Daily QSL Cards March 2009

Because the QSL-card was managed by one of the expedition operators: Rene, DL2JRM from Germany, it was possible to received the card via the DARC-QSL-bureau. This expedition was operated by Jorge: OA4BHY from Peru, Daniel: DL5YWM, Rene: DL2JRM and Jens, DL3ALF from May 3-5th 2008. They was activ with 2 stations CW/SSB simultanly on the well known IOTA frequencies. The call sign during the DXpedition was OA4BHY/3.

The Isla Blanca (in english the white island) located near the town Chimbote , and that takes its name from the white color of the ground and rocks. This land measures approximately 3200 meters long, 920 meters in width and the highest mountain top is about 204 meters.The Isla Blanca is part of the Fauna Marina ecological reserve, provides opportunities to rock climb and admire marine.
Chimbote is the largest city in the Ancash Region of Peru. It is also the capital of the Santa Province and the Chimbote District. The city is located on the coast in Chimbote Bay, south of Trujillo and at 420 kilometers north of Lima.

This expedition to the Isla Blanca count for the IOTA-Award as SA-074. This was a lighthouse activity also, with number: ARLHS PER-040!
73 de Gerd DL5AWI

The QSL from CU8T I received via the DARC-QSL-Bureau. Members of the international team on Flores Island was Luis CT1AGF, Antonio CT1EPV, Tony CT1HJA, Franz DF6QV, Juergen DJ2VO, Martin DL3MK, Jack F6HMJ, Derek G3KHZ, Herman HB9CRV and Philipp HB9FMU.
The group had much problems due to the high winds wich damaged a Spider Beam and snapped a Titanex antenna. She finally used simple dipoles for the running station.

Flores Island is the most western island in the Azores archipelago. It was discovered around 1452 by the portuguese navigator Diogo de Teive and his son. Joao de Teive. Around 1470, Willem Van der Haeghen became the first settler. The island was first named Ilha de Sao Thomas, but was later changed to Ilha das Flores due the abundance of flowers. It is an extremely nice and pretty island.

Flores has a population of approx 5000 peoples. The island measures 17km by 12,5km and the highest point is 914m (3000ft).
73 de Gerd DL5AWI

I received the QSL from VU7SJ Nicobar Islands / Lakshadweep Islands for 20m/SSB direct to my adress.
This was a DX-pedition to celebrate Silver Jubilee celebrations of National Institute of Amateur Radio (NIAR), Hyderabad, the premier Amateur Radio organisation in India.
Members of this awesome expedition were also the german HAMs DL9GFB, OM Franz (VU3RYE) worked (Phone , CW) and DF7TT, OM Juergen (VU3NKW) (CW, Digital).
The amateur radio activity from the Island Agatti in the Lakshadweep group was a path breaking achievement for NIAR during the year of Silver Jubilee.

The tiniest Union Territory of India, Lakshadweep is an archipelago consisting of 12 atolls, three reefs and five submerged banks. It is a uni-district Union Territory with an area of 32 Sq.Kms and is comprised of ten inhabited islands, 17 uninhabited islands attached islets, four newly formed islets and 5 submerged reefs.

The main occupation of the people is fishing, coconut cultivation and coir twisting. Tourism is an emerging industry.
The following animal, bird, and tree are declared as state symbols of Lakshadweep

Animal - Butterfly fish (Chaetodon auriga) locally known as "Fakkikadia".
Bird-- Sooty tern (Anus solidus piletus) locally known as "Karifettu".
Tree - Bread-fruit (Artocarpus Incise) locally known as "Chakka"

Gerard ON4AXU send me this QSL via the DARC-bureau. His trip was 2004 around French Polynesia, Austral Islands and Marquesas Islands. Location on Marquesas was the Island Hiva Oa.

Hiva Oa, island beloved to the hearts of Paul Gauguin and of Jacques Brel, is situated 1184 km north-east of Tahiti in the Pacific ocean. A tortuous geological formation endows the island with a wild and untamed atmosphere. Green valleys provide protection to some of the best archaeological sites in the Marquesas, where you can see the largest tikis in Polynesia. It is also the most fertile island and considered to be the garden of the Marquesas. Atuona, the main village, nestles below the vertiginous cliffs of Mount Temetiu and Mount Feani.

This was an expedition from Pasi, OH3WS with his other call OJ0/OG3A, which card I received via the DARC bureau.
He is a volunteer of the Finnish Lighthouse Society. The society is working to save the unique Market Lighthouse on the border of Finland and Sweden, ten kilometers from the nearest mainland. The unique lighthouse from 1885 has stood empty for 30 years waiting for new ideas of use. This Society invite every lighthouse lover in the world to participate. You may order your Market Reef stamps with the special Market Reef cancellation today. Read more about this here.

Market Reef, as it is called among three million radio amateurs around the world, is a separate DXCC-country. Market Reef used to be one of the world's most desired countries among radio amateurs due to its special status and inaccessibility. Usually there are one or more Amateur Radio expeditions to the island every year, weather permitting. During these expeditions tens of thousands of radio contacts are made with the entire world. At high seas, landing is only possible with a helicopter. All radio activity on the island is by visitors on DX-peditions.

The video at the end of this hub is from another expedition OJ0B. The video shows G1WEV when he worked OJ0B on 20m/SSB at Market Reef.

In the last bunch of bureau-QSL-cards was 9Q1NT, operated by Ghis ON5NT.

Here the first information: The 9Q country is “Democratic Republic of Congo” (former ZAIRE). To avoid confusion with the Congo TN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo  located in central Africa with a small length of Atlantic coastline. It is the third largest country (by area) in Africa.

This was a operation from 9Q1EK station and his friends 9Q1TB – 9Q1D – 9Q1NT. Ghis is  a staff member of the United Nations World Food Programme UN-WFP
Here a short story from 9Q1EK:
"I would like all of you to know that it was far from easy to obtain an individual license in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
I have been in the Rep. Dem. of Congo (ex ZAIRE) for 5 years. Throughout this period, the country has been at war. It has been divided into 3 rebel sectors (if you follow the press you should know). No ministry was operating correctly. Believe, me, it was a very bad period!
Every day we live with power failures that last for several hours, and the same goes for the water supply and it can be dangerous at night, in a city of 8 million inhabitants.
Just imagine, during a pile up with the power failure that we are not barefoot “ON AIR” with 12 vDC power and couple of candles!!!
Furthermore, here we have many time a QRN in the equatorial zone and without forget the cherry on the top of the cake......a big defectiv station transformer 350kv at about 800m of the shack!"

Unfortunately, Ghis wasn’t able to play his call sign 9Q1NT for long time.
It was so long to obtain that and he had to leave the country for other UN missions.

For the first time in the russian history, radio fans have spent the whole series of the distant officially registered short-wave communications from the highest top of Europe - mountains of the Western Elbrus. The contact between R6SE and DL5AWI was from peak "Day of the athletic" with an altitude of 3950 meters.

The mountaineering is a check of limits of physical and psychological possibilities of the person.
Every person would like to feel as a pioneer - if not Columbus so Magellan, to subdue new top or to open for radio fans of the world a new corner on our planet.
Preparation for radio expedition has begun in the summer 2005 and included physical, technical and climbing components. The special attention was given to physical preparation, - run on 10-12 km became an indispensable condition for applicants for inclusion in the command of climbers-radio fans.
Technical training consisted in a choice of radio equipment and antenna-feeding devices for a radio communication on short waves which would have sufficient capacity and the minimum of weight.
The equipment:
base camp - ICOM-746, 3,5-7 MHz on 10 meter mast from separate knees, G.P. 14 MHz, 1 kw generator from Honda, a power unit 12volt 20А and computers.
mountain tops - ICOM-706 MK2G, the accumulator 12V 12A, self-made aerial G.P. on 14 MHz and easy 50-Ohm 10 metre cable. The weight of all radio amateur equipment was about 12 kg.