Use your "BACK" key to return to top
of this page
|
DXpedition
Check List (under construction) |
|
|
Vertical Antennas by Team Vertical (6Y2A) |
Negotiating with Hotels, an article by NA7DB |
|
|
Never Pay Airlines
Overweight Charges, an article by NA7DB |
Use your "BACK" key to return
to top of this page
Picking Your DX Destination: You should pick your DX destination just like you
would any other vacation - you need to think about the things that are
important to you, and make sure your DX Destination meets your criteria. Here
are some things to consider when selecting your DX Destination:
- Are you willing to bring all
your own equipment, antennas, coax etc.?
- How many people are traveling
with you?
- Does the location need to be
XYL/YL "friendly"?
- What quality of accommodations
do you want: economy or deluxe?
- Do you need to be near typical
tourist facilities? (Beach, sports, shopping etc.)
- Is this a radio-only trip, or
a dual radio-sightseeing trip?
- Are you willing to cook your
own meals?
- Are there health issues that
need to be considered?
- Price: examine total price of
lodging+airfare+meals+transportation+ham radio costs
- Leave the QTH in the same (or
better) condition than you found it
- Be a good will ambassador to
everyone you meet
- If there is equipment there,
treat it likes its yours - repairing/replacing equipment is the single
largest cost to owner of a Rent-a-QTH
- Do not modify antennas,
station, or equipment unless given explicit permission
- If you break something, offer
to pay for it!
- Be kind to the neighbors so
other hams can follow in your footsteps
- Out of courtesy, become a
member of the local radio club, and pay your dues for a year
Critical
DX Vacation Planning Items:
- Airline tickets - reconfirm
your flights, especially when overseas
- Local transportation
requirements at DX location
- Airline luggage limitations
for each leg of flight (some flights may be on very small planes)
- Health Considerations
(vaccinations, personal medication, etc.)
- Travel documents: passport,
visa
- Amateur radio license
- Importation of equipment into
foreign country
- Suitability of antennas and
equipment at QTH
- Packing/shipping equipment
- Customs requirements for your home
country (e.g. in the USA, if the equipment is new, you should either
carry your original sales receipts when you travel abroad, or go to a
U.S. customs office with your equipment and get the Customs Form 4457,
Certificate of Registration for Personal Effects Taken Abroad). Otherwise
you may be subjected to import taxes!
- Detailed ham equipment list
Licensing: You are personally responsible for
obtaining your ham radio license. For the Rent-a-QTH's, your license can often
be arranged for you. As with other information in the web site, I have no further
insight into licensing than the information provided. The best place to start
looking into licensing is the ARRL Overseas Operating Web Site. Also, the OH2MCN web site has a lot of licensing information. Warning--Licensing can
often take months to accomplish! Allow as much time as possible to process your
license.
CEPT Countries: Many DXpedition locations are
covered under the CEPT agreement, which greatly eases the requirements on
licensing. NOTE: Importation of equipment is NOT covered by the CEPT
agreement--you must still take proper action to make sure you can bring your
radio equipment into the country.
IARP Countries: An agreement between a number of countries in North and South America
for allowing hams to use their existing license. NOTE: Importation of
equipment is NOT covered by the IARP agreement--you must still take proper
action to make sure you can bring your equipment into the country.
Reciprocal Licensing for USA hams can be found on the
ARRL web site
Passports:
Most DX countries
require a valid passport for entry, and in most cases, the passport needs to be
valid for 6 months after the time of entry.
Visas:
Some countries may
even require a visa before arrival. Consult your travel agent regarding travel
documents, visas, etc. For most common tourist countries, you will be issued an
"airport visa" at the time of entry - no advance paperwork is
required.
Check Visa Requirements - This web site tells you the visa
requirements from any country to anyplace!
Traveldocs - Travel document information mostly for US tourists,
but has a wealth of local tourist information. Offers passport and visa
expediting service.
G3Visas - U.S. passport and visa expediter.
U.S. Visa Helper - Fee based assistance for US
residents seeking visa processing assistance (not an expediter)
Need
a visa fast? "Visa Expediters" that can be found in the major US
cities. They will do all the legwork required to get your visa (sometimes
getting visas can be a complicated and time-consuming process).
Bureau of Consular Affairs - Largely US based information on
travel warnings, US Embassy info, Lists of Doctors/hospitals overseas, passport
info, and general travel tips etc.
World Travel Watch - News updates for travelers.
Money
Matters:
To convert currencies, try: Currency Converter by Oanda
Another currency converter at: http://www.xe.net/ucc/
Visa (Credit Card) ATM Locator: http://www.visa.com/pd/atm/main.html
Changing
Money: While many
travelers still take travelers checks, one of the better ways to get local
currency is with ATM machines, which are nearly everywhere. An ATM machine
gives you about the best exchange rate you can get, even including your bank's
usage fee. Only drawback is a typical $300 limit per day. Also pay with credit
cards as much as possible, again to get the best exchange rate and for
purchasing protection. Unfortunately, many off the beaten path locations
only accept cash.
Health, Emergency, and Severe Weather
Health:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
World Health Organization (WHO) - International Travel Information
International Society of Travel
Medicine - List of travel medicine clinics
around the world
U.S. State Department Travel
Warnings: International
travel can be hazardous. Before venturing outside your home country, check the
U.S State Department Travel Warnings for country information.
Healthy Flying - Fantastic information on staying
healthy while flying - a must read!
Staying Healthy in Asia, Africa, and
Latin America - Detailed information by Moon Books
on immunizations, malaria, blood transfusions, and tips for identifying
symptoms of dangerous illnesses
The Lonely Planet Travel Guide has a great web resource on health issues - click here
Emergency
Nets:
Caribbean Maritime Mobile Net (for disaster help in that area): http://www.viaccess.net/~kv4jc/
Maritime Mobile Service Net (for disaster help on high seas on foreign lands): http://206.202.0.2/~mmsn/
Pacific Seafarers Net: http://www.wcinet.net/~aspect/sf.htm
Maritime Mobile Service Net: http://www2.acan.net/~mmsn/mmsn.htm
Severe
Weather Websites and On-Air Nets:
National Hurricane Center (NOAA): http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
Hurican Net (Hurricane Net) - Spanish/English: http://www.huracan.com/
Skywarn Severe Weather: http://skywarn.isla.net/
Amateur Station at the National Hurricane Center, FL: http://www.fiu.edu/orgs/w4ehw/
Hurricane Watch Net: http://www.hwn.org/
National Weather Service: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/
Caribbean Hurricane Network: http://stormcarib.com/
DXpedition Check List: (under construction)
Plastic
trash bags for wet clothes, waterproofing etc.
Small
operating lamp
Announcing (Publicizing) Your DXpedition: Getting the news out that you're going on an
expedition is a key part of building the excitement and awareness of your
operation. It also allows you to let others know about what frequencies, modes,
and bands you will be operating on, as well as your QSL information. The
following list has most of the major DX News Bulletins:
|
425 - 425 DX News from Italy |
DXNL - DX News Letter (DL9GOA/DL7VOA) |
|
59(9) - The 59(9) DXReport |
|
|
59 Magazine - Japanese Magazine Email: ja1ely@bb.mbn.or.jp |
Japanese CQ Ham Radio - Email at: jp1nwz@cqpub.co.jp |
|
ADXO - NG3K List of DX Operations |
NCJ - National Contest Journal |
|
ARLDX - ARRL DX Bulletins |
|
|
Daily DX - The Daily DX Home Page |
OPDX - The Ohio/Penn DX (OPDX) Bulletin |
|
Eham.net – Ham radio on the net |
The NCJ also has a good DXpedition List of people to notify. |
Announce your DXpedition to
everyone! Click on
the following link to easily Email most of the DX Publications listed
above (currently the ARRL DX Bulletin
and Eham.net are not included in this Email notification)
Announcing Your QSL Information: In addition to getting the word out to the DX
newsletters, you should also submit your call and QSL information to the major
on-line callbook servers and QSL manager databases. Here are a few of the major
QSL and Callsign databases:
|
Buckmaster - Buckmaster Callbook Server |
OK1RR - OK1RR's QSL Manager Database |
|
DX Central - DX managers & QSL INFO |
Pathfinder - QSL information from web sources |
|
eHAM - eHAM.net Callbook |
QRZ - "QSL Corner" from QRZ Online |
|
IK4LZH - 425 DX News QSL INFO System |
T77WI - T77WI's QSL Lookup Page |
|
Go List - Go List, QSL Manager List |
WM7D - WM7D.net Callsign Database |
Need a QSL Manager? Bob Schenck, N2OO/9M6OO/V85OO, announced the
formation of "The QSL Manager's Society". This will be a web based
"organization" that will act as a "point of contact" for
quality QSL managers, and for DXpeditions or DX stations looking for one. It
will also provide a central source of information useful to any QSL manager.
Please visit the web page at: http://www.qsl.net/qslmanagers
DXpedition Sponsorship: If you are going to a very rare location, you
may be able to secure funding from the following foundations. Frankly, most of
the locations listed on this web site do not fall into the very
rare category. If you have not sought sponsorship before, in reality, only a
small percentage of the cost of the operation ever gets covered by sponsorship.
Most expedition costs are covered via the operators, and to some degree, with donations
enclosed with QSLs (but even that is decreasing too with higher usage of
SASE's). You may also be able to obtain sponsorship from the major equipment
manufacturers, as they may be willing to loan you equipment.
|
|
IOTA Resources: The
following web pages are good sources of information on IOTA operations and
information. If you are going on an IOTA trip, you should also announce your
operation to these groups.
|
|
Operating Tips and Utilities
Split
Operating Tips in Pile-Ups - Commentary by KH2D in the Pacific Radio Waves Newsletter
http://www.guam.net/pub/midxa/nl/nl_apr98.html
The Price of Operating a Pileup by CT1BOH: http://www.contesting.com/articles/1
NCDXF Beacons - great way to determine if the band is open: http://www.ncdxf.org/beacon.htm
Beacon Clock (freeware): http://www.huntting.com/beaconclock/index.html
Active Beacon Wizard (freeware): http://www.taborsoft.com/abw/
The World Clock: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/
Calendar Zone: http://www.calendarzone.com/
Gray Line Program by ex UR5EMI (now in VE3): http://www.netvampire.com/ham/
SM7PKK DX-pedition Site and Operating Tips: http://home.swipnet.se/~w-17565/
DXpeditioning
Behind the Scenes—book by G3NUG, G4 JVG and the 9M0C DXpedition team.
Create your own sunrise and sunset tables: http://aa.usno.navy.mil/AA/data/docs/RS_OneDay.html
NOAA Sunrise/Sunset Calculator: http://www.srrb.noaa.gov/highlights/sunrise/gen.html
Sunrise and Twilight Calculator: http://www.mindspring.com/~cavu/sunset.html
Propagation Information: http://dx.qsl.net/propagation/propagation.html
Great Circle Maps (on-line map creation): http://www.wm7d.net/azproj.shtml
Great Circle Maps by SM3GSJ (GCM Win is the name of the software): http://hem.passagen.se/sm3gsj/
Beam Heading Chart - create you own beam heading chart on-line: http://mdxa.org/cgi-private/dxcclist.pl
Shipping
Antennas: The web
author uses SKB brand hard-sided golf club carriers to transport all antennas.
They can often be purchased in the USA for $100-125. Normally we use the
Standard Size SKB carrier which meets ATA airline shipping specifications. The
internal dimensions are 48" long, and 12" across. The bag easily
holds 70 lbs. of antennas (maximum per bag without extra charges), has large
wheels, 3 locks/latches, good hinge, and 2 handles. These types of carriers are
so common, that we never get questioned what's inside them. You can see
pictures of the cases at: http://www.skbsports.com/golf/golfcase.html In all our travels, only one case
got slightly dented, and I think we lost one handle. That's not bad for the
number of trips we have taken with these carriers.
Additional tips for transporting antennas can be found at: http://www.qth.com/ka9fox/ship_antenna_on_airplane.txt
Shipping
Equipment: The web
author and the HC8N and 6Y2A teams use the Pelican 1650 case to transport most
major equipment pieces. Some larger (taller) amps will not fit in the case, but
it's fine for most transceivers, and Amps like the Alpha 76 size. The cases are
watertight, airtight, have 7 secure latches, 2 places for locks, wheels, and 3 handles.
This is about the best shipping case you can find (it’s inexpensive and
tough!). The only drawback is the case weighs about 22 lbs empty.
The
6Y2A and HC8N teams have had little problems transporting equipment... that
said, others have had damage to their equipment, notably the FT1000MP. The MP
is a tight fit into the Pelican 1650 case. While I don’t know for sure, I
suspect the damaged units were a result of using the lower-density foam that
can be ordered with the Pelican case (Pelican calls this "Pick-n-Pluck"
high-density foam, but it isn't dense enough!). In addition, the
rigs are probably oriented the wrong way in the case (read more below). Many of
the HC8N and 6Y2A members have HIGH-DENSITY foam inserts
specially designed for the equipment… in the USA, we go to a foam specialist,
and the cost is typically $125 (in No. California) for a custom high-density
foam design for each piece of equipment that goes into the Pelican. Depending
on the equipment, sometimes the original factory packing foam that comes with
the equipment can be used (it's made for shipping that equipment, so it will be
fine!). My JRC JST-245 with factory foam, and the RF deck for the Alpha 76 with
factory foam, fits perfectly into the Pelican case, with room to spare.
One
of the key things when packing equipment is to use truly HIGH-DENSITY
foam (it is difficult to compress this stuff with your fingers). Low-density
foam allows the equipment to move when it's dropped, and I suspect the movement
is what allows damage
Packing
the 1000 MP in the Pelican 1650:
If
not packed correctly, the MP's front tuning knob typically gets pushed into the
radio, making the rig totally inoperable. In addition, often the coax
connectors on the back of the radio get pushed in too. Many people who went to
WRTC 2000 had broken MP's when they arrived in Bled - with the only solution of
sending the rig back to Yaesu, or selling it for scrap. What happened? Most
shipping specifications call for 2" of foam padding beyond the farthest
point of the equipment. The MP inside the 1650 does NOT have 2" clearance
(see photo below). The key to packing the MP in the 1650 is to face the knobs
as shown in the photo – you want them to have max padding just in case. That
said, remember the foam should not touch any knobs or connectors – only the
case should contact the foam.
The
flat sides of the MP should be facing the walls that are the closest (front
handle and rear hinge). If you use HIGH-DENSITY foam (do not the foam that
comes with the case), and you orient the MP as described, you probably wont
have a problem. The HC8N and 6Y2A team have been shipping their MP's this way
and have not had a single failure. In addition, you should cut the high-density
foam so the pressure is on the MP's CHASSIS and not the knobs or coax
connectors. The tuning knob (or any protruding knob or connectors) should not
be contacting the foam in such a way that pressure is put on them - the
pressure should be put on the case of the radio only. (if you look at the
design of your factory foam that your equipment is shipped in, you will notice
that the foam does not touch any protruding knob). True High-Density foam
usually comes in sheets, and is fairly expensive. But a properly designed foam
insert saves you a lot of $$, time, and frustration in the long run… think of
it as insurance. Our customized high-density foam inserts cost about $125.
|
|
|
|
ACOM
1000: Many ACOM users have asked me for details on
how to pack their amplifier. For those
of you not familiar with this amp, it’s a great traveling KW amp. It’s built to handle varying voltages, you
can ship it with the tube in place, and it puts out a cool KW (peaks at
1200w). Packing this amplifier is
pretty much the same as the FT1000MP above.
As always, you need to make sure that the packing material does not come
in contact with any knob or connector.
The foam should only contact the case.
Source
of High Density Foam: I get this question all the time… the DXpeditioners
in Northern California use Bob’s Foam Factory www.bobsfoam.com
. Most likely you will need to find a local source for high-density foam. If there is no listing in the phone book for
a foam specialist, try looking for a commercial equipment shipping company
(just a suggestion). Some people have
also used the foam that comes with their equipment. This foam is adequate, though if it’s the blown Styrofoam kind
(that breaks up into tiny little balls), this foam tends to break down quickly
due to the movement within the Pelican case.
This foam should last for a round-trip DXpedition – BUT I take no
responsibility for this! Yes I have
used this method myself, but these days I only go with custom made high-density
foam. Often you can call the manufacturer of your equipment and order a new set
of shipping foam. We did this a number
of times for the FT1000MP before giving up (the foam would crumble too fast as
noted above) and switching to the high-density stuff. The local mom & pop
UPS shipping stores usually don’t have any experience in shipping 30-50 lb
pieces of electronic equipment, and I would not trust them. They also probably don’t have foam that is
dense enough for the application.
Pelican
1650:
You
can see some manufacturers pictures of the Pelican 1650 case here: http://www.pelicancase.com/section3.htm (I do not recommend purchasing from
this company, they just had good pictures for examples).
If
you search the Internet, you might find one or two places selling the Pelican
1650 without foam for around $155 + shipping (and tax if applicable).
Unfortunately, the price has been creeping up. There are a few places selling
the 1650 with foam for around $180 + shipping and tax (remember, that we
don’t think this foam is adequate enough). After that, there are a few places
selling the case in the $200-225 range. There are a lot of places that sell it
for even more…
USA
Customs Tip (for USA residents only):
For
those of you who have not taken equipment out/in of the country, you might be
interested in obtaining a certificate that will eliminate any hassles upon
returning to the USA. If US Customs officials suspect your
equipment was purchased overseas, they will try to collect taxes from you. You
could just travel with your US sales receipts, but I prefer not to. Or you can
go to the customs office at any airport and get a "Certificate of
Registration for Personal Effects Taken Abroad". To obtain this certificate,
you must bring your equipment to the customs office at any airport. They
will look at the equipment, and record the equipment name and serial number on
the form (I don’t think sales receipts are required, as they presume that if
you have the equipment in the USA, you already paid taxes on it. You might want
to call the customs office before you go just to reconfirm).
By
having this certificate, it shows that you have purchased the equipment in the
USA, so airport Customs officials cannot ask you to pay taxes on it upon
returning to the USA. This is not mandatory, but it is recommended on newer
equipment (don’t worry about old equipment, but it doesn’t hurt to get it
registered). A few times I have been hassled by US Customs officials when they
thought I bought the equipment overseas... When I had the certificate, I just
flashed it when they asked to search my stuff, and they just passed me through
without examining any of the equipment.
If
you do get one of these certificates, the certificate is good for life. Some
customs officers do not know this, and have tried to take the certificate from
me, thinking it was for one-time use. If they try to take it from you when you
return to the US, politely tell them that you should keep the form, and it is good
for life.
Seating Charts for major airlines: http://www.tripspot.com/ask/seatingchart.htm
USGS Information on map reading and finding true north
on a map: http://mac.usgs.gov/mac/isb/pubs/factsheets/fs07999.html
Canada Geologic Survey information on magnetic declination: http://www.geolab.emr.ca/geomag/e_magdec.html