425 DX News #1547

26 December 2020 A.R.I. DX Bulletin
No 1547

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**** DX INFORMATION ****
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Edited by I1JQJ & IK1ADH
Direttore Responsabile I2VGW

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* TO ALL OUR READERS *
* WARMEST THOUGHTS AND BEST WISHES *
* FOR A BETTER NEW YEAR *
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Owing to the ongoing and fluid nature of the COVID-19 situation globally,
announced activities might be postponed or cancelled at any time and
without notice.

5U - Adrien, F4IHM expects to be back in Niger and be active as 5UAIHM
(not 5U4IHM as initially announced) early next year, possibly
Between 7 January and 11 February, The Daily DX reports. He will
operate CW using a straight key on 40 and 20 metres. QSL via home
call, direct or bureau.
CN - A team from the Association Royale des Radio-Amateurs du Maroc
(ARRAM) will be active as CN1M between 24 and 31 December while
travelling from the city Casablanca to the outpost of Guerguerat
through Moroccan Sahara. QSL direct to RW6HS.
DL - Members of DARC Ortsverband Mainz (DL0MZ) will be active as
DR165TESLA throughout 2021 to commemorate the 165th anniversary of
the birth of Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856). QSL via DK8ZZ.
DL - Celebrating DARC Ortsverband Traunstein's 70th anniversary, special
callsign DL70TRS will be active from 1 January to 31 December. QSL
via the bureau.
DL - Celebrating DARC Ortsverband Salzgitter-Lebenstedt's 60th anniver-
sary, special callsign DR60SZL will be active from 1 January to 31
December. QSL via the bureau, or direct to DJ9PH.
F - Special callsign TM8AA will be active during the first weekends of
January, February, March, April, May and June to celebrate the
100th anniversary of the first officially assigned amateur radio
callsign in France (8AA, issued to Andre Riss from Boulogne-sur-
Mer). QSL via eQSL, or direct to F5SLD.
G - GB1OOH (Golf Bravo One Oscar Oscar Hotel) is a special callsign for
the Hull and District Amateur Radio Society to celebrate its cente-
nary throughout 2021. QSL via M0GPN.
HB9 - In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the International Police
Association Radio Club's Swiss Section, special event station
HB40POLICE will be active from 1 January to 31 December. QSL via
the bureau or eQSL.
I - II0MMI, II1MMI, II2MMI, II7MMI, II9MMI, IO0MMI (Sardinia), IO9MMI,
IR0MMI, IR5MMI, IR7MMI, IR8MMI and IR9MMI will be active from 1
January to 31 December to celebrate the 160th anniversary of the
Italian Navy (Marina Militare Italiana). QSL via operator's in-
structions. See http://www.assoradiomarinai.it/ for more informa-
tion.
I - Defined by Gabriele D'Annunzio as "the white ship that sails
through miracles and animates the ethereal silences of the world",
the "Elettra" was Guglielmo Marconi's steam yacht, from which he
conducted many experiments with wireless telegraphy, wireless
telephony and other communication and direction-finding techniques.
ARI Fidenza will use a series of special callsigns throughout 2021
to commemorate twelve major events related to the ship: II4BLD
(January), II4BLY (February), II4RDF (March), II4DNZ (April),
II4REG (May), II4SWE (June), II4DXS (July), II4MWS (August), II4SML
(September), II4RDP (October), II4BLN (November) and II4DTH (Decem-
ber). See http://www.arifidenza.it/ for detailed information about
the "Elettra. The Miracle Ship" award. QSLs via IQ4FE, bureau or
direct.
OH - Special callsign OH100SRAL will be in use throughout 2021 to cele-
brate the 100th anniversary of the Finnish Amateur Radio League
(SRAL), Finland's IARU member. QSL via LoTW; bureau cards will be
sent in early 2022.
SM - The Boras Radioamatorer Club (SK6LK) will be active as SF400B from
1 January to 31 December to celebrate the 400th anniversary since
Boras received its city privileges (29 June 1621). QSL via LoTW and
the bureau. Realtime logbook and map to keep track of the countries
they work can be found at https://www.sf400b.se/.
SM - 7S60BQ is the special callsign for the Kristianstad Radioamateur
Club (SK7BQ) to celebrate its 60th anniversary throughout 2021. QSL
via SM7BHM and LoTW.
TI - David, KM3A and Scott, N0OI will be active from Costa Rica on 3-9
January. Plans are to climb and be QRV as TI2/AB3G, TI3/AB3G and
TI5/AB3G from several different summits. They will operate mainly
CW on 40, 30, 20, 17 and 15 metres. QSL via LoTW and Club Log's
OQRS (preferred), or direct to KM3A.
UA - Special callsigns R2021NY, R21HNY, RA21NY, RC21NY, RD21NY, RG21NY,
RJ21NY, RK21NY, RL21NY, RM21NY, RN21NY, RO21NY, RQ21NY, RT21NY,
RU21NY, RV21NY, RW21NY, RX21NY, RY21NY and RZ21NY will be active
from 25 December to 14 January for the "Russian New Year 2021"
radio marathon organized by the Miller DX Club (https://mdxc.ru/).
QSL via RQ7L. A number of certificates will be available, see
https://hamlog.online/club/mdxc.
UR - EN50WZA is the special callsign for club station UT7WZA (ex UK5WBG
and UB4WZA) to celebrate its 50th anniversary on 1-31 January. QSL
via UT7WZA and LoTW.
W - The Straight Key Century Club's annual on-air event, commemorating
the club's founding in 2006, will run on 2-31 January. Look for K3Y
to be aired from the ten US call areas (K3Y/0 through K3Y/9), plus
/KH6, /KL7 and /KP4. Information on the event and QSLing instruc-
tions can be found on https://skccgroup.com/k3y/k3y.php.
YB - Members of ORARI Nusa Tenggara Barat (https://ordantb.or.id/) are
active as 7C9N until 31 December from the Ampenan lighthouse in the
neighborhoods of Mataram on Lombok Island (OC-150). QSL direct to
HA3JB. Recent activities conducted by the same regional branch of
ORARI include 7C9B from Kolo Beach, Sumbawa Island (OC-150, QSL via
DL3KZA), and 7C9T from Gili Maringkik, a small satellite of Lombok
(OC-150, QSL via HA3JB).
ZD8 - Tev, TA1HZ will be on a working assignment on Ascension Island (AF-
003) throughout 2021. He plans to be QRV as ZD8HZ on 80-10 metres
in his spare time. QSL via LoTW, eQSL, or direct to home call
(please refrain from mailing before 2022); he will also upload his
log to Club Log.

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*** 4 2 5 D X N E W S ***
**** GOOD TO KNOW ... ****
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Edited by I1JQJ & IK1ADH
Direttore Responsabile I2VGW

Access to the main functions of www.425dxn.org is provided by the 425DXN App
for Android. It is available on Google Play - free of charge, no ads. Enjoy!

BANDS ALIVE: THE 2021 CW/SSB ULTRA-MARATHON ---> The True Blue DXers Club
announces "Bands Alive", a year-long "ultra-marathon" to be run from 1 Janu-
ary through 31 December 2021. "As the new solar cycle is now under way and
conditions on the HF bands are expected to gradually improve throughout
2021, this unprecedented initiative is launched to give DXers a further mo-
tivation to get on the air and therefore support, improve and promote ama-
teur activity using person-to-person modes of communication such as CW and
SSB. This initiative, which we call 'ultra-marathon' for a reason, is indeed
unprecedented - its aim, reflected in its format, is to get people on the
air and make as many unique contacts as possible over the duration of a full
year, and not simply to work as many countries as possible". Participation
is open to all amateurs: you do not need to sign up for TBDXC membership,
but you have to register for the marathon on the dedicated section of the
TBDXC website: https://www.tbdxc.net/marathon. Official registration will be
opened on 31 December, so that starting at 00.00 UTC on 1 January 2021
everybody can start entering their results.

CQ DX MARATHON ---> The CQ DX Marathon is a year-long DX hunt, with
participants competing to see who can work the greatest number of countries
("entities") and CQ zones during the calendar year. The 2021 edition will
start at 00.00 UTC on 1 January and will end at 23.59 UTC on 31 December.
Complete details can be found at http://www.dxmarathon.com/.

KH6VV/KH4 ---> "Recently the US Fish & Wildlife Service became uncomfortable
with our proposed expedition date [second half of February 2021, Ed.] due to
the forecast of a second virus wave", Ron, KH6DV posted to KH6VV's qrz.com
page on 20 December. "We are now in that second wave, and the latest news is
that Europe is seeing a new strain of the virus that is 70% more contagious.
We agreed to change the date to September 2021 and submit a new Supplemental
Use Permit application. A new management team is expected on-island once the
holidays are over. Once that team is in place, we will submit our revised
application".

OH8X NODE ACTIVITY --> As part of the Yasme Foundation project to provide
additional Reverse Beacon Network nodes in underserved areas, equipment has
been provided to a team in northern Finland. The latest node to become
active is currently hosted by Radio Arcala (OH8X), very close to the Lapland
(OH9) Region.
A mysterious propagation mode called Polar Path exists in Northern Europe
during the winter season. At and above the Arctic Circle in the middle of
the night this propagation offers a footprint covering the entire North
American continent for many hours. This occurs in spite of the stations
being within the Aurora Oval. Only 100 miles to the south, there is no such
propagation at all.
Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA, has tentatively studied the Polar Path and expects
that two independent propagation scenarios need to co-exist to create this
interesting path. The OH8X RBN node would further help the study of the
Polar Path in which Radio Arcala will be cooperating with the northern
scientific community.
Launched on 22 December, the RBN node receiver is currently located at the
Radio Arcala station, OH8X (65 11 03N - 26 14 53E), but may later move even
farther north to be at the heart of this unique Auroral Region of the
Arctic Circle. [TNX OH2BH]

QSL EP2HAM ---> Charles, M0OXO is the new QSL manager for Arash, EP2HAM.
New, full colour QSL cards are being printed and will be available early
next year. QSL via M0OXO's OQRS: https://www.m0oxo.com/oqrs/logsearch.php.

SILENT KEY ---> Franz Berndt, DL9GFB (ex Y25JA) passed away on 22 December,
one day after his 68th birthday. The Chairman of DARC's Mecklenburg-Vorpom-
mern District, over the past 25 years he participated in many DXpeditions,
notably C56R & C53M (The Gambia 2002), 4S7FBG (Sri Lanka 2003), ZD7F (St.
Helena 2004), VU4AN/VU3RYE (Andamans 2006), VU7RG (Lakshadweeps 2007), VU7SJ
(Lakshadweeps 2008), VP2EFB (Anguilla 2008), 9N7AN (Nepal 2011), 5W0M (Samoa
2013), V73D (Marshall Islands 2015) and XX9D (Macao 2019). Most recently he
was a team member of HU1DL (El Salvador, January-February 2020) and Z66DX
(Kosovo, October 2020).

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QSLs received direct or through managers: 4A2L (NA-135), 4J75DJ, 7H9H (OC-
275), 8P9CA, 9X2AW, A61DL, AB5EB/p (NA-092), AD5A/p (NA-092), C31CT, CN8LI,
E51WL, HK3W, HZ1DS, ID9OSC (EU-017), JS6UEA (AS-017), K0AP/4 (NA-052), P40W,
PJ4/K5KG, PJ4KY, R207RRC (AS-207), TI7W, TK1KJ, TX0T (OC-298) , TZ4AM,
VK4DX/p (OC-137), VK9NC, VK9NE, YS1RR, ZD7BG, ZD7MY, ZS1DX.

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425 DX News is a free of charge weekly bulletin
edited by Mauro Pregliasco, I1JQJ and Valeria Pregliasco, IK1ADH

Its contents may be used, reproduced and distributed
in part or full provided that
"425 DX News" or "425DXN" receive proper credit

Contributors are invited to send their DX information to
Mauro Pregliasco, I1JQJ (i1jqj.mauro@gmail.com)
The deadline is 12 UTC on Fridays
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Direttore Responsabile
Gabriele Villa, I2VGW
Giornalista Professionista - Tessera n. 071675
Ordine Nazionale dei Giornalisti
Roma, Italia