DX-World

25 Responses to “1A0C – Sovereign Military Order of Malta”

1. Paul N6PSE says:

   June 9, 2012 at 22:57

   Great to see the Tifaritti Gang’s next operation from 1A, great news!
2. sal 9K2GV says:

   June 10, 2012 at 03:14

   good one
3. Gust ON6KE says:

   June 10, 2012 at 10:57

   It’s going to be tough for sure, even if they’re distance wise ‘around the corner’ for me.

   Good luck guys (and me too)
   Gust ON6KE
4. Derek VK4MIA says:

   June 10, 2012 at 12:24

   Fingers crossed VK/ZL get a clear shot without the EU QRM
5. Tony says:

   June 11, 2012 at 19:56

   Four days won’t be enough to thin out the EU wall for the rest of the world to work them. Good luck team!
6. Dan - KB0EO says:

   June 12, 2012 at 00:55

   When you are ready to take a break from working EU, we’re ready in USA midwest :-)
7. Vince K4JC says:

   June 13, 2012 at 14:06

   East coast is ready too!
8. ki6ht brian says:

   July 2, 2012 at 13:33

   they need to ration qsos
   only one log entry
   otherwise
   worked all eu with 16 qsos for some with zilch for most
9. Gary, DF2RG says:

   July 2, 2012 at 17:16

   To my poor friends from far away, like West Coast etc.
   Unfortunately, they have activated the Leaderboard function in their online log. This means, that all the Bingo Card DX’ers will fill all band and mode slots again, even if they have worked 1A0 already everywhere before. Just check leading calls from the leaderboard with online logs from previous 1A0 operations. Again and again, and unfortunately, there are well-known call signs (even of friends) in there …
   But it’s the common way these days. Cluster, CAT and one mouse click, no more searching or monitoring band openings …
   In the “good old time”,DXpeditions said, they want to provide a “new one for the deserving”.
   But that’s a fairytale from the past. Good luck anyway, and 73 to all de Gary, DF2RG
10. Greg says:

    July 3, 2012 at 08:57

    I would never work 1AOC.
    It is illegal that they make profit from QSL , and indeed so is their soliciting of donations.
    The charge is between 3 and 6 dollars for QSL and the proffit on this would be high when you count the possible tens of thousands of QSL card requests.
    1AOC ? – forget it , and after all it is just Malta , not even a rare DX location.
    I boycott ALL stations that require a payment for their QSL .. if an Op sends me a card that is great , but I will never pay for it.
    That is not what Ham (non professional , no profitable) Radio is all about.
11. Luke VK3HJ says:

    July 3, 2012 at 12:56

    So much for the focus on hams outside Europe.
    Statistics show 70% EU, 0.7% OC, etc! The top 100 on the bingo board are all EU.
    I have one QSO, a new band, but not a new entity, so nothing to be too excited about.
    Greg mentioned “Malta”. Well, 1A is not Malta! It’s Italy, a house in Rome to be precise. The SMOM have interesting history, nonetheless.
    The payment for QSL/sponsorship deal is NOT for raising money for the 1A0C DXpedition team. It is for The Order of Malta’s Italian Relief Corps, so I don’t have any problem with that!
    Le Tour de France is more interesting than Amateur Radio this month.
    73,
    Luke VK3HJ
12. Tony N5UD /M says:

    July 4, 2012 at 11:44

    Gary DF2RG I share your thoughts about the leaderboard. Same big guns work every team to where ever over and over. I don’t understand the logic in this.
    Hey maybe that’s it ! It is illogical !

    Greg they do offer a via bureau QSL option, so the trip is not all evil.

    73 Tony
13. Vlad says:

    July 4, 2012 at 15:40

    I’m not surprised. This is the IZ4AKS’ style always interested in business with dx-expeditions. When dx-expeditions are far $$$ are asked for contributions and when they are near home?
    Donations for earthquake should be free so everyone decides and not backmailed with 1A qsl.
    I will not work them.

    73 Vlad from Praha, Česká republika
14. GREG MITCHELL W2MYA says:

    July 4, 2012 at 17:03

    Both Greg es Gary are vy correct. Nr1.Operating style has changed since the advent of the computer.If there was no computer as in decades(2)ago most of the signals in pile-ups would not be there! Nr2.Greg is also correct in his assumption that DX-Pedition’s today are becoming money making propositions!Just think 50k-80k Qso’s can really run into $ and the cost of transportation there is low too.Now we are starting to hear”NO IRC’s”!!We must admire Greg’s opinion,es character:Won’t send money-He will NOT work! G.L.Mitchell-W2MYA
15. DX-W says:

    July 4, 2012 at 19:30

    “Vlad” and “Greg” – just another example of operators who haven’t the b@lls to put a callsign next to their statements.

    Be aware, I’ll happily publish email and IP addresses…
16. Gregg says:

    July 4, 2012 at 20:18

    Two qso’s on 40 and 20 cw. not in log
17. Gregg N9NY says:

    July 4, 2012 at 20:19

    sorry forgot call
18. Tom N4NW says:

    July 5, 2012 at 01:17

    Whine, whine, whine! Spend less time bitchin` and more time operating and you can work them.

    When are you guys going to conclude that to work the DX you need to have a DX working station?
19. Paul N6PSE says:

    July 6, 2012 at 03:05

    I commend the team for working very hard to give many great contacts! They did a great job under difficult propagation conditions.

    Thank you!
20. Gust Kegelaers ON6KE says:

    July 6, 2012 at 05:27

    No OQRS yet it appears like.
21. Catherine VK4GH says:

    July 6, 2012 at 23:07

    By looking at their on line log, the statistics show that the unique calls percentage was only 35%, a very low rate considering how wanted the entity is outside EU. Europe scored 66% of the QSO’s, followed by NA 23%. 1A0C managed to contact AS for 8% of the total. The rest of the world (AF, SA & OC) made up less than 3% of total QSO’s. Here in OC I could hear them, especially during the first two days. Not sure if they had any beams, or only verticals. How often did they call AS only? OC only? This is needed, as even with 1000W now, it is virtually impossible to overcome the EU wall. A couple of times I heard NA only. Late afternoon here in VK (5-7UTC), nearly every day 20m LP is open to Europe, but did they ever call for OC then? I had 5×9+ contacts to other EU stations on the 1st & 2nd, so I know that a contact would have been possible, given the chance.
22. Luke VK3HJ says:

    July 7, 2012 at 00:08

    One can only go by form as to whether a particular expedition crew is worth supporting financially. The pre-expedition promo is worth naught if not fulfilled.
    This group showed very poor form from our perspective in Oceania.

    Still, I thought the charity cause worth supporting, and I made one QSO on a new band, for what is not a new DXCC for me. I know many from my area did not.

    This is not a complaint, but a comment. DXpeditions choose to operate as they wish, and they chose to pick the low-hanging fruit this time, but I’m sure the team had a great time.

    I did enjoy reading about the long and interesting history of the SMOM, however. It makes for an interesting part of the DX-ing game.

    73,
    Luke VK3HJ
23. Wayne, K7WM says:

    July 7, 2012 at 00:40

    I have spent 22 years trying to get an 1A0 contact from the west coast. Made it this time with a RTTY and SSB contact. You think the EU wall is tough try the East Coast…
24. Wayne, K7WM says:

    July 7, 2012 at 00:42

    PS: of course it was a good operation!!
25. Gust ON6KE says:

    July 12, 2012 at 08:26

    Found 1A0C confirmed on LoTW today, alright!!