Sunday, July 1, 2012

TO2U, St.Pierre et Miquelon, IOTA NA-032

http://www.to2u.contestgroupduquebec.com


HAM Radio expedition to  St.Pierre et Miquelon, IOTA NA-032
TO2U, FP/VE3DZ, FP/VA2WA  July 20-31, 2012
IOTA

IOTA NA-032  Ham Radio DX -expedition to the St.Pierre et Miquelon islands. Two radio operators, Yuri, VE3DZ and Victor VA2WDQ/VA2WA will do there best to represent FP DXCC entity to the world of HAM radio operators. They will be active  during period of July 20-31, 2012 in CW/SSB/RTTY by using personal calls FP/VE3DZ and FP/VA2WA for everyday and TO2U for contests.


About St.Pierre et Miquelon
First settled by the French in the early 17th century, the islands represent the sole remaining vestige of France's once vast North American possessions. 
Geography
Sint-Pierre and Miquelon islands in the Gulf of ST LAWRENCE, 20 km southwest of the Burin Peninsula, Newfoundland and Labrador. Miquelon (110 km2) was once 2 islands. In the mid-1700s, an isthmus formed to Langlade (91 km²) in the south from sand collecting in the wrecks that had foundered on the reefs and sandbars between the islands. The treacherous waters between Langlade and Saint-Pierre (26 km²) were up to 1900 called Gueule d'Enfer - "the Mouth of Hell." Since 1800 more than 600 shipwrecks have been recorded. 

History 
Europeans began to regularly visit from the early 16th century and their settlements are some of the oldest in the Americas. At first the Basque fishermen only visited the islands seasonally during the fishing season, by the mid-17th century there were permanent French residents on the islands.


Population
About 5500 of the total population of more than 6000 live on the smaller island of Saint-Pierre, where the capital town of the same name is located. Fishing Cod on the Grand Banks was the main industry for centuries.


Climate
The archipelago is characterized by a cold borderline humid continental/subarctic climate, under the influence of polar air masses and the cold Labrador Curren. The average temperature is 15.7°C in August and -3.6°C in February.Precipitation is abundant and regular, falling as snow and rain. Because of its location at the confluence of the cold waters of the Labrador Current and the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, the archipelago is also crossed a hundred days a year by fog banks, mainly in June and July.

Visiting St.Pierre et Miquelon
To enter St.Pierre and Miquelon, all nationalities other than Canadian citizens must have a Passport. Canadian passengers are required to have a passport or driver's licence with picture or government issued ID with picture. Certain Countries with the exception of EU, USA, Japan and Switzerland may require a Visa. Here is the link how to get there http://www.st-pierre-et-miquelon.com/english/comment.php.




June 29, 2012 21:34 EST:
Today we\ve got an approval by REF for using a special callsign for the DX-expedion - TO2U. Thanks to Youri! He knows how to do that:)) But we decided to use this call only during the contests - WW VHF and IOTA). Beside that we are going to use FP/VE3DZ and FP/VA2WA.
Victor, VA2WDQ


Two radio operators, Yuri, VE3DZ and Victor VA2WDQ/VA2WA will do there best to represent FP DXCC entity to the world of HAM radio operators. They will be active  during period of July 20-31, 2012 in CW/SSB/RTTY by using personal calls FP/VE3DZ and FP/VA2WA for everyday and TO2U for contests (CQ WW VHF Contest and RSGB IOTA).
The Band plan
     BAND            CW                 SSB               RTTY     
6mt50.10450.115
10mt28.02428.44028.080 
12mt24.89424.94024.914
15mt21.02421.24021.084 
17mt18.07418.14018.104
20mt14.02414.24014.084
30mt10.114 -  10.142
40mt7.0247.060  7.1407.041
80mt3.5243.790 -
160mt1.824 - -

Equipment
We plan to operate two stations. Given the difficulties in getting large amounts of heavy equipment to the island, we plan to use lightweight but high performance K3/TS-590S transceivers and a small HLA-300V amplifier.

Tranceivers
1 x Elecraft K3/100 with RigExpert Plus interface
1 x Kenwood TS-590S with K1EL WinKey interface

Amplifiers
1 x RM Italy HLA-300V

Antennas
20/15/10m: 1 x Spiderbeam 3 bands on 10m mast
30m/40/17/12 SteppIR BiggIR vertical
160/80m: 11.5m top loaded vertical
6M: 3 el. Yagi (Cushcraft)

Band Pass filters
Remo (Russia)

QSL card will  be avaliable after DX-expedition via OQRS via buro or direct by using  PayPal system.
Here is FP/VA2WA QSL as an example:



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