The Illuminator

The monthly newsletter of the Carbon Amateur Radio Club

July/August 2000

Election of Officers at August 20 Meeting

It’s time to elect officers for another year! We are scheduled to elect new officers at our regular meeting at the EMA on August 20 at 7:30 p.m., including President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and one At-Large Director. Be there!

CARC Picnic

Once again, Lydia Berger and her other half, Jim, K3II, have offered to host the club picnic at their fantastic QTH located between Kunkletown and Palmerton. The picnic will be on Sunday, August 20, at 2:00 p.m. Directions are available.

As anyone who has attended previous picnics can attest, this is a great time that should not be missed! Don’t forget to bring your spouse or significant other (but not both!) for an afternoon of fun!

Propagation
By Larry, N3CR

Greetings everyone. So far we have seen some of the most unusual propagation as we near the peak of solar cycle 23 now estimated at November 2000 to February 2001. I find this hard to believe listening to ten meters. This band should be hopping with DX and stations from corner to corner. But it is not happening. For the month of July, we have had only 11 days with an A Index below 10 !! And on those days we were still having effects from repeated major and minor geomagnetic storms which charge the atmosphere and absorb signals rather than reflecting them. The solar flares from the previous month did not help when those areas came into view. Although those effects were deminishing,

the addition of new activity pretty well took care of any chance of having superb arm chair DX capabilities. The atmosphere remained charged and we have been faced with almost daily absorbtion problems and little DX to work. You notice most only show up when the bands are active with other DX stations. Dxpeditions have been really having to work stations to put some of those rare islands on the air.

Bands like twenty meters are the bands of most activity with 30 meters and 40 meters doing well after dark. What may be bad during daylight may improve after sundown when the atmosphere has a chance to cool. Seasonal conditions always play a

part in what part of the world you may be able to work. Lately, twenty meters has been showing signs of short skip. Working stations in Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina and Missouri with solid signals while stations normally heard are barely readable is much of what we are seeing. The Asia signals have really been down with only a few days of decent propagation to that part of the world and then for only a couple hours at a time.

Six meters has been the band of the summer. For those who invested in that VHF gear, they are having a ball. The band has been opening frequently due to the solar flares and high numbers of solar flux and sunspots. Lots of stateside stations out to 1500 miles being worked during these openings with very little power. Double hop Sporatic E propagation has occurred giving way to European and West Coast stations from the Mid Atlantic states. Many of these stations have been running 10 to 100 watts with 3 to 5 element beams. Most DX stations are running 20 watts or less with small beams. Hawaiian stations were reportedly heard but unknown if they were worked. Beacons

from around the world are heard, but all too often those countries go unnoticed during those brief openings. Without the beacon stations, often you would not know where bands like six meters or ten meters would be open to at any one time. I salute those stations that operate beacon stations during the daylight hours. Otherwise bands like six meters would go unused and consumed by the commercial bureau.

For August, the best days should be August 8th to 14th and again September 5th to 12th with low K Index numbers and a good amount of DX on all the bands. Ten meters should open up during daylight hours with a mild peak just after sunset. The worst of days should come up again around the end of the month, generally the 23rd to 28th. With a sunspot peak on July 20th of 401, we can look for some high numbers about that same time with possible additional flares coming from those same active areas. Some coronal mass ejection winds have hit our atmosphere at over 2 million miles per hour. Fortunately, the US has been spared many of the effects of those flares, ie power blackouts, communication blackouts. These effects can easily carry over into September so the long range outlook is more of the same but with more days of DX and A index's at 10 or less.

Propagation is a fantastic part of amateur radio. It affects every time you turn the radio on. A simple graph will give you a clue when the next big DX weekend will be coming. The contests have really been hurting but the best ones are yet to come. I look forward to reading your reports and wish you much good luck.

73s and GOOD DX de Larry N3CR

Carbon Amateur Radio Club
Regular Meeting Minutes
July 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, July 20, 2000. Six people attended.

The minutes were read by Bob, K3PH, and approved by the members in attendance.

John, W3MF, gave the treasurer’s report. At the last meeting, we had a balance of $1145.55. We had expenses of $325 for liability insurance and $72 for ARRL Handbooks, leaving a balance of $748.55. The members in attendance approved the Treasurer’s report.

Larry, N3CR, reported on the club’s participation in the American Cancer Society’s bicycle race again cancer. We received a very nice letter from Bob Stevenson, Public Relations Director, thanking us for our participation and asking for our help next year. Next year’s race is scheduled for July 8, 2001.

Bert, W3OWP, reported that John, K3CT, and the Boy Scouts had a very successful Field Day at the farm. There might be three new operators as a result.

Larry, N3CR, proposed that the October 19 meeting be devoted to SKYWARN training. N3VAE and friends have indicated they are available to the lead the training session, which should last about an hour. The members in attendance agreed this would be a good idea.

It was reported that we have a new Net Control Station for the Wednesday night net, Bill, KC2DLR. However, Carbon County still needs an Emergency Coordinator, as well as a Radio Officer.

Larry, N3CR, gave a propagation report. He noted that the A index is expected to be relatively high for the next 30 days, resulting in poor high frequency conditions for the next month.

It was noted that election of officers is scheduled to take place at the August meeting. Members need to think about possible officers now, as we need to elect a President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and one At-Large Director.

Larry, N3CR, reported that Scott Forster asked about whether we can help with downed aircraft, but it was noted that we don’t have the necessary receivers. Larry is researching what equipment is available and what equipment we would need to provide. Getting set up to help with such an event sounds like a good winter project.

It was noted that we need speakers for our club meetings. John, K3CT, had emailed that he could talk on a few subjects, while Gene, N3WMA, volunteered that he could talk about what’s new in ham radio. Bob, K3PH, mentioned that he could get videos from the Northern California DX Foundation. No specific program is scheduled for September.

It was mentioned that we might have a club picnic at Jim, K3II, and Lydia’s house on August 20.

The meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.

DX News
Provided by Bob, K3PH

The Ohio/Penn DX PacketCluster
DX Bulletin No. 472
July 31, 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, ARRL, K1ZZ, WB2YQH/WB2RAJ & THE 59(9) DX Report, W3UR & The Daily DX, W4MPY, N6RT, W7WX, K8EP, K8IW, K8YSE, WB8BGY, CT1ETE, DJ5AV & DX News Letter, DJ5JH, EA3EJI, EA5XX, EU1SA, F6AJA & Les Nouvelles DX, HL0C, IK7JWX, JM1LJS, LU7BQ, SP2DX, SP2UKB, TA3J, UR7GG and Ciprian Sufitchi for the following DX information.

EDITOR'S SPECIAL NOTE (by KB8NW): There will "NOT" be an OPDX bulletin for August 14th and 21st. I know, you hearrd this before, but it is tru this time. My wife (chief proof-reader) and I will be going to Las Vegas (without the young adults) for our 25th wedding anniversary (How did she put up with me all these years?) and to visit my Dad. I can really use the break! However, PLEASE continue to send your DX info to me.

3DA0, SWAZILAND. "The 59(9) DX Report" states to look for Norbert, ZS6ANL, to be active August 21-24th as 3DA0/ZS6ANL. His activity will be mostly CW. QSL to: N. Taferner, P.O. Box 6282, Homestead 1412, Rep. of South Africa.

4U1UN, UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS. Fritz, DL4TT, will be in New York from now through August 27th and plans to operate from the club station 4U1UN. Operations will be mainly on CW. QSL ONLY via 4U1UN, NOT via DL4TT.

4X & E4, ISRAEL AND PALESTINE. Hide, JM1LJS/T88LJ, informs OPDX that he will be active between August 6-13th as 4X/JM1LJS and E4/JM1LJS. Activity will be on 40/30/15/10/6 meters. Sightseeing is his main goal on this trip. QSL Manger for both 4X/JM1LJS and E4/JM1LJS are via JL2XUN.

7Q, MALAWI. The "DX News Letter" reports that Harry, 7Q7HB, will be active again during the next five months. He was spotted this past weekend on 21343 kHz around 1532z. It was also mentioned that he will do the first time ever QSOs on SSTV from Malawi. QSL direct only to the CBA of G0IAS.

DXCC NEWS............

As of July 16th, there were 801 applications and 80,217 cards outstanding. The DXCC Desk was processing mail received the third week of May. The DXCC Desk had processed 1213 Millennium DXCC Awards processed as of July 16th.

During the second meeting of the year by the ARRL Board of Directors on July 21-22st, the following topics were announced and discussed as per the minutes by David, K1ZZ and a ARRL Bulletin:

* The 12 and 17 meter DXCC's will be added in January 2001, thus rounding out the program.

* An update on the "Electronic QSLing Project" (EQSL) will proceed with written specifications for an automated system incorporating extensive electronic security measures.

* DXCC Card Checking Program will be re-evaluated at the next Board meeting.

* The Membership Services Manager was tasked with studying the possibilities for managing a QRP DXCC.

* The MSC will be developing a set of goals and criteria to send to the Contest Advisory Committee for a study of the Club Contesting program.

* A new DXAC Chairman will be appointed soon to replace Wayne Mills, N7NG, who joined ARRL staff as the Membership Services Manager.

* The ARRL Board also okayed the expenditure of up to $1,025,000 to develop a new information technology platform for ARRL Headquarters. The new computer software and hardware not only will enhance the ARRL's e-commerce capabilities but update membership information and accounting systems. It well also eventually enable such services as electronic QSLing, member Web access to DXCC records, nearly real-time updates of DXCC listings, and expanded, detailed contest results.

* The Board also agreed to put the League's muscle behind an international effort to secure a 300-kHz exclusive as signment for Amateur Radio in the vicinity of 7 MHz. The 40-meter realignment issue now is on the agenda for World Radiocommunication Conference 2003.

The minutes of the ARRL Board of Directors July meeting are available on the ARRL Web site at:

http://www.arrl.org/announce/board-0007/

FM, MARTINIQUE (Change of plans). The departure for Gerard, F2JD, is delayed for one month. He will leave early in September for Martinique for 4 months. Please refer to OPDX.470.

FR/T, TROMELIN ISLAND. Just a quick reminder that the Lyon DX Group is expected to be on the air by August 1st. Operators Gil/F5NOD, Larry/F5PYI, Eric/F5PXT and Erwann/F6JJX are expected to sign FR/F6KDF/T until August 16th. Activity will be on 160-6 meters on CW, SSB and RTTY. Again, suggested frequencies are as follows:

CW - 1823.5, 3504, 7004, 10104, 14020, 18074, 21020, 24894, 28020

SSB - 3790, 7065, 14195, 18145, 21295, 24945, 28495, 50110

RTTY - 14080, 21080, 28080 kHz

QSL via F6KDF, Radio Club de la Gendarmerie, 292 route de Genas, 69677 Bron Cedex, FRANCE. For more information, check out their Web site at:

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

HR, HONDURAS. A group from Spain will be active from here September 17-25th, transmitting on all HF bands, SSB, CW and RTTY operation, while installing 9 new digipeaters. This will be another Dxpedition of the URE (Union de Radioaficionados de Espanoles) "RADIOSOLIDARIDAD" group. There will be 7 operators going to HR-land: Angel/EA1QF, Chema/EB1ADG, Pere/EA3CUU, Paco/EA4BT, Tony/EA5RM, Julio/EA5XX and Belinda/EA8NN (YL). They will operate from Tegucigalpa 24 hours day, while some of the operators will be travelling throughout the country to install the new digipeaters for packet-radio. TNCs, PCs, tranceivers, coaxial, antennas, etc, will be carried from Spain and give to the HR radio amateurs in Tegucigalpa who will be in charge to keep it working in the future. No callsigns were mentioned in the press release. The QSLs will be confirmed via EA4URE, URE's Headquarter, P.O. Box 220, Madrid 28080, Spain.

HU4, EL SALVADOR. A group of Spanish operators will be active September 17-25th as HU4U. The team will operate as time permits as they will be there to install a communications network. Look for them on all bands CW/SSB/RTTY. QSL via EA4URE.

IOTA NEWS..............

AS-085. Stro, a representative of "Hanyang University Wave Research Club" (HL0C), informs OPDX that a group will go to So-An Island (under Wan Island to the southwest of Korea) near Mokpo (Cholla South Province of South Korea between August 3rd and 9th. They will be active as HL0C/4 during their DXpedition on 40/20/15 meters CW/SSB. So-An Island also has a KDN (Korea District Number) which is H30. QSL via: Hanyang University Wave Research Club, CPO 4397, 100-643, SEOUL, KOREA. They have a Web page at:

http://hl0c.hihome.com

EU-052. Look for Gerard, F2VX, to sign SV8/F2VX from Keflonia Island now through August 13th. After the contest they will be active on HF CW/SSB with their individual callsigns (DH7NO, DL2RTK, DL2SWW, DL2VFR). Pictures from last year and logs after the contest will be available at:

http://www.qsl.net/dl0kwh

EU-070. Eric, F5SSM, will probably be active from Les Embiez Island August 12-19th. Be careful, this island was previously EU-095.

EU-179. Look for Oleg, UR3GA, to be active from Orlov Island (UIA BS-13). He is a local resident and will operate on all HF bands CW and SSB. QSL via UR7GG, Victor Tkachenko, P.O.Box 73, Kherson, 73000 Ukraine.

J43, GREECE. Wolff, DJ5JH, will be active from Peloponnese with the special contest callsign J43J during the WAE Contest (CW) August 12-13th. QSL via the bureau to his home call DJ5JH.

J6, ST. LUCIA. "THE 59(9) DX REPORT" reports that Juha, OH1HX, will be active August 1-6th as J6/OH1HX. Activity will be on 20, 15 and 10 meters SSB, maybe CW.

PIRATE ALERT. Marcos, LU7BQ, informs OPDX that the station signing XQ0X/LU7BQ on 20 CW, is a pirate. He has worked only SSB for about 40 years and has never gone to XQ0. He is currently receiving a lot of QSLs, and he is so sorry for the guys wasting their geenstamps and IRCs.

QSL INFO AND NEWS..............

TX0DX, 4W/N5KO and 4W/W3UR (QSL status report by W3UR & The Daily DX):

"As of Monday, July 21, U.S direct requests covering (prefixes) letters A and K0 up to K9Z were released. The next batch covering KA0 thru N9Z will be released August 10 while the final release from N0 thru WZ9 will be made August 25th. Since the validity date and submission date of October 1, 2000 will be easily met, there is no reason for 2nd QSL nor for any other action. Each claimed QSO is being checked while QSLs containing missing QSOs will be re-processed by early September, still meeting the October 1 submission date. During the week of July 21, the following other countries were either released or will be released; EA, F, G, HB9, I, LA, OH, OZ, SM, VE, VK, ZL. The team is currently busy on sorting out Germany and Benelux followed by South America, Russia and Eastern Europe. Everything will be completed following the same schedule as U.S. JA envelopes (HF) will be released during the first week of August while 50MHz cards have been released by JA1BK. Considerable extra work is experienced here since another pirate was very active toward Japan - especially working on 7 MHz and 10 MHz. Large numbers of requests on these two bands will be returned........ The following team is providing you the TX0DX/4W QSL service; OH2BN, OH2BAD, OH2BH, OH2NB, OH2RF, OH3LQK, OH9MM, JA1BK, N4GN and W3UR."

Please address QSL cards for EW5HQ only to the following address: P.O.Box 469, Minsk 220050, Belarus. This is the address of the Belarussian QSL Bureau. Please DO NOT send cards to the official address of BFRR.

W4MPY is "NOT" a QSL Manager for any station! Wayne informs OPDX that in each bureau mailing, 50% of the cards are for stations for which he has printed cards in the past. He also mentions that forwarding these QSLs gets to be expensive.

John, N7CQQ, states to "PLEASE be patient" for the Clipperton FO0AAA QSL cards. He is working on them every day.

The QSL Manager for last weekend's activation of ED3IM on Medas Island (EU-078) is not EA3CCN as announced, but was changed to Santi, EA3CKX. They report that the activity had to stopped early on Sunday morning because of bad weather predictions with the possibility of strong winds which would hamper their return.

Jean Michel, F6AJA, reports that all PY0F/PY2ZDX direct requests are on their way.

F5TXM, F5TRO, FB1BON, F4BHZ were active as F5TXM/P from Noirmoutier Island (EU-064) during the IOTA Contest. QSL via FB1BON.

GM5C was activated by the Crocodile Rock Amateur Group from the "Isle of Great Cumbrae" (IOTA EU-123) during the IOTA Contest. QSL Manager is GM0DEQ.

IK7LMX/P from Pedagna Island (EU-091) was activated by the "Salento DX Team". QSL to homecall via the bureau or direct via HCA (qrz.com).

Doug, N6RT, reports that the final 7P8AA log is now available online at:

http://dx.qsl.net/logs

The PZK Headquarters Station SN0HQ, which took part in the recent IARU Contest, will mail QSL cards in approx. 2 months. QSL via SP2PI CBA or via the PZK QSL Bureau. The PZK Headquarters will have a new address starting August 1st. QSL cards to Poland should be send to the following address: PZK Central QSL Bureau, P.O. Box 54, 85-613 Bydgoszcz 13, Poland.

QSL cards for TA3J, on July 26, 2000, were sent to the QSL bureaus of Bulgaria, Latvia, Brazil, Luxembourg, Estonia, Belarus, Ireland, Lithuania, Israel, Kuwait, Portugal, Finland, Croatia, Sweden, Norway, Romania, Slovakia, Japan, Greece, Belgium, Slovenia, Denmark, Hungary, Switzerland and Netherlands. QSL cards were also sent on July 28, 2000, to the QSL bureaus of the USA, Germany and United Kingdom.

Paulo, CT1ETE, reports to OPDX that a new Web Site is available which displays QSLs in a photo album (along with Database) for hams to view. He asks hams worldwide to send him your QSL in JPEG format (about 360x250; 24/16 million colors; size between 20k and 35k). The site also has a Ham Forum where individuals can start discussion threads. The Web site is at:

http://www.qsl.net/ct1ete

Any suggestions are welcome via his E-mail address at: [email protected]

SPECIAL EVENT. The Ukrainian special event station EM500E will be active in August on all bands and modes to celebrate the 500th Anniversary of the "Cossack's Glory". QSL via UR4EYN or UR4EN.

SPECIAL EVENT. The Western New York DX Association will operate special event callsign K2L during the period August 7-20th in conjunction with the Buffalo (New York) Harborfest and culminating with operations from the Buffalo Lighthouse during the Lighthouse/Lightship Activity Weekend August 19-20th. During the August 7-18 period, activity will be on CW, SSB, RTTY and PSK31 on all bands, including WARC. During August 19-20th, activity will be on CW and SSB from the lighthouse. A special photo QSL will be available for QSLs requested direct. QSL via WB2YQH, P.O. Box 73, Spring Brook, NY 14140 with SAE/SASE. All DX QSOs will be QSLed automatically via the bureau.

WORLD TRAVELER/DXER PETER. Peter, ON6TT, currently 9A/ON6TT, informed the DX community that after being based in Kosovo for the UNWFP since February, he is moving his base to Pakistan. He plans to start setting up shop in Islamabad as of November. Peter expects to stay there for probably the next 4 years and will try to build up a station again, as he did from 5X1T (Uganda). He is sure the location will be more challenging than in Africa to work pileups. He states Mario, 5X1C, has recently joined his team and will be based in Islamabad also. Peter adds that his upcoming business trip is not only taking him to Pakistan, but to Laos, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, East Timor, Thailand, Bhutan, Cambodia and India. He is still looking for E-mail contacts of active DXers in Sri Lanka, Cambodia, and Laos (for the latter 2, any licensing information would be welcome). If you can help, Peter's E-mail address is: [email protected]

He will only stay a week "max" in each of those places, so he will only be active after work but with no special activity nor a large scale operation.

XX9, MACAU. Ed, K8EP, will be travelling here and will operate as XX9TEP from August 17-21st. His operation will be CW/SSB on 160-10 meters. He mentions that he will be in the SEANET contest as well. QSLs to K8EP at his new Buckmaster address: Ed Sawyer, 14 Greycrest Pl, Woodlands, TX 77382.

YO DX HF CONTEST. Romanian amateurs want to remind everyone to not forget to try your skills operating in YODX HF Contest 2000, on August 6th. It runs for 20 hours (0000-2000 UTC) and it is recommended to work YO counties. Activity will be on 3.5 to 28 MHz bands CW/SSB. An ITU exchange will be used for DX stations and YO County for YO station. Logs are sent to: Romanian Amateur Radio Federation, P.O. Box 22-50; R - 71100 Bucuresti, Romania (or E-mail to: [email protected]). Full details on the rules are available on the Web at:

http://www.qsl.net/yo3kaa

Check out http://incolor.inetnebr.com/n0ujr for other cartoons and to purchase N0UJR’s book, "N0UJR and His Friends."

Heard Through the Grapevine…

The club needs an EC/RO for the ARES and RACES activities. Contact Larry N3CR for details.

 

 

 

Carbon Amateur Radio Club – 1999-2000 Officers

President: Larry Lilly N3CR [email protected]

Vice President: Glenn O’Donnell K3PP [email protected]

Secretary: Bob Schreibmaier K3PH

Treasurer: John Schreibmaier W3MF

W3HA Callsign Trustee: Bill Dale WY3K

W3HA Repeater Trustee: John Bednar K3CT

Public Information Officer: Bill Kelley KA3UKL

Skywarn Coordinator: Mike N3XYU

Directors

John Bednar K3CT, Bruce Appleton N3RXJ, Bert Rex W3OWP

Illuminator Staff

Editor: Goody K3NG [email protected]

Contesting: Glenn K3PP [email protected]

DX : Bob K3PH

Foxhunting: open

Propagation and Commentary: Larry N3CR [email protected]

QRP: Lamar N3AT [email protected]

Technical: John K3CT [email protected]

Newsletter Printing, Folding, and Mailing: Bob K3PH

Services

W3HA Repeater: 147.255 Mhz + PL 131.8

CARC Website: http://www.cpals.com/~elitehom/carc/

Webmaster: Robert KB3BYT [email protected]

CARC Email Reflector: see www.qth.net CarbonARC list for details

Internet Telnet DX Cluster - contact Goody K3NG for access

CARC Membership Information

Regular Membership is $15.00, which includes autopatch privileges.

All amateur radio operators are invited to join the CARC ARES / RACES net held 21:00 local time every Wednesday on the W3HA repeater at 147.255 Mhz + offset, PL 131.8. Any amateur radio operator or anyone with an interest in ham radio is welcome to attend our monthly meetings.