IOTA - AS 175

A few members of Thane Amateur Radio Association (TARA) and Amateur Radio Society of India (ARSI) are going to activate Bet Shankhodhar Island a.k.a Bet Dwarka in the Gulf of Kutch between 16th to 23rd March 2012.

The team members would be arriving in batches with an advance party reaching the island on 15th March. Rest of the team members will arrive on a staggered basis until 17th March. The team plans to be active with 2 stations, with the possibility of a 3rd station, and will use vertical antennas. They will remain on the island until 23rd March. Preparations are on in full swing and all equipment is being packed.

This island falls under the IOTA Gujarat state west group - No.: AS-175 and has never been activated before. Bet Dwarka Island, also known as Bet Shankhodhar, is situated in the Gulf of Kutch. The island has a temple dedicated to Lord Krishna. Early historic settlement remains have been located on the island which may be dated back to 3rd century BC on the basis of a potsherd inscribed with 'Nandakasa' in the Mauryan Brahmi script.

for updates visit : http://www.dxcoffee.com/at2dw/

VU4PB- DXpedition -Andaman Islands

ARSI to take a DXpedition to the Andaman Islands- VU4PB - March 15th to 31st 2011

ARSI, who had taken a very successful expedition to Lakshadweep in December 2006, are all set to go to Port Blair in the Andaman's in the second half of March 2011.

All permissions are in hand for a group of 17 operators to be active between the 15th and 31st March, with the call sign VU4PB

Four stations are planned, operating on all bands and modes, from three locations - The Sinclair Bay View Hotel, The Megapode Nest and the Megapode Camping Resort.

The first batch of eleven operators will fly out on the 12th March and be followed by the rest.

Operating Frequencies

BAND	CW	RTTY	SSB
160	1824	-	1845
80	3524	3584	3695
40	7024	7044	7095
30	10104	10144	-
20	14024	14084	14195
17	18074	18104	18145
15	21024	21084	21295
12	24894	24914	24945
10	28024	28084	28495

for more details visit :http://www.arsi.info/

40m band expaned for VU

VU (India) Amateur Radio operators are now authorized to use 7.00 to 7.20 MHz (previously it used to be 7.00 to 7.10 MHz). Here is an extract of a message from ARSI (Amateur Radio Society of India which represents India in IARU) :

"I spoke to WPC just now and they have confirmed that the extra bandwidth has been officially released to VU radio amateurs based on the petitions given by ARSI on 15 April 2009, soon after the band was to be released as per agreement inWRC2003 The notification will appear on the WPC webpage shortly VU hams can now officially use that extra band width.They have also confirmed that the other requests made by ARSI regarding 10 MHz and 50 MHz are also under consideration, so please wait for further news

73 Gopal VU2GMN"