"TOPBAND Reflector" <topband@contesting.com>
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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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