2009, when analog television has to shut down in favor of digital TV on new frequencies, those pictures from hundreds of miles away will fade into memories from the past like white bucks, leisure suits, Johnson Rangers and Monica Lewinsky.

Enjoy this tool again in 2008. Next year it will be gone.

We don't know what services will replace brodacast TV on those low channels, but they probably won't be anything comparable to 100,000 watt television stations. And I still need 46 entities for DXCC on 6 meters. Help?