DX Engineering Sponsors September 2024 Activation of Pitcairn Island

Pitcairn Island QRV in September, 2024

One of the world’s most intriguing locations is scheduled to be on the air from September 5-15 thanks to the VP6WR DXpedition by Bill Rothwell, G0VDE. The 80-10M operation will be, per his website, on “SSB, FT8, and some RTTY” from the small volcanic island—the least populous national jurisdiction (less than 50 people) in the world and the spot where, in 1790, mutineers from the H.M.S. Bounty settled after famously burning the ship.

G0VDE will follow up the Pitcairn Island DXpedition with an operation from Mangareva as FO/G0VDE (Gambier, IOTA OC-63) from September 17-21. Look for updated details at the VP6WR website.

DX Engineering is a proud sponsor of VP6WR, providing the following equipment to help DXers around the world nab this 66^th Most Wanted DXCC Entity per Clublog:

• Hustler 4BTV 4-Band HF Vertical Antenna and DXE Installation Guide Package: The package comes with the real-world-proven Hustler 40/20/15/10M trap vertical antenna plus the essential 60-page instruction manual, which includes details on achieving maximum performance through installing a complete radial system, plus many more tips on turning this vertical into a DXing powerhouse.
• Hustler 30M Add-On Kit
• DX Engineering 12M BTV Add-On Kit
• DX Engineering 17M BTV Add-On Kit (below)

Other Hustler BTV upgrades available at DXEngineering.com include the DX Engineering Direct Coax Feed Add-On Kit; BTV Series Antenna Packages, which come with OMNI-TILT Base, DX Engineering patented Radial Plate, clamps, and hardware; and the DX Engineering Vertical Antenna Matching Network.

Ham Radio QSL Cards from the Pitcairn Islands

The avid DXers at DX Engineering have made several contacts with operators on Pitcairn Island, as well as Ducie Island (one of the uninhabited coral atolls of the Pitcairn Islands), over the years. Here are a few of the QSL cards from their collections.

Tom, KB8UUZ, DX Engineering technical writer, reached the 2019 VP6R Pitcairn Island DXpedition on 20/17/15M SSB. The VP6R DXpedition team battled muddy trails, challenging propagation, lightning, gale force winds, torrential rains, and even feral cats pouncing on keyboards to log more than 82,000 QSOs during their successful stay on this much-coveted DXCC entity in the South Pacific.

As the card shows on the front, VP6R received strong support from DX Engineering, which supplied the operating team with a range of DX Engineering branded equipment:

• NCC-2 Receive Antenna Phasing System
• TFS4 Series B Transmit Four Square System and Phasing Cables
• Phased Array Quarter Wave Tuned Cable
• RADP-3 Radial Plates
• RF-PRO-1B Active Magnetic Loop Antenna (below)

Also going along for the trip to Pitcairn Island was DX Engineering’s custom-designed 90-foot top-loaded 160M vertical antenna, featuring heavy-duty hinged pivot base (a “work of art,” according to VP6R’s Nodir, EY8MM) with custom base insulators to accommodate a 40-foot falling derrick made with three-inch diameter pipe. Originally built to handle the high winds of Bouvet Island, the antenna’s modular design allowed it to be easily downsized if weather conditions made it difficult to install at full size on the island. The crew sent us this photo of the antenna poised against a starlit sky.

Mark, W8BBQ, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, did some serious band-filling during the five-operator VP6T Pitcairn Island DXpedition in January 2012. He made contact on 80M, 40M, 30M, 17M, 12M, and 10M CW, and 20M, 17M, 15M, 12M, and 10M SSB.

Organized by Jacques F6BEE, the VP6T DXpedition made 56,300 QSOs in 11 days.

George, K3GP, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, received three different QSL cards from the January 2008 VP6PR DXpedition, each one featuring a different photo from Pitcairn Island. Dave, N8NB, DX Engineering technical support specialist, reached VP6PR on 17M RTTY.

George, K3GP, joined thousands of DXers around the world by earning this QSL card—actually, a 32-page booklet—from the 2008 DX Engineering-sponsored VP6DX Ducie Island DXpedition. The VP6DX crew logged a whopping 183,584 QSOs.

For all your DXing, contesting, or rag-chewing needs—whether you’re a Big Gun, Little Pistol, or somewhere in between, visit DXEngineering.com for transceivers, amplifiers, antennas, 
headsets, and so much more.

Editor’s Note: Every month, DX Engineering features QSL cards from our team members’ personal collections. To highlight upcoming DXpeditions, we’ll be displaying a few of our favorite cards along with details about what it took to make these contacts. We’re excited to share some of the special cards pulled from the thousands we’ve received over the years. We look forward to seeing your cards as well!

The post It’s All in the Cards! QSL Cards from the Pitcairn Islands appeared first on OnAllBands.

Surrounded by the green grass tranquility of Hot Springs State Park, a temporary ham radio...

Tristan da Cunha on the Air (Hopefully) Soon

Hams looking to add Tristan da Cunha —a collection of volcanic islands in the South Atlantic Ocean—to their list of DXing conquests may get an opportunity in the days ahead.

W7GJ reported that he would be operating from IOTA AF-029 the last week of August and into September, but a check of the DXpedition’s website, as of this posting, now has the dates as September 26 to October 25, depending on shipping schedules and very limited space availability on ships sailing from Cape Town, South Africa. The 6M ZD9GJ operation will mainly focus on EME, with some SSB and FT8 activity.

As of August, Tristan da Cunha/Gough Islands ranked as the 56^th Most Wanted DXCC Entity per Clublog’s Most Wanted List.

About Tristan da Cunha

Only accessible by boat (about a six-day trip from Cape Town), the British Overseas Territory of Tristan da Cunha is the world’s most remote inhabited archipelago—about 1,700 miles off the coast of Cape Town, 1,500 miles from Saint Helena, 4,000 miles from Argentina, and 2,500 miles from the Falkland Islands. It lies 1,400 miles northwest of Bouvet Island—the most remote uninhabited spot on the planet. This makes Tristan da Cunha the closest inhabited land to Bouvet.

The archipelago, which experiences mild temperatures, little sunshine, and lots of rain, is made up of 38-square-mile Tristan da Cunha; the wild reserves of Gough Island and Inaccessible Island; and uninhabited 1.5-square-mile Nightingale Island.

A travel article from Business Insider placed the population of volcanic Tristan da Cunha at around 230. Inhabitants of Edinburgh of the Seven Seas (the only settlement on Tristan da Cunha, below) were forced to flee in lobster-fishing boats to neighboring Nightingale Island after an eruption of Queen Mary’s Peak in 1961 destroyed their settlement. They were resettled in England, but most returned two years later to rebuild on the island.

The island features a school, churches, the Tristan Thatched House Museum, a supermarket, administration building, and an invasive mice and rat population that nightly feeds, without natural predators to stop them, on seabird eggs and chicks. A community tradition known as “Ratting Day,” which began as a way to reduce the island’s rodent population, has evolved into a competition in which teams compete to catch the largest number of critters, with honors also being given to the team who produces the rat with the “longest tail.” One academic article noted that “Black Rats…reached the island from a shipwreck in 1882.” 

A single road connects Edinburgh of the Seven Seas with the island’s communally owned potato farms. Transportation is provided by a few privately owned vehicles and a bus.

QSL Cards

The avid DXers at DX Engineering have made several contacts with operators who have received permission to operate on Tristan da Cunha over the years. Here are a few of the QSL cards from their collections.

Wayne, K8FF, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, received this card from the ZD9W DXpedition.

Scotty, KG9Z, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, provided us with this QSL card from ZD9CC.

Tom, KB8UUZ, DX Engineering technical writer, received the QSL card below from ZD9ZS.

George, K3GP, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, received the QSL card below from ZD9AH. It features the island’s main road, a yellow nosed Tristan albatross, and Tristan da Cunha’s coat of arms. Look closely. The coat of arms includes two Tristan rock lobsters, mainstays of the island’s economy.

Dave, K8DV, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, contacted ZD9T in November 2010 on 30 and 12M CW. The QSL card shows a drawing of a northern rockhopper penguin (known by islanders as “pinnamin”). The flightless birds breed on all islands in the Tristan da Cunha group. Read much more about the northern rockhopper penguin and everything else you’d want to know about this fascinating archipelago at the Tristan da Cunha website.

For all your amateur radio needs—whether you’re trying to contact the remotest spots on the planet or your local repeater, visit DXEngineering.com for transceivers, amplifiers, antennas, 
headsets, and so much more.

Editor’s Note: Every month, DX Engineering features QSL cards from our team members’ personal collections. To highlight upcoming DXpeditions, we’ll be displaying a few of our favorite cards along with details about what it took to make these contacts. We’re excited to share some of the special cards pulled from the thousands we’ve received over the years. We look forward to seeing your cards as well!

The post It’s All in the Cards! QSL Cards from Tristan da Cunha appeared first on OnAllBands.

Saint Lucia QRV in August

Located in the eastern Caribbean, the West Indies island country of Saint Lucia will be in play this month for DXers (August 10-17) thanks to N4XTT, who will be operating as J6/N4XTT from this popular tourist spot and 230^th Most Wanted DXCC Entity per Clublog.

The holiday-style operation and POTA activation (J6-0001) will be on 40-10M in CW, SSB, and FT4/FT8.

The mountainous, volcanic island of Saint Lucia has an area of 238 square miles (about the size of El Paso, Texas) and a population of around 180,000. It has the distinction of being the world’s only sovereign state named after an actual woman—Saint Lucy of Syracuse (AD 283-304), also known as Saint Lucia, a venerated saint in Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Her traditional feast day is observed by Western Christians on December 13—the date, according to legend, that French sailors were shipwrecked there and named the island in her honor.

There are a number of other islands—not sovereign states—named after women, including Greenland’s Princess Dagmar Island, Australia’s Lady Julia Percy Island, Ecuador’s Isabela Island, and Canada’s Lady Franklin Island. This list also includes another DXCC entity, Saint Helena, named after St. Helena of Constantinople.

Wait a sec, there’s one more country named after a woman, right?

We wrote “actual” woman above because there is another sovereign state named after a mythological goddess. Can you name the country and the goddess? See answer below. Need a hint? Sorry. We don’t want to make it too easy. You’ll EIther get the right answer or you won’t.

QSL Cards

The avid DXers at DX Engineering have made several contacts with operators on Saint Lucia over the years. Here are a few of the QSL cards from their collections.

Wayne, K8FF, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, received the card below from J6/DK1RP.

Scotty, KG9Z, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, provided us with this QSL card from the J6LCV DXpedition in October 1981.

Tom, KB8UUZ, DX Engineering technical writer, received the QSL cards below from J68RI (20/15M QSOs) and J69DS from Babonneau, Saint Lucia. Babonneau is a region in the northern part of the island known for its extensive rain forests.

Dave, K8DV, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, reached J68V in November 2008 on 15M CW. The bottom left corner of the card shows the St. Lucia flag—a cerulean blue field with a golden triangle in front of a white-edged isosceles triangle. The flag has undergone several minor modifications since it was adopted in 1967, but it remains largely the same as the one designed 57 years ago.

The J68V card also shows St. Lucia’s most recognizable natural landmark. Called “Gros Piton,” the canine-tooth-shaped volcanic plug majestically towers over the southwest coast of Saint Lucia, 2,619 feet above sea level. The island’s other famous volcanic plug, “Petit Piton,” lies to the north of its more prominent brother. Both Pitons are popular attractions for hikers.

George, K3GP, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, received the QSL card below for reaching J6/SP7VC on 80M SSB in January 2015.

Scott, N3RA, DX Engineering sales manager, made an FT8 QSO with J68HZ on 6M.

I’ll take “Countries Named After Goddesses” for $1,000, Ken.

Now back to our OnAllBands Geography Question of the Day. While Saint Lucia is the only sovereign state named after a woman, what country is named after a mythological goddess? If you said “Ireland” (DXCC prefix EI), you would be correct. The names Ireland and Éire come from the Old Irish Ériu, a goddess in Irish mythology.

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For all your DXing, contesting, or rag-chewing needs—whether you’re a Big Gun, Little Pistol, or somewhere in between, visit DXEngineering.com for transceivers, amplifiers, antennas, 
headsets, and so much more.

Editor’s Note: Every month, DX Engineering features QSL cards from our team members’ personal collections. To highlight upcoming DXpeditions, we’ll be displaying a few of our favorite cards along with details about what it took to make these contacts. We’re excited to share some of the special cards pulled from the thousands we’ve received over the years. We look forward to seeing your cards as well!

The post It’s All in the Cards! QSL Cards from Saint Lucia appeared first on OnAllBands.

Between World War II and Y2K, shortwave listening was quite an education. With a simple...

Drawing on a wealth of personal accounts found in magazines, newsletters, and trade journals, historian...

St. Paul Island QRV in August and September

It is one of the great ironies of DXing that it’s most often the smallest of places that are the biggest deals in the ham radio world. Evidence of this is tiny St. Paul Island, located about 15 miles northeast of Cape Breton Island along the boundary between the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Cabot Strait.

At three miles long and one mile wide, the uninhabited, frequently fog-bound island—once named the “Graveyard of the Gulf” by sailors whose ships met their fate on its granite cliffs—will be the hot ticket for DXing enthusiasts when the DX Engineering-sponsored CY9C DXpedition team puts this 50^th Most Wanted DXCC Entity (as of July) on the air from August 26 to September 5, 2024. 

Today, the island’s automated, solar-powered lighthouse—built in 1962 as a replacement for a lighthouse constructed in 1917—welcomes the handful of visitors who arrive at St. Paul, including the Canadian Coast Guard, SCUBA divers, and amateur radio adventurers like the 11-operator CY9C team. CY9C will be using two helicopters to transport gear and team members to the windswept and treeless Northeast Island site.

The team will be employing six FlexRadio station setups for CW, SSB, RTTY, and FT8. The stations will include the FlexRadio Power Genius (PGXL) Amplifier (below), now available at DXEngineering.com. A seventh FlexRadio station will be devoted to UHF/VHF/EME and satellites.

The team of experienced hams, which includes members of the CQ DX Hall of Fame and participants in the CY0S Sable Island DXpedition in March 2023, plan to be active on 160-6M, employing Yagis on 20-6M and elevated sloping dipoles and verticals on the low bands. The team notes that at any given time, a minimum of three stations will be using the new SuperFox FT8 mode. Lighthouse chasers will be hoping to add this to their conquests (STP-002), as well as POTA (CA-0122) and IOTA (NA-094) enthusiasts.

You can get the latest news and read more about frequencies, the CY9C band plan, and 6M/2M/70cm/23cm operation details at the DXpedition’s official website.

DX Engineering is once again showing its commitment to high-profile DXpeditions by supporting CY9C 2024. The company provided the following equipment:

• DX Engineering Beverage Antenna System
• DX Engineering RPA-2 Modular Receive Preamplifier
• DX Engineering Beverage Termination Resistors

In August 2016, DX Engineering supported the St. Paul Island CY9C DXpedition by providing a range of DX Engineering-manufactured gear, including:

• Dual-Band 40/30M Thunderbolt Vertical Antenna
• Patented Radial Plate
• SO-239 SecureMount Bulkhead Connector
• Pre-Assembled Radial Wire Kits
• 1,000 Feet of RG-8X Coaxial Cable
• Butternut 9-Band HF9V Vertical Antenna covering 80 through six meters

Back in September 2016, CY9C DXpedition members Jay Slough, K4ZLE, and Wayne McKenzie, K8LEE (SK), stopped by DX Engineering headquarters in Tallmadge, Ohio, to chat with Tim Duffy, K3LR, DX Engineering CEO, about the challenges and rewards of this successful “tent and generator” operation (in Jay’s words) from St. Paul Island, in which the team braved capricious weather while manning camps on the island’s Atlantic Cove and Northeast Island sites.

“That island, in my opinion, experiences all four seasons in one day,” noted Wayne, K8LEE, who served as the DXpedition’s dedicated RTTY operator. “It can be very, very rainy with high winds—30, 35 knots—and very cold and damp in the evening, and then in the morning it’s extremely hot.”

Tom, KB8UUZ, DX Engineering technical writer, received the QSL card below from the 2016 CY9C DXpedition. The card’s back provides an excellent view of the Northeast Island site.

KB8UUZ earned the QSL card below by reaching CY9AA on six meters in June 1997.

Mark, W8BBQ, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, received this QSL card from the July 2014 CY9M DXpedition. He worked CY9M on 160, 80, 40, 15, 12, and 10M CW; and 40, 20, and 17M SSB.

For all your DXing, contesting, or rag-chewing needs—whether you’re a Big Gun, Little Pistol, or somewhere in between, visit DXEngineering.com for transceivers, amplifiers, antennas, 
headsets, and so much more.

Editor’s Note: Every month, DX Engineering features QSL cards from our team members’ personal collections. To highlight upcoming DXpeditions, we’ll be displaying a few of our favorite cards along with details about what it took to make these contacts. We’re excited to share some of the special cards pulled from the thousands we’ve received over the years. We look forward to seeing your cards as well!

The post It’s All in the Cards! QSL Cards from St. Paul Island appeared first on OnAllBands.

Jarvis Island QRV in August 2024

The Rig in a Box (RIB) N5J DXpedition to uninhabited and infrequently visited Jarvis Island (a dual DXCC entity with Palmyra Island) is only about a month away. If Jarvis/Palmyra is one of the few remaining locations standing in the way of your goal of “working the world,” N5J—scheduled to run from August 5-17, 2024—presents an excellent opportunity to check off this ultra-rare entity from your list.

Jarvis/Palmyra ranks as #18 globally and #9 in Europe on Clublog’s Most Wanted List. For up-to-date details about Jarvis Island N5J, visit their official website.

The N5J at-island (local) operating team of Don Greenbaum, N1DG; Mike Snow, KN4EEI; Tomi Pekarik, HA7RY; Rig in a Box innovator George Wallner, AA7JV; and Adrian Ciuperca, KO8SCA will be joined by remote CW and FT8 teams from around the world who will be active via Starlink. Chasers will be able to reach operators on 160-6M in SSB, CW, and FT8.

N5J members have been working with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) officials for several years to obtain permission to operate from the Jarvis Island National Wildlife Refuge. The Rig in a Box concept, which allows hams to operate remotely through self-contained stations (radio, antenna, and power) set up on land, helped to make this activation possible. The local team will be conducting the DXpedition from the MV Magnet, a vessel that will be just offshore of Jarvis Island.

About Jarvis Island

Located in the South Pacific Ocean halfway between Hawaii and the Cook Islands, 1.7-square-mile Jarvis Island is an unincorporated, unorganized territory of the United States. It is administered by the USFWS as part of the National Wildlife Refuge system. Jarvis was declared part of this system in 1974. In 2009, President George W. Bush designated Jarvis Island as part of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument.

OnAllBands Geography Question of the Day

Jarvis Island is one of a handful of U.S. territories that have the distinction of being both “unincorporated” (not fully incorporated under the U.S. Constitution) and “unorganized” (directly administered by the federal government). Several rare DXCC entities are included among this list (e.g., Baker Island/Howland Island, Johnston Atoll, Wake Island, Midway Islands, and Navassa Island).

Can you name the only unincorporated, unorganized U.S. territory that is populated? Answer below. Can’t wait? Find the entity in question in this OnAllBands article.

DX Engineering Gear to be Employed on Jarvis Island

In DX Engineering’s ongoing mission to stand beside hams who are putting rare DXCC entities on the air, the company contributed a range of gear to complement the RIB setups:

• DX Engineering DXE-ATK65A Telescoping Aluminum Antenna Tubing Kits
• DX Engineering 400MAX Type N Low-Loss 50-Ohm Coax Assemblies
• Summit Racing 16-Gauge Accessory Wire

QSL Cards from Jarvis and Palmyra Islands

The avid DXers at DX Engineering have made several contacts with operators on Jarvis and Palmyra islands over the years. Here are a few of their QSL cards, from the oldest to the latest.

Wayne, K8FF, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, worked the K1AZA/KP6 Palmyra Island DXpedition in May 1962 when his callsign was K8WOT.

Scotty, KG9Z, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, provided us with QSL cards from Palmyra W0RLX/KH5 1988 and Jarvis Island AH3C/KH5J 1990—the last time Jarvis was activated. The ten-day AH3C/KH5J operation, which employed Butternut Vertical Antennas (acquired by DX Engineering 25 years later) netted 55,000 QSOs. Among the operating team was Martti Laine, OH2BH, one of the most accomplished amateurs of all time. AH3C/KH5J marked only the second time that Jarvis Island had been put on the air.

The 1988 W0RLX/KH5 activation was the first to Palmyra since the ill-fated 1980 K6LPL/KH5 DXpedition, which began with a crash landing in a Palmyra airfield, severely injuring one team member who was medevacked off the island. The DXpedition was later aborted due to another operator injury.

Tom, KB8UUZ, DX Engineering technical writer, received the QSL card below for contacting the DX Engineering-supported K5P January 2016 DXpedition to Palmyra Atoll. Read this fascinating article by K5P operator Hal, W8HC, about some of Palmyra’s history and the team’s DXpedition that recorded more than 75,000 QSOs.

DX Engineering provided the K5P operation with a range of equipment, including RG-8X Coaxial Cable Assemblies and its Ultra-Grip 2 Crimp Connector Cable Prep Kit.

I’ll take “Unorganized and Unincorporated” for $1,000, Ken.

So, were you able to name the only populated U.S. territory that is both unorganized and unincorporated? If you said “American Samoa” (population 44,600), give yourself a pat on the back! While American Samoa is self-governing, it is technically considered “unorganized” because the U.S. Congress has not passed an Organic Act for the territory that specifies how it is to be governed. American Samoa is one of two U.S. territories south of the Equator. The other? Today’s featured entity, Jarvis Island.

For all your DXing, contesting, or rag-chewing needs—whether you’re a Big Gun, Little Pistol, or somewhere in between, visit DXEngineering.com for transceivers, amplifiers, antennas,
headsets, and so much more.

***

Editor’s Note: Every month, DX Engineering features QSL cards from our team members’ personal collections. To highlight upcoming DXpeditions, we’ll be displaying a few of our favorite cards along with details about what it took to make these contacts. We’re excited to share some of the special cards pulled from the thousands we’ve received over the years. We look forward to seeing your cards as well!

The post It’s All in the Cards! QSL Cards from Jarvis and Palmyra Islands appeared first on OnAllBands.

Crete QRV in June 2024

The 6M/4M SV9 DXpedition by DK5EW was scheduled to end June 20. Were you able to put the mountainous Greek island of Crete in your logbook by making some magic on 6 meters? We hope so.

About the size of Puerto Rico at 3,260 square miles, Crete ranked as the 274^th Most Wanted DXCC Entity per Clublog as of June, 2024.

While not exactly a rare entity, this popular tourist locale is certainly one of the most thrilling, featuring archaeological sites, a Venetian castle, stunning islands, and Europe’s largest natural palm forest. It’s no wonder that DXpeditioners find it a welcome spot to set up shop and reach out to the world.

Today we’ll be looking at a few of the QSL cards the active hams at DX Engineering have earned over the years from both permanent and temporary operations on Crete.

Crete’s QSO Machine

Crete is home to Michael Dimitrikakis, SV9CVY, who is widely recognized as the island’s most active ham. Appropriately nicknamed “The Big Gun of Crete,” he commands four impressive antenna towers covering 160 to 2M from his QTH near Rethymno (population of around 39,000). SV9CVY is one of approximately 200 to 3oo amateur radio licensees on the island.

Dave, K8DV, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, reached SV9CVY in March 2007 on 20M SSB and in February 2018 on 160M FT8.

Tom, KB8UUZ, DX Engineering technical writer, received the card below from SV9CVY. As a paraplegic, SV9CVY raises awareness by including this important message on his QSL cards: “Help the Handi-Hams Near You. They need your support.”

As noted on his QRZ.com page, SV9CVY graduated from the City University of New York in 1988 with a degree in electrical engineering, worked in New York and New Jersey for a few years, and moved to Greece in 1993. He received his amateur radio license the following year. Here he is featured on the cover of the April 2018 issue of QST magazine.

He wrote on QRZ.com,“The very best part of this hobby is the PEOPLE you meet and the longtime close friendships that happen as a result of the common interest in Amateur Radio.”

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Wayne, K8FF, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, received the card below from SV9/OH9MM.

For all your DXing, contesting, or rag-chewing needs—whether you’re a Big Gun, Little Pistol, or somewhere in between, visit DXEngineering.com for transceivers, amplifiers, antennas, headsets, and so much more.

***

Editor’s Note: Every month, DX Engineering features QSL cards from our team members’ personal collections. To highlight upcoming DXpeditions, we’ll be displaying a few of our favorite cards along with details about what it took to make these contacts. We’re excited to share some of the special cards pulled from the thousands we’ve received over the years. We look forward to seeing your cards as well!

The post It’s All in the Cards! QSL Cards from Crete appeared first on OnAllBands.

Mozambique QRV in June 2024

For those still trying to add the Republic of Mozambique (C9) to your list of DXCC entities this month, there’s still a window of opportunity. The C91AHV DXpedition by CT7AHV is scheduled to run until June 15, 2024. Chasers can reach CT7AHV on 40, 20, 15, 10, and 6M in SSB, CW, and FT8.

Located in southeast Africa, Mozambique is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Africa to the southwest. It is separated from the Comoros, Mayotte, and Madagascar by the Mozambique Channel to the east. As of May 2024, Mozambique ranked as the 113^th Most Wanted DXCC Entity per Clublog.

Not Far from the Glorioso Islands

The rarely activated Glorioso Islands, which is scheduled to be on the air until June 19, 2024 thanks to the single-operator, DX Engineering-sponsored FT4GL DXpedition, lies in the northern part of the Mozambique Channel about 900 miles from Mozambique.

About Mozambique

For the sake of comparison, Mozambique (309, 475 square miles, population 35 million) is moderately larger than Texas (268,600 square miles, population 30 million). But while Texas is the second largest and second most populated U.S. state, Mozambique ranks as the 16^th largest African nation (35^th largest in the world) and the 14^th most populated in Africa. Of course this is not a fair comparison, as Africa has a population of close to 1.46 billion—which leads us to the OnAllBands Geography Question of the Day. Can you correctly list the world’s continents by population from the most to least populated? Answer below.

Bonus Question!

In honor of the letter “Q,” one of the most prominent and important letters in the ham radio world, can you name the countries other than Mozambique that have the letter “Q” in their name? Hint: There are three answers to this quagmire of a query.

QSL Cards

The active hams at DX Engineering have had great success contacting Mozambique over the years (a good reason to contact them for help with your gear if you’d like to do the same). Here are a few of the QSL cards from their collections.

Wayne, K8FF, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, worked C92RU in 2021.

Tom, KB8UUZ, DX Engineering technical writer, received this card from C92CC.

Dave, K8DV, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, reached C91TX operating from Bilene in April 2009 on 17M CW. Bilene is a beach resort town in southern Mozambique on the Mozambique Channel about 86 miles northeast of Maputo, the country’s capital and largest city.

I’ll take “Facts about the Continents” for $1,000, Ken.

So, were you able to list the continents from the most populated to the least? Got Asia, Australia, and Antarctica with no problem, huh? Yeah, we figured you would.

• Asia: 4.75 billion
• Africa: 1.46 billion
• Europe: 74o million
• North America: 604 million
• South America: 439 million
• Australia/Oceania 46 million
• Antarctica: Zero (Scientists and support staff live for part of the year in Antarctica on a rotating basis, but there is no permanent human population.)

Now to our bonus question. Mozambique has the letter “Q” in its name. Can you name the nations that also include a Q?

• Qatar
• Iraq
• Equatorial Guinea

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If you’re looking for quick and quality answers to boost your DXing qualifications, you’ll find lots of help from the hams at DX Engineering, plus everything you need to upgrade your station at DXEngineering.com, including transceivers, amplifiers, antennas, headsets, the QRM Eliminator, and more.

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Editor’s Note: Every month, DX Engineering features QSL cards from our team members’ personal collections. To highlight upcoming DXpeditions, we’ll be displaying a few of our favorite cards along with details about what it took to make these contacts. We’re excited to share some of the special cards pulled from the thousands we’ve received over the years. We look forward to seeing your cards as well!

The post It’s All in the Cards! QSL Cards from Mozambique appeared first on OnAllBands.

Glorioso Islands QRV in May/June

Have you had any luck contacting Marek, FH4VVK, who is operating from Grande Glorioso Island as FT4GL? We hope you’ve been able to add this rare one to your DXCC list. If not, you’ve still got plenty of time. FH4VVK is scheduled to be active from Glorioso Islands—a 1.9-square-mile French overseas territory about 120 miles northwest of Madagascar—until June 19, 2024 on 160-6M in SSB, RTTY, and FT4/FT8.

While the Glorioso Islands’ DXCC ranking is certain to change by the end of FT4GL’s run, it is currently ranked #7 globally, #3 in South America, #6 in Asia, #15 in Europe, #17 in Africa, #4 in Oceania, and #2 on North America’s West Coast per Clublog. Glorioso Islands was last officially on the air in September/October 2009 during the five-operator, 23-day FT5GA DXpedition (see QSL card below), which netted 50,000-plus CW, SSB, and digital QSOs.

DX Engineering has provided FT4GL with VA6AM 150W PEP HF Band Pass Filters for 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10M to help make more QSOs possible. These high-quality, multi-stage inline passive band pass filters are specifically designed to limit the transmitting and receiving RF passband to a single amateur band. Find more VA6AM products at DXEngineering.com, including a range of VA6AM band pass filters, diplexers, and triplexers.

Need to upgrade your setup for better performance on ARRL Field Day (June 22 to 23, 2024)? Here’s something to consider: If VA6AM Band Pass Filters are the equipment of choice for an extremely rare activation, imagine how they will work for your temporary stations in the field!

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Quick Facts About the Glorioso Islands

• The islands are geographically part of the Comoros Islands between the French overseas region of Mayotte Island and Madagascar (click links for QSL cards from each entity).
• The islands are controlled by France as part of the Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean in the French Southern and Antarctic Lands. They are also claimed by Comoros and Madagascar.
• To protect the Islands’ endangered flora and fauna, France founded a 17,000-square-mile marine protected area known as Glorioso Islands Marine Natural Park. Due to its isolation, the park is particularly useful for the study of climate change and the area’s marine biodiversity.

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QSL Cards from the Glorioso Islands

While infrequently activated, the Glorioso Islands have been reached by several of the hams at DX Engineering over the years. Here are a few of the QSL cards from their collections, from the oldest to the most recent.

Wayne, K8FF, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, received the card below from the FR7ZP DXpedition in November 1966—one of the earliest amateur radio ventures to the Glorioso Islands. The DXpedition was sponsored by the World Radio Propagation Study Association (WRPSA), an organization that served as a hub for collecting and disbursing donations to fund these seminal activations. The association also analyzed the logs of DXpeditioners (Gus Browning, W4BPD; Don Miller, W9WNV; et. al.) to provide insight on propagation conditions of previously unstudied locations for the benefit of hams everywhere.

FR7ZP’s operator was W9WNV, one of the most famous and influential DXpeditioners of all time. K8FF made an SSB QSO with W9WNV using his old call, K8WOT.

“I worked him (W9WNV) from a number of places over his career of DXpeditions,” K8FF said. “My first QSO with him was when he was stationed in Korea. His call at that time was HL9KH. He was an excellent CW operator and during operations would frequently answer three or four stations at a time causing much confusion for those that couldn’t figure it out! For a while he joined up with Chuck (Swain), K7LMU, going to various places. Unfortunately, Chuck was lost at sea returning from a DXpedition.*

“There are probably 25 or 30 QSLs in my file from Gus Browning, W4BPD, another great CW operator. Those were good times for us just starting in DXing back in the 1960s.”

* Editor’s note: K7LMU and Ted Thorpe, ZL2AWJ, were never seen again after they set out to sea following the 1966 FW8ZZ DXpedition from Wallis Island.

Scotty, KG9Z, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, received this card from the January 1987 FR/G/FH4ED Glorioso Island DXpedition.

Tom, KB8UUZ, DX Engineering technical writer, received the card below from the September/October 2009 FT5GA activation from Grande Glorioso Island.

Dave, K8DV, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, also reached FT5GA’s team of French military operators (30/15M CW; 20M SSB).

Want to upgrade your DXing capabilities? Find everything you need at DX Engineering, including transceivers, amplifiers, antennas, headsets, and more.

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Editor’s Note: Every month, DX Engineering features QSL cards from our team members’ personal collections. To highlight upcoming DXpeditions, we’ll be displaying a few of our favorite cards along with details about what it took to make these contacts. We’re excited to share some of the special cards pulled from the thousands we’ve received over the years. We look forward to seeing your cards as well!

The post It’s All in the Cards! QSL Cards from the Glorioso Islands appeared first on OnAllBands.

Over recent years more than occasional comment has been made by some DXers about whether QSL Managers make money from sending out QSL cards. Obviously, not all DXpeditions have the same policies but a year after the VP2MUW expedition, here’s how our QSL finances stack up. Important note: I’m writing this in the interests of…