IOTA News from OPDX 28 October, 2017

Page last updated on: Friday, October 27, 2017 463

IOTA News from OPDX 28 October, 2017 Island activities: OC-216/OC-234. (Update) Operators Mike/AB5EB, Mike/AD5A and Craig/VK5CE will be active as VK9AR from Ashmore Reef between November 7-10th. Activity will be on 40-15 meters with three stations on the air at the same time; two with amps. QSL via VK5CW, direct or by the Bureau or ClubLog's OQRS. For more details and updates, see: https://ashmorereef.wordpress.com OCTOBER 25th: (UPDATE - de Craig/VK5CE -- One Week To Go) [edited] Mike/AB5EB, Mike/AD5A and Craig/VK5CE have all paid for the boat in full to Ashmore Reef, this was the most expensive component of the DXpedition. The boat has confirmed the dates and times of our journey. We depart Broome WA on the morning of Sunday November 5th. We arrive at Ashmore Reef around 0500 UTC or noon local time on Tuesday, November 7th. We hope to be on air as soon as we can in the afternoon, please be aware there is no infrastructure on the reef and we need to bring equipment via zodiac. The biggest issue is the weather with temperatures going to be over 35C and very humid. It’ll be slow going. We need to depart Ashmore Reef by 0100 UTC or 9am local on Saturday, November 11th. As we are only allowed to be on the island during dawn in the morning to dusk in the late afternoon/early evening, it means our operating times are around 2100 to 1000 UTC. See the "PROPAGATION" page on our website to show you how to get in the log and where we will be.  I spoke on the phone with the Commonwealth Government on Monday and the dawn to dusk rules still apply. If there are problems with tides or weather, then it may mean we are able to be on the island longer, but you can't rely on that happening. Prior to departing for OC-198 I freighted up some equipment to Broome that I didn't need for VK5CE/8 such as a Honda Generator, Dunestar band pass filters, etc. These have all arrived now. After the OC-198 DXpedition, on the way back when I reached Alice Springs I freighted the second Honda Generator to Broome and its currently in transit. This means we can have a high power SSB station, high power CW station and 100W SSB/CW station on the air at the same time. At the end of next week we all jump on a plane and meet up in Perth WA on Friday, November 3rd, and we are on the same flight up to Broome later that day. So not long now. On behalf of Mike Sr. and Mike Jr. and myself, we look forward to giving you another rare IOTA....hopefully a few days after you also work those crazy rockhoppers in Liberia!!!! Cheers Craig LAST MINUTE UPDATE: Look for operators Mike/AB5EB, Mike/AD5A and Craig/VK5CE to conduct a quick 4 hour operation from Browse Island (OC-234) on their journey back to mainland Australia. Browse Island OC-234 is a small 35 acre uninhabited island which is an important nesting site for Green Turtles and many seabirds. It was activated only once before as VK6BM back in 2000 and is claimed by 10.2% of chasers. The trio will use the callsign VK9AR/6 around 2000 UTC on Saturday, November 11th. SA-078. Operators YL Núria/EA3WL and Josep/EA3BT inform OPDX, "After the great success of our last operations from Corn Island (NA-013) in Nicaragua as H74B and H74W, and Bijagos Islands (AF-020) in Guinea-Bissau as J5B and J5W, we are pleased to finally announce our next operation." Look for Josep and Núria to be active as 5K1B from Mucura Island (San Bernardo Islands), Colombia, between November 21-28th. Last operation from this reference was in 2008 (more than 9 years ago !!!!). Activity will be on 80-6 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY. They will have 1 full station: Icom IC-7300, Expert 1.3 FA amp into a EAxbeam (20-6m) and wire dipoles (30/40/80m). Watch QRZ.com for updates.  Also available the QSO Director Tool for checking the online logs direct in real time <www.qsodirector.com>, if internet works properly, of course! QSL via EA3BT. They will also use Clublog's OQRS (preferred). Both operators will be on the air as much as possible. Check-out the latest IOTA News from the Deutscher Amateur Radio Club http://www.southgatearc.org