Category - Blog

MX0LDG EU-011 QRT many thanks to all that called in.

Left to right John M5JON, Rob MW0RLJ, Pete M0ILT & Ant MWØJZE.

Each year United Radio QSL Bureau dispatches bureau cards to all World IARU Bureaus every three months, the recent dispatch this week was our third one in 2014 so it is time to give you our report for the year.

In 2014 I have once again worked with Charles, M0OXO in our bureau posting, this helps us both keep down our outgoing expenses. 31,260 bureau QSL cards have been dispatched this year. All our packages are sent using online business account with Royal Mail, we use several products on the account to best suit the size and weight of the item. All of the packages are sent by Business Mail Priority so that we can be sure that they reach their destination as fast as possible and at a cost that is the most competitve in the industry.

It is very important to remember that bureau cards are NOT free, it actually costs us a considerable amount of money every year which has to be financed by the work that we do here, that is why direct cards cost $2, that is why i do not accept stamps.

The RSGB are in the process of doing a “Bureau Review” in which we have been asked to pay more for the incoming bureau service that we have from the RSGB Bureau. At this stage we are still waiting to hear from the RSGB as to how much this is going to cost. So this is a good time to remind you that for ALL DXpeditions you should NOT send incoming bureau cards to us as they are not required, they cost us money to receive them. You must always use OQRS to request your DXpediton IOTA & DXCC bureau cards. This will save us a considerable amount of money and time, and you will get your bureau cards very quickly.

Thank you to all the bureau staff at the IARU bureaus, we value your work very much. There are some that are giving outstanding service, notably the Venezuealan bureau where members informed us that cards had arrived in just 24 days after we had posted them. Thank you.

Using OQRS for direct QSL cards is the fastest and best way to request your QSL cards and this will help us fund our outgoing bureau for the future. Any donations are most welcome of course… Thank you. 

It may be helpful to alert DX’ers that Ukraine has suspended post to Crimea and the City of Sevastopol post codes 95000 – 99999 are affected. Mail is being returned endorsed “UPU IB Circular No 71” The  UPU explanation for this is below.

The world’s postal administrations have been advised that they should no longer dispatch international mail addressed to the Crimea region via Ukrainian Post.

The Universal Postal Union passed on a message from the national postal service of the Ukraine last week confirming that it has difficulties delivering postal items to locations in the Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.

The guidance comes following the annexation of the territory by Russia in the wake of a local referendum described by the United Nations as “invalid”.

The UPU confirmed that it passed on the message to all its members, the postal administrations of 192 countries, stating that they should suspend dispatch of international postal items addressed to the Ukrainian postal codes 95000-99999.

The UPU said Ukrainian Post would inform global postal operators about the resumption of deliveries “as soon as the situation changes”.

According to the UPU, Ukraine received about 20m letters and more than 2.5m parcels from abroad in 2012.

Commenting on the situation, UPU director general Bishar A Hussein said he hoped the parties involved would soon find an operational solution.

UPDATE – I am now aware that mail to the affected posted codes 95000 – 99999 has been re-assigned an extra digit on the code and is handled Via Russian Federation.

As you likely know my antenna elected not to travel with me due to some “machine problem” in Doha. Travelling independently it arrived Singapore last night and will be shipped to Dili on tomorrow’s flight.

Fortunately I have fallen on my feet here. My Australian hosts and their Timorese staff are amazing. Having received VIP treatment at the airport I was taken shopping for wire and coax to facilitate jury rigging a temporary antenna. Dili is no place to shop for this kind of stuff but despite this within less than an hour of arrival I had managed to purchase 100m of PVC covered antenna wire and a 20m length of 50R coax. However the cost however was enough to make my e yes water. When only one place in town has what you need they can take your money through your nose While I was shopping for wire my host located a 10m bamboo and had it delivered to site. What service. My team of Timorese pole erectters and antenna riggers did fantastic work once I had figured out the required wire lengths.

The antennas for 17/30m were rigged just as it got dark last night but the 30m anchor fell prey to the night tide. Repair work will be underway shortly when the tide falls back. The location is amazing with my bamboo antenna support only around 1m from the sea when the tide is in and around 10m when it’s out.

Signals on 17m early evening Timor time were amazing. Pleased to already have a bunch of Gs and CDXC members in the log. I plan to flip between 17/30m until the HF9V arrive s as re-rigging the bamboo pole could cause me to use all my expensive wire in a hurry. I am here until 21 Oct so plenty of time to get on the other bands.

Although the HF9V works pretty well on 80m an inverted L on the bamboo pole may give some advantage. An option for later.

Thanks for the Qs so far. Hope to see you on multiple bands. Bob 4W/G3ZEM