VK9HR Lord Howe

Planning by the Hellenic Amateur Radio Association of Australia for the DXpedition to Lord Howe Island (OC-004) between July 23rd and August 2nd 2011 began in February 2011. The VK9HR (Hellenic Radio) callsign was issued on April 6th 2011 by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). Team Leader Tommy Horozakis VK2IR (HARAOA President) and Co-Leader John Chalkiarakis VK3YP (HARAOA Treasurer) began the long process of organising all the equipment, antennas and logistics. The aim was to put together an international team including VK’s and thus we were delighted to have David EB7DX as the QSL Manager and webmaster for VK9HR.  David EB7DX was most recently the QSL Manager for the very successful 4A4A Revillagigedo Archipelago DXpedition in March 2011.

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New Life Member

We welcome JFØJIL Noriko Nakamata who renewed her EUDXF Membership as Life Member and thank her for her outstanding support to our DX Community.

A Texan and Italian trip to Botswana

October 21st through November 3rd were the official dates for five Texans and 3 Italians to join together for a DXpedition to Botswana. The group was led by Frosty, K5LBU (A25CF) and Lor, IK5MDB (A25DF) and joined by the other principal operators Gianfranco, I0ZY (A25ZY), Pier, IZ5MMB (A25MB), Bob, K5ZOL (A25BI), Matt, KD5TAN (A25AN), Jay, W5SL (A25SL), and Bob, W5UQ (A25UQ). Jay’s wife Dee and Bob’s (W5UQ) wife Elva also joined us for the trip. Frosty, Jay, and Dee travelled from Texas about a week early to begin gathering equipment. Meeting at the Washington Dulles Airport we endured the nearly 18-hour South African Airways flight to Johannesburg, South Africa, including a one-hour refueling stop in Dakar, Senegal. We stopped in Pretoria for a couple of days and stayed in a nice lodge (Ndlovu Lodge...Zulu word meaning Elephant) while we visited with Hal, ZS6WB with whom we did some sightseeing and shopping for last minute needs for the DXpedition. Also, while we shipped ahead what we could, Hal had been collecting and borrowing rotators and some aluminum poles, coax cables, and antenna parts and supports for us so we didn't have to ship everything to Botswana, thus saving some expensive shipping fees.

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Island of Annobón 2010

We started preparing for the expedition to the island of Annobón in early October 2009. It was during that month we started our with the Government of the Republic  of Equatorial Guinea.

Our goal was to reach the island during the month of April, and knowing the interest that 3C0C had, and has, on the low bands and CW mode, the our focus was on these modalities.

For some reason beyond our control, we could not post these modalities on the internet, so we worked every day in the project. We contacted EC4DX Javi and asked him if he would be our webmaster. Also, we talked to EA7FTR as we needed a manager. I remember our conversation and answer his answer clearly, “ Yes, of course!  I´ll be the manager of Annobón 2010.

Our pilot would be EA5YN Vic,  later Paul VK4MA joined the group.

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PJ4/PB2T and PJ2/PB2T

On 11 and 12 October 2010 I attended the Global Amateur Radio Emergency Conference on Curaçao. This just happened to take place after the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles on 10-10-10. The political change resulted in four new DXCC entities (Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Bonaire and Saba/Sint Eustatius) and I was able to be active from two of the new entities.

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distance between Bonaire and Saba

The date for the constitutional change in the Netherlands Antilles is now set for 10-10-10. In 2009 I anticipated that this change would lead to four new DXCC entities. Recently the PJ2T team brought to my attention that -measured with Google Earth- the distance between Bonaire and Saba is 798.5 km (so slightly less than 800 km). With this distance the BES islands would count as one DXCC entity only. There is hope though: ARRL does not use Google Earth but detailed Nautical charts or Geodetic Survey charts with a high level of detail to determine the distance between two points.

Calculating the distance between Bonaire at (my best guess) 12º13'18.07"N 68º11'51.25"W and Saba on 17º36'56.26"N 63º15'06.32W" using the WGS84 Earth Model the distance is 799.4 km. Using the spherical model, where 1 minute is 1 Nautical Mile the distance calculated is 800.6 km.