Thursday, May 17, 2012

A5A, DXPedition To Bhutan



DXPedition To Bhutan A5A (28°28'N 89°35'E)

Welcome to the A5A Bhutan 2012 DXpedition website.
Announcing a DXpedition to A5, Bhutan, #23 Most Wanted in North America. (#17 on CW!)
May 24 - June 6, 2012

The FGC DX Group (*Foundation for Global Children) is pleased to announce our next multi-national DXpedition to Bhutan, callsign A5A. We will begin operations by May 24, 2012 and will run until June 6th. We will activate 80-6m including the WARC bands using modes: SSB, CW, and RTTY. We will erect high gain antennas, utilize receive antennas, and run amplifiers at 3 stations. The QTH is in the mountains (more info very soon) and we are aware of where Bhutan is needed most and will focus on these areas when the band is open there. Also, we intend to listen carefully to the needs (see Poll here) of the DX community during the operation by monitoring the activity on our website (coming soon), and other social media outlets for band openings, and dialogue with the radio community. Please join our conversation.

Purpose

The main purposes of our visit are:
1. Field survey for improvement of educational and medical environment with accompanying professors and doctors, and meetings with relevant officials and specialists for the projects in Bhutan.
2. Establish a radio station at Royal Thimphu College (first private college in Bhutan), and provide basic HAM radio lessons to RTC students.
3. Work as many Radio Amateurs around the world as possible, especially the needed areas such as: North America Central #18, Mountain #17, and Eastern #22 Zones. Who else needs A5? Let us know what bands and modes at our Poll here.



Bhutan:
Officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China. Bhutan is separated from the nearby country of Nepal to the west by the Indian state of Sikkim, and from Bangladesh to the south by the Indian states of Assam and West Bengal.

Bhutan:
Prefix: A5, Entity: Bhutan, Continent: OC, ITU:41, CQ: 22.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhutan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thimphu


Band Plans

5/12/12 - At the time of writing, we are planning to activate 80-6 meters. Regarding 160m, we will assess the situation upon arrival and report then. We are aware of the need on the low bands in NA and will make an effort to work those openings. Also, as noted below, certain regions of the world (mainly NA) have a shorter opening (some just 30 minutes long!) and thus a more urgent need to work A5A, it is during these openings we will focus on those areas. For example North America Central region has Bhutan ranked #18 overall. CW to NA is at #23, We will seek out these openings.
During our Bangladesh (S21YX and YZ) DXpeditions we had great luck with Asia and Europe and will surely spend many hours a day working in to these areas. Thank you for your interest in our operation and please take part in our Survey Poll so we can see where we are needed most.
Best 73 from A5A Team.

QSL via JH1AJT

Y. Zorro Miyazawa
P.O. Box 8 Oiso
Naka-Gun kanagawa, 259-0111
Japan

How to QSL with A5A
1) All Supporters of $5.00 or more, will be sent a QSL to your QRZ address. Just enter your call sign in the comments field. We will compare this to our logs.
2) You can also send your card and an SASE or envelope with $5.00 or more. If you have paid via Paypal, please note this.
3) LOTW will be updated in 2012.
4) Buro cards will be processed later.

For QSL CARD, LOTW, and GENERAL LOGBOOK questions, please contact with JH1AJT, Thank you!

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