In the log this week
* Equatorial Guinea Suspends Amateur Radio Licenses
* DXpedition Spotlight: V6D in the Federated States of Micronesia
* MVARC Nets on the Air
* What's happening with DX?
* Solar Activity Update
* Upcoming Contests
* Interesting Online Radio Content
Equatorial Guinea Suspends Amateur Radio Licenses
Image Courtesy NordNordWest, Licence: Creative Commons by-sa-3.0 de
Last week, the Government of Equatorial Guinea suspended all amateur radio licenses in the country. AhoraEG reports that the temporary suspension was due to a foreign amateur radio operator accessing "sensitive areas such as Annobon and Batete using telecommunications equipment not authorized for his activity". The article does not specify the operator in question, however, during the period there was a DXpedition being held by Yuris YL2GM and Eugene EA5EL in the country. On their website they mentioned that when they attempted to operate from Annobon they "returned back to Malabo, with some 'adventures'" and were planning to return home. Yuris and Eugene had been operating earlier from Malabo in a hotel near the ocean as 3C3W and had logged 21,544 QSOs to Clublog. Updates have been few in the last week, but hopefully amateur radio licensing will be reinstated in Equatorial Guinea and the situation will resolve favorably. Some sources of information can be found at:
https://www.dx-world.net/equatorial-guinea-suspends-amateur-radio-licenses/
https://lral.lv/3c0w_3c3w_2025/index.html
DXpedition Spotlight: V6D in the Federated States of Micronesia
Image Courtesy V6D Web Site
The V6D team is getting ready to bring Weno Island in the Chuuk State of the Federated States of Micronesia on the air from September 22 to October 6, 2025. The team includes several experienced operators from Germany. They will be bring transceivers from Elecraft, a mix of amplifiers, verticals with elevated radials for 160 meters to 30 meters, loops and rhombic loops for 40 meters to 6 meters, a 5 band wire beam for 20 meters to 10 meters, and other necessary gear. They plan to operate a mix of modes on 160/80/40/30/20/17/15/12/10/and 6 meters and will be running split, so don't call them on their transmission frequencies. They plan to upload their logs daily to Clublog. At their last update on September 10 they said they were distributing luggage to the team and that each of them will carry "well over 20 kg of radio equipment". They'll fly from "Berlin via Helsinki, Tokyo, and Guam to Chuuk". This promises to be an exciting DXpedition to chase and they plan on having QSL cards available via Clublog OQRS. The V6D site can be found at https://v6d.mydx.de/ for more information. Good luck and good DX.
MVARC Nets on the Air
* 2 Meter FM Net: Tuesdays at 7 PM [146.655/- MHz (141.3 Hz PL Tone) ]
* 2 Meter Digital Net: Immediately Follows 2 Meter FM Net [146.655/- MHz C4FM]
* MVARC Slow Speed CW Roundtable: Saturday and Sunday at 7:30 AM [3.565 MHz CW]
* MVARC Cherry Tree Net: Saturday and Sunday at 8:30 AM [3.920 MHz LSB]
What's Happening with DX
There will be a good amount of DX on the bands this week including the Federated States of Micronesia (V6D), Market Reef (OJ0W, OJ0YL), Sint Maarten (PJ7K), Svalbard (JW6VDA), St. Pierre and Miquelon (FP5KE), Christmas Island (VK9/SP9FIH), Karpathos Island (SV5/HB9OAU), Norfolk Island (VK9NT), Palestine (E44OM), Tanzania (5H3DX), Rwanda (9X2AW), Colombia (HK3JCL), Mali (TZ4AM), Kuwait (9K2HN), Solomon Islands (H44MS), and Antarctica (DP0GVN).
A calendar of DXpeditions can be found at https://dxnews.com/calendar/
Solar Activity Update
As we go to press the Solar Flux Index (SFI) was 150 and the estimated sunspot number was 119 with 7 numbered sunspot regions visible from Earth. Over the last week the SFI has increased. Solar activity has been at low levels recently. The geomagnetic field was at quiet to unsettled levels and the Kp index reached 2 yesterday. The solar wind peaked at 614 km/s. Solar activity is predicted low with geomagnetic activity at quiet levels today and tomorrow at quiet to active levels on Sunday. The chance of solar radiation storms at the S1 or greater level is low at 1% today through Sunday. R1 to R2 radio blackouts are possible in the near term with a predicted probability of 35% through Sunday. R3 or greater blackouts are unlikely with a 1% chance predicted today through Sunday. There is a chance of 6 meter propagation so keep an eye on the band and spotting clusters to be ready for the next time the magic band does its thing. HF conditions have been favorable overall. It remains a fantastic time for amateurs to get on the air and work the world.
Good sources of real-time solar information include https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/ and https://solarham.com/. A good overview of conditions can be found at https://dx.qsl.net/propagation/. To see D-layer absorption data and associated radio blackouts, visit https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/d-region-absorption-predictions-d-rap. To see real-time Maximum Usable Frequency (MUF) and Critical Frequency (foF2) information from radiosonde data, visit https://prop.kc2g.com/.
Upcoming Contests
On the contest calendar this weekend we will see the ARRL 10 GHz and Up Contest, the Scandinavian Activity Contest on CW, the New Jersey QSO Party, the Texas QSO Party, the Iowa QSO Party, the New Hampshire QSO Party, the QRP Afield Event, the Washington State Salmon Run, Wisconsin Parks on the Air, the North American Sprint on RTTY, the BARTG Sprint PSK63 Contest, the Run for the Bacon QRP Contest, and the ARS Flight of the Bumblebees QRP Contest. As always the K1USN SSTs, MSTs, and CWTs will also be on the air.
The full contest calendar with events and exchanges can be found at https://www.contestcalendar.com/weeklycont.php
Interesting Online Radio Content
Top SOTA Chaser Jon NT6E does his first SOTA activation with friends -
Mark KD7DTS and Ara N6ARA talk SOTA, microwave operation, contesting, and cats on Sofas on the Air -
Michael KB9VBR looks at Chameleon's new CHA M25 loading coil -
IMSAI Guy looks at a cheap DC power supply and finds lots of noise -
Steve KM9G looks at some new keys from Xiegu -
Matt M0DQW looks at the upgraded TIDRadio H3 Plus -
Jason KM4ACK talks about APRS retransmissions -
Colin MM0OPX mods his QMX+ to have an internal battery -
John AE5X tests his Hermes Lite 2 for receiver performance and spectral purity -
Dr. Tamitha Skov WX6SWW discusses recent space weather conditions -
Dugbo KD7DUG hunts POTA on the go with his KH-1 -
Manuel WP4TZ does a photo walk of old San Juan, Puerto Rico and activates POTA -
Sn0ren takes a look at the Meshtastic capable Cardputer ADV -
Walt K4OGO uses the GH-V5 V-Dipole while camping -
Mike K8MRD ups his bushcrafting game with a tarp to provide shelter for POTA -
Steve KM9G looks at some USB PD and PPS power solutions -
Craig KM6LYW sets up a super low cost data hotspot for VHF using a DigiPi -
Matt M0DQW looks at the uSDX+ HF transceiver -
Ramon EA5IW takes us along for some mountain-top QRP -
Tom N3WS shows a simple wireless rotator for the BuddiHex antenna -
Rob N1NUG looks at the Choyong LC90 -
Walt K4OGO tries out the HF Signals zBitx -
That's it for this week.
Best 73,
Ed
N2EC
