Around The DX World

Belgium UBA - The OR0YAL Award

At the occasion of the 18th birthday of HRH Princess Elisabeth, the UBA is offering a commemorative Award for working special event stations aired between October 25th and 25th December 2019. The OR0YAL Award is offered in four classes.
During this two months period, the UBA will activate the special event station OR0YAL (which can be read as O Royal).
Furthermore, over 30 UBA clubstations using the special prefix OR18 will be on the air.
To obtain an award you have to make QSOs (on-air contacts) with the special event stations listed on this page.
Rules:

• Each OR18 station as well as OR0YAL counts as two points once you've worked this station.
• You get one point for every band/mode combination. Modes include PHONE (SSB, FM, ...), CW and DIGITAL (PSK, FT8, ...).
• Example: You've worked OR18UBA on 80m SSB, 80m CW and 40m SSB. This is a total of 5 points (2 points for the station + 3 for the band/mode combinations).
• Example: You've worked OR0YAL on 20m in PSK31, on 20m in FT8 and on 40m in SSB. This is a total of 4 points (2 points for the station + 2 for the unique band/mode combinations, FT8 and PSK31 both count as DIGITAL).
• Contacts made on the same band but in different modes do not count separately.
• No band or mode restrictions nor any endorsements.
• Please note that, however you're encouraged to do so, contacting Belgian stations other than OR0YAL and the OR18 clubcalls do not get you any points towards the certificate.

In total there are 4 awards to achieve:

• Bronze: 30 points
• Silver: 50 points
• Gold: 70 points
• Platinum: 110 points

QSL Manager: UBA QSL Bureau
Contact: or0yal@uba.be
QSL Disclaimer:

• QSL via Bureau: QSL cards will be sent out via bureau (FREE) once your QSL card is received.
• QSL Direct: Direct QSL cards can be requested via OQRS (3 USD)
• SWLs must request their QSL cards via mail to or0yal@uba.be

Logsearch and Award applications must be done via the link https://or0yal.uba.be/ and this page will be online during the event period.
best 73
UBA

 

Cyprus special event update

Alan, 5B4AHJ, reports that the following message was issued to members of the Cyprus Amateur Radio Society by CARS President, Nestoras Jacovides, 5B4AHZ.
Please publicize. Thank you: "Dear Members... 2020 is an important year for the Republic of Cyprus which completes 60 years since its establishment. Therefore, a request to the Department of Electronic Communications has been made requesting that we are granted the special 5B60 prefix for use throughout 2020, to help spread this important event by informing several thousand radio amateurs worldwide.
I am pleased to inform you that our request has been approved.
Specifically, all CARS members will be able to use the 5B60 prefix (instead of 5B) if they wish, starting from 1 Jan 2020 @ 00:00 until 31/12/2020 @ 23:59."
OPDX

 

Norfolk Island operation

Janusz, SP9FIH, will be active as VK9NK from Norfolk Island (OC-005) between January 12th and April 12th.
He states, "It is my tribute to Jim Smith, VK9NS, who lived and operated from there for years. According to last internet poll VK9N is 85th most wanted entity."
Activity will be on 160-10 meters using SSB, RTTY and FT8.
Suggested frequencies are:
SSB - 7095, 14195, 18140, 21195, 24940 and 28420 kHz
RTTY - 1845, 3569, 7045, 10145, 14095, 18095, 21095, 24920 and 28095 kHz
FT8 (F/H) - 1845 (1908 JA), 3569, 7045, 10145, 14095, 18095, 21095,
24920 and 28095 kHz
Equipment will be an IC-7200 and Expert 1.3K-FA into a Spiderbeam and verticals. QSL via SP9FIH or ClubLog's OQRS.
His Web page is now online with a needs band/mode survey at:
http://vk9nk.dxpeditions.org
OPDX

Five megs for the Falklands

Major changes to the Falklands Islands Communications Laws have been announced by the Falklands Islands Communications Regulator.
They were published in the official Falklands Islands Gazette on 11 November 2019 and came into force on 15 November 2019
https://www.regulatorfi.org.fk/legislation
One of these has resulted in the new WRC-15 60m Secondary Allocation becoming available to Falklands Radio Amateurs. The allocation 5351.5 – 5366.5 kHz, with a maximum power of 25W EIRP has been granted for Amateur Radio operations in the islands (see p.6).
https://www.regulatorfi.org.fk/spectrum/amateur-radio/70-terms-and-conditions-amateur-radio-licence-v2-0-121119-pdf/file
Falklands Islands Communications Regulator website https://www.regulatorfi.org.fk/
73
Paul Gaskell, G4MWO
Editor
The 5 MHz Newsletter