Around The DX World

Tunisia issues personal licenses to operate The first three Authorizations to Operate have been issued to 3 Tunisian radio amateurs. These are the first issued since 1956 The IARU Region 1 site reports: 3V8HB, 3V8MN and 3V1MB will soon be on the air from their homes rather than being restricted to operating from a club station. Issuing individual authorisations to operate is a new process in Tunisia and involves a number of stages, including equipment conformity checks. This is great news for Tunisians that the process now exists so that radio amateurs can practice their hobby from homes in full compliance with the Tunisian Laws. The IARU Member Society ARAT extends its thanks to the National Agency of Frequencies, the Ministry of Telecommunications and all involved parties for making this happen. IARU Region 1 https://iaru-r1.org/ DARC 70 Years The German national club DARC celebrates its 70th anniversary in 2020 and offers the award 70 Jahre DARC for contacts with the special event stations DP70DARC and DF70DARC. For the rules see www.70darc.club. Later during the year, DK70DARC (special DOK 70DARC for all of them) will also be active. The callsigns rotate through DARC's regional districts on a weekly basis. NB: There are also other special event calls active with a DARC-suffix that do not count for the award. In a few weeks, DM30RSV will become active as well, commemorating the formation of the first independent national radio club RSV in the German Democratic Republic in 1990. This activity will be limited to the time frame of March 24 until October 2, mirroring the lifespan of the RSV 30 years ago. QSOs will count towards yet another award, rules are currently being finalised. (73 Ric, DL2VFR) DXNL    French special event station From 12 to 26 January 2020, special event call TM70TAAF will be activated by François F8DVD. The special callsign commemorates the 70th anniversary of the first Amateur Radio contacts with French Southern and Austral Territories (FSAT - TAAF). These took place in January 1950 during the building of scientific research stations on: - Saint Paul and Amsterdam island (FB8ZZ), - Kerguelen island (FB8XX), - Adelie Land in Antarctica (FB8AX). TM70TAAF will be operated from F8DVD Qth in Mâcon, 60 km north of Lyon (JN26JH). Reference for WAP programm is WAP-301. For more info : http://www.waponline.it/ TM70TAAF Qsl is OK via buro or direct with SASE (1 IRC or 2 USD). Only Qsl's received will be answered. All Qso will be uploded to LOTW.    2019 DX Sound Bites! Tom, K8CX, has done it again. He has provided DXers with 130 memorable rare DX sound clips (now in MP3 format) from Ohio during 2019. This brings the total number of MP3 sound clips on Hamgallery to 2,741. Visit Tom's famous "HAM GALLERY" Web site at: http://hamgallery.com/dx2019 While there, also check out some of the other features on his Web page, such as: 22 years of "Rare DX Sound Clips" of the past (as well as some clips from the 1960's and 1970's which includes all the major DXpeditions and rare DX heard on the bands), QSL Card Museum, Dayton Photo Galleries and Tribute to Silent Key Ham Operators. Tom states, "If anyone has any old HF recordings, I would be interested in hearing from them." (especially sound clips pre-1998 to add to the site) His E-mail address is: k8cx@hamgallery.com OPDX