For DX newsletter publication; edit as you see fit.
I'm back at Diego Garcia after 10 months off island and expect to be QRV at least until 01 March 2012. The local licensing office renewed my regular license for two years and was also kind enough to issue me another short-term special prefix callsign (VQ91JC [numerals nine one]) to use from 19 November through 04 December. In fact, the signed licenses were handed to me less than 90 minutes after I made my request! I'll be on during the upcoming CQ WW as VQ91JC as an All Band Low Power entry. Larry, VQ9LA, and I left the island within 48 hours of each other in January. Unfortunately, Larry's not returning, and the only other regular operator, VQ9ZZ, has also left for good. Meanwhile, visitors over the last few months disconnected a number of coax and other cables without labeling them first, so I'm doing a lot of cable tracing (and labeling!). Much of the cabling work that VQ9LA did over the years has been removed for no apparent reason. The finals in both amps (Alpha 99 and AL80B) have failed, so I'll be running barefoot for the foreseeable future. The amps are owned by the Navy, but the Navy hasn't provided any equipment repair support for several years, and I'll have to buy the replacement finals out of pocket, but that won't happen for several months. Also, the log periodic (10-30 MHz) works well, but the rotator binds around 020 degrees when turning clockwise (from north towards east). There's an apparent issue with strain on the coax caused by turning the rotator and maybe even the connection at the top of the 30-meter tower; the SWR skyrockets when the rotator is turned beyond 020 degrees as it moves to the east. Fortunately, the problem corrects itself when returning the antenna to the north or further west which makes me think the cable may have become jammed beneath the rotator. For now, the antenna will be left facing northwest rather than risk causing permanent damage until I can get up there. This heading favors the path to Europe and the Americas, but obviously hurts the paths to JA and VK/ZL to the east as well as Long Path to NA to the south, but it can't be helped at this point. The single remaining HF rig is an IC-760 which has a lot of years and miles on it, but its performance is still adequate. (There's an FT-920 that's barely good enough for QRP on a couple bands.) I brought an FT-857 from home which I'm using to work the LEO satellites. It will also serve as a back up for HF should the 760 come into hard times. I'll be putting up a 5-element 6M beam. That antenna won't be on the tower, but should still be high enough to take advantage of the openings that have finally started appearing. I'll use the FT-857 for working 6M as well as the satellites. My usual QRV hours are 1200-1630Z on most days. Finally, there's no air conditioning in the shack, so I leave both the front and back doors open to get a little natural air flow. The geckos that live in the shack love it, because they don't have to go hunting for bugs any more; the bugs come to them! 73, Jim, ND9M / VQ9JC Diego Garcia, BIOT ----------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe or subscribe to this list. Please send a message to imail...@njdxa.org In the message body put either unsubscribe dx-news or subscribe dx-news This is the DX-NEWS reflector sponsored by the NJDXA http://njdxa.org -----------------------------------------------------------
