The DX Mentor

This is The DX Mentor podcast. I hope to help those hams trying to move up the DXCC ladder as well as those that at on the DXCC Honor Roll. As fast as technology is moving, no one can keep up on it all. I am here to help. #DX #Hamradio

Hello and welcome to episode 55 of The DX Mentor and our discussion of Geography and DX. Thank you for joining us. I’m Bill, AJ8B. 

If this is the first time you are with us, Welcome! We have a back catalog of over 50 episodes covering many aspects of DX in both podcast and YouTube format.

Remember, if you like what you find, please subscribe, like, and share! 

Our guest today is Ralph Bellas, K9ZO. Here is

I have earned 10BDXCC, 10 Band WAS, and the Triple Play Award.  I am active with DXCC Challenge with 2911

Joe, W8GEX, an accomplished DXer in his own right will also be with us.

 Resources mentioned include:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bir_Tawil

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morokulien

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baikonur_Cosmodrome

Southwest Ohio DX Assoc. https://www.swodxa.org

Daily DX https://www.dailydx.com/

DX Engineering https://www.dxengineering.com/

Icom https://www.icomamerica.com/

IC-905 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-905/

IC-9700 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-9700/

IC-7610 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-7610/

IC-7300 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-7300/

Hello and welcome to episode 54 of The DX Mentor Discussion with 9M8HAZ. Thank you for joining us. I’m Bill, AJ8B.

If this is the first time you are joining us, Welcome! We have a back catalog of over 50 episodes covering many aspects of DX in both podcast and YouTube format. Please check us out. If you are new to DXing, I would really recommend episode 1 as it was recorded with several world class DXers. You will get a feel of the excitement that goes with chasing DX!   

If you like what you find, please subscribe, like, and share!  

If you have questions or comments, please email me directly using [email protected].

Our guest today is 9M8HAZ, Marz, W3UR, Bernie, and W8GEX, Joe.

From the 9M1Z website, I found this:

This DXpedition serves as a critical training exercise, laying the groundwork for a successful “Pre-DXPEDITION OF 9M0-SPRATLY ISLAND” in 2025 or 2026. As you know, Spratly Island is currently closed for maintenance, but we’re hopeful it will reopen to the public by then. Our

A huge congratulations to all the stations who managed to contact us during the DXpedition. We are incredibly impressed to announce a total of 36,169 QSOs logged! This is a fantastic testament to the dedication and skill of both our team and all the participating stations.”

Without any further delay, let’s get started.  

This is The DX Mentor podcast. I hope to help those hams trying to move up the DXCC ladder as well as those that at on the DXCC Honor Roll. As fast as technology is moving, no one can keep up on it all. I am here to help. #DX #Hamradio

Instead of my explanation, lets check out what the Rotuma2024.com website has to say:

"The Pacific Islands DXpedition Group (PIDXG) is pleased to announce that Gregg, W6IZT; Dean, W2FQ; Nathan, K4NHW; Jamie, MØSDV, Connor, KD9LSV and Lukas, LY7J will operate from Rotuma as 3D2Y from November 15 to December 4, 2024. In addition, they will be taking part in the CQWW CW Contest using another (TBA) callsign.

The 6 member team will operate locally with three 500w stations on 6m-160m. Additionally, the DXpedition will include two of W6IZT’s NexGenRiBs.

One of the primary goals of this DXpedition is to “Enable DXpeditioning for the Next Generation of Amateur Radio Operators.” Having young operators like 23-year old Jamie, 23-year old Connor, and 22-year old Lukas, participate on this DXpedition team goes a long way in fulfilling this mission. Moreover, the DXpedition organizers and Youth on the Air (YOTA) have entered into a unique partnership with this DXpedition by actually applying YOTA’s goal of building skills, fostering lasting friendships and mentoring younger operators. To this end, the NexGenRiBs will be operated by a team of young amateur radio operators who will get to experience the excitement that comes with being part of this DXpedition and what goes into making this type of activity a success.

We are also fortunate to have 19-year old YOTA member Kees (pronounced Case), WØAAE, play an important role in the 3D2Y DXpedition. He has volunteered to coordinate and schedule the YOTA operation of the remote stations."

My guests are Joe, W8GEX, Greg, W6IZT, Dean, W2FQ, Connor, KD9LSV, and Greg’s better half, Wendy.

Resources mentioned include:

https://rotuma2024.com/

Southwest Ohio DX Assoc. https://www.swodxa.org

Daily DX https://www.dailydx.com/

DX Engineering https://www.dxengineering.com/

Icom https://www.icomamerica.com/

IC-905 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-905/

IC-9700 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-9700/

IC-7610 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-7610/

IC-7300 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-7300/

This is The DX Mentor podcast. I hope to help those hams trying to move up the DXCC ladder as well as those that at on the DXCC Honor Roll. As fast as technology is moving, no one can keep up on it all. I am here to help. #DX #Hamradio

Today we will be discussing the upcoming DXPedtion to Sao Tome & Principe, S9Z. The following is from their website:

“The Dateline DX Association (DDXA), a world-wide DX organization, is pleased to announce to the amateur radio DX community the activation of Sao Tome & Principe, a small island nation off the coast of Gabon from November 11 through November 20, 2024.

The international team is comprised of all highly experienced DXers, DXPeditioners, Contesters and

Our guests today are Ralph, K0IR, Kimo, KH7U, Max, I8AHJ/N5AHJ, and Joe, W8GEX.

Resources mentioned include:

S9Z Info https://www.qrz.com/db/S9Z

S9Z Website https://s9z.org/

Southwest Ohio DX Assoc. https://www.swodxa.org

Daily DX https://www.dailydx.com/

DX Engineering https://www.dxengineering.com/

Icom https://www.icomamerica.com/

IC-905 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-905/

IC-9700 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-9700/

IC-7610 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-7610/

IC-7300 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-7300/ 

This is The DX Mentor podcast. I hope to help those hams trying to move up the DXCC ladder as well as those that at on the DXCC Honor Roll. As fast as technology is moving, no one can keep up on it all. I am here to help. #DX #Hamradio

Our guests today are Rolf, DL7VEE, Christian, DL6KAC, and Joe, W8GEX. We are going to be discussing the upcoming DXPedition to C21MM, Nauru with Rolf and Christian.

The DXpedition to Nauru, C21MM, will run from October 10th, 2024 to October 29th, 2024. I normally don’t do this, but from the Daily DX, I can share the following information, which is essentially what we discussed in the first 12 minutes:

With less than 4 weeks to go, the team of 14 German operators are ready. We follow our main principles being light-weight and cost effective. As always, only transceivers from Elecraft will be used. All equipment including antennas will be transported by the team members using “traditional luggage” partly oversized. However, this does not mean that we compromise on the antennas. For the high bands we are going to use our 2-element full size wire beam from LZ Antennas. That provides us with some dB more gain compared to a vertical. By using the LBS Pentaplexer we can operate 3 high bands together at the same time on this antenna.

As always, we follow our strategy to use resonant and full-size single band antennas on all bands (except 160 m). No grounded verticals will be used. Verticals with an elevated radial are even better for reception, also known as Up & Outer. This time we will carry two 22 m (72 feet) Spiderbeam fiberglass poles for 160 m & 80 m (compared to 18 m poles on our last DXpeditions). That is perfect for 80 m and an improvement for the top band as well. We will also bring the brand new 14-m-HD-fiberglass pole from Spiderbeam which gives us 2 m more height compared to the 12-m-HD-pole. This one is perfect for bands from 60 m and up. For low band receiving we plan BOGs. Jan, OK2ZAW (QRO.CZ), supported us with RX band filter boards for splitting one BOG to different receivers on different bands. For 40 & 30 m we try loops this time. We always use small band pass filters for each band between transceiver and amplifier and additional bigger band pass filters to the antennas.

We will run our proven shift system with radio and free time slots 24/7, ensuring that our experienced operators will have full concentration in their shift. 5 stations between 160 and 6 m in CW, SSB, RTTY and FT8 are planned. Starting with a first group of 6 men from October 10th only on high bands for few days. Second part of the group will arrive October 15.

Here are some of the links that we mention during the discussion:

https://c21mm.mydx.de

http://www.dl7vee.de

https://c21mm.mydx.de/?Welcome

https://c21mm.mydx.de/?Donate_here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFh_EW64gDo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1KrGZRzVGY

Southwest Ohio DX Assoc. https://www.swodxa.org

DX Code of Conduct : https://www.dx-code.com/

Daily DX https://www.dailydx.com/

DX Engineering https://www.dxengineering.com/

Icom https://www.icomamerica.com/

IC-905 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-905/

IC-9700 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-9700/

IC-7610 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-7610/

IC-7300 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-7300/

This is The DX Mentor podcast. I hope to help those hams trying to move up the DXCC ladder as well as those that at on the DXCC Honor Roll. As fast as technology is moving, no one can keep up on it all. I am here to help. #DX #Hamradio

DF4GV, DL4SVA, DK2AMM, DJ7TO, DL1KWK and DL2AWG went to Kiritimati (OC 024) from the 13th of March to the 27th of March, 2024.

We ran 3 Stations, 24 hours per day.

Our main modes were CW, SSB, RTTY, and some FT8.

Members of our team had also participated (amongst others) in the following past DXpeditions: 3D2AW, 3D2EU, S7GWG, 4S7RTG, 5B/DJ7TO, 5R8MM, 5R8WG, 5WØGW, 5WØM, 8Q7IO, 9H3O, 9N7AN, A35WG, C21EU, H44WG, HU1DL, J48IO, J48M, J79WG, KH8/DL2AWG, MD/DL4SVA, P29RO, S79GG, TX7EU, T2C, T3ØD, T31EU, V6EU, V73D, VP6EU, XRØYD, XX9D, YJØAWG, ZBØ/DJ7TO, ZK1AWG, ZK3N, ZL/DJ7TO, ZM4T.

The Guest for this episode is DF4GV Elmar : (https://www.qrz.com/db/DF4GV)

Resources mentioned include:

DX Code of Conduct : https://www.dx-code.com/

Southwest Ohio DX Assoc. https://www.swodxa.org

Daily DX https://www.dailydx.com/

DX Engineering https://www.dxengineering.com/

Icom https://www.icomamerica.com/

IC-905 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-905/

IC-9700 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-9700/

IC-7610 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-7610/

IC-7300 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-7300/

This is The DX Mentor podcast. I hope to help those hams trying to move up the DXCC ladder as well as those that at on the DXCC Honor Roll. As fast as technology is moving, no one can keep up on it all. I am here to help. #DX #Hamradio

Our guest was Bob, [email protected]

Here are some of the YouTube 3D printing channels:

House of Ham

Maker's Muse

Uncle Jessy

3D Printing Nerd

Here are some of the questions that were asked and answered:

What is 3D printing?

How does it work?

What costs are associated with 3D printing?

Printer?

Filament?

How long does something take to print?

What colors?

What size can I print?

Where can I get items to print?

Can I design my own?

{Ham Radio Questions)

How is it used in ham radio applications?

Are designs shared among ham radio folks?

Resources mentioned include:

Top 3D Slicer Applications

https://www.3dsourced.com/3d-software/best-3d-slicer-printer-software/

https://www.printables.com/

https://www.thingiverse.com/

https://us.store.bambulab.com/products/p1s?variant=41516337070216

https://us.store.bambulab.com/products/a1

https://www.onshape.com/en/

Southwest Ohio DX Assoc. https://www.swodxa.org

Daily DX https://www.dailydx.com/

DX Engineering https://www.dxengineering.com/

Icom https://www.icomamerica.com/

IC-905 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-905/

IC-9700 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-9700/

IC-7610 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-7610/

IC-7300 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-7300/

This is The DX Mentor podcast. I hope to help those hams trying to move up the DXCC ladder as well as those that at on the DXCC Honor Roll. As fast as technology is moving, no one can keep up on it all. I am here to help. #DX #Hamradio

In this episode of The DX Mentor, our Ralph, K9ZO, will share many ways that he has improved his DXing. Ralph is very accomplished as his bio states "My interests include technology, entrepreneurship, contesting, DXing, CW, VHF, propagation, and being very active on the HF bands. DXpeditions really excite me! I'm an Assistant Director, 50 Year Member, and Life Member with the ARRL. I'm a past President, State Coordinator, and former Board member of the Society of Midwest Contesters (SMC) - W9SMC. I am the former "Contesting on a Budget" column editor for the National Contest Journal, NCJ. I'm a former member of the Metro DX club.

I have earned 10BDXCC, 10 Band WAS, and the Triple Play Award. I am active with DXCC Challenge with 2911 slots. For DXCC Honor Roll I have 358 Mixed, 353 CW, 358 Phone, and 319 Digital countries. I earned 5BWAZ. I've been fortunate to have been part of DX teams which were awarded "DXpedition of the Year."

Here are some of the links that we mention during the discussion:

QRZ https://www.qrz.com/

DX Summit http://www.dxsummit.fi/#/

DXCC Country List https://www.arrl.org/files/file/DXCC/2020%20DXCC%20Current%20.pdf

Clublog Most Wanted https://clublog.org/mostwanted.php

N1MM https://n1mmwp.hamdocs.com/

DXLabs https://dxlabsuite.com/

Southwest Ohio DX Assoc. https://www.swodxa.org

DX Code of Conduct : https://www.dx-code.com/

Daily DX https://www.dailydx.com/

DX Engineering https://www.dxengineering.com/

Icom https://www.icomamerica.com/

IC-905 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-905/

IC-9700 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-9700/

IC-7610 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-7610/

IC-7300 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-7300/