3B9C - Bulletin No. 4

Project Star Reach (3B9C) – Bulletin No. 4
6 March 2004

This is the fourth bulletin concerning Project Star Reach, a project focused around a major expedition to Rodrigues Island, with the callsign 3B9C.

Remember, 3B9C is expected to hit the bands around midnight local (2000 GMT) on Friday 19th March, so not long to go now. The container of equipment has arrived on the island, and a final planning meeting has been held in the UK, attended by 17 of the team members.

We are also delighted to announce that Robert 3B9FR will join the team as a full member, taking time off work to be a part of 3B9C (he runs the island’s radio station). This will probably be the last bulletin before we head out to 3B9, but we will continue to post bulletins from the island, both on our Web page and to the major newsletters.

QSL Route
Arrangements are now in place for QSLing. This is a non-trivial task, with possibly in excess of 100,000 QSL requests to be handled in due course. The QSLing task will therefore be shared by a team of volunteers, centrally co-ordinated through StarQSL, a piece of software developed especially by John G3WGV for the purpose. Among other things, StarQSL allows bureau and Web requests to be handled (checked, validated) by any volunteer with Internet access, but with an option for QSL labels to be printed at a central point for handing in to the bureau.

Direct cards should be sent to FSDXA, PO Box 73, Church Stretton, SY6 6WF, UK. Bureau cards go via the RSGB bureau. There is also a form on the Web page for requesting bureau cards.

Contacting 3B9C
The Project Star Reach team believe that, with current levels of Internet use, the traditional concept of regional pilot stations is no longer applicable. Instead, there is a single e-mail address for contacting 3B9C. It is deserving@3b9c.com. Messages will go direct to the island, and be dealt with by members of the team. Note that you will not receive a personal response and that responses will be placed on the web site. No skeds will be made (other than for EME), but we do want to hear your feedback on our operating - are we covering your area of the world properly, are we listening on frequencies which are clear and OK for your area, are there some important band openings we are missing, etc? Before you e-mail us, you should check the latest bulletins on this web site - we may already have answered your question!

3B9C Video - Buy One - Get One Free!
After D68C we were asked by a number of amateurs whether we were producing a video. At the time we were unable to put together something of a suitably high standard, though video footage did exist and has been shown many times throughout the world at major amateur radio conventions and meetings, including the Visalia breakfast meeting in April 2001. It has proved to be very popular indeed. We are delighted to announce that, if you order your souvenir copy of the 3B9C video, we will give you a copy of the as yet un-released "limited edition" D68C DXpedition video absolutely FREE! We're planning to produce a 45 minute video tape of the 3B9C DXpedition. This is an opportunity to have a real souvenir to remind you of your QSOs with us. All surplus funds from the sales of this combined video (total 90 minutes) will be used to fund future FSDXA DXpeditions. The video will be made and edited by Don G3BJ (of Chateau-ZF Productions). Don made the D68C video.

The prices are set out below and may be pre-ordered via PayPal (go to the 3B9C web site).
 

Any queries to Don G3BJ - g3ozf@btinternet.com

Sponsorship
We welcome a number of new sponsors, all of whom are recognised on the web site. But further sponsors are welcome, to help defray the high costs of this very substantial project. Contact Bob Beebe, GU4YOX, if you would like to become a sponsor: gu4yox@cwgsy.net

AO-40 and EME Status
It is very disappointing that the AO-40 satellite is currently out of commission and unlikely to be operational by the time we are in 3B9. We will use the high power 70cm station for EME work, and may also be able to do some 6m EME when 6m is closed to other modes. Look out for bulletins from the island, which will include information on our day-to-day EME plans.

RTTY – All Bands
We have been asked about RTTY and other datamodes other than those for which we have announced preferred frequencies. It is clear that interest in datamodes is booming, and that many datamode operators are now collecting band-slots. We will therefore attempt to operate datamodes on all bands as the expedition progresses. We are equipped for all datamodes, but RTTY and PSK31 are likely to be preferred, with PSK63 for those who have the capability.

6m Status
We are pleased to confirm that we have special authority to operate on 6m from Rodrigues. 6m operation is not normally permitted in Mauritius and its constituencies.

Contests
We will operate the CQ WPX SSB Contest as an active participant in the multi-multi category, though we will continue to be active on other bands and modes during that weekend (G3WGV’s StarSoftware allows this to happen seamlessly without having to reconfigure the 3B9C station). We are aware that there are several other contests of note during our period of activity. Do feel free to contact us for the multiplier/points, even if you already have 3B9C on that band/mode, but do not expect us to give out a contest exchange. As far as we are aware, no contest organiser will disallow such a QSO, with a non-participant.

Nevada Rodrigues Trophies
A reminder that there is a wide range of trophies to compete for, by working 3B9C on different band/mode slots. Details were in the last bulletin and are on the web site.

Web Site
The number of hits on our web site has been increasing rapidly in the last couple of weeks. We believe the 3B9C web site to be the most extensive ever for a DXpedition, with over 120 pages of information and still growing. Among other items, we have recently added some fascinating information about one of the earliest operations from Rodrigues Island (maybe even the first): VQ8AS/VQ8AQR.

Don Field G3XTT, NK1G (g3xtt@lineone.net)
6 March 2004
(3B9C Publicity Officer)