. Jag delade själv ut DXCC nummer 41 via FO-29 till UX0FF i helgen, efter att han jagat en månad på satelliterna. Det är ett flertal jänkare på USA:s östkust som vill köra CW/SSB på AO-7 på längre avstånd. (Även FO-29 går bra.)Members of the Russian Robinson Club (RRC) continue planning for
their next Arctic operation. Look for RI1F to be active from
Victoriya Island (EU-190). They plan to leave Murmansk around
September, 27. They are expected to operate between October 1-7.
This island group has never been activated before. These islands
also count for DXCC purposes as Franz Josef Land.
Activity will be on 160-10 meters, including the WARC bands,
VHF and UHF. Operations will be on CW, SSB, the Digital modes,
EME (dates are October 3-7) and the satellites.
They plan to operate from two different sites (one HF and EME;
one VHF/UHF). The complete break down can be see on QRZ.com.
Currently, 12 operators have been named: Igor/UA9KDF (Team leader),
Yury/ UA9OBA (RRC President), Andrey/UA9LDD (CW op), Valery/UA0ZC
(CW/SSB op), Vladimir/R9LR (SSB/CW op), Sergey/UA9KB (CW op),
Artemy/UA9KAM (Photo, video, SSB op), Andrey/RT9K (Mechanic,
cook, SSB op), Victor/RW0BG (CW/SSB op), Mikhail/UA1QV (CW/SSB op),
Valery/RA9J (CW/SSB op) and Vladimir, son of UA9LDD; CW/SSB op).
The Pilot station is Igor, RA3CQ. QSL via ClubLog’s OQRS or by
the Bureau. QSL Manager is Alexandr, RX9KM. Watch QRZ.com for updates.
Their Web page is still under construction at: http://legendsarctic.com
John Papay, K8YSE, sent advice to amateur satellite operators in
the northeastern section of North America that Nikolay, UX0FF,
is looking skeds via AO-7. John wrote, “He is an accomplished
operator and worked satellites years ago. He is an active EME
operator and has WAS on 2M. His grid square is KN45kj.”
Skeds can be arranged via e-mail using the address listed on
Nicolay’s QRZ.com page.
On September 17 KB1RVT and UX0FF completed a QSO on AO-7. This
was Nikolay’s first satellite contact with the USA. Nikolay is
still looking for others to work in North America.
Paul, N8HM offers additional pointers in regard to operating via
AO-7 that the satellite has been observed to have been reliably
in Mode B for the past several days.
For the past several months, AO-7 has had a tendency to flip from
Mode B to Mode A even in the presence of only modest uplink sig-
nals, likely due to poor illumination on the solar panels. As
the seasons have progressed, it appears that the illumination
situation has improved. Get on and make some QSOs! This would
be a particularly good time to set up skeds for extreme range
QSOs.
According to DK3WN’s illum software, from October 15th through
November 21st, AO-7 will be in constant sunlight. During this
period, the 24 hour timer will function and the satellite will
spend 24 hours in Mode B then 24 hours in Mode A. Get those 10
meter antennas ready!