The Illuminator

QRP

By Lamar N3AT

In the May issue of QST, David Summer K1ZZ, has a thought-provoking article entitled, "Real Hams". It will be worth your while to read the whole article.

In one paragraph he writes, "At the risk of being accused of touting a commercial product, the Elecraft K2 transceiver kit is one of the most positive developments in Amatuer Radio in recent years. The K2 responds to our nostalgia for the Heathkit era while offering good performance at a reasonable price along with a sense of personal accomplishment and a community of fellow constructors."

Take a look at the Elecraft ad for K2 on page 163 of the same issue, and see what he is talking about! It is a development that has created a lot of excitement among QRP-ers all over the world.

Meeting Minutes

April 20, 2000

By Bob K3PH

President Larry Lilly, N3CR, called a regular meeting of the Carbon Amateur Radio Club to order at 7:40 p.m. on Thursday, April 20, 2000. Thirteen people attended.

The minutes were read by John, W3MF, and approved by the members in attendance.

John, W3MF, gave the treasurer’s report. At the last meeting, we had a balance of $1088.34. We received $145 in year 2000 membership fees, and had expenses of $8.91 for mailing out the newsletter, $22 for our post office box, and $45 dues refund to Bill Siegmund, who sent in 4 years dues, leaving a balance of $1157.43. The members in attendance approved the Treasurer’s report.

Lamar, N3AT, delivered the remaining boxes for the club receiver project. He also indicated that the matching QRP transmitter is available for the same price.

Glenn, K3PP, brought a collection of past walkathon and Field Day photos, courtesy of AJ, WB2VBR. He also displayed an original W3HA QSL card from 1954. Additionally, he discussed upcoming contests.

Bert, W3OWP, moved that the club purchase a copy of the ARRL Handbook and donate it to the Lehighton library in memory of KD3TI. The motion passed.

Larry, N3CR noted that a memorial service for Amy, KD3TI, will be held on April 29, the same day as Walk America. We expect to meet for the Walk America at 8 a.m., with the walk beginning at 9 a.m. Larry also noted that we still need a Carbon County Radio Officer and Emergency Coordinator, as well as a Wednesday night net control station.

Gene, N3WMA discussed future fox hunts and the possibility of changing the starting time. He also discussed the Reading club’s fox hunts.

Glenn, K3PP, discussed some upcoming DXpeditions to Yemen, San Felix, and Bhutan.

Mike, W3JYA, John, WX3TAZ, Rob, WX3ROB, and Bill, N3VAE, gave a talk about the SKYWARN system. It is important to note the need of reports from Carbon County. We are the first line of defense for Lehigh and Monroe counties. They offered to conduct a training class in this area, including not only CARC members, but fire fighters, and other emergency services. A SKYWARN net is run on Thursday nights at 9 p.m. on 145.23 MHz, PL 77.0.

The meeting adjourned at 8:55 p.m.

DX News

Provided by Bob K3PH

The Ohio/Penn Dx PacketCluster

DX Bulletin No. 459

May 1, 2000

Editor Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW

Provided by BARF-80 BBS Cleveland, Ohio

Online at 440-237-8208 28.8k-1200 Baud 8/N/1

Thanks to the Northern Ohio Amateur Radio Society, Northern Ohio DX Association, Ohio/Penn PacketCluster Network, KF2TI, WB2YQH/WB2RAJ & The 59(9) DXReport, KA3S, W3UR & The Daily DX, N4AA & QRZ DX, K8EP, K8YSE, N8BJQ, 9M2TO, BD5RV/4, Carlos Diez, CX6VM, DJ5AV & DX News Letter, DK1II, EX8MF, F5NOD, F6AJA & Les Nouvelles DX, FK8GM, G3SXW, JM1LJS, OH1EH, RN3RQ, SP6ECA, SV2CWY, UA6AF, VE3LKS and VK9NS for the following DX information.

3C0R WEB PAGE

Chris, SV2CWY, informs OPDX that he is PLEASED to announce that the whole story with detailed photos of the 3C0R DXpedition to Annobon Island is now available at the Web site:http://www.qsl.net/sv2cwy

7O1YGF OPERATION

The team of 7O1YGF (DJ7MG, DK1II, DK3KX, DL5EBE) came to an early end. The following press release was sent out: "Dear fellow Dxers, After 10 days of activity we have been kindly asked by the authorities to terminate our radio transmission. The reason for that is, that until now no agreement on the final status of this unique special activity could be reached. In this sense our earlier press statement, that the licence will be granted immediately after arrival on April 17 has to be corrected. For this statement given, based on misunderstandings, we ask the DX-Community to accept our apology. Nevertheless, the activity 7O1YGF is for the time being still in the process of approval. We expect a written confirmation therefore in due time.

During this activity we were able to make about 35000 QSOs from 6 to 40m using CW, SSB ant RTTY. We are happy that we were able to give the DX-Community the opportunity to work 7O, we thank the Dxers for calling us and we apologize to those who could not make it this time. Last but not least our very special thanks goes to the people of the Republic of Yemen who hosted us and to the kind authorities for their constructive cooperation and

support to finalize the issue and approve the establishment of amateur radio in Yemen. We congratulate the people and the president of Yemen on the 10^th Anniversary of reunification which falls on the 22nd of May, 2000."

The whole 7O1YGF team is currently back in Germany and are well. They also had no problems in taking their equipment and log-files back home. They also look forward to getting the QSL cards printed and sent. However, after their arrival in Yemen they were advised to use only the callsign 7O1YGF, which may cause some confusion on the QSL Managers. Franz, DK1II, has confirmed that the QSL cards for CW contacts should be sent via DJ3XD (August Unterwallney, Am Kummerberg 30, Wedemark 2, 30900 Germany) and for SSB, RTTY

and 6m, contacts should be sent via DK9KX (Hans Walter Hannappel, Eschenbruchstrasse 1, Koeln, DE-510 69, Germany). Callbook addresses are "OK". They hope, and are confident, that this operation will end with a QSL card which at least will also count for the DXCC.

A5, BHUTAN

After many years of silence, the "Kingdom of Bhutan" is finally on air thanks to the help of Jim Smith, VK9NS, now signing A52JS. Not only is Jim active, but a local resident of Bhutan is active also. Tuji Yonten, A51TY, has waited a long time to be active again. Hopefully, this is the start for

more activity from this rare and wanted entity. For those who missed the two press releases by Jim/VK9NS (probably because you are not an OPDX InterNet Subscriber), in short, Tuji Yonten, A51TY, made his first CW and SSB QSOs on 20 meters. The CW QSO was with Pavel, RW0JR, on 20 meters. The SSB QSO was made later with Kirsti, VK9NL, on 20 meters. The logged time for START was 1201z, April 27th, 2000. Incidentally, Jim also made his first CW QSO with Pavel, RW0JR, at 1216z on 20 meters and later at 1252z his first SSB QSO with Vidi, VU2DVP, on 20 meters. Over the past weekend, Jim has been heard mainly on 15/20 meters CW. There has been some reports on SSB and 17 meters activity. Jim was heard saying that he would be in Bhutan for the next 4 weeks. QSL A52JS in the normal manner direct to HIDXA, PO Box 90, Norfolk Island, NI 2899, Australia. For BUREAU QSLING, Jim states, "All stations wishing to use the QSL bureau system are requested NOT to DUMP A52JS QSL cards into the bureau - they will get nowhere right now. PLEASE wait for an announcement to be made in a few weeks time once I get back to the UK and make some sort of arrangement for the handling of Bureau QSLs."

ADDED REMINDER: The larger A5 operation is scheduled for this week between May 3-12th. The last of the 15 operators are scheduled to arrive on May 2nd. The DXpeditions Web page has been moved to: http://www.qsl.net/bhutan2000 You will find the operators profile, sponsors, log uploads, propagation links and updated details, press releases and pictures. QSL via W0GJ.

CE0Y WEB PAGE

Victor, UA6AF, informs OPDX that the complete story of the trip by Victor/UA6AF and Vlad/G0KBO to Easter Island (CE0Y), as well as their logs and samples of QSLs, can be found on the Web at: http://rrc.sc.ru/ce0y.htm Victor and Vlad would like to emphasize that all direct QSLs for both callsigns (CE0Y/UA6AF and CE0Y/G0KBO) are being handled by G0KBO.

CX, URUGUAY

Jorge, CX6VM, informs OPDX that he is active on 12 and 17 meters mostly during the weekends from his vacation QTH in Melo City. QSL ONLY via W3HNK, Joseph Arcure Jr., P.O. Box 73, Edgemont, PA 19028 USA. QSLs for CX5X and CW6V are also managed by Joe, W3HNK.

DAYTON HAMVENTION "DX ACTIVITIES"

Steve Bolia, N8BJQ, provided OPDX with the upcoming HamVention's "DX Forum Schedule". Again the forum will be at Meadowdale H.S. (a short bus ride from the arena) on Saturday morning from 0830-1230ish (EDT). The busses run about every 10 minutes from the arena. There is also parking (free) available at the HS. The forum line up is very good with presentations on 2 new countries, the current #2 most wanted country (A5) and the big FO0AAA

operation. The schedule is as follows:

EDT Time Scheduled Forum

-------- ---------------

0830 - AR Cluster by WU3V and AB5K

0845 - Clipperton by N9NS and N7CQQ

0915 - Pacific Expedition by SM7PKK

0945 - Nepal by K4VUD

1000 - Chesterfield Is. by N7NG and K6GNX

1100 - IOTA update by G3ZAY

1115 - Bhutan 2000 by W0GJ, K4UEE, N1DG

1145 - The First DXpedition to East Timor by W3UR

The speaker(s) for the DX Dinner Banquet will be Glenn Johnson, W0GJ, and Bob Allphin, K4UEE, who will give the first presentation on Bhutan. They will get back in the states on Tuesday and head for Dayton on Thurdsay. Can't get much fresher DX than that!

FR/T, TROMELIN

French operators Gil/F5NOD, Eric/F5PXT, Laurent/F5PYI and Erwann/F6JJX have announced their schedule for the trip to Tromelin and their FR/Tromelin Web site at:

http://perso.easynet.fr/~f6jjx/

Their planned schedule begins with the team leaving France heading for Reunion Island on July 29th. On July 31st, they leave Reunion to head to Tromelin and state "maybe 1 station on the air, that evening." On August 1st, they will have 3 stations on the air and be active until August 16th. They will head back to Reunion on that date and return to France on the 18th. The callsign is currently unknown.

FW, WALLIS & FUTUNA ISLANDS

Nigel/G3TXF will sign FW/G3TXF and Roger/G3SXW will sign FW/G3SXW from Wallis Island (OC-054) May 11-23rd. Their operation will be CW only, on 80-10 meters, transmitting on frequencies ending in '3' and listening 1-3

kHz up. QSL to their home callsigns, direct or bureau, or for E-mail requests for bureau reply at: [email protected] -or- [email protected]

IOTA NEWS

AS-NEW. Michael, BD5RV/4, informs OPDX that the members of the "Jiangsu DX Club" will be active as BI4L activating a new IOTA on the air on May 1-5th. Operators Jin/BA4TA, Dragon/BA4RX, Deal/BA4TB, Yee/BA4RE, Wang/BA4RD, Win/BD4RS and Michael/BD5RV will activate Long Island, located in the Shandong Province, east of China. They will operate on 160-6 meters on SSB/CW/RTTY/SSTV. QSL via BY4RSA: P.O. Box 538, Nanjing, China. Also, visit their BI4L Web page at: http://www.7388.org

EU-132. Zbig/SP6CZ and Andy/SP6ECA will be active from Wolin Island now through May 3rd as homecall/1. During these days they will try to be active from the lighthouse "Kikut" located on Wolin Island (loc. JO73GX, Polish Lighthouse Award SPL14). They state that this is probably the first activity from this lighthouse.

NA-155. The TI-IOTA GROUP is pleased to announce their next DXpedition to Uvita Island located off the central east coast of Costa Rica. Activity will be from May 17-21st on all bands 80-6 meters on CW, SSB and RTTY (RTTY on Fri., Sat., Sun. only). Their callsign TE6U will be activated by with several TI and one USA operators. There will be dedicated stations on CW, SSB and 6 meters. QSL via TI5KD.

OC-066. Alain, F2HE/FO0CLA, is active from Tatakoto Island and NOT from Takapoto Island as announced earlier by Jean, F6AJA. Activity this past week was mainly on 40/20/17 meters CW. However, Alain was also heard on 17/10 meters SSB. He will be here for one month. QSL via F6CTL.

KH0, NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS

Look for Ban, JF2WSX, to be active from May 19-22nd as N3WW/KH0. Activity will be on CW/SSB. QSL via JF2WXS.

LIGHTHOUSE ACTIVITY

Be looking for FK8HC, FK8HW and FK8GM to activate the Amedee Lighthouse August 19th and 20th during the International Lighthouse weekend. This lighthouse/island is also good for one of the DIFOs of New Caledonia.

OH0, ALAND ISLAND

Ari, OH1EH, will be active as OH0Z from May 19th until May 22 checking that everything is "OK" at the station for the upcoming CQ WPX CW Contest. Some operating will take place on the low bands, so look for OH0Z on 160/80/40 CW/SSB between 1900-0400z. QSL via OH1EH: Ari Korhonen, Kreetalank. 9 As 1, FIN29200 Harjavalta, Finland.

QSL INFO AND NEWS

Tex, 9M2TO, reports that all QSLs for January 1, 2000, through March 31, 2000, including contest QSOs, have been sent out via the JARL bureau.

Gil, F5NOD, reports that the "FK-DX-Group" now has a Web page available at: http://perso.easynet.fr/~f5nod/fk8hc.html Logs for the FK8HC/P operations on various DIFO islands, such as FK77 (1999 and 2000 operations), FK78 and FK79, are available at the above Web page. Also, all information about the "DIFO Award" can be found on the Web page: http://perso.easynet.fr/~f5nod/

QSL 4W6SP via 9A2AA at: Tom Dugec, POB 255, Split 21001, Rep. of Croatia.

QSL EX8MIO via P.O.Box 2, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, 720011

Rob, KA3S, reports that his dad, N3OO (Robert), has been receiving a lot of QSL cards by mistake for a K3OO/NP2 operation which took place in early March 2000. N3OO is not the QSL Manager for any station. However, cards mistakenly received will be forwarded to K3OO.

SPECIAL EVENT

Members of the North Shore ARC will activate the callsign VC3CX the weekend of May 6-8th. The event will take place at the former "Camp X" a spy training camp in Whitby, ON, Canada. The operation is to commemorate the 55th anniversary of VE Day. Activity will be on 80/40/20/10 meters. QSL viaVE3TIG. Check out the following Web page for more details and a link to the North Shore ARC for additional information at: http://www.geocities.com/campx_radio

SPECIAL EVENT

During the celebration of the 55th anniversary of the "Russian Victory in Great Patriotic War", the members of the "Michurinsk Contest Groupe" (MCG) will activate the special event stations, RP3RST, RP3RTG, RP3RTK and RP3RZK between May 5-9th and May 13-14th (including the contests). If you made contacts with these stations (Europe stations 10 QSOs and DX stations 5 QSOs; dupes are valid on different bands or modes) you will receive a "MCG - medal" trophy free of charge (please, send only 2 IRCs for postal expenses). QSLs for all stations are via RN3RQ: Jack Yatskiv, P.O.Box 30, Michurinsk 393740, Russia (only direct please or E-mail requests for bureau cards to: [email protected] )

By the way, Jack, RN2RQ, Secretary of "MCG", also has all the logs and QSLs for following stations:

R3R 1990-1991 UK1PGO 1981-1984 (Franz Josef Land) will RN3R 1995-1998 be closed in November 2000

RR3R 1992-1993 UZ3RV before 1994 RU3R 1994

RA3RGD, RK3RWR, RN3RQ, RV3RV, RW3RQ, UA3RJ, UA3RV all dates RX3ARM 1991-1992 UE3RCG, UE3RID, UE3ROM all dates

T8, PALAU (Update)

Operators Misao/JJ1DWB/T88MT, Hiro/7N1KAE/T88YH, Hide/JM1LJS/T88LJ and Yo, who does not have a JA callsign, have received the callsign T88YT, are now active until May 3rd. The group was heard this past weekend on 15/10 meters CW/SSB. Please refer to OPDX.458 for QSL information.

TP2000, FRANCE

Look for the "Council of Europe RC" to be active again June 9-11th as TP2000CE. Their activity will be on CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL via F6FQK.

VP6, PITCAIRN ISLAND

"The 59(9) DXReport" states that through the courtesy of SMIRK (Six Meter International Radio Klub), Jukka, VP6BR, will leave his 6 meter gear with Tom, VP6TC, to provide a presence on this band from here.

XX9, MACAO

Look for Ed, K8EP, to be operating from Macau as XX9TEP from May 4-8th. Operations will be on 40-10 meters CW/SSB. QSL via K8EP.

Excerpts and distribution of The OPDX Bulletin are granted as long as KB8NW/OPDX/BARF80 receive credit. To contribute DX info, call BARF-80 BBS online at 440-237-8208 28.8k/14400/9600/2400/1200 and leave a message with the Sysop or send via InterNet Mail to: [email protected]

- OR -

Use the VOICE or FAX answering machine at 440-237-8208 which shares the same phone line as BARF-80 BBS using a data/fax/phone switch. To access: 1) Dial Number. 2) Wait for first ring (the second ring should be a false ring from the fax/data switch box) and then dial four

quick ones ("1111"). (NOTE: Some FAX machines that send single "BEEPS" every second will not have to do this step.) 3) The phone will pick up and after the "BEEP" leave your voice message or FAX.

Heard Through the Grapevine…

The club needs an EC/RO for the ARES and RACES activities. A net control operator is also needed for the Wednesday night net. Contact Larry N3CR for details.

CARC Calendar

** Denotes CARC supported or sponsored events

Bold indicates items of local interest

May 6: 10-10 International Spring Contest CW, 902/1296/3904 Mhz Spring Sprint, Indiana, Massachusetts QSO Party

May 13: 50 Mhz Spring Sprint, CQ-M International DX Contest

May 18: *** CARC Meeting – 19:30 Local – Carbon County EMA Center, Route 93 ***, PARK Exam Session

May 19: CQ VHF Specialty Mode Activity Weekend, EU Sprint Sprint CW

May 27: CQ WW WPX Contest CW, QRP ARCI Hootowl Sprint

May 29: MI QRP Club Memorial Day CW Sprint

June 2: DLARC Exam Session

June 3: QRP TAX Sprint, Tamaqua Wireless Association Exam Session

June 10: QRP Day Contest, ARRL June VHF QSO Party

June 15: *** CARC Meeting – 19:30 Local – Carbon County EMA Center, Route 93 ***, PARK Exam Session

June 17: Kid’s Day Contest, West Virginia QSO Party

June 24: ARRL Field Day, Marconi Memorial HF Contest

July 2: Murgas ARC Hamfest

July 4: MI QRP Club July 4^th CW Sprint, Harrisburg ARC Hamfest

May 2000

CARC Calendar