March 2009 Spratly Postponed

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“MARCH 2009 SPRATLY DXPEDITION POSTPONED”

Due to a combination of personal and logistical reasons unfortunately it has been necessary to postpone the proposed March 2009 Spratly Island DXpedition. It is hoped that the DXpedition will go ahead at a later date.
Donations will be returned to those sponsors who kindly made contributions to the proposed DXpedition.

73,
Steve, 9M6DXX  John, 9M6XRO James, 9V1YC Pete, SM5GMZ  Jay, W5SL.”

MC0SHL & MW9W QSL cards at printers

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I am pleased to report that the MC0SHL / MW9W QSL design is now at the printing stage. I had delayed the printing of this card for a while as Oliver was awaiting his advanced exam results.
The QSL cards will be printed and ready for dispatch to you in about 2 weeks.

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Back Home!

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I am now back home after being away in Wales for a week taking part in CQWW contest. It was excellent, great friendships, excellent banter, brilliant contesters and just a really good time. Thanks to our host Rob Johns MW0RLJ for putting up with the crew this week. You can read the full story on our blog page at: http://www.mc0shl.com/blog.html
My entry was 40m High Power Single op and i managed to do 950 QSOs 98 DXCC, 23 Zones, Total Points 159,478, which is an all time record for the category in Wales and also beats other UK scores for 40m HP Assisted.
A big well done to Oliver Bross, he announced that he had passed his advanced amateur radio exam that he had taken the week before at the HFC and was now MW0JRX yeeehaaarrrr.
Since arriving home all emails have been responded to and all mail has been processed and is all up to date.
Back to work tomorrow!

      Photo courtesy of Oliver Bross MW0JRX – MW9W Antenna Farm

Out of Office for CQWW

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Hello Blog readers from Tim M0URX,
As CQWW Phone Contest is almost upon us, I will be driving over to Wales today along with G1VDP Chris and a van load of gear to set up our contest station MW9W on a friends farm right on the coast of Pembrokeshire, as the week goes by you can see more info and hopefully photos on our website
http://www.mc0shl.com If you hear us please call us!
I will be unable to answer emails or post until i return home on Tuesday 28th October as the UR QSL Bureau will be closed over CQWW.
See you next week when i get home.
Just before I packed up the radio this morning I stumbled across a huge Russian pile up on 14.180.4 MHz, it sounded like a rare station, so I listened for a while, all Russian speaking but a couple of calls and i was in, it was Alex RX0LYP in Zone 19 near Vladivostok Alex’s comment was “Blimey England!” we both laughed and I let him carry on with the pile up!
Finally a big thank you to Dave EI9FBB for the bottle of Jameson Irish Whiskey, thanks also to the team of EU-121 IOTA activity. So this weekend it will be “Mike Whiskey (Hic) Nine Whiskey (Hic)”

73 de Tim

VK9DWX Worked on 15m

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VK9DWX Worked on 15m. After a couple of hours of listening, VK9 finally lifted above the noise floor on 15m to be workable for some hours this morning. With conditions being very kind today i was hearing the Willis Island DXpedition on 20m 17m and 15m but just not workable for me on 12m.
For more information go to: http://www.vk9dwx.de/index.php
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Time for some RR&R Radio Rest and Relaxation

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What a great start to my holiday this week,  after working  VK9DWX on 17m SSB this morning quite easily which makes a change i was alerted by Max M0GHQ that JD1BMM on Minami Torishima was on 14.186 MHz incredible no one was calling, one call and in the log for a big new one No 270 worked now! Two new ones in 2 days things are looking up.

JOTA at Dorridge Scout Group

JOTA at Dorridge Scout Group
Well I really enjoyed JOTA today, we had about 100 scouts and beavers through the JOTA station this afternoon. Callum M0MCX had spent the last few days on a project antenna for some fun, using computer modelling he has made a 168m corner fed loop in a triangle formation between trees at a height of 27m above ground using sling fishing rods to get the lines to the top of the trees. I arrived to see the wire antenna in a perfect triangle above the field next to the scout hut. It looked really impressive the 550 feet of copper wire between 3 huge trees.

Callum had a video introducing amateur radio to the beavers, cubs & scouts, then Terry G4MKP did an introduction to Morse code with a lesson in sending and receiving CW. Followed by an explanation about QSL cards and writing a message that the kids would then transmit over the amateur radio.

I was operator to generate some pile ups so that I could pick off a few strong stations that would help us with the passing of messages to the scouts. The wire loop was working well, a quick test put GB1DSG in the log of VK9DWX Willis Island, then a QSY up the band to generate a nice pile up to the USA working North & South Dakota Oregon and up to Saskatchewan, Canada. I put out a CQ call for a strong station to help with the transmission of the scouts messages and nearly jumped out the chair as V8BDS Rahamen in Brunei called with a huge signal, he was kind and patient enough to help with about 15 cubs that were only 9, 10 and 11 years old and they were quite amazed that they were talking to someone so far away. Although there was some guy on frequency taking the mickey trying to disrupt the station but I ignored this and after about 5 minutes he stopped.
Excellent afternoon! All credit to Callum M0MCX for organising it so well.  73 de Tim M0URX

VK9DWX Willis Island Worked on 20m

Another really difficult “New one” for me, VK9DWX Willis Island was worked on 20m this morning. I am pleased to say that it was the sponsored young gun on the microphone ZS6DXB Rhyn, for his first major DXpedition he was doing an excellent job with the European pile up sounding very proffesional.
For more news on VK9DWX go to: http://www.vk9dwx.de/index.php

Bureau QSL Cards sent

I am pleased to report this week that the 1,750 Bureau QSL cards that I received have now all been replied to and the box of cards is now being sent back to the RSGB Bureau tomorrow.

The following is a list of log entries confirmed this week:
9M6XRO 1,134 log entries
A25OOK    484 log entries
XU7XRO   201 log entries
XU7DXX   138 log entries
9M4SEB     41 log entries

The rest amounted to about 300 log entries for all other calls managed here.
Around 50 direct cards also received this week, all up to date. 
I will be away from next Wednesday 22nd October until Tuesday 28th October in Wales preparing for CQWW under the call of MW9W and outside contest I will be active with the Stumble Head Club call sign of MC0SHL. I am hoping to update the club website while we are away with photographs as the weekend approaches. http://www.mc0shl.com I do hope you work you while we are away.

I note from the DX bulletins that Steve 9M6DXX will be active as 9M8Z during CQWW, good luck Steve I hope this time the conditions have improved enough to enjoy the contest.

This weekend I will be with Dorridge Scout Group for the JOTA weekend, we have about 100 scouts on Sunday afternoon scheduled for the event and I will be in control of Radio Operations for the day. Listen out for me as GB1DSG.
That’s all for now, no luck here with VK9DWX, but I am hoping for a chance on Monday or Tuesday morning. Enjoy the weekend, cheers!

RSGB Hf Convention report by G1VDP Chris

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Tim M0URX is awarded the “G5RP Trophy”……
Hf Convention report by G1VDP Chris (Thanks Chris for writing this report! I am so busy with QSL cards today)

A group of us went to this event for the 3rd year running – hopefully next year all of us will be there – and boy what a weekend! 

Group members who were there were Tim M0URX, Charles M0OXO, Oliver MW3SDO and Chris G1VDP. Along with these guys were some close friends and future guest operators Mack M0CUS and Nigel.

The weekend Started with Oli driving from his home on Friday night arriving at my house around 21:30. A bity of a natter and then we got settled down ready to be up and on road for 06:15 next morning. As it was the 3rd year it was my turn to drive, so we set off to pick Tim and Mack up. Arriving at the venue about 08:00.

It was then sign in and plan the day. Plenty of talks on Dxpeditions to attend, meet old friends, make new ones and have fun. 

The first talk we attended was about the ARRL LOTW (Logbook Of The World) and how to get the best use out of it.
 We then all checked the programme and went into the ones we fancied. I decided to have a mingle and chat with the CDXC guys, Martin Lynch and the guys from Icom UK. I also handed in my QSL cards for DXCC checking and managed to have a chat with a few people over cups of coffee and tea. Oli during the afternoon sat his intermediate exam, with the Advanced exam to be taken on Sunday, so by the time we go to CQWW this year Oli will be a M0*** at last. He passed the intermediate I am happy to report so time for us all to relax and enjoy the day.

 

Saturday went quickly and it was then time for the  meal and drinks. Showered and meet in the bar, a couple of cold ones, a chat and then in for the meal. It was during the evenings proceedings that we had a huge surprise. Colin the RSGB president stood up to do the usual Presidential address, and his first task was to announce that years winner of the RSGB G5RP plate for greatest progress in the DX field made by an RSGB member resident in the UK during the year. tim_m0urx_and_g5rp_trophy Which is where the surprise came in. Tim M0URX was the winner. No one had told him, or any of us in our team. So Tim went up to cheers and applause to collect his silver platter. Congratulations Tim on this fantastic achievement. 

More trophies and it was then time to retire to the bar for a few more beers with friends old and new. Thankfully the bar at Wyboston lakes closes at 12:00 so we are then forced to go to bed. But while it was open the beer flowed, the socialising went on, tips were swapped, legs pulled and stories told. DXers are very much like fishermen where they both have stories of the ones that got away. Thanks to all the guys who were in the bar, for your excellent company, for the hints on how we can beat you all in the contests, and most of all thanks for the drinks! My head was pounding Sunday morning when I got up. 

When we got up on Sunday morning both Tim and I had hangovers, Mac and Oli were pretty clear headed. Tim stayed in his room a little longer than the rest of us who went and had a good hearty breakfast. Oli then went and sat his advanced exam, Mack sat chatting to some more new friends, Jerry LA0HK,tim_m0urx_mac_m0cus_and_jerry_la8hk and Charles and the boys from the night before. I went to get Tim for the lectures, where a simple but common mistake was made. I knocked on Tims door, and walked next door to my room, Tim came out of his door forgetting that it would shut and lock behind him! OOOPPSSS. A walk down to reception by me to get him the spare key and we got him back in there. A good job you were dressed Tim. I then went into my room and got the camera and ready for the lectures I wanted to visit that day.  

Oli came out of his exam, but no results. It is now a await for the marking to take place and then for him to get his advanced licence. We are all confident he has passed, but as everyone else Oli is unsure within himself. More chat over tea and coffeee then in to the lectures and the closing ceremony and raffle draw, before heading home.

The venue where all this takes place is Wyboston Lakes, Next to the A1 at St Neots. Easily accessible from all over the country. We will all be there next year, so do say hello if you are too and make yourself known – best way is in the bar and just say “Chris, what you drinking?”

Chris Colclough G1VDP