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 Previous: ARRL Executive Committee Discusses FCC Inertia, Strategy, BPL |  Next: The K7RA Solar Update |
 The Lakshadweep Islands are located in the Arabian Sea off the southwestern coast of India. |
NEWINGTON, CT, Oct 26, 2006 -- The second most-wanted DXCC entity, Lakshadweep Islands (VU7) may host two separate DXpeditions during
December. A team sponsored by the Amateur Radio Society of India (ARSI) -- the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) member-society for India -- will operate as VU7LD. A second group, under
the auspices of the National Institute for Amateur Radio (NIAR), has announced
plans to operate as VU7RG, in honor of the
late Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, VU2RG. While the two DXpeditions would
have multiple stations on the air simultaneously on various HF bands and modes
for at least the first part of December, the Web sites for the respective
DXpeditions do not mention the other's planned operation. The Daily DX (and QST "How's
DX?") Editor Bernie McClenny, W3UR, cautioned this week that the two highly
competitive organizations carefully coordinate their on-air activities, if the
DXpeditions to avoid chaos.
 If both VU7 DXpeditions happen, radio amateurs will be on the air from four VU7 islands in early December. The ARSI DXpedition will run until December 30. |
"It is possible that up to six or more stations between
the two teams may operate at the same time on the same band and mode," McClenny
pointed out in the October 26 edition of The Daily DX. He said both
teams are aware of concerns within the DX community and on the part of potential
DXpedition sponsors regarding the possibility for confusion caused by overlapping
operating frequencies that could decrease the efficiency of the operations as
well as opportunities to get into the VU7LD and VU7RG logs.
 The proposed VU7RG QSL card. [NIAR] |
 The Amateur Radio Society of India DXpedition will operate as VU7LD. [ARSI] |
"With this in mind, it will be important for some kind of frequency management (ie, to assign strict frequency slots for all modes and bands to all operation sites of both groups)," McClenny advised. "This will ensure well-regulated and trouble free operations." He says members of the two groups need to work out an agreement before their DXpeditions begin.
ARSI's VU7LD DXpedition will run from December 1 until December 30, while NIAR's VU7RG DXpedition is set for December 1 until December 10. A three-day hamfest and conference will kick off the NIAR DXpedition. Earlier NIAR announcements had set the event for the January 15-25, 2007, time frame, but ARSI's announcement that it would mount its own VU7 DXpedition reportedly drove NIAR to reschedule.
Questions remain as to whether the Indian government has authorized NIAR's VU7RG DXpedition, but event organizers called these "rumors," and assured that the VU7 licenses "are getting processed in a regular way." NIAR organized and sponsored a DXpedition and hamfest-conference in the Andaman Islands (VU4) earlier this year.
Fifty or more hams from India and elsewhere -- including a number of well-known DXers -- have signed on to fill the VU7RG operating positions. Approximately two dozen radio amateurs from India will handle VU7LD operations on CW, SSB and digital modes.
Part of the Laccadive Islands, Lakshadweep -- the smallest
union territory of India -- is located in the Arabian Sea some 200 to 300 km
off the southwestern coast of India. The territory marks its 50th anniversary
this year. The VU7LD team will operate from Kavaratti Island, while the VU7RG
DXpedition will take place from sites on Agatti, Bangaram and Kadmat islands.
| Previous: ARRL Executive Committee Discusses FCC Inertia, Strategy, BPL | Next: The K7RA Solar Update |
