Author - Tim Beaumont

I decided to tune through the bands this morning to see if I could find any DX. Usually i am so busy with filing QSL cards that quite a lot of the time I end up being a “cluster tart” and not looking myself. I stopped on 18.150 MHz as I had come across a signal, time to turn the beam until it was S9.. Excellent here we go, wait a moment until I hear his callsign…. there it is, UK9AA Uzbekistan, I glanced at my band sheet and realised that this was a new band slot for me. Great… he has finished his QSO time to call. He comes straight back to me.. “M0URX you are 59 my name is Fedor in Tashkent“ The buzz working a new slot is great! It wasn’t until after the QSO that I checked my log and saw that my last contact with Uzbekistan was in April 2006 so almost 3 years ago. Let’s see what else I can find on the bands…..

 By Steve Telenius-Lowe, 9M6DXX

If you have ever thought of taking your radio on holiday or organising a DXpedition, the World Licensing and Operating Directory is the guide for you. Written by well known DXer Steve Telenius-Lowe, 9M6DXX who has visited 83 DXCC entities and operated from 37 of them, this book has been meticulously researched and has input from nearly 100 contributors. There is all the information you need to get on the air from over 200 countries and territories around the globe.

The World Licensing and Operating Directory is lavishly illustrated throughout with over 230 photographs and maps. There is information on how to obtain an amateur radio licence in almost every country in the world – but this is only part of the story. There is information on organising a DXpedition and “All you wanted to know about licensing (but were afraid to ask)”. There is also a major section of the book that provides full details of how to rent more than 75 amateur radio stations around the globe – from Europe to the Pacific and from the Arctic to the Equator! There is a 32-page full-colour section with spectacular photographs of rental stations, including some of the most impressive antenna set-ups in the world.

This unique book will appeal equally to hardened contesters or DXers looking for a competitive station to rent and to those who simply want to complement their family holiday with some amateur radio operation from an unusual location.

Available from RSGB Book Shop: http://www.rsgbshop.org/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_What_s_New_26.html
For RSGB home page go to: http://www.rsgb.org

If you need 9M6 on topband, John, 9M6XRO and Steve 9M6DXX are planning a weekend low-band operation from a coastal site in East Malaysia before the end of February. Steve will do 80m SSB (and probably higher bands during the day) while John will do CW, including 160m. I’ll put an anonuncement on the “Blog” when we have a date fixed.
(This will be from mainland Borneo, IOTA OC-088, not Labuan OC-133.) 73 Steve 9M6DXX

I received an email today (January 21st) from John 9M6XRO he reports
“Well we have just had a BIG thunderstorm here and I think the apartment building was probably hit. I had been operating on 40m though a torrential downpour with thunder and lightning in the vicinity. I decided to tell the pile-up ‘thunderstorm’ and went QRT. The lightning moved closer and the lights went out. I had just walked out of the shack into the lounge and suddenly the walls seemed to be crackling and I had a buzzing noise in my ears then “Kerash” lighning bolt and thunder simultaneously, and car alarms going off all round. I thought there was no way my front ends could survive that – all the ants were connected to the Quadra because I never unplug them. We just now got the power back and incredibly everything seems to be working OK according to the SWR on the HF2 and the Quad!

The tower on the roof has a very heavy earth strap running all the way down the side of the building then underground and all I can think of is that it might have taken the strike. I will take a good look round in the morning in daylight and see if there is any evidence of just what was hit!”

Ed – Pheww glad you got through that one safely John!

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A frustrating few days for me, the desk cleared of all incoming QSL cards and some time over last weekend to work a “new one” Palestine E44M, but despite hours of tactical calling, firing up and down the split frequencies to find where they were taking most calls and trying to find a clear window in which to be heard from my small station in Middle England. It just wasn’t to be, the pile ups were huge. I have to say I think it was quite a brave decision to go to Palestine at a time when Israel are at war in the Gaza Strip. I guess for this reason the wire antennas that are being used seem rather low which would account for the low signals that I was hearing. One main problem for me was that Italy are a very good hop away from E4 and were always going to be a 5/9 both ways for our Italian Amateurs, it was going to be a game of patience, in fact on two occasions both on 20m and 17m after waiting for the “E44M listening up 5 to 10” again I replied… “Mike Zero Uniform Romeo X-ray” I heard “URX again” so I gave my call but on both occasions my calls weren’t heard and an Italian had called over me to get that elusive log entry.

Despondent but NOT beaten I realised that my chance was gone as I had a busy week at work coming up and I knew by the time I got home the band conditions would be dropping out.

Tuesday 14:44z: Home from work and my luck changed, E44M, weak but workable on 14.250 MHz, and few people were calling I called but they can’t hear me, I scan the split, where are they listening?… yes, here on 14.259 and they finally heard me. That magical reply “M0URX 5/9” Phew at last I made it, at least on one band! DXCC No 272 worked.

See their website for latest news, logs and forums: http://www.dxcoffee.com/e44m/

Happy New Year to everyone and may 2009 bring lots of happiness and lots of DX for us all. The last two weeks have been very busy in the Bureau office, between the family get togethers there has been a large amount of QSL work in progress. 3,000 QSL cards are now boxed up ready for posting to the RSGB QSL Bureau.
Max ON5UR has designed the new XU7XRO QSL card which will be ready for you by the end of the month.

As many of you know I am a Sub Manager for the RSGB QSL Bureau, for the G4Dxx and G4Rxx.

One problem that all Sub managers have is being able to communicate with all the Radio Amateurs under their wing so I have decided to write a general blog that is not just for the Amateurs that I manage, but for all licenced Radio Amateurs wherever you are.

It is very important to know WHO your Sub Manager is if you are a UK Ham you can go to the RSGB Website http://www.rsgb.org

Members can enter the “Members Area” to view the up to date list of Sub managers. If you are not a member of the RSGB.. (why not?) but you are a UK Ham then you can email me and I can find out who is your sub manager.

Make sure that your Sub manager has correctly stamped and addressed envelopes so that they can keep posting you your cards as they come through. Remember even NON members can receive cards.

“I’m not interested in QSL’ing” is one comment I hear all too often, well tell your sub manager that you do not wish to receive QSL cards so that the RSGB can deal with them appropriately. Remember YOU might not want the QSL cards but SOMEONE wants yours that is why the cards are waiting for you. QSL’ing is part of the hobby and many people enjoy chasing awards so if you don’t want QSL cards may I suggest you write on your QRZ.com profile a line saying “I do not collect QSL cards but if you require a QSL card please email me and I will send one Via the Bureau”

This leads onto QRZ.com, I can’t stress how important it is to KEEP your profile updated, I often need to email Amateurs only to find out that they have not updated their email address or their postal address and quite often I see in the RSGB yearbook “details withheld” so when I do need to get hold of a radio amateur to let them know about cards waiting I am not able to do so.

I have 1,000 cards held for G4Dxx and G4Rxx, and I am just one of 80 UK Sub managers that could mean 80,000 QSL cards that Sub managers can’t get to the owners. So please if you are reading this and you are a UK Radio Amateur, please keep your RSGB Sub Manager updated with envelopes, stamps and instructions to your QSL routing. It may not be important to you but it will help all the Sub Managers keep the workload down and to keep the Amateurs for their section happy.

Over Christmas I have received some photographs from John 9M6XRO from his trip to Cambodia as XU7XRO here are two of the images. I will be printing the new QSL card in January and using the old stock for Bureau cards.
John reports that band conditions were great but he had also to do some work on the station in XU7 but did manage to work on 80m and 160m.