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Northwest Indiana DX CLUB

Volume 4, Issue 11 November 2016

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E

1 President Speaks

2- Member News/DX News

President’s Corner

The next meeting will be on December

3rd at Noon. Same place: Viking Chili

Bowl in Valparaiso.

Of course if we have a blizzard, the

meeting will be cancelled.

Hope to see some of you in Ft. Wayne

this year.

Fort Wayne Hamfest & Computer Expo

November 12 - 13, 2016

73

John, W3ML Happy DXing!

Don’t Forget DXCC CARD CHECKING Doctor Richard Lochner, K9CIV has been

appointed an Official ARRL DXCC Card

Checker. Contact Rich to schedule an

appointment for card checking.

You may email him at k9civ@arrl.net for

details on how to mail your cards to him, if

you desire to go that route.

NWI DX Club Website http://nwidxclub.weebly.com/

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__________________________________________________________________________

Member News

If you have any news to tell, please send it to me so I can send it to the group.

Murphy and Eritrea – E3ØFB

March 2015 By

Paul Ewing, N6PSE

Murphy’s Law is an adage or term that is used when anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. “Murphy” visits

most Dxpeditions in one form or another; sometimes it’s in the form of small nagging issues and at other times

Murphy is a major issue, which challenges any team to overcome. Sometimes, no matter how much preparation and

testing is done, Murphy is a major impediment to success and only through sheer determination can the Murphy effect

be overcome.

Murphy was a constant presence for the E3ØFB team. He showed up in the beginning with two antennas having been

damaged in transit. Our ability to get onto the WARC bands was severely impacted until we could repair the antennas.

Murphy also allowed one of our laptops to be damaged in transport. Imagine our difficulty in trying to buy a new

laptop in Asmara, Eritrea. They do not have any of the big box stores that we so take for granted.

This is the story of the E3ØFB DXpedition and how Murphy was a constant source of difficulty and frustration. This

is our story of how we overcame and prevailed.

Why Eritrea

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The E3ØFB DXpedition was organized with the aim of supporting Eritrea and its participation in the 2020 Tokyo

Olympic and Paralympic Games. In addition, the goal was to assist Eritrea in improving education and health. During

our stay in Eritrea, members of our team attended a number of meetings and discussions with the Eritrean government

and its representatives.

These meetings were very fruitful and this DXpedition was just one aspect of those fruitful meetings. Eritrea is trying

to catch up and to compete on the on the international level with respect to the Olympics and the Paralympics. We

were very delighted to help Eritrea be able to compete at this level for the first time in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Eritrea is a small country of six million inhabitants in the Horn of Africa, bordering Ethiopia, Djibouti and Sudan; just

across the Red Sea is Saudi Arabia and Yemen. During the 1870s to 1941, Eritrea was an Italian colony known as

Italian Eritrea. That changed in 1941 after the Battle of Keren, where the British expelled the Italians and took control.

In the 1950s Ethiopia made claim to Eritrea and, in 1950, the UN made a resolution to federate Eritrea with Ethiopia.

In the 1960s Eritrea began a 30-year war of independence with Ethiopia until 1991, when Ethiopian forces were

defeated and Eritrea took control of Addis Ababa, the capitol of Ethiopia. A subsequent UN supervised referendum

gave Eritrea its independence in 1993. Since then, Eritrea continues to have border conflicts with Ethiopia and

Djibouti.

Zorro’s vision You might say that Zorro Miyawawa, JH1AJT, is a determined man. A successful businessman, philanthropist and

humanitarian, Zorro has made a number of visits to Eritrea over the past two decades, including two previous

DXpeditions from Eritrea. Zorro is the founder and CEO of SEISA and the Foundation for Global Children. After

their successful efforts in Bangladesh, culminating with a very successful S21YZ DXpedition, Zorro set his sights on

Myanmar, resulting in his DXpedition as XZ1J. This Dxpedition was planned to support the above project in the hope

that funds would be raised through the Amateur Radio activities. It is these humanitarian activities that have led to the

Eritrean government’s full trust in Zorro. Eritrea had not been activated in over a decade and Zorro felt that the timing

and conditions were right to make another attempt. Zorro received permission to carry out a demonstration operation

as E3ØFB, so with a SteppIR vertical and 100 watts from the roof of the Asmara Palace Hotel, he began to operate.

Being an avid DXer and Dxpeditioner with previous DXpedition experiences in Eritrea, Yemen, Ethiopia, Kenya,

Bhutan, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Myanmar, Zorro recognized the significance of the elevation of the Asmara

Palace Hotel. At six floors, this hotel was one of the tallest buildings in Asmara. It was also located on the fringe of

Asmara, next to the airport. The hotel would provide a superb venue for the E3ØFB DXpedition. We would be QRV

on 6 March 2015 and we would QRT the morning of 17 March.

On 5 March, the entire team met in Istanbul, Turkey, for our flight to Asmara, making a brief stop in Saudi Arabia on

the way. All of our equipment was shipped with us as air cargo at considerable cost. We arrived in Asmara at

approximately 2:30 a.m. and were treated as an important delegation, being met by various Eritrean government

representatives. We were ushered into a VIP section of the air terminal that was more representative of the interior of a

palace than an airport and Zorro immediately received a renewed E3ØFB license from the representatives. Soon we

were delivered to our hotel, about one-mile from the airport.

Setting up As it was still dark, the team got a little rest and after breakfast we began to set up the various Yagis, verticals and

dipoles on the roof of the hotel. We utilized two different rooms on opposing wings of the hotel for our radio shacks.

Since Eritrea is the 20th most wanted entity, we knew we would be facing some very large pileups. On the east wing

of the hotel, we set up a Force 12 C3SS for 10-15-20 Meters and a 30-Meter vertical antenna. On the west wing, we

set up a two element SteppIR Yagi intended for the WARC bands, as well as a SteppIR vertical for 10-80 Meters. We

also used a Cushcraft R8 for 17 and 30 Meters. At the very top of the building, we placed a very tall vertical for

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80/160 Meters. We feared that noise might be a problem; however hours later we were relieved to find that the noise

threshold was very tolerable and did not face a significant problem.

Our compliment of low band antennas David Jorgensen, WD5COV, Franz

Langner, DJ9ZB, and Kazu Fujita,

JH1OGX, wrestle our 160 Meter

vertical to the roof

As was done in Myanmar, we again enjoyed the very nice set of 4O3A high power band pass filters and tri-plexer.

This allowed us to run three stations concurrently from our Force 12 tri-band antenna at 600 watts output. This is

amazing technology that works very well and saves a lot of time in setting up only a single antenna for three bands.

David Jorgensen, WD5COV, and Dmitry Zhikharev, We were able to run three stations concurrently on our

RA9USU, prepare a low band vertical antenna. Force 12 C3SS.

Soon we were on the air working Asia and EU with tremendous pileups. It was fun to hear the excitement in the voices

of the many SSB callers. Later in the evening, propagation on the high bands shifted to North and South America and

it was necessary to ask Europe to QRX as we could work them at almost any time on the higher bands. We wanted to

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be fair to every region of the globe and to give as many Amateurs as possible a good chance to work a rare and much

needed entity. Initially, propagation on the higher bands was exceptionally good. We enjoyed amazing propagation on

10, 12, 15 and 20 Meters, but 17 Meters did not propagate as well as the other higher bands. The following evening,

we went QRV on the low bands and conditions on 30, 40 and 80 Meters were average. We found on 160 Meters that

we were being heard much better than we could hear the stations calling us.

Solar flare On 12 March, there was a monster X-Class solar flare that briefly blanked out HF reception around the globe with

additional disturbed conditions in the days following the event. We experienced one day of almost complete blackout

conditions. Even working Europe was quite difficult. Bands such as 10 and 12 Meters that had been exceptionally

good in the previous days were not productive during the flare. After about a day and a half, conditions improved and

we enjoyed good but often fluctuating propagation, much less predictable than the days prior to the solar storm.

A Visit to Asmara During the solar storm, some of the team members decided to make a morning visit to Asmara to get a glimpse of how

the Eritreans worked and lived.

There is very little tourism in Eritrea and, in fact, the country is seemingly not active in issuing tourist visas. There

was little for a visitor to see or do in Asmara, but we did visit an old Catholic and Orthodox church, a large mosque

and the old post office. We strolled through an outdoor shopping area where locals buy their wares and visited a large

recycling yard where child labor was very evident. The many horse and donkey carts on the roadway were almost as

common as automobiles and trucks.

Operating strategy Back at the hotel, we had an operating strategy for our first weekend, which coincided with the ARRL SSB contest. In

order to avoid contention with the contest, we would be QRV on the WARC bands of 12, 17 and 30 Meters primarily.

Our strategy was immediately derailed when we found that we could not easily tune either of our two SteppIR

antennas. The SteppIR vertical that Zorro had enjoyed previously was damaged internally and was set aside. The two-

element Yagi was also damaged internally; however Dmitry (Dima) Zhikharev, RA9USU, works for a company in

Russia that sells and services SteppIR antennas and he was eventually able to repair the SteppIR Yagi where we

enjoyed it on 12 Meters.

From left: Zorro Miyazawa, JH1AJT, working 10 Meters SSB; David Jorgensen, WD5COV, working 20 CW all across North America, and Tom Kramer, NQ7R working the pileups.

During the contest, I found myself operating on 20 Meters SSB (Simplex), which was very arduous and challenging

and I am sure that many callers thought that I had rocks in my head, but operating simplex was better than not

operating at all. As soon as the contest was over, we operated split exclusively for the remainder of the DXpedition

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and it was a challenge to keep our pileups to within 15 Kc wide. Our RTTY strategy was to operate exclusively on 15

Meters and even though our 15 RTTY pileup was still quite large on our last day, this strategy proved quite

effective in giving everyone a chance to work this mode.

Dima Zhikharev, RA9USU, working 160 Meters Kazu Fujita, JH1OGX, wades into

the tremendous EU pileups.

Soon, we fell into our rhythm, operating around the clock, taking two or three hours here and there for a rest break. We

worked hard to keep four stations on the air at all times. David Jorgensen, WD5COV, and Dima, RA9USU, gave

particular attention to the low bands, working 30, 40, 80 and 160 Meters each night until our sunrise. Our opening to

North America started at about 10 p.m. local time on the high bands and I enjoyed working all across North America,

following the propagation from East to West. Our West Coast opening took place each morning at about 3 a.m. and

sometimes continued until about 4:30 a.m. where propagation would end with KH6 and VK/ZL stations. After a few

hours rest, we would start all over again working Asia and Europe.

Our challenges Our challenges were many and varied. It was quite challenging to keep four stations on the air 24-7 with a small but

capable team. Each team member was pushed to his limits to balance operating, eating and sleeping and being ready

for his next shift. Murphy visited us many times on this DXpedition. We saw antenna failures and laptop failures and

Zorro had to shop around in Asmara for a replacement logging laptop. Each time Murphy visited us, we battled back

with skill and determination, not willing to give in. When we initially activated 80 Meters, the interstation interference

was extreme and we immediately had to shut down 80 Meters until we could resolve the issue. Dima, RA9USU, and

David, WD5COV, did a lot of fine-tuning to enable 80-Meter operations without adverse impact to our other

operations.

This was a fun and enjoyable DXpedition. Many of the team members had operated together previously and our skills

and styles complemented each other. Everyone was focused on making an impact to the need for E3 contacts. We are

pleased to have been able to make 64,500 contacts with 20,326 of them being unique callers. We are very grateful to

the Northern California DX Foundation and all of our foundation, club and individual sponsors.

Contributions This article is courtesy of the Northern California DX Foundation. The NCDXF relies upon the generosity of its contributors to

fund various projects, including this DXpedition. We ask you to consider making an annual contribution.

Please give you can. Naturally, they welcome contributions in any amount! NCDXF is an organization described in Section

501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and all contributions are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law for U.S. taxpayers.

Send your contribution to: NCDXF, P.O. Box 2012, Cupertino, CA 95015-2012, USA. You may also contribute and order supplies

online via their secure server, visit www.ncdxf.org/donate

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The Author Paul Ewing is a retired Information Technology & Security consultant. Paul was the leader of the April

2010 YI9PSE DXpedition, the Co-Leader of the STØR DXpedition to the new country of the Republic of South Sudan, July -August

2011, a member of the 3D2R - Rotuma Island DXpedition in Sept - Oct, 2011, a member of the ET3AA team from Addis Ababa,

Ethiopia, December -2011. a member of the 7O6T Team from Socotra, Yemen, May 2012, the Co-Leader of the 3D2C Conway

Reef DXpedition in September - 2012.a member of the XZ1J Myanmar DXpedition, November 15 - 26th, 2013, was the Co-Leader

of the March 2015 DXpedition to Eritrea, as E30FB and was the Co-Leader of the January-2016 DXpedition to South Sandwich

and South Georgia Islands.

Besides the many Dxpeditions. Paul has operated from Turkey, Egypt, Serbia, Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Video Juan de Nova Island FT4JA 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2LeKWMTyIk

This is aA very nice video on the trip to the island.

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QSL Card of the Month A collection of the old, the new, the rare, the exotic or just interesting QSL Cards

Glorioso Island – FR/G or FT/G

Club Log 2016 Most Wanted Rank: #12

CQ zone: 39 ITU Zone: 53

Continent: AF

Location: 11°33′S 47°20′E

Beam Headings from Northwestern Indiana: 67°/247° 8985 mi / 15874 mi

September 14-October 8, 2009

A French possession since 1892, the Glorioso Islands are composed of two lushly vegetated islands (Ile Glorieuse and Ile du Lys)

and three rock islets. The French Foreign Legion operates a military weather and radio station on the larger island, Ile Glorieuse.

The French military also has a 4300 foot unpaved airstrip on that island.

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Probably known to early Arab navigators, the Gloriosos were named and settled in 1880 by a Frenchman, who established a

coconut plantation on the main island. The archipelago became a French possession in 1892. For administrative purposes, in 1895,

the Glorioso Island became a part of the French colony of Mayotte.

From 1914 to 1958 concessions to exploit the islands were given various entrepreneurs. Today the islands are a nature preserve

with only the Foreign Legion detachment as permanent residents.

Madagascar has claimed sovereignty over the islands since 1972. The Comoros also claim the islands. The Seychelles claimed the

islands but abandoned the claim with the France–Seychelles Maritime Boundary of Agreement of 2001. In 2012, France founded

the “parc naturel marin des Glorieuses”, a marine protected area, to preserve the endangered flora and fauna of the islands.

There have been at least 18 ham radio activations of Glorioso since 1966. The last expedition was FT5GA in 2009. This was the

first since 1994 – a 15 year lull. All access to the island is controlled by the French military and the only travel allowed is via

military aircraft. The last expedition required the intervention of some very high-ranking Generals before permission and travel

arrangements were obtained. Because of the difficulty in obtaining space on the French Air Force Transall supply aircraft from

Reunion Island, the DXpedition experienced many postponements and lengthy delays (months) before they were able to get to the

island. The operation was also plagued with an unusual amount of deliberate QRM and pirates claiming to be on the island. In

spite of these distractions, they were still able to make over 50,000 contacts. Asia and Europe were the prime beneficiaries. There

are no known plans for activation in the near future.

- 73’s and Good DX -

______________________________________________________________________________________

Handy Hint Cable Ties

By Steve Mollman-KD9HL

Nylon plastic cable ties (also known as wire ties and zip ties) are ubiquitous around the average ham shack. Coming in various

lengths and widths, they are great for controlling, protecting and putting some order in our wire and cable runs.

When used outdoors there can be a problem. The Sun in the form of its UV radiation can deteriorate and cause ultimate failure of

the cable tie.

Did you know there are UV resistant cable ties? A little over a year ago I installed several dozen wire ties on my antenna system.

About half were the common whites and the other half were black. I used what I had in the “Junk Box”. They had been acquired

from various sources including Hamfests, big box stores, electrical supply stores and Harbor Freight. Some were name brands –

others generic unknowns.

Every autumn, I try to perform a check and do preventative maintenance of my antenna system. In spite of the old adage, winter is

NOT the best time to work on antennas. While looking over the system I noticed that many of the white cable ties had broken or

with a slight pressure would break. The blacks were still doing their job. Old Sol had done its thing on the white ones!

If you are securing cables that have exposure to the Sun it is advisable to use the ones that are black in color. They appear to be

UV resistant. Mine were a mixed bag of unknowns but all of the blacks seemed to have held up well. Some vendors advertise UV

resistant cable ties for sale but other black ones are not labeled as such. The Gardener Bender (GB) brand codes its UV resistant

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cable ties with a suffix on the product label “UVB”. For example their 100 pack of 8” black UV resistant cable ties is No. 46-

308UVB (the “B” apparently stands for black). These are often found in Menards’ electrical department.

Save the white ones for indoor use only.

Apparently black is not the only color available. Thomas & Betts now advertises under the “Ty-Rap” brand UV resistant cable

ties that come in a variety of colors. These would be handy for color coding different circuits or bundles.

The final tip is when using cable ties outdoors, don’t trim the tails. By leaving the tails on it is easier to see if the tie is still in

place. This is especially true for installations high in the air such as on antenna booms.

73’s and good DX

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Member DXCC Scorecard

1 AG9S JIM SJOBERG, JR Honor Roll 353

2 W9UM NICHOLAS COMINOS Honor Roll 350

2 K9LA CARL LUETZELSCHWAB Honor Roll 350

2 W9KTP JERRY HESS Honor Roll 350

3 N9FN DAVID BUNTE Honor Roll 346

4 KD9HL STEVE MOLLMAN Honor Roll 344

4 N9RD JUERGEN NITTNER Honor Roll 344

5 K9SUH KENNETH REISING 330

6 K9CIV RICHARD LOCHNER 320

6 K9WWT GEORGE KELLY 320

7 WB9IWN JOHN SIKORA 320

8 AE9YL VICKI LUETZELSCHWAB 314

9 N7GVV JAMES RAISLER 306

9 W3ML JOHN POINDEXTER 306

10 W8FIB TOM RUGGLES 285

11 K9DE ROBERT NELLANS 260

12 WA9JNO EARL GUMM 253

13 N9DD THOMAS FRISZ 236

14 K9MV PAUL COREY 207

15 KB9ALG JERRY JANCO 162

16 K9KJ THOMAS JOHNSON, JR 159

17 N9HSB CLIFFORD BELZ 155

18 WB9FQS LARRY BRECHNER 153

19 KA9FAX ANTHONY KOSTELNIK 129

20 NA9U JOHN NASON 121

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21 KC9GTN EDWARD BENCHIK 110

22 W9ORW ROBERT PENCE 106

23 N9ID MICHAEL P STRONG 105

23 KB9BIT THOMAS M LASKOWSKI 105

24 K9MQ MARK SKOWRONSKI 103

25 AB9QU BILL CARTER 100

25 AB9RY THOMAS BREYMEYER 100

25 WJ9Q MARTIN DZIK 100

W1PIT ALAN PITTS K9KAN ALEX J KOSTELNIK KC9TEW JEFF KOHN WD4MSN BARRY KEATING W9WY JOHN GIANOTTI AC9DN ROY CROSIER KC9MTP WILLIAM JOHNSON KC9OYE CHUCK HILL

The ARRL DXCC is awarded to amateurs who submit confirmations for contacts with 100 or more entities on the ARRL DXCC

List. As of 21 Oct 2016, there were 339 current entities on the list. The DXCC Honor Roll includes those who are within 9 entities

of that figure for the Mixed, Phone, CW and RTTY awards. The following listing of the DXCC membership contains the call

signs and exact credited totals by endorsement level. Awards are NOT activated automatically; participants must apply to have a

particular award (band, mode etc) activated when the qualifying number of credits is obtained.

The above totals were abstracted the ARRL DXCC Standings lists. http://www.arrl.org/dxcc-standings

Editor Note: After the next submission W3ML will be sitting at 316 and Tom W8FIB will be at 290.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

CE0X DXpedition Declared Phony by Chilean Officials

The first activation of rare CE0X San Felix Island in 14 years has apparently been canceled amid allegations the DXpedition was

phony and may even have been a fund - raising scam! The Chilean Navy says documents CE5WQO claims authorized him to

operate from San Felix are false and legal action has been initiated. Chilean Radio Club president CE3PG and others met recently

with the Admiral in charge of the Chilean naval facility on San Felix and released the following statement in Spanish on the Radio

Club de Chile. - http://www.ce3aa.cl/component/content/article/11629–isla–san–felix-dxpediton

What follows is a Google translation of the Chilean Radio Club’s announcement with emphasis added:

“On September 6, 2016, Radio Club of Chile, represented by its President Dr. Galdino Besomi (CE3PG) and Vice President Don

Jose Tijoux, held a meeting with Admiral Don Arturo Undurraga Contra Chief of the First Naval Zone, whose outcome can

inform the Amateur Radio community Chilean and foreign intereados in the expedition to Isla San Felix that has been advertised

in DX various sites and news and led by Mr. Felipe Gutierrez, CE5WQO, for which would have been extended authorization of

landing on the island showing off doumento that accredits:

1. That the Navy of Chile considers that such documents are false

2. The Navy has initiated legal action in this regard.”

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“It is therefore evident that the advertised DXpedition is false and that besides the alleged widespread authorization by SUBTEL

for this purpose and circulating in different media it would also be false.”

At this writing the CE0X DXpedition organizer CE5WQO has not responded to e-mails requesting more information. In addition

all details pertaining to the announced operation have been removed from the

www.qrz.com/db/CE0X/CE5WQO page.

Recently, Felipe posted that Dima, RA9USU, would be joining him as the CW operator and that he planned to activate San Felix

sometime with a three man crew in 2017 for up to 3 weeks.

San Felix currently is ranked No. 7 on Club Log’s most wanted list.

By Steve Mollman-KD9HL

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Submitted by Tom W8FIB

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Wish everybody followed it.

Make your own QSL Cards - http://www.radioqth.net/qslcards

I want to thank those that have been sending in articles for the newsletter. All items are appreciated.

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Don’t forget to send in any information you would like to share with the Club members.

Until Next Time,

73

John W3ML

http://nwidxclub.weebly.com/