Source: ARRL

05/26/2010

Many hams have long complained about difficulties they have encountered when purchasing International Reply Coupons (IRCs) from their local post offices. Now the US Postal Service (USPS) has made it easier to get those IRCs to send with your direct QSL cards — order them online from the USPS Web site. The USPS ships all in-stock domestic orders for stamps and retail items within 1 business day via Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation or First Class Mail. Shipments should arrive within 3-5 business days. All stamp orders are charged a $1 handling fee, regardless of the order amount. IRCs purchased from the USPS, whether online or in person at a post office, cost $2.10 each.

International reply coupons (IRCs) provide foreign addressees with a prepaid means of responding to inquiries, solicitations, or other types of communications that are initiated by US senders. IRCs are exchangeable for postage stamps by postal administrations in member countries of the Universal Postal Union (UPU). Each IRC is equivalent in value to the destination country’s minimum postage price for an unregistered airmail letter. According to the UPU, some 2.2 million reply coupons are sold each year by 121 postal administrations. While not all countries sell IRCs, all the postal operators of the UPU’s 191 member countries, and their territories, are required to exchange them.

More than a century after it first appeared in 1907, the IRC remains a useful item. Aside from its traditional use for correspondence, according to the UPU, two particular groups of users have emerged: Students who use them as a means of exchanging correspondence with academic institutions, and Amateur Radio enthusiasts, who use coupons when exchanging their QSL cards.

As of October 11, 2007, only those IRCs that have been printed by the UPU may be redeemed at US post offices. The valid version of the international reply coupons printed by the UPU is approximately 3.75 inches by 6 inches, has a bar code on the back and an expiration date of December 31, 2013. This policy is for those IRCs issued by the United States, as well as for those issued by foreign postal administrations.

Here is a website that has a nice display of the top 25 DXCC Entities. You can go through the album and see all the places.

Click here

This is a video of the K5D Desecheo DXEpedition from February 2009. This was a relatively easy DXEpedition for us to work in the US.

Thanks to the crew that provided us with this DX entity and for PY2MAJ for putting this together!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foBy2Bk_ZYA

I have just implemented a “Forum” for everyone to use. You access from the Page category in the Navigation bar above. Or Here There are many different Topics that I set up that you can read or reply to.

Topics I have created so far include: Contesting, DX, Digital Modes, Mobile, Propagation, QSL, SSB and CW Modes, Ham Shack Items, Antennas, HF and VHF/UHF radios, Accessories, For Sale/Trade/Wanted, Emergency Communications, APRS, Introductions, Help, Suggestions, and Club Related.

—
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site. It originated as the modern equivalent of a traditional bulletin board, and a technological evolution of the dialup bulletin board system. From a technological standpoint, forums or boards are web applications managing user-generated content.

People participating in an Internet forum may cultivate social bonds and interest groups for a topic may form from the discussions.

Source: Wiki

[caption id="attachment_749" align="alignleft" width="45" caption="ARRL"][/caption]Bill Moore, NC1L, ARRL Awards Branch Manager, reports: “This is a reminder that the cut-off date to have submissions in for the 2009 DXCC Annual and Honor Roll Listings is December 31, 2009. Applications must be postmarked by this date.

“December is expected to be a heavy period so applicants are encouraged not to wait until the last minute to get their submissions in. Also, with the holiday season approaching mail handling will sharply increase.

“Applicants are strongly encouraged to check the ‘List of DXCC Applications Received’ link on the DXCC web site to assure that their applications were logged in for 2009. With the mail being heavy in DXCC, last minute applications received after December 31st, may get logged in for 2010. Also, the USPS postmarks are often unreadable so this could also affect last minute submissions.

“If you find on this page that your 2009 submission was logged in for 2010, you must contact DXCC by February 1, 2010, to get this corrected. DXCC is not responsible for 2009 applications that are logged in for 2010 after February 1, 2010.

“We expect for December that the turnaround will increase in excess of 12 weeks. This is normal for this time of year and we appreciate your patience and understanding as we work to get all 2009 applications completed.

“The 2009 DXCC Yearbook is expected to be in the mail by late May or early June 2010. Please remember that in order to receive the free copy you must:
- Be a member of ARRL
- Submit an application within the 2009 calendar year, or
- Be current on the DXCC Honor Roll (329 current entities
or higher).

“If you did not qualify for the yearbook, copies will be avaliable from the ARRL catalog. Send questions to: dxcc@arrl.org ”

Source: ARRL

ARRL

Four Radio Amateurs Killed in Plane Crash While En Route to CQWW Phone Contest (Oct 21, 2009 [REVISED Oct 22, 2009 11:05 ET]) — Just after take-off — around 6:30 AM on Wednesday, October 21 — a twin-engine plane carrying four Amateur Radio operators crashed into the woods, only 250 yards off the end of the runway in Jedburg, South Carolina, about 20 miles northwest of Charleston. The plane — piloted and owned by Peter Radding, W2GJ — carried Ed Steeble, K3IXD, Dallas Carter, W3PP, and Randy Hargenrader, K4QO. The four men were on their way to the Bahamas to operate in this weekend’s CQ World Wide Phone Contest as C6APR, competing in the Multi/2 category.
Full Story

Midway - K4M Latest update from their website – With the exceptions of a few hardware failures (including 1 radio and two amplifiers) we are humming around the clock.

As of 22:00 UTC 15 October we passed 27,000 Q. 4 more days of operating. We will remain on 20 mtrs around the clock in order to provide everyone a chance for at least one QSO. First RTTY and 160 operations last night and this morning local time. We will continue to push both windows.

August 30, 2009

Here some impressions about my activity as 5N0OCH, 5N0HQ and 5N0EME.
March – October 2009
by Bodo, DL3OCH, HB9EHJ, KT3Q

THE 2009 EXPEDITION TO MIDWAY ISLAND

October 9th to 19th 2009
DXCC ENTITY: KH4
Latitude: 28° 12′ N. Longitude: 177° 22′ W.

One of our local hams will be operating on Midway. Joe Pater-W8GEX, Team Equipment Manager
is from Oxford, Ohio. He is a member of Southwest Ohio DX Association (SWODXA) and has been on many DX Expeditions.

Planned Operating Frequencies:

BAND SSB CW RTTY
10 28475 28024 28080
12 24945 24894 -
15 21295 21024 21080
17 18145 18074 18100
20 14200 14024 14080
30 - 10104 10140
40 7078 7004 7040
80 3799 3504 -
160 - 1826.5 -
6 50.115 50.115 -

Midway Atoll is an unorganized, unincorporated territory of the United States. It is less than 140 nautical miles (259 km; 161 mi) east of the International Date Line, about 2,800 nautical miles (5,200 km; 3,200 mi) west of San Francisco and 2,200 nautical miles (4,100 km; 2,500 mi) east of Tokyo. It consists of a ring-shaped barrier reef and several sand islets. The two significant pieces of land, Sand Island and Eastern Island, provide habitat for hundreds of thousands of seabirds.

Source: Midway DX Expedition Official Website

It is now time to start dumping your old International Reply Coupons (IRCs): The “Beijing Model No 2” must be redeemed before December 31, 2009.

According to The Daily DX editor Bernie McClenny, W3UR, many QSL managers are now only accepting the new Nairobi Model IRC, so he advises that it is now time to start getting rid of the old IRCs and not get stuck with any! The new IRC, available in the US since September 10 and elsewhere since July, costs $2.10 each in the US. For those in the US who will be exchanging the old version of IRCs for new ones, USPS Bulletin #22267 advises postal workers to tell customers “to exchange IRCs that expire on December 31, 2009 for the new IRC version (Item 330800) or for other postage stamps. Retail associates (RAs) can exchange unused US-issued IRCs for $0.01 less than the value of the IRC. (The amount to exchange is the printed price of the IRC along with any additional postage affixed minus one penny.)”

The Nairobi Model was designed by Rob Van Goor, a graphic artist from the Luxembourg Post. It was selected from among 10 designs presented by Universal Postal Union member countries. Van Goor interpreted the theme of the contest — “The Postage Stamp: A Vehicle for Exchange” — by depicting the world being cradled by a hand and the perforated outline of a postage stamp. For more information on IRCs, see the July and September 2006 issues of QST (page 86).

The Beijing Model No 2 IRC must be redeemed before December 31, 2009.

The Nairobi Model IRC is now available at US post offices. It will expire in 2013.