Category - Blog

PJ4TEN is a special event station active during October 2020 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of “10/10/10” – October 10th, 2010. On that date the former country of the Netherlands Antilles was dissolved and Bonaire became a ‘special municipality’ of the Netherlands. As a result, Bonaire became a new DXCC entity on that date. 

To mark the 10th anniversary, Bonaire’s radio amateurs are organising a month-long operating event. A PDF award will be available to those who achieve 10 points by making contacts with PJ4 stations during October. 

Rules:
1. A total of 10 points are required.
2. A contact with PJ4TEN is worth 2 points.
3. A contact with any other PJ4 station is worth 1 point.
4. Exception: on the exact anniversary, between 0000UTC and 2359UTC on Saturday October 10th, all PJ4 stations count 2 points.
5. All stations may be worked more than once on different bands and / or modes for additional points. Example: QSOs with PJ4TEN on 14MHz SSB and 7MHz FT8, and with PJ4NX on 14MHz CW and 7MHz FT8, would count a total of 6 points (2+2+1+1). However, if all those QSOs took place on 10/10/20 a total of 8 points would be scored (2+2+2+2).
6. Only contacts made between 0000UTC on October 1st and 2359UTC on October 31st count towards the Bonaire 10/10/10 Award.
7. There is no fee and no QSLs are required.
8. To apply: send a list of contacts made, stating the date, time (UTC), band and mode to: [email protected]
9. The award is also available to SWLs on a ‘heard’ basis. For each contact logged, please list at least two stations with which the PJ4 station was in contact.

The following is a list of all currently-licensed Bonaire stations:
PJ4BZL (Berry)
PJ4DX (Steve)
PJ4EVA (Eva)
PJ4GR (Gerard)
PJ4KY (Bert)
PJ4NG (Noah)
PJ4NX (Peter)
PJ4RF (Rinse)
PJ4TEN (special event station)
PJ4/DC7MO (Monika)
PJ4/DL1COP (Holger)
PJ4/PE1NMB (Erwin, awaiting full PJ4 callsign)
Other PJ4 callsigns may also be active during the month.

G3AB, Andy has now received his new call sign 5Z4VJ for Nairobi, Kenya. QSL cards are being printed. OQRS will be open shortly.

OQRS will be open shortly on this link. 5Z4VJ

A new 5Z4/G3AB QSL is in the print room for Andy’s activity in Nairobi, Kenya. Thank you Max ON5UR for the QSL design.
5Z4/G3AB Log search
Please remember that log uploads may be sporadic. Always check the “Last QSO date and time” in the log search.
Andy has now received his new call sign 5Z4VJ and QSL cards are being printed. OQRS will be open shortly.

Thank you to the VP8PJ team for the lovely plaque memento received in the post today in recognition and appreciation for the work of “log and QSL management of VP8PJ” Thank you.

As of July 3rd VP8PJ cards mailed on May 21st are still being received. Apparently, some postal services were seriously impacted by the Covid-19 lock-downs.
Please be patient for your mail delivery provider to deliver your QSL cards, this is out of our control at this time. You will get the QSL. Thank you.

Still waiting? If you go to VP8PJ log search, Search for your call sign and click “Request QSL” you will see the status of your QSL request.
Direct QSL & OQRS Direct should all be marked as “SENT”

Sometimes it can be very difficult to verify if a SWL request is genuine or the information is gleaned from internet sources. So I am asking the SWL community to help me make it a bit easier to verify your requests.
I am very pleased to report that SWL is still a very large part of Amateur Radio with several SWL reports coming in every week

The SWL QSL claimant should provide a list of 3 stations consecutively worked by the DX to verify that the QSL card claimant genuinely heard the DX.
Date, time frequency and mode listed with each report.
Any details about your station also welcome.

1) SWL QSL requests can be requested by email, with the required information to validate the SWL
2) I will add the Qs to the log as SWL and email the SWL claimant.
3) The person claiming the SWL must then go through OQRS to request the QSL for either Bureau or Direct.

Incoming SWL Bureau cards will continue be accepted if the call is an RSGB registered call sign, so always check the QSL Policy of the DXpedition. To keep the workload and cost to an acceptable level. I ask SWL’ers to email me and NOT send Bureau cards.
Please follow the same QSL instructions on this page here:
Any QSL without sufficient funds for a reply will be sent via Bureau.

Yes, that is today’s headline. In January 2021 new mandatory worldwide security regulations will be implemented in ALL countries.

Some countries already adopted these mandatory requirements in 2019. Briefly, all international parcels must have a completed electronic customs data (CN22/CN23/Pre-advice).

Although QSL cards are “Printed Matter” exempt from the requirements (non commercial), when the parcels reach customs in the destination country and the parcel displays no pre advice documents then customs can and ARE today either returning the parcel to the sender or destroying the parcels as a security risk.

Here’s a real example: I have attempted multiple times this year to contact the Brazilian Amateur Radio society to ask them for help. Every parcel I sent to Brazil is refused entry because it does not have the required data “from” the IARU Bureau system. I have received no reply from Brazilian QSL Bureau.

I raised this matter with the IARU and was told that because no IARU Bureaus have raised a concern that the problem does not exist.

If the IARU will not implement the changes required to meet worldwide postal /customs regulations then what does this mean for the future of the IARU Bureau system?