File - Nw Indiana dx Club - W9NWI

Northwest Indiana DX CLUB
Volume 3, Issue 1
January 2015
President’s Corner
Don’t Forget
DXCC CARD CHECKING
We have had a nice December with no real
amount of snowfall. Hope this keeps up, but that
is just a dream. We all know how our winters are.
Doctor Richard Lochner, K9CIV has been
appointed an Official ARRL DXCC Card
Checker. Contact Rich to schedule an
appointment for card checking.
Several Dxpeditions are coming up in January:
Iran, Navassa Island. To see what is going on visit
http://www.ng3k.com/Misc/adxo.html for all the
Announced Dxpeditions by month.
You may email him at [email protected] for
details on how to mail your cards to him, if
you desire to go that route.
Carl has an article for us this month on the
propagation for the Iran DXpedition. The team
made the statement that America would be hard
for them to work. See what Carl has to say on the
following pages.
We will look for the next meeting to be after the
LaPorte hamfest. Most likely it will be the next
Saturday at the Viking Chili Bowl in Valparaiso.
Watch your e-mail for details of the next
meeting date.
73
John, W3ML
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
1
2
President Speaks
Member News/DX News
NWI DX Club Website
http://nwidxclub.weebly.com/
1
__________________________________________________________________________
Member News
If you have any news to tell, please send it to me so I can send it to the group.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
EP6T Predictions for Northwest Indiana
Carl Luetzelschwab K9LA
A couple important DXpeditions are scheduled for January 2015. One is the K1N DXpedition to Navassa
Island. This one should be a ‘chip shot’ on all the bands for those of us in northern Indiana (daytime on the
higher bands, nighttime on the lower bands), so I won’t elaborate further.
The EP6T DXpedition to Iran is a different story. The accompanying figure gives predictions from EP6T to
NW Indiana with the assumptions noted on the figure.
For a QSO, two things must happen: the MUF (maximum useable frequency) of the ionosphere must be high
enough for the band in question, and losses must be low enough to put the signal above the noise (whether it
be man-made noise, atmospheric noise or receiver noise).
That sounds simple enough, but unfortunately our understanding of the ionosphere and how it relates to
those two parameters is not deterministic. Rather, our understanding is statistical in nature – which means
our predictions are probabilities.
The thick black line is the monthly median MUF – in other words, the MUF should be at least as high as
indicated on half the days of January 2015. But we don’t know which days of 2015 will be the “good” days.
Similarly, the thick blue line is the FOT – from French for “optimum traffic frequency”. The FOT should be
as high as indicated on 90% of the days of January 2015 – which gives us a pretty high probability for the
MUF being high enough.
The predicted signal powers are monthly medians, too. So on any day of the month, the signal could be a
couple S-units higher to several S-units lower. Add another S-unit for running 500 Watts, and two more Sunits for running 1 kilowatt.
Putting all this together says the best shots at EP6T (with respect to the MUF being high enough and the
signal strength being the highest) are on 40m from 2200-0300 UTC and on 20m from 1300-1500 UTC.
2
From 2200-0300 UTC, 30m may also offer a good opportunity. And from 1300-1500 UTC, 17m and even
15m may also offer a good opportunity. Always be sure to check the next higher band.
The bottom line is with perseverance you should be able to work EP6T.
3
Wallpaper
By Steve Mollman-KD9HL
Worked US Territories Award
With the K1N Dxpedition to Navassa Island (KP1) appearing to be a “GO” for the last week of
January 2015, it is appropriate that we highlight the Worked US Territories Award (WUST).
The south suburban Chicago “METRO DX Club of Illinois” is the sponsor of this colorful certificate.
The basic award requires a confirmed contact with a minimum of fourteen (14) of the current sixteen
(16) IARU-recognized U.S. territories.
The sixteen entities/territories are:
1. KG4 (Guantanamo Bay
Islands)
2. KHØ (Mariana Islands)
3. KH1 (Baker & Howland
4. KH2 (Guam)
5. KH3 (Johnston Island)
6. KH4 (Midway Island)
7. KH5 (Palmyra & Jarvis Islands) 8. KH5K (Kingman Reef)
10. KH8 (American Samoa) 11. KH8S (Swains Island)
13. KP1 (Navassa Island)
Island)
9. KH7K (Kure Island)
12. KH9 (Wake Island)
14. KP2 (US Virgin Islands) 15. KP4 (Puerto Rico) 16. KP5 (Desecheo
4
Many of the WUST territories can be heard regularly but some are rare enough to be on the list of the
25 most wanted countries and can only be worked during a DXpedition to that location. Don't let this
scare you away however, because you can qualify for the basic award by confirming only 14 of the 16
territories. The remaining two can be confirmed later and endorsements are available that will signify
that you have reached the ultimate goal.
Remember that this is a DX award. It’s not a simple certificate acknowledging contact with a special
event station or commemorating an occasion. Confirmations can be on mixed bands and modes and
there are no date restrictions. Only 14 QSL cards get you started on the road to WUST and not the
331 that are currently required to make the ARRL DXCC Honor Roll.
Don’t want to take the chance of mailing 14 or 16 valuable QSL cards? Photocopies of confirmations
are accepted. In addition, Logbook of the World confirmations are OK but must be verified by two
licensed amateur radio operators. A GCR list (General Certification Rules formulated by the IARU
for the verification of an award qualification) certified by two licensed amateurs showing the callsign
of the station worked, date, time, frequency/band and mode is also accepted.
If you are a “NUMBER ONE” on the ARRL DXCC Honor Roll and your station call appears on the
list dated in the latest August issue of QST, you are not required to send any confirmations for the
WUST award. Simply file an application along with the $8 fee.
Mail your submission to the:
Metro DX Club
3810 N. Chamlin Drive
Morris, IL 60450
Following the receipt of the original award for a minimum of 14 territories, endorsements for contacts
15 and 16 are available for 3 US dollars.
For additional information, go online to:
http://www.metrodxclub.com/wust_award.htm.
 73’s and good DX de KD9HL 
_______________________________________________________________________________________
One of the Curtain Arrays at Voice of America’s
Transmitter Site- Greenville, NC
5
The Biggest Bang for Your Buck is the Antenna System
6
Don’t be a DX Policeman
20 December 2014
K1N Navassa Press Release
The KP1‐5 Project Team would like to report progress in preparations for a late January landing on
Navassa is coming along very well! A container is being shipped from Atlanta, GA, to our staging point
in the Caribbean.
Bob N2OO is our chief pilot and has organized an excellent worldwide team to collect reports and
suggestions from our target areas. Feedback will be prioritized, filtered and/or condensed to pass along
to the team at least daily. We have a very special pilot, Brandon KF5NYQ. Brandon is 11 years old and
one of the youngest hams ever to have achieved DXCC!!! Brandon will be collecting feedback from
young hams. On our website, www.navassadx.com, check out “Our Team” and scroll down to see your
pilot. Click on their picture to see their bio and contact information.
We are now on FACEBOOK and TWITTER!!!
‐ Check out our Facebook page: Navassa 2015 K1N and invite your ham (and non‐ham)
friends to follow us!
7
‐ For Twitter: You can Google Twitter and open an account. Then when it's open within the
Twitter program search for @navassa2015. Then follow K1N.
Team co‐leader, Glenn W0GJ, was interviewed by DokuFunk Radio earlier this week. You can hear the
entire interview (14 minutes) at www.dokufunk.org/navassa‐e. DokuFunk has an extremely well
documented history of amateur operations from Navassa. Pictures and video will give you a preview of
what the team will see and experience.
This week the team paid the first half of the nearly $200,000 helicopter transportation contract. The
second half is due to be paid February 10th. By the end of this month, in order to progress with the
operation, we must pay the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service $95,000 ‐ $97,000 for the transportation of the
Law Enforcement team who must accompany us. We will know our exact dates when our payment is
due at the end of December. We will have a press release when we know our exact dates.
The cost of the K1N operation is very high and the time to raise the money needed to fully fund the
project is exceptionally short. Inherent risks of a water landing on Navassa have dictated using a
helicopter to transport men and materials to avoid the risk of scaling the 5‐10 meter high cliffs during
the period of rough seas (January – February).
The 15 operators have collectively contributed $157,500 toward the K1N operation, roughly half of what
it will cost. DX Foundations, Radio Clubs, and Individuals have been exceptionally generous in their
financial support of the K1N operation (see the list of donors at www.navassadx.com under the
Sponsors tab). Team members are paying all of their own expenses to and from the staging point.
But the K1N Team still needs to raise a significant amount of additional money BEFORE the operation
commences in late January..... to ensure payment for the extraordinary transportation costs. Final payment
for helicopter services is due just before completion of the operation.
Contributions by continent as of 18 Dec 14 (excludes team members)
Contributions have been lagging from the Most Needed target areas of Europe and Asia. Our North
American support has been doing quite well, where Navassa is much further down the Most Needed
List.
If you are in the U.S., consider making a generous year end tax deductible donation. The link below
explains a simple process that allows you to achieve tax deductible status via the Northern California DX
Foundation. Follow this link: http://www.navassadx.com/ncdxf.htm
If you are not in the U.S. or don’t need to take advantage of a tax‐deductible contribution, you can click
on the donate button on the bottom of our home page.
Time is short and K1N will be active within 6 weeks!
....thank you for your consideration and support.
For the KP1‐5 Project:
Bob Allphin, K4UEE
Glenn Johnson, W0GJ
Mike Thomas, NA5U
8
_____________________________________________________________________________________
I want to thank those that have been sending in articles for the newsletter. All items are
appreciated.
Don’t forget to send in any information you would like to share with the Club members.
Until Next Time,
73
John
W3ML
9