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TopBand: 8Q7AA In January - Update

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Subject: TopBand: 8Q7AA In January - Update
From: k7wx@getnet.com (Warren Hill)
Date: Mon, 5 Jan 98 18:06:49 -0600
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To: DXers everywhere!

de: Warren Hill, K7WX

The upcoming DXpedition to the Republic of the Maldives by members of the 
Central Arizona DX Association (8Q7, Zone 22) remains on course. The team 
leaves from Los Angeles on January 15th and will be QRV from the Indian 
Ocean beginning January 18th or 19th, with 24 hour operating on most 
bands through January 28th. We will be located on Alimatha Island in the 
Felidu Atoll, latitude: 03 degrees 35' N and longitude: 73 degrees 30' E. 
This location is also designated as IOTA AS-013.

Members of the 8Q7AA DXpedition team will be: 

      SSB                           CW
Oscar Resto  KP4RF            Bruce Sawyer N6NT
Sally Martinez  KM5EP         Darryl Hazelgren AF7O
Rich Chatelin  K7ZV           Warren Hill  K7WX
Victoria Thompson  KC7TIW     Steve Thompson  N7TX
Dan Brown  NA7DB       
Paul Playford  W8AEF

Bruce Sawyer, N6NT, will also run HF RTTY as operating time permits.
Ibrahim Ahmed, 8Q7QC, will help with HF SSB and provide local assistance. 
Robert Brown, NM7M, has worked out detailed propagation information (see 
below).
Andy Stafford, G4VPM, has been our valued liaison with the Maldive 
government.

Dick Wolf, N6FF, will be our west coast pilot and pass on to us feedback 
from the other side of the QSO, as well as first hand propagation 
information. During the nine days of this operation you are welcome to 
contact him via e-mail (n6ff@snowcrest.net) with any observations that 
may be useful.

There will be four stations running Yaesu FT-1000MP transceivers and 
Alpha amplifiers on 160 through 10-meters, including all WARC bands. Many 
of this team were also members of the 1996 XZ1N Myanmar operation. A 
concentrated effort will be made on the low bands with adequate power and 
antennas. Several in our group will focus on 40, 80 and 160-meters, with 
special attention being given to both sunrise and sunset terminator 
openings at North America. 

It is understood that 8Q7 is not all that rare for European stations, but 
for North America, and especially on the low bands, this is a very 
difficult path. For this reason, many of our efforts will be directed 
towards working into zones 3, 4 and 5, where the need for zone 22 is 
still quite strong.

More complete details are available at our WWW home page:

    http://www.cadxa.org/8q7aa

The first full weekend of the 8Q7AA operation has been timed to coincide 
with the CQ 160-meter CW DX Contest. This contest begins at 2200 GMT on 
January 23 and ends on January 25th. 8Q7AA will be a high power 
multi-operator entry in this contest. More detailed information regarding 
the CQ 160 meter CW DX Contest can be found at: 

    http://www.sk3bg.se/contest/cqww160.htm

QSLs: Requests for confirmation of contacts with 8Q7AA can be made by 
either direct, QSL bureau or e-mail routes. Cards should begin to go out 
within two to four weeks of our return.

Direct QSLs:   Steve Thompson, N7TX
               119 E. Jasmine St.
               Mesa, AZ  85201-1811  USA

               Please enclose an SASE with adequate postage.

Bureau QSLs: Cards should be clearly marked: 8Q7AA via N7TX

Internet: Bureau QSLs can be requested by sending e-mail to: 
8q7aa@cadxa.org

  The SUBJECT line should read: 8Q7AA QSL REQUEST
  The BODY of the message should list the following for each QSO:

    Your call sign
    Date
    Time in GMT
    Band

Log Checks: You are welcome to send e-mail to: 8q7aa@cadxa.org  
            to see if you are in the log for a particular contact
            before sending a direct request. Real time log checking
            will not be available for this operation. The SUBJECT of 
            the message should read "8Q7AA LOG CHECK." The BODY of
            the message should be the same as the above. These 
            requests will be turned around very quickly after our
            return.

COMMENTS BY BOB BROWN, NM7M: The timing of this operation has been 
arranged to take advantage of favorable propagation on the low bands into 
Europe and North America. The table shown at the bottom of this message 
indicates the major openings to the Maldives that are anticipated. 
 
On the lower bands, the location of the terminator will be of great 
importance. Propagation on these frequencies is possible mainly when the 
path is in darkness. Although on 80 and 40-meters, openings may occur 45 
minutes before sunset and linger 45 minutes after sunrise. It is 
suggested that you check the path from your QTH with a mapping program 
(like DX-AID) to be sure of being on the band at just the right time. 
This is particularly true for 160 meters. Local sunset in the Maldives on 
January 21st will be at 13:14 UTC and local sunrise will be at 01:25 UTC. 
For radio amateurs in some parts of North America, sunrise/sunset and 
sunset/sunrise will coincide very closely.

For paths to North America, there appears to be a division along the 107 
W meridian of longitude. Locations to the East of that longitude will 
receive their signals coming down from high-latitudes to the north-east 
while stations to the West of that longitude will receive their signals 
coming down from high latitudes to the north-west.
 
The 107 W meridian cuts through Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico 
and separates the one-third of the USA to the West from the other 
two-thirds to the East. For the bands where
ionospheric absorption is a major consideration, like 160, 80 and 40 
meters, this means the western one-third of the USA will be open for 
contacts from sunset at the Maldives until local sunrise, as the 
terminator moves westward.  To the East of that meridian, those bands 
will be open for contacts from their local sunset until sunrise at the 
Maldives. The openings to the eastern USA will be much longer than those 
to the western USA. Some locations in the southern central region of the 
United States may suffer so much daylight along their paths as to have a 
greatly reduced chance for contacts.

On 160 and 80-meters, PY and LU stations should look for 8Q7AA between 
22:30 UTC and 01:45 UTC. East-West paths will be quite difficult and 
every attempt will be made to complete them.
 
>From the great-circle map, it is clear that some centers of amateur radio 
activity are closer to the Maldives than others. In particular, the 
closest is South Africa (6,100 km), then Japan (7,400 km), then Western 
Europe (7,800-8,500 km) and Oceania (9,200 km). The distances to South 
America and North America are much greater, 14,000 and 13,700-15,800 km, 
respectively. Radio propagation to all the closest locations is most 
likely assured, as the paths all originate at a low latitude and only go 
into mid-latitudes in the ionosphere.  Only a severe geomagnetic storm 
would ever affect propagation on those paths. For the longer paths, it's 
another story as they go through high-latitudes in the the Antarctic and 
Arctic regions, near the geomagnetic poles, where the solar wind has the 
greatest influence on the earth's magnetosphere. Needless to say, 
contacts with the Americas on 160 and 80 meters represent "long hauls" in 
the extreme!

Some examples of distances to major population centers in North America:
 
     Location       Distance
     Boston         13,700 km
     Philadelphia   14,100 km
     Atlanta        15,200 km
     Chicago        14,500 km
     Omaha          14,900 km
     Dallas         15,800 km
     Seattle        14,100 km
     San Francisco  15,100 km
     Los Angeles    15,600 km 


Below is are some general guidelines for regional openings to 8Q7:
 
             
                             Time (UTC)
 
MHz  | 00-03 | 03-06 | 06-09 | 09-12 | 12-15 | 15-18 | 18-21 | 21-24 |
 
 28  |   -   |   -   |  JA   |  EU   |   -   |   -   |   -   |   -   |
 
 24  |   -   |  JA   |  VK   |  VK   |  EU   |   -   |   -   |   -   |
 
 21  |  JA   |  JA   | JA/VK |  EU   |  EU   | EU/ENA|   -   |   -   |
 
 18  | OC/VK | JA/VK | JA/VK | EU/ZS | EU/ZS |ENA/WNA|  WNA  |   -   |
 
 14  | SA/EU | SA/EU | VK/EU | EU/ZS | EU/ZS |ENA/WNA|  WNA  |  SA   |
 
 10  | SA/EU | SA/EU | ZS/EU | OC/EU | EU/OC | OC/VK |  VK   |  EU   |
 
  7  | LP/SA |   ?   |   ?   |   ?   | LP/OC | JA/VK | EU/OC | ?/EU  |
 
3.5  |ENA/EU |  NIL  |  NIL  |  NIL  | ?/WNA | WNA/OC| EU/JA |SA/ENA |
 
1.8  |ENA/EU |  NIL  |  NIL  |  NIL  | ?/WNA | WNA/OC| EU/JA |SA/ENA |
 
    ---><-----------day-time------------><---------night-time---------
    8Q7 Sunrise                      8Q7 Sunset
 
ENA = Eastern N America   WNA = Western N America   LP = Long-path via 
gray-line
EU = Europe               VK = Australia            OC = Oceania
JA = Japan                SA = S America (PY/LU)    ZS = South Africa 
NIL/-/?  Unlikely that propagation will be supported during the period 
indicated.

 
The Central Arizona DX Association appreciates your interest in our 
effort from Zone 22. The generous support of the Northern California DX 
Foundation and Allen Baker, W5IZ, will play an important role in this 
operation. All members of the 8Q7AA DXpedition team look forward to 
working you from the Republic of the Maldives!

73 de Warren, K7WX
               





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