Eastern Iowa DX Association

Welcome to the Eastern Iowa DX Association web site! Our club is open to any amateur radio operator who is interested in DXing and/or contesting. You are cordially invited to attend club meetings and get aquainted. We have many friendly, outgoing members with varied areas of expertise, who would be delighted to meet you and offer their help as needed. (Detailed club information is on the "About EIDXA" page.)

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EIDXA News     (Updated November 18, 2020)

EIDXA Meetings
EIDXA in-person meetings are on hold indefinitely due to Covid 19 virus concerns. When this crisis is resolved, we will resume meetings. Stay tuned!

We normally meet quarterly in January, April, July and October on a Friday evening. Our normal meeting location is the Hall Perrine Cancer Center at Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids. The doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. A program of interest follows the business meeting. Complete details, including an aerial photo map, may be found on the "Meetings" page.

October 2020 Eastern Iowa DXer
The October 2020 edition of the Eastern Iowa DXer is now available on the "Newsletter" page. Bob, WØGXA, has as usual put together a great newsletter, loaded with good information. Be sure you don't miss it!

Former EIDXA Member KAØY SK
Kenneth Kucera, KAØY, became a silent key on November 11. He was 81. Ken was a moonbounce expert, having built a large dish antenna that he mounted on a military surplus gun mount. He was a member of EIDXA and the Iowa City ARC for many years.

Membership roster updated on November 16, 2020
The membership roster has been updated. Thanks to Mike, NA9Q, for updating the list! You can find the list on the "Members" page.

Buy-Sell-Trade Listings
There are several interesting listings of equipment for sale on the "Buy-Sell-Trade" page -- take a look!

EIDXA Email Reflector
The EIDXA email reflector is available for your use. To post to the reflector, email your message for the group to: eastern-iowa-dx-association@googlegroups.com 
The reflector allows you to include photos or other files in your message.

You may visit the group homepage here:
    https://groups.google.com/group/eastern-iowa-dx-association
The homepage has a complete archive of all messages exchanged via the group.

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The Eastern Iowa DX Bulletin
For November 29 - December 6, 2020

DX News items are courtesy of:

The Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin (OPDX)
   Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW, Editor (kb8nw@hotmail.com or kb8nw@arrl.net)
   The bulletin is available at http://www.papays.com/opdx.html

This list is a compilation of current DX operations (or those that start within the current week) from recent issues of the OPDX bulletin, with the dates of operation highlighted in red. The items appear in order of callsign prefix. Hot links are provided for QSL information wherever possible. Credit for the source is given at the end of each item.

3D2/R, ROTUMA. Tony, 3D2AG, will once again visit his wife's family in December, and be active as 3D2AG/p. It is reported while there, Tony will erect a monument on the island to his son, who drowned during his last visit to the island in January this year. In his son's honor, Tony is calling this visit the "Rehanisi Memorial DXpedition". This trip will primarily be for the purpose of finalizing the tombstone memorial. He will stay on Rotuma (OC-060) until about mid-January 2021. Activity will mostly be on CW and FT8. QSL directly to the address on QRZ.com. Please note that ClubLog is ONLY for FT8! For CW contacts, use PayPal for direct QSOs please.
-[OPDX # 1486 October 19, 2020]

5T, MAURITANIA. Tom, DL7BO, is expected to be active as 5T7OO from Mauritania soon and plans to be there for a long time. Activity will be on various HF bands. QSL via DJ6TF.
-[OPDX # 1491 November 23, 2020]

6O, SOMALIA. Ali, EP3CQ, announced on Twitter (https://twitter.com/EP3CQ) that he will once again be active as 6O1OO from Somalia starting November 15th, for two months. As always, his activity will be limited to his spare time because he works for the UN Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) in Mogadishu. Operations are on 160/80/60/40/30/20/17/15/10/6 meters (mostly/mainly on 40/20 meters FT8) using CW, SSB and FT8. The 6O1OO station is currently the only active and licensed Amateur Radio Station in Somalia. QSL direct to: Ali Solhjoo, Schnackenburgstr. 3, Berlin 12159, Germany. QSL cards will be replied to on a bi-monthly basis. IRC's are not accepted. ADDED NOTE: Ali states that all QSL cards received (by November 10th, 2020) for 6O1OO were replied and dispatched.
-[OPDX # 1490 November 16, 2020]

7Q, MALAWI (Surprise, Still There!) Vasily, R7AL, reports that two of the 7Q7RU team have tested positive for COVID-19, and now must stay in Malawi for at least another week while self-isolating. They are currently running simple wire antennas at their new QTH and hope to be active during the CQWW DX CW Contest this weekend.
-[OPDX # 1492 November 30, 2020]

8Q, MALDIVES. Juan, A65GC/HK4SNU, will be active as 8Q7AR from Saii Lagoon, Maldives (AS-013, WW Loc. MJ64), from November 28th until December 4th. Activity will be holiday style on the FM and SSB satellites during the morning and late evening to coincide with his satellite passes. QSL via LoTW, ClubLog's OQRS or eQSL.
-[OPDX # 1492 November 30, 2020]

8Q, MALDIVES. Operators Marko/N5ZO and Oliver/W6NV will be active as 8Q7ZO and 8Q7NV, respectively, from the Maldives (AS-013) from November 22nd until December 2nd (time permitting from station set-up). Both operators will be active as 8Q7ZO during the CQWW DX CW Contest (November 28-29th) as a Multi-Op entry. Outside of the contest operators will be on various HF bands (working the low bands). QSL 8Q7ZO via OHØXX direct or LoTW. QSL 8Q7NV via W6NV direct.
-[OPDX # 1491 November 23, 2020]

A9, BAHRAIN (Special Event). Members of the Bahrain Amateur Radio Society (BARS) are now active again as A91UAE from Bahrain until December 2nd. Activity is to celebrate their neighboring country United Arab Emirates's (U.A.E) 49th National Day. QSL via EC6DX or LoTW.
-[OPDX # 1492 November 30, 2020]

CU, AZORES. Dave, WJ2O, will be active CU2/WJ2O from Ponta Delgata, São Miguel Island (EU-003), beginning November 25th until December 1st (pending travel restrictions). He will also be on the CQWW DX CW Contest (November 28-29th) as a Single-Op/All-Band/Low-Power entry. No 160m. QSL via N2ZN.
-[OPDX # 1481 September 14, 2020]

DXCC'S MOST WANTED (ClubLog). The "DXCC Most Wanted" entities list has been updated on ClubLog as of October 27th. The list contains 340 entities. The following are the top 26 entities:
   1. P5 DPRK (North Korea)     14. KH4 Midway Island
   2. 3Y/B Bouvet Island        15. ZS8 Prince Edward & Marion Islands
   3. FT5/W Crozet Island       16. PYØS Saint Peter and Paul Rocks
   4. BS7H Scarborough Reef     17. PYØT Trindade & Martim Vaz Islands
   5. CEØX San Felix Islands    18. KP5 Desecheo Island
   6. BV9P Pratas Island        19. SV/A Mount Athos
   7. KH7K Kure Island          20. VP8S South Sandwich Islands
   8. KH3 Johnston Island       21. KH5 Palmyra & Jarvis Islands
   9. 3Y/P Peter 1 Island       22. JD/M Minami Torishima
  10. FT5/X Kerguelen Island    23. EZ Turkmenistan
  11. FT/G Glorioso Island      24. ZL9 New Zealand Subantarctic Islands
  12. VKØM Macquarie Island     25. YK Syria
  13. YVØ Aves Island           26. FK/C Chesterfield Island
No changes in the "Top 26" since we last reported back on October 3rd. The complete "DXCC Most Wanted" entities list (340) is available at:  https://secure.clublog.org/mostwanted.php
-[OPDX # 1488 November 2, 2020]

F, FRANCE (Special Event). Look for special event station TM31TLT to be active from the village of Velaux (Bouches du Rhône, WW Loc. JN23PM) between December 4-5th. Activity is to encourage support for research on genetic diseases during the French "TÉLÉTHON 2020". Operations will be on 80-6 meters (depending on propagation) using CW, SSB and FT8. Operators mentioned are Pierrick/F1CEP, Jean-Paul/F1MGC, Marc/F4IDB, Hubert/F5JYS, Patrice/F5RIJ, Laurent/F6FEH, Serge/F6IXH and Janou/F8IGA. QSL via eQSL or direct via F5RIJ.
-[OPDX # 1490 November 16, 2020]

F, FRANCE (Special Event). Members of the "Radio Club du Val D'Issole" (F8KGH) located in the south of France on the Côte d'Azur near the Mediterranean Sea, 28 kilometers north of the port of Toulon, will be active with the special callsigns TM2ØXMAS and TM21HNY to celebrate the Christmas and New Year holidays. QSL Manager is F4GPB. Log will be uploaded to eQSL, QRZ.com, LoTW, ClubLog and HRDLOG for only a digital QSL.
-[OPDX # 1492 November 30, 2020]

J8, ST. VINCENT. Brian, GW4DVB, will once again be active as J88PI from Palm Island (aka Prune Island, WW Loc. FK92HO, IOTA NA-025), in the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Island group, from November 23rd until December 1st. Activity will be holiday style on 40/20/17/15/10/6 meters using CW, SSB, SSTV and FT8. He will use a Yaesu FT991A into a 10m vertical antenna, a MØCVO HW-40HP off center fed dipole and possibly new antennas. QSL via GW4DVB direct only (PayPal available) to: PO Box 20:20, Llanharan, Pontyclun, Wales - UK CF72 9ZA. For more details and updates, check:
   http://www.g4dvb.co.uk
ADDED NOTE: Palm Island is an exclusive, private-island resort. This idyllic tropical hideaway is situated near the southern tip of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, an idyllic archipelago of 32 tropical islands and cays known for its stunning natural beauty, clear, warm waters and turtles.
-[OPDX # 1475 August 3, 2020]

JX, JAN MAYEN ISLAND (Update). With the cancellation of the JXØX DXpedition, remember that Erik, LA2US/JW2US, is still active as JX2US from Olonkin City, Jan Mayen Island (EU-022), until the end of March 2021. He has been active on 160/80/40/30/17 meters using mainly FT8 (F/H) with some CW. QSL only via ClubLog's OQRS, at:
    https://clublog.org/logsearch/JX2US 
As of November 7th, ClubLog shows 6584 QSOs. QSL card service is via ClubLog's OQRS, and Erik will open the OQRS when he returns home in April 2021. Upload to LoTW will be after he returns home. IMPORTANT: Do not send direct QSL requests to Jan Mayen by mail! Erik will not handle any QSL card requests while he is on Jan Mayen.
-[OPDX # 1489 November 9, 2020]

LZ, BULGARIA (Special Event). Look for special event station LZ2Ø2ØXMAS from Sliven to be active beginning December 1st until January 1st, 2021. QSL via LZ1VKI.
-[OPDX # 1492 November 30, 2020]

OE, AUSTRIA (Special Event). Members of the Austrian DX Board (ADXB) [OE1XBC] will be celebrating its 50th birthday by activating the special callsign OE5ØXBC for a 4-week period (November 13th-December 12th). Activity will be on various HF bands using mainly SSB, but also CW and FT8, plus possibly VHF operations on FM. A special QSL card will be available (SWL included). QSL by the Bureau or via OE1XBC for direct.
-[OPDX # 1490 November 16, 2020]

OE, AUSTRIA (Special Event). Hannes, OE1SGU, will be active as OE65SGU from Vienna until December 31st. Activity is to celebrate 65th anniversary of the Austrian State Treaty. QSL via LoTW or eQSL only - no paper cards please! ADDED NOTE: Hannes is also active as OE199ØSGU until October 31st, to celebrate his 30th anniversary being an amateur radio operator. QSL via OE1SGU, direct, by the Bureau, LoTW or eQSL. Read QRZ.com for more details.
-[OPDX # 1485 October 12, 2020]

OH, FINLAND (Special Event). Members of the Market Reef DX Association (OH9A) gang will operate with the special event Christmas callsign OG1XMAS from November 29th until December 26th. Activity will be on on all HF bands and modes. They state, "This operation is EcoFrendly: We confirm all our QSOs via LoTW and ClubLog's OQRS."
-[OPDX # 1488 November 2, 2020]

OZ, DENMARK (Special Event). Experimental Danish Radio Amateurs Association (EDR) will activate the special callsign OZ1ØØMILL beginning October 15th until December 23rd. Activity is to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the unification of Southern Jutland with Denmark in 1920. Operations will be on various HF bands using CW, SSB and Digital modes. QSL via OZ1ACB OQRS. QSL cards can be requested via ClubLog's OQRS to be sent via the Bureau or direct. All logs will be uploaded to LoTW and eQSL. Please send no QSL cards to them via the Bureau. A special OZ1ØØMILL award is available. There are three categories of awards: Gold, Silver and Bronze. See QRZ.com for more details.
-[OPDX # 1485 October 12, 2020]

P4, ARUBA. John, W2GD, is expected once again to be active as P4ØW from Aruba (SA-036) beginning November 23rd until December 1st (Travel restrictions dependent). Activity will include the CQWW DX CW Contest (November 28-29th) as a Single-Op/All-Band entries. Operations outside of the contest are usually on 160/80m and 30/17/12 meters as time permits and with an emphasis on CW. Watch 160m on the hour and 80m on the half hour. QSL via LoTW or direct to N2MM, Bureau cards are no longer accepted. Logs will be loaded on LoTW upon his return to the USA.
-[OPDX # 1491 November 23, 2020]

PA, THE NETHERLANDS (Special Event). Henk, PE4T, will be active as PE75T from Peize until December 31st. Activity is to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Dutch Radio Amateur Organization Veron. Currently, his operation has been on various HF bands using FT8.
-[OPDX # 1488 November 2, 2020]

SOLAR CYCLE 25 (Sudden Increase, As We Approach the CQWW CW DX Contest). Frank, W3LPL, posted the following (on November 26th) for the contesters on some interesting details about Solar Cycle 25 [edited]:
  Sunspot activity has increased dramatically over the last two months. Most days this month have had multiple and more active sunspots resulting in the solar flux index exceeding 100 for the first time since September 2017. SFI is likely to remain above 100 during the CQWW CW DX Contest and remain at 90 or above for at least another week.
  But recall that both the sunspot number and the 2800 MHz solar flux index are proxies for the the actual source of F layer ionization that cannot be observed on the surface of the Earth: extreme ultraviolet radiation
  We can't yet determine if this is a short term surge or a sustained increase in sunspot activity. We'll have a better understanding in about six months.
  The first year of increased sunspot activity is a sweet spot in the solar cycle because:
  - increased extreme ultraviolet radiation starts to open the 10 meter
    band, makes 15 meters more reliable including more frequent JA and
    long path openings keeps 20 meters open later into the night and
    opens it well before sunrise keeps the MUF into Europe above 7 MHz
    during most or all of the night
  - coronal hole high speed streams that cause elevated K indices during
    the declining years of the solar cycle and during solar minimum are
    now less frequent and not as strong, keeping the K index consistently
    low for about the next year.
  - fast coronal mass ejections (fast CMEs) that cause much more severe
    and more frequent geomagnetic disturbances won't start to occur
    regularly until at least late next year.
  - daytime D layer absorption that affects 160 and 80 meters much more
    severely than 40 meters hasn't yet begun to increase significantly
    as it will when we get closer to solar maximum
  - E layer ionization (not sporadic-E -- that's completely different)
    hasn't yet begun to increase significantly. As we get closer to solar
    maximum consistently higher E-layer MUFs will blanket 40 meter DX
    openings until later in the afternoon.
Enjoy the ride especially this weekend in the CQWW CW DX Contest...
  73 , Frank W3LPL
-[OPDX # 1492 November 30, 2020]

SP, POLAND (Special Event). Members of the Ostrow Radio Amateur Radio Club (SP3POW) are active as SN3ISS until December 21st. Activity is to celebrate 20th anniversary of active amateur radio communication service on the International Space Station (ISS). QSL via SP3POW. A special diploma is available. The issuer of the diploma is the Polish Amateur Radio Association (PZK) in cooperation with ARISS and with the organizers of special event stations: HF2ØISS, SN2ØISS, SN3ISS, HF7ISS, HF8ISS, HF9ISS, 3Z2ØARISS and SO1SS. For more details, see:
    https://ariss.pzk.org.pl/20yHAMonISS
-[OPDX # 1490 November 16, 2020]

SP, POLAND (Special Event). Marek, SP3GVX, is signing 3Z65M72M from Slubice, Poland. He posts on QRZ.com, the following meaning of his callsign: "3Z (country) 65 (years) of my Ural M72M (motorcycle)." Activity has been on 80/40 meters CW. QSL via SP3GVX by the Bureau.
-[OPDX # 1489 November 9, 2020]

SV, GREECE (Special Event). Look for special event callsign SX4ØARES to be active to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Hellenic Amateur Radio Emergency Services (A.R.E.S.). Length of activity is not known.
-[OPDX # 1490 November 16, 2020]

TA, TURKEY (Special Event). Furkan, TA7AOF, will be active as TC371B to celebrate the 37th anniversary of the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" (1B). QSL via TA7AOF (see QRZ.com for details).
  PLEASE NOTE: The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) is a self-proclaimed state (part of Cyprus), which is only recognized by Turkey. The TRNC does not count for anything for DXCC purposes. Also, the use of the 1B prefix is illegal and is not sanctioned by the ITU. For more details about TRNC, see:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Cyprus
Also, please read the article written by SMØJHF:
    https://dxnews.com/north-cyprus-trnc
-[OPDX # 1490 November 16, 2020]

TZ, MALI. Ulmar, DK1CE, will once again be active as TZ1CE from the QTH of Jeff, TZ4AM/K1MMB, in Bamako, Mali, sometime this coming week, and he will be there for at least a month. Activity will be on 160-10 meters using CW, SSB and FT8. QSL via DK1CE, by the DARC Bureau or direct. NO LoTW.
-[OPDX # 1489 November 9, 2020]

VOACAP ONLINE (Major Server Upgrade) [For Ham Radio Use by Jari Perkiömäki OH6BG]. The following has been posted via several different sources [edited]:
  A few weeks ago, VOACAP Online for Ham Radio, (https://www.voacap.com/hf/), was moved to a new web platform, and this change forced me to re-factor the majority of the code in the back-end. I have now completed this task, and continuously fine-tuning it, but I am pleased to inform that the coverage area maps and point-to-point prediction graphs are now much cleaner & neater than before, using a different mapping library.   In addition, most of the code base has been optimized and hopefully is more robust than ever. Especially the Propagation Planner, the propagation planning tool for HF contests (e.g. CQWW) & DXpeditions, should now be faster and also, as a bonus, offers the predicted values as CSV files for a more detailed analysis. All the same changes have also been implemented on the site of the VOACAP DX Charts, (https://www.voacap.com/dx/).
  VOACAP Online for Ham Radio is a free HF propagation prediction service for the global ham community, running for more than ten years now, with integrations to the DX Summit and Club Log sites, for example. No registration required, no tracking on the site by Google Analytics, no ads on the pages, and no subscription fee for the service. Follow and subscribe to the latest VOACAP developments on Twitter, (https://twitter.com/VOACAP/).
-[OPDX # 1490 November 16, 2020]

VU, INDIA (Special Event). For the 15th year, look for special event station AU2JCB, to be active beginning November 20th until December 15th. Activity will be on 80-6 meters using SSB. Suggested frequencies are (depending on the propagation): 3710, 7040, 7150, 14210, 14250, 14310, 21235, 21310, 21350, 28490, 28510 and 28545 kHz. On FM Mode: 6m - 50800 and 51500; 10m 29700 kHz. If higher bands are open, operations will be on those bands. The operator will be Datta, VU2DSI. QSL direct (with 2 IRCs) to VU2DSI to: Datta Degaokar, Surabhi Mehherabad, Ahmednagar, MH 414006, INDIA. Operations are to celebrate the 161st anniversary of the birth (November 30th) of Sir Jagadeesh Chandra Bose, India's great scientist and inventor who they consider the "Father of Wireless Communication". For more details, see the following Web pages at: 
    http://www.qsl.net/vu2msy/JCBOSE.htm
    http://au9jcb.angelfire.com
    https://ethw.org/Jagadish_Chandra_Bose
    https://www.cv.nrao.edu/~demerson/bose/bose.htm
ADDED NOTE: There will be other VU operators celebrating this anniversary.
This year in 2020 look for the following stations:
  AT2JCB -- Operator Nilkhantha, VU3ZHA, from Kolkatta;
  AU3JCB -- Operator Jagadev, VU2EVU, from Bijapur; QSL via direct
  AU8JCB -- Operator Arun, VU3MZE, from Kolkatta;
  VU5JCB -- Operator Pramod, VU2XPN, from Kolhapur; QSL via direct
  * Ten more stations will operate from Kolkatta with JCB in the prefix.
-[OPDX # 1490 November 16, 2020]

XW, LAOS. Simon, G6JFY/HSØZIB/XZ2A, who is active as XWØLP (Suffix "LP" stands for Luang Prabang, the town in north Laos where he now lives), has updated his QRZ.com page. He states that he can now be active on 160/80/40/30/20/17/15/12/10 meters using FT8 and on SSTV (14230 kHz). He isn't authorized to use 60 meters. Simon currently uses an Icom IC-718, with an inverted L antenna for top band and quarter wave fan antennas for all the other bands. He has been spotted on 40/17/15 meters around 0413z and 1000z. All QSL requests for QSOs should be made via ClubLog's OQRS. Note however, that the postal service in Laos was suspended in March 2020, due to Covid-19, and he cannot currently send out QSL cards by postal. Any ClubLog QSL card requests will be sent out when the postal service starts again! Please DO NOT request Bureau cards - there is no QSL bureau in Lao PDR.
-[OPDX # 1491 November 23, 2020]

YB, INDONESIA (Special Event). Members of the ORARI Darerah Jawa Timur Lokal Surabaya (YH3BL) will be active as 8A1ØN to celebrate Indonesia's "National Heros Day 2020" through December 10th. Activity will be on various HF bands and modes. QSL via LoTW or eQSL.
-[OPDX # 1490 November 16, 2020]

YI, IRAQ (Updates). OPDX received the following from Paolo, IK5SRF, to provide some updates on behalf of Giorgio, IU5HWS, who is operating from Iraq. Giorgio is still active and the good news is that he finally received his official license from the local authorities. Start looking for Giorgio to be signing as YI9WS (as of November 25th). Paolo has provided the following important points [edited]:
  * All the previous QSOs made by Giorgio, as YI9/IU5HWS, will be confirmed
    via mail.
  * Paolo is working with Giorgio to apply for a YI9WS account on LoTW.
    So all QSOs made starting November 25th will be confirmed this way
    also.
  * Remember, Giorgio is there on duty. Activity will be on a regular
    bases, but always on his spare time. Please follow what Giorgio
    asks for, especially when he is trying to call "outside EU".
  * For special needs and sked, stations outside EU can ask and send an
    E-mail to IK5SRF (listed on his QRZ.com Web page). They are focused
    to help stations that need YI.
  * Remember he is working with a simple dipole and mainly on 15/17/20/
    40/80  meters band. No CW activity is planned so far.
Over the last two days, Giorgio has been on 80/40/17/15 meters SSB. Hours of activity have been between (+/-) 0815-0930z (17m), 1100-1200z (15m) and 1805-1840z (80m) and 2040-2122z (40m).
-[OPDX # 1492 November 30, 2020]

YN, NICARAGUA. Robert, DL7VOA, will be active as YN5AO from Casa Guacalito, Guacalito de la Isla (WW Loc. EK61xi), Rivas, Nicaragua, from November 21st until December 5th. Activity will be holiday style on 160-10 meters mainly during the local evening and night hours. Focus will be on the low bands CW. No FT8. Robert will also be active in the CQWW DX CW Contest (November 28-29th). QSL via DL7VOA, direct, by the Bureau or ClubLog's OQRS. NO LoTW.
-[OPDX # 1467 June 1, 2020]

ZA, ALBANIA. Sandro, IN3PPH, is now active as ZA/IN3PPH. He states that he will be active from Qerret and Kavajë (counties of Tirana). The length of his stay is not known. Activity has been on 80/40/20 meters using FT8. QSL via IN3PPH or LoTW.
-[OPDX # 1489 November 9, 2020]