Réunion Island QRV in September/October 2024

The TO2DX DXpedition from Réunion by OM2DX is scheduled to run until October 7 from this overseas department and region of France in the Indian Ocean, 422 miles east of Madagascar. The HF operation from the 970-square-mile island (slightly smaller than Rhode Island) is scheduled to be active on CW, FT8, and RTTY. TO2DX, operating from the island’s far west side in the commune of St.-Paul, was QRV for the just-completed CQ WW DX RTTY Contest.

The volcanic island of Réunion (part of the Mascarene Islands) is the 219^th Most-Wanted DXCC Entity per Clublog as of September. Originally named Bourbon, Réunion has a population of around 885,000 and is home to a rich diversity of flora and fauna. There are more than 230 plants only found on the island, as well as endemic birds such as the Réunion cuckooshrike, which, if you’re lucky, can be observed in two mountain forests in the northern part of Réunion. The island’s marine biodiversity is even more impressive. Its waters feature 1,000-plus species of fish and 500 crustaceans. You’ll also find a variety of shark species, whales, and sea turtles.

QSL Cards

The active hams at DX Engineering have had great success contacting Réunion 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.

Scotty, KG9Z, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, earned this card from FR7ZD back in April 1984.

Wayne, K8FF, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, provided us with this card from the TO3R November 2008 Réunion DXpedition.

Mark, W8BBQ, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, produced three Réunion QSL cards from his collection: FR5DZ (December 2010, 20M SSB), FR5FC (October 2010, 20M SSB), and FR/DL1YAF (October 2012, 17M SSB).

Tom, KB8UUZ, DX Engineering technical writer, reached FR/DJ7RJ in October 2013. This spectacular card displays the shield volcano known as Piton de la Fournaise—one of the world’s most active volcanos and a major tourist attraction. Located on Réunion’s eastern side, Piton de la Fournaise, known to islanders simply as “le volcan” (The Volcano), last erupted from July to August 2023, per The Smithsonian Institution Global Volcanism website.  

“More than 150 eruptions, a majority of which have consisted of basaltic lava flows, were recorded since the 17th century,” the website noted. The volcano lies within Réunion National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site which covers 40% of the island. The dormant volcano Piton des Neiges marks the island’s highest point at 10,070 feet above sea level.

Geography Question of the Day

While Réunion has a single World Heritage Site (France has 53 total), can you name the top three countries based on number of these sites? Read much more about Réunion’s “pitons, cirques, and remparts” at the World Heritage Convention website.

Scott, N3RA, DX Engineering sales manager, made contact with FR5CB on FT8 in November 2019.

I’ll take “World Heritage Sites” for $1,000, Ken.

Can you name the top three countries based on number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites? As of July 2024, here’s the answer:

• Italy, 60
• China, 59
• Germany, 54

The United States has 26 such sites, including the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone National Park, Independence Hall, and Redwood National and State Parks. The only World Heritage Site in Ohio (home of DX Engineering) is the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, which was named the 25^th U.S. World Heritage Site in 2023.

***

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 Réunion Island appeared first on OnAllBands.

One of our favorite pursuits at OnAllBands is discovering ham radio and Morse code references that have found their way into television, movies, books, and music—everything from Paul McCartney’s inspiration for the song “Morse Moose and the Grey Goose” to the plaintive transmission at the end of Orson Welles’ “War of the Worlds” broadcast. We’re pleased to report, despite multiple posts on the subject, that the tank isn’t dry when it comes to our favorite hobby and popular culture. Here’s the latest we’ve found:

0DFx

Also known as Zero Defex, this Akron, Ohio, hardcore punk band used the very first Morse code transmission, “What hath God wrought?” in their song “Target Earth.”

The message—sent May 24, 1844 by Samuel F. B. Morse in Washington, D.C. to Alfred Vail forty miles away in Baltimore—can be heard at the beginning and ending of the 58-second scorcher. The biblical quote (Numbers 23:23) was handed to Morse by Annie Ellsworth, the daughter of a close friend, who had written down the line as suggested by her mother.

John M. Harris wrote on the Tippecanoe County Historical Association blog, “Quickly Morse sent the words using the dot and dash code which bears his name. It was received in Baltimore and repeated back. As the words were decoded in Washington, the room erupted with cheers.”

We reached out to 0DFX drummer Mickey Hurray about why the band chose this seminal moment in communications history for their song:

“We included the first telegraph message in our song ‘Target Earth’ because Morse code was essentially the seed to the advent of whole Earth mass communication. As the seed blossoms the answer to that question (What hath God wrought?) is revealing itself globally every day. Stand by for the exciting conclusion.”

“Thunderstruck”

Erik Larson, master of page-turning nonfiction, followed up his gruesomely captivating 2003 book “The Devil in the White City” with the story of Guglielmo Marconi’s development of wireless juxtaposed against the saga of one of Britain’s most infamous criminals—Hawley Harvey Crippen.

Marconi’s and Crippen’s stories run parallel in the book, finally merging to reveal how Marconi’s work played a role in the chase to apprehend the unlikely villain, who had done away with his wife and fled. In interviews, Larson has called the two stories “an amazing confluence of invention and murder.” Amateurs will certainly enjoy the technical details in the Marconi chapters.

“Thunderstruck” comes highly recommended by my lovely YL, who, like Scotland Yard from the story, is in hot pursuit of something that takes dogged effort to achieve—in her case, a Technician license.

“NCIS“

Premiering September 2003, “NCIS” is still going strong. In April, the military police procedural and CBS high-ratings staple was renewed for its 22^nd season. With more than 460 episodes under its well-armored belt, you would think that Morse code and ham radio may have been written into a script or two. And you would be correct!

However, as we’ve mentioned in this column before, sometimes ham radio and Hollywood can offer up a mixed bag.

In the “NCIS” episode 6 “Trapped” from Season 15, an investigation into a murder on a golf course leads senior field agent Timothy McGee and special agent Nicholas Torres to discover a ham radio setup in the victim’s home. On the good end of the spectrum, the episode includes mentions of the value of ham radio in emergencies—the “if all else fails, ham radio is there” scenario that has saved countless lives. For some viewers—many of them longtime fans of “NCIS”—that’s where the “good” ended.

While ham radio is used to solve the murder, many operators were not pleased at all the things the show got wrong.

The general sentiment: If you’re going to focus an entire episode on a service that’s been around since the early 1900s, take a few hours and do your research. Objections included the stereotyped portrayal of hams as socially awkward loners, display of a “data only” band on the Yaesu rig used in the episode, the operator’s powerful HF setup being only able to reach “80 square miles,” and, most egregious to many, a not-even-close-to-correct callsign that included a “handle.”

You can find the episode on YouTube and judge for yourself. Next time we’ll look at “NCIS” and how the show handled Morse code.

The post Amateur Radio and Morse Code in Popular Culture: From Hardcore Punk to Wireless History appeared first on OnAllBands.

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.

DX Engineering Gear Plays an Important Role

The historic Rig in a Box N5J DXpedition from the Jarvis Island National Wildlife Refuge is in the books. Jarvis was the 18^th Most Wanted DXCC Entity per Clublog when the activation was fully underway on August 9, 2024.

Thanks to countless hours of planning, technical advancements in the hobby, amazingly skilled offshore and worldwide remote operators, sponsors including DX Engineering, and an active community of DXers, the #18 ranking will certainly take a precipitous fall when the next most-wanted list is released.

N5J marked the first activation of Jarvis Island (a dual entity with Palmyra Island) since the April 1990 AH3C/KH5J DXpedition, which logged 55,000 QSOs over ten days. The only other time Jarvis has been QRV was AD1S/KH5 in November 1983—the first time this 1.7-square-mile coral island in the South Pacific was on the air. 

Along with remote CW and FT8 stations, the N5J at-island operating team of Don Greenbaum, N1DG; Mike Snow, KN4EEI; Tomi Pekarik, HA7RY; Rig in a Box innovator George Wallner, AA7JV; and Adrian Ciuperca, KO8SCA recorded more than 100,000 QSOs on 160-6M in SSB, CW, and FT8 after 11 days of operation. Additionally, 3,000 operators qualified for an N5J special award by making FT8, CW, and SSB contacts and logging QSOs on five bands.

As noted by Ann Fried on the N5J Facebook page, “All the hard work and planning did a great service to hams worldwide.”

Pierre Leroy wrote, “Keep on doing good work. Conditions are not easy but ATNO from ON6PL.”

“Thanks to the whole team for outstanding work,” wrote Tor Langvand. “Challenging propagation from time to time. Nevertheless, >100K QSOs in the book is fantastic. Great job, all.”

Gerry Hull, W1VE, posted on the N5J Facebook page the day the DXpedition went QRT, “The Magnet team is busy taking down everything and preparing for the trip back to American Samoa. They are the real heroes who powered this operation! As the Team Lead for the CW Remote Crew, I couldn’t be happier about the outcome. As an advocate of remote DXing and contesting, I’m extremely pleased how everything worked.”

From the N5J website, the team wrote, “Thank you for all the QSOs. It was a blast.”

The Impact of RIB Operations

The Rig in a Box concept, which allows self-contained amateur radio stations to be placed on land while operators work remotely, is proving to be a game-changer for DXpeditioners as well as hams trying to check off the remaining rare entities on their DXCC scorecard.

RIB-centered ventures dramatically increase the chances that decision-makers governing wildlife protected areas will grant permission for these operations. RIB DXpeditions ensure that boots will only be on land to set up, tear down, and maintain the RIB stations, reducing environmental impact and eliminating a stumbling block that has kept many entities off the air for decades.

Get up close and personal with the N5J team in this video featuring DX Engineering CEO Tim Duffy, K3LR, interviewing operators aboard the MV Magnet on August 9, 2024.

 “In addition to us being here there are three Fish and Wildlife scientists that are currently on the island,” explained George, AA7JV, in the video. “They’re conducting research and working on the island. This is really the result of Don (N1DG) having worked with the Fish and Wildlife Service to convince them that amateur radio can be not just a user but a partner. And as a partner we can contribute to their efforts, and in return for that, they let us operate from these very highly protected reserves where normally they do not let anybody.”

DX Engineering Equipment 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
• Amphenol Type N Double Female Adapter Connectors
• Mastrant Support and Guy Line Rope 

The teams at DX Engineering and OnAllBands salute everyone involved in making the N5J DXpedition to Jarvis Island possible. Look for posts about more DX Engineering-sponsored DXpeditions in the days ahead.

73!

The post Jarvis Island N5J Team Delivers ATNOs for Hams Around the Globe appeared first on OnAllBands.

Story by Katie Campbell, KE8LQR.

After seeing much success the first few years, Youth On The Air (YOTA) Camp in the Americas returned this past summer to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Approximately 30 campers from six different countries, ranging from 15 to 25 years old, attended.

Throughout the week, campers took part in sessions on satellite operating, high altitude ballooning, CW, soldering/kit building, POTA, and more—all led by other young people.

More importantly, the campers (including myself) had the opportunity to meet other young hams and form friendships that will last a lifetime.

Every YOTA camp is full of new adventures, and this year was no different.

We started planning for this year’s camp as soon as last year’s event in Ottawa ended, since planning an event through emails and Zoom meetings can be a little tedious. We started looking at details like what we would do during this year’s camp, where we’d host specific sessions on and off campus, and what sessions to have. Then we started creating the schedule.

By November 2023, we’d started writing press releases and posting information about camp to our social media to build excitement and spread the word about where and when it would be. We also started looking for young people to lead sessions, particularly returning campers from the previous years.

As we got closer to camp, we had Zoom meetings about once a month to discuss important issues and things that came up while we were emailing back and forth. It seemed like everything was straightened out and ready to go, but Murphy decided that would be the perfect time to remind us of his law:

Anything that can go wrong…will!

We arrived in Halifax the Friday before camp started and encountered a “small” problem. The pallets with nearly all of the supplies for camp were stuck at customs in Massachusetts, and the office would be closing in about half an hour.

We racked our brains for a solution and made a few phone calls.

Eventually, we connected with The Ham Radio Guy, Marvin, W0MET, who offered to drop everything, pick up the pallets, and even drive them to Maine to meet us at a halfway point so we could pick them up.

Very early the next morning, Julie Rapp and Colleen, KB8VAQ, started the 15-hour drive to Maine from Halifax while the rest of us stayed back and started setting up what we could. Finally, while we were at dinner, we got the message that Colleen and Julie had gotten through customs, crossed the border with the pallets, and would get back at about 2 am Sunday.

We all got up bright and early on Sunday and worked together as fast as we could to unload everything and set it up. We managed to get almost everything straightened out, although there would be a running joke throughout the week whenever we couldn’t find something:

“Where is X?”

“Oh, probably on the pallets!”

With setup complete and all t’s crossed and i’s dotted, camp was a go!

Campers started arriving at noon to get settled into their dorms at Mount Saint Vincent University and meet their roommates until the opening ceremony at five (watch a video of the opening ceremony here).

After the opening ceremony we had a quick tour of the shack and antennas before we could start operating. The next morning, we started the first day of camp with logging and SDR sessions. Then, the ID-52 handheld transceivers that Icom donated for us to use all week were passed out and our Icom rep, Rose, VA3RZZ, led a session about D-STAR.

After lunch, we headed outside for our pico balloon launch, led by Wintta, VA3WGY, and Stefan, VA3STQ.

Unfortunately, both balloons hit a storm a few hours later and went down just north of Sable Island.

After launching our balloons, we had sessions about nets and CW, followed by a session where campers and staff could share resources and groups for young hams. We all had dinner and then the final session of the day was “Train the Trainer,” where some of the camp staff explained how to run a YOTA camp, from planning and preparation to actually hosting the event.

Tuesday morning, campers split up into either a kit-building or ARDF session. After that, we had our ARISS contact, led by Ruth, KM4LAO. Tuesday evening, we had dinner in downtown Halifax before going on a tour of the city and the harbor. After the tour, it was back to the university for some operating time or socializing before lights out.

On Wednesday, we got to do some satellite operating before a presentation from Dr. Yaroslav “Yarko” Pustovyi about Maritime Launch Services. After his presentation, it was time to get ready to activate Georges Island the next day. Once we finished up our POTA prep, we had some more time to operate VE1YOTA or socialize.

On Thursday, it was time for POTA! We split up into groups and rotated which location we were operating from or touring. My group started out at the HMCS Sackville, where we got to tour the ship and learn more about its history before getting on the air with the station on board.

After we made some contacts there, it was time to head to Georges Island for POTA. We took a ferry over and got on the air straight away. After some antenna troubleshooting, we finally started making contacts and got a few really large pileups!

After that, my group took the ferry back and got to tour the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic and even operate from the station there. Then, it was time to go back to the university for dinner and shack/social time.

On Friday morning we had our closing ceremony (watch here), returned our radios, said our goodbyes, and started making plans to see each other at camp next year!

We’ve already started planning for camp in Denver, Colorado, and hope to see you there!

You can find information about YOTA Camp 2025 here. You can apply to attend starting December 1. Click here for the Denver 2025 YOTA Camp application page.  

***

High school student Katie Campbell, KE8LQR, earned her Amateur Extra license at the age of 11. Among other activities, she teaches youth Morse code through the Long Island CW Club; helps out with her school’s amateur radio club, K8LPS; is a member of YACHT (Young Amateurs Communications Ham Team; was a featured presenter at Contest University 2024; and is on the planning committee and PR team for the YOTA group.

The post Youth On The Air Halifax 2024: Recapping a Memorable Amateur Radio Gathering appeared first on OnAllBands.

It has become apparent over the years that many folks who love everything about ham radio also love their cars, trucks, motorcycles, and ATVs. This is supported by the fact that there are plenty of DX Engineering customers who also do their shopping for suspension systems, exhaust tips, piston sets, and fuel injectors at Summit Racing Equipment. In fact, we’ve lost count of the number of letters we’ve received from those who relish both turning corners and turning knobs.

For those who don’t already know, Summit Racing has been the parent company of DX Engineering ever since the aftermarket automotive parts giant acquired the ham radio manufacturer in 2000. (Look for much more about DX Engineering’s 25^th Anniversary celebration in the months ahead.)

DX Engineering shares headquarters with Summit Racing in Tallmadge, Ohio, near Akron. The updated DX Engineering Amateur Radio Showroom is housed inside the Summit Racing Retail Superstore at the same location. Ham radio gear can also be purchased at the Summit Racing retail store in Sparks, Nevada.

Need a transceiver and a transmission? A set of radials for your Hustler BTV vertical antenna and some radials for your 1972 Chevelle? A thrust bearing and a main rod bearing? A brake rotor and a heavy-duty rotator? You’ll uniquely find them all under the same roof.

How cool and convenient is that?

For those who can’t make it to the stores in Ohio and Nevada, both Summit Racing (SummitRacing.com) and DX Engineering (DXEngineering.com) make ordering incredibly fast and easy online. Both companies are widely recognized for providing fast shipping (more about speed below) and the most knowledgeable and responsive customer/technical support in their respective industries.

Check out the DX Engineering and Summit Racing decals on Jarvis Island in August 2024! In the photo, George Wallner, AA7JV, member of the offshore crew of the N5J Jarvis Island DXpedition, sets up a self-contained Rig in a Box station on one of the rarest DXCC entities on the planet. The DXpedition was sponsored by DX Engineering. Also notice the VP Racing jug, available at Summit Racing, along for the trip.

Hams & Gearheads

At first inspection, automotive enthusiasts and ham radio aficionados may seem to have little in common. But look closer. The hobbies and the people who are passionate about them share a lot more than you might think.

A Need for Speed

Summit Racing is appropriately known as “The World’s Speed Shop®,” the place where you can find millions of go-fast parts to soup up your ride for the street, dirt track, road course, or drag strip.

While transceivers don’t come equipped with a finish-line parachute, speed is still very much a part of the hobby for scores of amateur operators. Many hams were first intrigued by the idea that their transmissions could reach across the globe thanks to radio waves traveling at the speed of light—186,000 miles per second (a tad quicker than your average quarter-mile pass). Elite CW practitioners hone their skills to reach mind-boggling speeds up to 60 WPM. Like a road race, marathon radiosport contests, such as the 24-hour World Radiosport Team Championship, become a test of both operating speed and endurance. Other ham radio activities, such as direction-finding competitions, depend on quick wits and speed when searching for hidden transmitters.

Finally, we know gearheads and hams alike don’t like to wait around their garages and shacks for parts to arrive—so you can expect speedy delivery of what you need—when you need it.

A Need to Build…and Rebuild

Whether completely restoring a classic, modifying a late-model muscle car, or creating a one-of-a-kind rat rod, there is nothing that makes a gearhead happier than wrenching on their latest project—permanently oil-stained fingernails be darned! Hams are no different. While getting on the air may be the ultimate reward, the satisfaction of installing an antenna, adding a new rotator, or building a homebrew amplifier ranks high for the hands-on ham.

Ask a gearhead or a ham how they spent their early years and you’ll hear stories of disassembled vacuum cleaners and radios, spare parts strewn across living rooms, and angry parents (though secretly proud) admonishing them for not asking first. The obsession to find out what makes things tick runs deep in both hobbies.

Even tasks like prepping and installing connectors on coaxial cable, weatherproofing cable connections, properly grounding amateur radio equipment, and spring station maintenance mean more time spent doing ham radio stuff—always a good thing. And like most gearheads and their cars and trucks, most amateurs view their stations as works in progress, always with an eye on the next big improvement or strategic tweak.

You Can Never Have Too Many

Ask a certain type of gearhead “How many vehicles are enough?” or a similarly inclined ham “How many radios are enough?” and you’re likely to get a shrug. Why? Because there simply isn’t a way to quantify an answer for those whose thirst for rides and rigs have no boundaries.

As of January of 2024, it was reported that Jay Leno’s vehicle collection consisted of over 180 cars and 160 motorcycles. Jerry Seinfeld’s cache of cars exceeds 150, including more than 40 Porsches. For those less monetarily endowed, it’s still difficult to turn down a project vehicle regardless of condition or space limitations. Same goes for hams who can’t pass by a hamfest flea market without adding another vintage rig to their collections or peruse DXEngineering.com without adding the latest SDR model and companion gear to their shopping cart.

It’s no wonder that DX Engineering sells a T-shirt that reads, “Just One More Radio, I Promise” and Summit Racing sells one that reads, “Just One More Car, I Promise.”

Friendships

Attend a car show or a day at the track and you’ll discover that competitiveness and camaraderie go hand in hand. Trophies and trips to the winner’s circle are nice, but longtime gearheads will tell you it’s the friendships with other enthusiasts that count most at the end of the day. Need proof? Listen to a couple of strangers become fast friends as they ease into a “bench racing” give-and-take or share stories of the “cars that got away.” Hams have the added benefit of being able to make friends from all parts of the world simply by getting on the air and calling CQ. Goodwill is at the core of what it means to be an amateur operator, whether hanging out with your club on Field Day or rag-chewing with an operator thousands of miles away.

Some Quick Comparisons

• Going mobile: The most obvious merging of the two pursuits is equipping your vehicle with a mobile transceiver for fun on the road as well as serious emergency communication.
• Endless variety: Both hobbies offer so many avenues of interest that it’s impossible to do it all at once. As the bloggers at OnAllBands have recommended time and again, if you’re starting out in ham radio, it’s best to initially pick one aspect of the hobby rather than spreading yourself too thin.
• Passing it on: Like fathers, mothers, grandparents, and uncles who share their passion for car culture with their sons, daughters, grandkids, and nephews, ham families can’t help but pass on their love of all things radio to the next generation of operators.

***

We’d love to hear from all the ham/gearheads out there! Tell us about what you think is the crossover appeal of getting on the air and putting power to the pavement.

The post Hams & Gearheads: The Strong Connection Between DX Engineering & Summit Racing Customers appeared first on OnAllBands.

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.