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<H1 class=entry-title>Amateur radio DXpedition to Bonaire Oct 10-24</H1>
<DIV class=entry-content>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma>As you may have read on the RNW website, on October 10,
2010 the Netherlands Antilles will cease to exist as a country within the
Kingdom of the Netherlands and the status of the individual islands will change
as follows:</FONT></P>
<UL>
<LI><FONT face=Tahoma>St. Maarten and Curacão will become independent
countries within the Kingdom and will be granted the same status that Aruba
attained in 1986. </FONT>
<LI><FONT face=Tahoma></FONT>
<LI><FONT face=Tahoma>Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius will be given the
status of a public body (a kind of special municipality) in the Netherlands
and will therefore fall directly under Dutch rule. </FONT></LI></UL>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma>To mark the occasion, a group of 15-20 radio amateurs from
several countries have joined forces to activate special transmissions from
Bonaire between October 10-24, 2010. The primary focus will be all HF bands from
160 to 10 meters including the WARC bands. The team will focus on all modes
including SSB, CW and various digital modes. Further information about the
callsigns to be used will be published on the special website </FONT><A
href="http://www.bonaire2010.com/" target=_blank><FONT face=Tahoma
color=#0070c5>www.bonaire2010.com</FONT></A><FONT face=Tahoma>.</FONT></P>
<P><A
href="http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/files/2010/10/bonaire-antennas.jpg"></A><FONT
face=Tahoma><STRONG>Various locations on the island will be used, but the
primary location is the RNW shortwave transmitter site</STRONG>. <STRONG>Its
impressive antenna park provides up to 21 dBd gain. The radio amateurs have been
granted use of the antennas during their “dead hours” on the HF bands, between
1230 and 1830 UTC. It’s planned to operate from the RNW facility on 30, 20, 15
and 17 metres.</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma>Between 11 and 15 October, the RNW facility will also serve
another purpose. A group of schoolchildren from Bonaire will be contacting
another group of children in the Netherlands who will be the guest of Dutch ham
PD1DX. This will provide an opportunity for the group of new Dutch country
citizens to ask each other questions in order to get to know one other a little
bit better.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Tahoma>All QSOs will be QSL’d through the services of Global QSL
who will be responsible for printing and distributing cards to all QSL bureaus
worldwide. If you do not use a QSL bureau or would like to send for a direct
confirmation, all QSL information will be published on the website </FONT><A
href="http://www.bonaire2010.com/" target=_blank><FONT face=Tahoma
color=#0070c5>www.bonaire2010.com</FONT></A><FONT
face=Tahoma>.</FONT><BR></P></DIV></BODY></HTML>