DX News Letter 1291
May 2, 2002

DX-NL 1291 May 2, 2002
DX News Letter

a free weekly service of
DARC Committee "DX and HF Contesting"
(http://www.darc.de/referate/dx/)

Editor: Karlfried Henrichs, DL1EK
(PR: DL1EK@DK0MWX.DL.EU)
(e-mail: dxmb@darc.de)

translation by: Bob, DL7VOA
(e-mail: dl7voa@darc.de)

DX ANNOUNCEMENTS

CAYMAN ISLANDS, NA-016, ZF Tim, G4VXE, is running his QRP station as ZF1VX until May 13.

FRANCE, F To celebrate the "International Festival of Arts and Technologies" the special event station TM0AR is QRV from May 1-13. QSL via F5TJC.

GOTLAND ISLAND, SM1, EU-020 Martin, SM0DTK/1, will be QRV mostly from 0300-0600 UTC on May 4-12.

JAPAN, JA6 The Japanese Amateur Radio League (JARL) will activate ten special event stations during the upcoming Soccer World Championships. 8J2C will be open to all visiting radio amateurs. More details are available via e-mail from Nob, JA1KSO: ja1kso@jarl.com.

KWAJALEIN ISLAND, V7 Mark, W4CK, intends to activate his old callsign V73BL from May 14-24.

MACQUARIE ISLAND, VK0/m, AN-005 Peter, VK0MQI, will stay on Macquarie for eleven more months. Usually he is showing up with a weak signal on 21210, 21295 and 28630 kHz between 0430 and 0600 UTC.

MALDIVE ISLANDS, 8Q7, AS-013 A group of Japanese HAMs will be active in CW/SSB/RTTY/PSK31/SSTV on 6-80m from May 10-15. QSL routes: 8Q7NK via JA2AAU, 8Q7FO via JR2FOR, 8Q7HS via JA2AZX, 8Q7IC via JA2AIC, 8Q7JA via JA2ALN, 8Q7MI via JJ2KYT and 8Q7TE via JA2ATE.

MARKET REEF, OJ0, EU-053 Seppo, OH1VR, will visit this Baltic Sea reef on May 8/9. He will be on the air as OJ0VR operating in CW and SSB on 6-80m for 12 hours. QSLs via OH1VR, unfortunately ONLY direct.

SOUTH AFRICA, ZS To remember the "Anglo Boer War" (1899-1902) the special event station ZS100ABW is on the air from May 3-5. ZS100ABW is QRV from Lancaster Hill, Vryheid in Kwa Zulu Natal.

ST LUCIA, J6, NA-108 Alan, J6/G3XAQ, will be active during the first week of May. He is also planning an one-day-trip to St. Vincent (J8/NA-109).

SYRIA, YK Saad, N5FF, is momentarily staying in Damascus and hopes to hit the airwaves as YK1BA from May 5-11.

TUVALU, T2, OC-015 After activating Baker Island Dave, KW4DA, will be in Tuvalu from May 11-16. Most likely his call will be T2DA again.

UKRAINE, UR EM11E is the call of a DXpedition to several islands in the river Dnjepr and the Black Sea from May 1-31. The exact schedule is unknown. QSLs via UR5EAW.

WAKE ISLAND, KH9, OC-053 Terry, K7ASU/KH9, plans to come on the air in his spare time during the four weeks of his stay on Wake in May. QSLs via K7ASU.

TUVALU

The island group Tuvalu is situated at 8 deg 30'South and 179 deg 12'East in the South Pacific. It consists of nine coral reefs and 129 more tiny islands with a land area of 25 sqkm: Nanumea, Nanumanga, Niutao, Nui, Vaitupu, Nukufetau, Nukulaelae, Funafuti with the capital Fongafale (population 2900) and Niulakita. Altogether there are about 10.000 inhabitants living on the island. The climate is typically tropical with constant temperatures all over the year. The raining period is from October till March.

The legend says that an eel and a flatfish were pulling a large rock to their home. After having a dispute the eel killed the flatfish and broke the rock into eight parts. Then he disappeared in the ocean. This is the origin of the name Tuvalu which means "group of eight" (the locals don't count the smallest atoll Niulakita).

The first settlers on Tuvalu were Polynesians from Samoa and Micronesians from Kiribati in the beginning of our calendar. In the 16th century the Spanish Mendana sighted a few islands but missed to land on them. The first Europeans set foot on the islands in 1820. In 1861 the shipwrecked Elekana was washed ashore from the Cook Islands and brought Christianity to Tuvalu. Some inhabitants became slaves and were kidnapped to the Peruvian guano islands in 1863. The Englishmen named the islands Ellice Islands in 1877 which became part of the 'Protectorate of the Gilbert (today: Kiribati) and

Ellice Islands' in 1892 and finally formed a British colony in 1915. During WW2 the US deployed B24 bombers on the islands. On Oct 1, 1978 Tuvalu became an independent monarchy (with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state) and the 38th member of the Commonwealth.

The atolls are approximately 3-4 meters high, covered with coconut trees, bananas and papayas. Since there are no rivers or other streams the locals collect the rainfalls in cisterns and water tanks. There are only a few tourists, life on the islands is almost unaffected by western influences. The gross national product is the smallest of all independent countries.

Amateur radio: own DXCC entity, prefix: T2, CQ zone 31, ITU zone 65, IOTA reference: OC-015, Time difference: UTC+12h.

QSL Info

QSL direct: 6K5RPZ, 7Q7TB (G0IAS), 8P5A, 8P9JA, C31ILJ (VE3GEJ), CN8NK, CO8DM, CT7B, CT9M, EL7X (PA0WWW), GB90MGY, GD0TEP, GJ4JVP,J37LR, J68GS, JW1I (EU-027), OH0R, S21AR, T30AN (OC-017), T48RAC,TK5GT, VK9AA/9 (DL8YR), VP2EJ, VU2OXX, XE1VIC, XX9TEP (K8EP), XX9TFI, YB1HDF, ZD7MY

QSL bureau: 4I1P, 4Z4DX, 6K5REK, 7P8HH, 8P9JR, 9E1S (IV3TRK), A35MQ, AH6HY, AM6JMU (EU-004), C21AN,CM6QN,CN8YR,CT1EGW/p (EU-145),EA6/DL9GFB, EA5KB (EU-151), EC8AUZ (AF-004), ED6EIG (EU-004),EJ2HY (EU-007), EX8QB (IK2QPR), EY8JJ (LA5JX), F6KOP/p (EU-074), FG/F6HMJ, FG5FC (F6DZU), FW/G3SXW, HL3ERJ, HP2/F5PAC (NA-170), HS1GUW, IF9/IT9FXY (EU-054), J38PA (PA5ET), J3/PA3EWP (PA5ET), PB6X, J3/PA5ET (PA5ET), J3/PA7FM (PA5ET), K9AW/DU6 (WF5T), S50O, MM0BQI/p (EU-092), MU/ON4AUF, S79WB (DL4HBB), SU/DJ7ZX,TG/DB2TR, TM5B (EU-148), TT8JA (F5RWE), TX0DX (OH2EX), V47GS (VE3VFR), V47SS, V5/NU7J, VX9DXR, YJ0AJG, ZK1NNP (OC-013),ZL2CAT,ZL7/G3TXF

(d) = direct only
(B) = bureau ok
* = new manager

Again and again many QSLs are sent to the wrong QSL managers. This is a list of the most common wrong QSL routes published during the past weeks:

3B9R    NOT via 3B9FR  (3B9R [99] via K7ZD, 6m via AA7A [DXNL 1256, GOList])
3D2IJ   NOT via JM1LJS (1998)
4L4KW   NOT via KE1HZ  (4L4KW via K1WY [DXNL 1206])
EA5XX   NOT via EA9PY
EA9KB   NOT via N0JT
EP2AA   NOT via W3HNK  (EP2AA -> PIRATE [425DXNews 548])
ER3BAH  NOT via W3HNK
EX2A    NOT via DF8OL
FS9X    NOT via N0JT
J68DX   NOT via N9AG
KH0OEP  NOT via N0JT
XU7ABN  NOT via F5JRY
ZA1M    NOT via IK2HTW (ZA1M via IK2HTW -> PIRATE)

Preview

DATE            CALL          DXNL

NOW   -Apr/2002 7Z1AC         1283
NOW   -Jun/2002 8J2C          1291 *
May 10-May 15   8Q7JA ..      1291 *
NOW   -Sep/2002 9L1BTB        1268
Apr 28-May 3    9M6/JA1WPX    1290
Apr 29-May 3    9N7WU         1290

NOW             A35RK         1289
NOW   -2004     D2U           1282
May 31-Jun 30   DT0FWC ..     1275
NOW   -Jun/2002 ET3PMW        1290
Apr 17-May 16   FG/F6FXS      1288
NOW   -2002     HF0POL        1271
Jan 1 -May 30   HL17FWC       1275
May 4 -May 5    IA5G          1290
NOW             J6/G3XAQ      1291 *
Apr 28-Apr 5    JD1/ ..       1290

NOW   -May/2002 K7ASU/KH9     1289, 1291 *
Apr 29-May 10   KH1/YT1AD     1289
NOW   -Jun/2002 OD5/IW0GXY    1287
May 8 -May 9    OJ0VR         1291 *
Apr 23-May 8    OX/OZ1EQZ     1289
NOW   -Jul/2002 S21/OK1FWC    1287
May 4 -May 12   SM0DTK/1      1291 *
May 11-May 16   T2DA          1291 *
NOW   -May/2002 T9/F5LPY      1287
May 1 -May 13   TM0AR         1291 *
NOW   -Dec/2002 TT8DX         1283

May 14-May 24   V73BL         1291 *
NOW   -Dec/2002 VK0MQI        1287, 1291 *
NOW   -Jul 31   XW3QBR        1286
Apr 24-May 4    XW3ZNR        1289
NOW             YA/VK4KMT     1290
May 5 -May 11   YK1BA         1291 *
NOW   -Sep/2002 ZC4BS         1260
NOW   -May 13   ZF1VX         1291 *
May 3 -May 5    ZS100ABW      1291 *

*  = new
.. = and other calls

TNX: DF5AU, DJ2UB, DJ5AV, DL1ECG, DL1SBF, DL2VFR, DL7VOA, IK1XDE, LU8XW, OH1VR, WF1N, 425 DX News, ARRL DX Bulletin, Crazy DX Group, N4AA (QRZ DX), F6AJA (Les Nouvelles DX), KB8NW (OPDX Bulletin), W3UR (Daily DX), Islands On The Web.