TenX DX News June 1, 2021
Mike Davidson N5MT, #24949 Download article as PDF
I hope you have been able to meet with other ham friends over the past months now that fewer virus restrictions are in place and more important, that you have gotten your Covid vaccination protection like I had in February. One of my hobbies besides ham radio is judging high school science fair. Over the years I have sent many students to the Intel International Science Fair as I have been a judge longer than I have had my ham license. Science tells me that you should get your vaccination, so take the time to get the protection!
The Spring DX radio season has been having better propagation as we start our Summer here in the US. The Sun is providing more sunspots to increase the Solar Flux and giving us more openings on Ten than this time last year, and NO the pandemic did not affect the propagation, it should have allowed you more time on the Air with your radio. The 17-15 meter bands were the best DX bands the past months so you will find DX by looking, if Ten is not open. I just worked EA7D non-member from Spain on FT8 on Ten.
The 10-10 Spring Digi contest in late April was a great start for me as I was on Ten both days and logged 51 QSO on digi to come in first place high power. I had to avoid thunder storms that were full of lightning and wind so I missed making my goal of 75 Q’s that I had set before the contest. But I did work New Zealand, Columbia, Figi, Argentina and Brazil but no new member numbers. This digi contest may have been my best showing with my new vertical antenna, so I was pleased with the certificate as I saw many emails about poor propagation. So good luck with the Open Season QSO party coming up this weekend on June 5th and hope you have better propagation on PSK31. Do Not Forget the new Weak Signal QSO party the second weekend of July 10-11th.
You need to stay on the radio and call CQ to see who you can talk with. When propagation is poor, use FT8 and you will find stations to work when SSB is closed. At my station in Louisiana, the QSO’s on FT8 were plentiful and a lot of dupes were put in the log the past three months. I saw a lot of traffic on FT8 from S. America to Europe during this period, but I could not see Europe talking back.
Another year has past since I last heard a New 10-10 country on Ten. As a result of the pandemic, weak propagation, and a bunch of ops not traveling far to operate DX, my 10-10 news reporting has been greatly reduced. So try to find that rare DX that may be giving out a CQ on Ten. I recently worked a lot of DX stations on FT8 but few 10-10 members. I worked Holger ZL3IO #22401 and his daughter on FT8 in New Zealand on Ten and this makes six countries that I have worked him for 10-10 country credit over the past 30 years.
I keep emphasizing for all hams to submit your QSO logs on a regular update basis to the ARRL LoTW
database. Once you get the ARRL certificate for LoTW, and using the LoTW app, you can upload your logbook anytime into the database for no charge. You must use the DXCC security rules required by the ARRL for all LoTW activity. The only cost is when you apply for an ARRL award using your LoTW contacts for DXCC or WAS. Using LoTW means no QSL card expense is required, its all electronic for you and the DX. But for a 10-10 award you can not use LoTW as there is no interface for LoTW to collect your 10-10 info!
I recently found a website that list ham call signs that are using the LoTW system. This website is updated with data from the ARRL but it is by a DX ham this is doing a good job. There are 69,113 users in the US and 159,000 worldwide. Website is: http://www.hb9bza.net/lotw-users-list .
Use our 10-10 website for all the award rules and if you qualify for a 10-10 award, you must fill out your 10-10 application form available on the website and send it to the 10-10 awards person as listed on the form. Remember, at the present time there is no award cost and no QSL cards are required for all of our awards, but you must have paid your 10-10 dues.
Most all of my contacts this past year were either on FT8 or SSB. Some members have learned to use the TX5 tab to save their 10-10 info in FT8. All you do is setup the TX5 tab to send the maximum 13 characters with the info you will send via the TX5 tab. So type into the TX5 macro: a 4 character name, a space, your five digit ten-ten number, a space and your two character state abbreviation that you will send during a FT8 QSO. If you name is longer, either use a short nickname or make two TX5 messages to transmit your info to complete the 10-10 contact. There is a FT8 help video on the 10-10 website.
The 10-10 Countries Award Manager follows most of the ARRL DXCC award rules. Plus you must have swapped your Callsign, Name, State and 10-10 number over the air on Ten, to record that members information for ALL 10-10 award application. So the honor system does apply for all contacts on all 10-10 awards. I keep the 10-10 DX records with my job as the Countries Award manager. As of June 2021, there still remains 22 countries that have never been worked for 10-10 country credit. The list was published in the March 10-10 News.
I promise to keep reporting DX news that I find from my sources if a DX group pops up. Use your radio to find a new Q, and a new one does not have to be on Ten. With Hurricane season starting today, we have already had the first named storm in the Atlantic, named Ana. For the past seven years in a row, there has been a storm posted before June 1st so stay safe and lets hope for fewer hurricanes to make landfall in the US this year.
Countries Award: There was one Countries Award application submitted this past quarter by Tom Colyard K4MM #7294 for 25 countries. Thanks to Gerry WA6POZ #21274, for helping replace the old DOS Countries Award program. A few problems were found in the DOS-to-OS conversion and they are being fixed. Thanks Gerry.
I just found what I will call the DX’ers Handbook written by Bryce Anderson K7UA, his 3rd edition. Download at: www.K7UA.com.
I am posting this to the 10-10 website on June 1st.
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General 10-10 DX reported in the past quarter:
4U United Nations. The remote ham radio station 4U1UN #55555, in the New York UN building, must have had their Steppir antenna fixed as I see lots of QSO on Ten and 6 Meters. So watch DXSummit for QSO reports and hope the RF noise in Manhattan does not become a problem.
8Q The Maldives. Mats SM6LRR #34451, was there from March 28th to April 10th using call 8Q7MS. LoTW.
C6 Bahamas. Hal W8HC #12502, was with friends in March using call C6AGU from Water Cay Bahamas. LoTW.
VP5 Turks & Caicos Islands. Eric NR4O #11513 was operating VP5/NR4O during March on CW, SSB and FT8.
DP1 Antarctica. Felix DL5XL #55519, is in Antarctica with the German Polar Institute. Felix can operate the club callsign DP0GVN but you must ask Felix to swap a 10-10 as the club station is not a member. There has not been any Ten activity from the club station only Sat QO-100. LoTW.
FJ St.Barthelemy. Phil K2LIO #7746, is on the island using call FJ/K2LIO on HF, possibly until August 5th.
HP Panama. Steve HP9SAM #75838, tries to operate on Ten when the band is open on Saturday morning as he tries to check-in to our local net on 28450 MHZ at 1510 UTC.
J6 St. Lucia. Bill K9HZ #2618 and Kyle WA4PGM #50763, were in St. Lucia from March 2nd to 20th using call J68HZ with few reports on DXSummit for Ten meters.
OZ Denmark. Romo Island in Denmark will be used by Volker DJ8VW #69216 from May 21st to June 10th with a special callsign 5P8VW. LoTW.
P4 Aruba. John W2GD/P44W #14109 will be active again this weekend for the CQ WPX CW contest.
PJ2 Curacao Island. Andreas DK5ON #54260,
was on Curacao using call PJ2/DK5ON from March 6th to 23rd on all bands and modes but not on Ten. LoTW.
Vincent K4JC #72779, was on Curacao from March 1st to 9th with several friends. Call PJ2T in the SSB contest.
PY Brazil. John PY5JO #72714, was active on FT8 and SSB the past month on Ten so good luck. LoTW.
S7 Seychelles. Ros 4Z5LA #42000, left the island on May 27th after using call sign S79LA. No info on Ten.
VP5 Turks & Caicos Islands. Three members were on the islands the last week of May. John K4BAI #45389, Dennis K2SX #9023 and Johnnie KR4R #69307 on HF.
Upcoming DX & New 10-10 Activity:
FP St. Pierre & Miquelon. Eric KV1J #31247, will be using call FP/KV1J from June 29th to July 13th. All bands and modes and FT8. LoTW.
James WB2REM #48365 and Mike W0VTT #14404, will be using call TO5T from August 8th to 16th on all bands and modes and FT8. Club log or QSL to WB2REM.
LX Luxembourg. Andy LX1DA #50458, will be using the special callsign LX40DA from September 1st to December 31st. I saw lots of contacts for Andy on other bands when he operated earlier this year in LX.
YN Nicaragua. Rob DM4AO #23450, will be on the air for CQ WW CW on November 27-28th as YN5AO.
Miscellaneous Items & Notes:
Propagation forecast: http://www.solen.info/solar/ , www.SolarHam.net and http://ARRL.org/Propagation .
More propagation: http://dx.qsl.net/propagation/ .
DX Calendar: http://www.dxwatch.com/ .
DX: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4dJcK-WVRw.
DXCC Most Wanted at: https://Secure.Clublog.org/mostwanted.php .
Propagation: I expect the solar flux to range from 69-89 during the Summer which means the flux is rising for the early start of cycle 25. The 2021 Summer Solstice is on Sunday June 20th which is also Father’s Day. Summer starts in the northern hemisphere and the Sun is high above the equator giving the US its longest daylight and shortest nights. In the southern hemisphere, winter starts on this day. Cycle 25, started on November 18, 2019 as can be seen on a good graph at www.solar.info/solar/. The Sun was real active in Nov-December 2020 but now has quieted down with an expected rising flux. A solar flux maximum of 125 has been forecast by NOAA for the winter of 2024. Sunspots are counted by looking at the Sun but the Solar flux is measured by radio at 2.8 GHz.
The 2021 monthly maximum solar flux was: Jan 79, Feb 79, March 79, April 85, and May 81.
The 2021 monthly minimum flux was: Jan 70, Feb 67, March 72, April 71, and May 70.
On June 1st, the solar flux was 76, the A index was 3 and K index was 0. There were several sunspot regions on the Sun the past week. An increase of sunspots has helped produced more solar flux the past weeks. The USAF solar flux forecast for June 1st to July 14th is from 72 to a high of 82 with only a ten point fluctuation.
My Prediction: Over the next three months, the best conditions on Ten could be: June 16-23rd, July 13-17th, August 9-13th and September 5-9th. For the USA, expect a 25% chance of DX to Europe or Asia with a 75% chance of DX to South America or to the Pacific. Listen for the CW beacons from 28.175-28.300 to see if Ten Meters is open and use WSJT-X FT8 for all weak/low propagation QSO’s.
There were no new 10-10 DX members joining from March to May 2021. This DX News edition is my number 124th of DXing reports.
Thanks to the Daily DX by Bernie W3UR #25731 and the Ohio/Penn DX Bulletins. DX Info to: Mike Davidson, 26274 Whispering Pines Ave, Denham Springs LA 70726 USA and Email: N5MT@aol.com .
DX IS! 73 Mike Davidson N5MT #24949
Copyright © 2021 by N5MT
