A team of five Western Washington DX Club members will activate Palau as T88WA Nov 3-14, 2022. 6m – 160m and CW, SSB, and FT8 modes.
The team will keep the Twitter updates going @T88WA
November 3, 2022 – First of all, a big thank you to DX Engineering for emergency donation and shipping to Palau of an MFJ Ultrasonic RFI device for tracking down RF noise at the Bai near Choll Village where we were going to make our QTH. It was intractable S9 noise across all bands coming from underground cable and telephone wires running all along the island under the power poles.
Our big news after being shown six other sites is that we found a killer site with an expansive view across the ocean to North America. We can’t report on every detail of the twists and turns of our
continuing attempts to get on the air, but an episode of Survivor was filmed here so we decided to call our adventure episode Ham Radio DXpedition Survivor. We reasonably expect sometime tomorrow we will get our first station on the air and continue building out the antenna field from there. We know the high bands have been hopping and we are also going to work hard to bring you the low bands, including 60m FT8. Our grid square will be PJ77hr and we will be operating at the entrance of the Badrulchau Stone Monoliths, a very unique archeological site akin to the monoliths on Easter Island.
We have much work today and tomorrow to transfer our 1500 lbs of gear and get our first station on the air.
We are working out new operating and basic survival logistics on our new “Field Day” style operation, sans air conditioning, running water or electricity. It’s all coming together. We will work you soon.
See our photos on Twitter. New photos coming soon… @T88WA @T88WA Twitter: @T88WA Twitter: This evening we arrived for our 23h layover in Guam. One leg of the #JourneyToPalau left tomorrow evening. We were informed that due to the storm, our equipment delivery is delayed to the morning of Nov 3 instead of Nov 2 as previously planned.
Since our last Bureau dispatch, shipping costs have now started to reduce as freight availability begins to return back to pre covid levels which is really great news.
Also good news is the benefits of Brexit, we no longer have to pay 20% VAT, shipping cards from one part of the European Union to another, this has saved our QSL work around £1,000 a year since leaving the EU.
However, the World Customs Organisations new regulations means that Bureau QSL boxes are now considered as a “Commodity” and are therefore subject to a customs tax on arrival at the destination country, they are no longer Value “0”. Some Bureaus will not pay the tax and some cards will be destroyed or returned to sender. We are working with IARU Bureaus to try to ensure these cards arrive with the recipients.
I recently discussed this matter of customs tax on Bureau parcels with the President of IARU, Tim Ellam VE6SH while he was at the 2022 RSGB Convention, Tim informed me that he had discussed the matter with the UPU (Universal Postal Union) and there was no way that the IARU could intervene to help resolve the issues.
It is clear that while most of the Bureaus are providing a world class service in supporting their members in their QSL exchanges, some Societies are either no longer financially able to provide the service or are really struggling to meet those costs. Regardless of what many of you believe, the Bureau QSL service is NOT free, the road ahead is uncertain for the Bureau. I urge you if possible, to QSL direct so that you are not disappointed should your bureau QSLs not arrive.
I would like to thank Tim Ellam VE6SH for looking into these matters and thank you to all the volunteers doing an amazing job at the world IARU Bureau societies. THANK YOU!
QSL cards have been posted to 82 World Bureaus – Monday 24th October 2022
This mailing is a joint mailing between M0OXO Charles & M0URX Tim. (also thanks K3ZO Fred)
I would very much appreciate feedback from you when the QSL cards start arriving at World Bureaus or received by hams around the world?
This mailing had been delayed due to Covid-19 restrictions. Also due to issues caused by the World Customs Organisation regulations.
The parcels are sent by Priority Business Mail to get to the Bureaus quickly.
Total amount of QSL cards dispatched: 16,607
Via M0URX 9,476, Via M0OXO 7,131.
,Total Weight: 67240g
Total Shipping Cost: £355.59 – £5.29 per kg. (gross weight)
Average postage cost 2.14p per QSL card. Dispatch listed below in grams to each destination.
The below volumes are measured in grams per parcel
UK United Kingdom 1650 Europe Austria 1000 Belgium 2020 Bulgaria 193 Croatia 530 Cyprus Czech Republic 1190 Denmark 260 Estonia 46 Finland 52 France 11860 Germany 14,000 Greece 330 Gibraltar Hungary 355 Italy 5,544 Ireland 83 Latvia 63 Netherlands 2400 Malta 7 Norway 335 Poland 2,020 Portugal 275 Romania 200 Slovenia 295 Slovakia 375 Spain 2970 Sweden 900
R.O.W Andorra ROW Algeria Argentina 350 Armenia Aruba Australia 235 Barbados Belarus 62 Bermuda Brunei Bosnia Herzegovina 71 Brazil 156 Canada 530 Chile 23 China 145 Colombia 11 Costa Rica Cuba 81 Dominican Republic 10 Ecuador 20 El Salvador Faroe Islands Falkland Islands Guatemala Georgia Honduras Hong Kong 14 Iceland 7 India 29 Indonesia 50 Iran Israel 50 Japan 14,990 Jordan Kazakhstan 11 Kyrgyzstan Kuwait 20 Lebanon Liechtenstein 7 Lithuania 126 Luxembourg 135 Macau Macedonia 17 Malaysia 14 Mexico 10 Moldova 20 Monaco Mongolia Namibia New Caledonia New Zealand 43 Nicaragua Oman Kazakistan Panama 15 Paraguay Peru 8 Philippines 17 Qatar Russian Fed 2410 Saudi Arabia Serbia 345 Singapore South Africa 26 South Korea 305 Sri Lanka Switzerland 665 Taiwan 17
Tajjikistan Thailand 60 Trinidad Tunisia Turkey 250 United Arab Emirates Ukraine 695 Uzbekistan Uruguay Venezuela 190 Fiji 23
Please note this is a holiday type operation. G0FWX, Gary will be operating at the QTH of John V47JA. Gary visits St Kitts a couple of times a year, beautiful island with lots to do and i get to play radio whilst here.
One of the most frequent questions I get asked is “Why can’t i see my LoTW match?”
In most cases this is because you have not uploaded your Qs to LoTW from your log. OQRS sends to LoTW automatically or depending on the DXpedition QSL policy. So ALWAYS first check your LoTW account to be sure that YOU have uploaded your QSO to LoTW before contacting me.
I do not upload to LoTW. OQRS does it. So, if you have checked your LoTW account and you have uploaded, you can also check on OQRS by searching and requesting QSL, you will see the LoTW status from OQRS.
If you think there is an issue use “Not in Log?” button but only if you have checked your LoTW first!
Sorry that I am not able to upload logs to eQSL or QRZ.log, please do not ask.
Please always remember to use OQRS for your inquiries as emails may not be answered. Thank you
Please note this is a holiday type operation. G0FWX, Gary will be operating at the QTH of John V47JA. We visit St Kitts a couple of times a year, beautiful island with lots to do and i get to play radio whilst here.
Update from Andy G3AB / 5Z4VJ. Andy is no longer a member of RSGB and Bureau cards will NOT be received Via Bureau. Please ONLY make your Bureau request using OQRS:
The last 1,000 bureau cards incoming have been processed in July.