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class=artititle>OJ0W Market Reef</H1><A
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href="http://dxing.at-communication.com/en/tag/oj0w/">oj0w</A>,<A
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title="market reef"
href="http://dxing.at-communication.com/en/tag/market+reef/">market
reef</A><BR><BR></TD>
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<P><FONT size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: arial, helvetica, sans-serif">OH3WS will be
active from<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN><STRONG>Market
Reef Island</STRONG> 2-7 June 2014 as<SPAN
class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN><STRONG>OJ0W<SPAN
class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></STRONG><BR>He will be active on
HF Bands CW ,SSB <BR>QSL via home call</SPAN></SPAN><BR><IMG
style="WIDTH: 2272px; HEIGHT: 1704px" alt="Market Reef OJ0W"
src="http://dxing.at-communication.com/upload/Image/Market-Reef_OJ0W.jpg"></FONT></P>
<P><STRONG>Märket</STRONG><SPAN
class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN>("The Mark", ) is a small
3.3-hectare (8.2-acre) uninhabited skerry in the Baltic Sea between Sweden
and Finland (in the area of the autonomous Åland Islands), which has been
divided between two sovereignties since the Treaty of Fredrikshamn of 1809
defined the border between Sweden and the Russian Empire as going through
the middle of the island. The westernmost land point of Finland is on
Märket. The Finnish side of the island is part of the Municipality of
Hammarland The Swedish part of the island is itself divided by two
counties of Sweden: Uppsala County (Östhammar Municipality) and Stockholm
County (Norrtälje Municipality).<BR> </P>
<P>The 6 nautical miles (11 km; 6.9 mi) wide<SPAN
class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN><I>Understen–Märket
Passage</I><SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN>links the
Bothnian Sea to the Baltic proper. The skerry is roughly 350 metres
(1,150 ft) long by 150 metres (490 ft) wide, and its area is
about 3.3 hectares (8.2 acres). It is argued to be one of the smallest sea
islands shared by two countries.</P>
<P>The name<SPAN
class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN><I>Märket</I><SPAN
class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN>('the Mark') probably comes from
its usefulness as a navigation mark before there were lighthouses. The
route between Sweden and Åland has a passage of about 27 kilometres
(15 NM) (17 mi) length over open sea, and the island may have
been used as a way point.</P>
<P>There is a lighthouse on the Finnish side of the current border, which
has been unmanned and automated since 1979. When it was built by the
Russians and Finns in 1885 there were no clear maps of the island. After
the completion of the lighthouse, it was discovered that it had been built
on the Swedish part of the island.</P>
<P>As a result, the border was adjusted in 1985 so that the lighthouse is
now located on Finnish territory. The adjustment was carried out such that
no net transfer of territory occurred, and the ownership of the coastline
was unchanged so as not to interfere with each country's fishing
rights.</P>
<P>This resulted in an unusual shape for the international border which
satisfied both Finnish and Swedish interests. The adjusted border takes
the form of an inverted 'S', and the lighthouse is connected to the rest
of Finland only by a short stretch of land. The border is regularly
resurveyed every 25 years by officials representing both countries. The
last such joint inspection took place in August 2006.</P>
<P>The lighthouse is in urgent need of maintenance, and a Finnish interest
group is trying to raise funds for its preservation. The lighthouse has
been automatic since 1979 and the surrounding buildings are no longer
used. The increasing general availability of GPS has made its primary
function redundant.<BR>Radio amateurs around the world consider the
Finnish part of Market Reef (as they call it) a separate entity, distinct
from Finland and Sweden. The Finnish part of Market Reef used to be one of
the world's most desired "countries" among radio amateurs due to its
special status and relative remoteness. Usually there are one or more
Amateur Radio expeditions to the island every year, weather permitting.
During these expeditions tens of thousands of radio contacts are made with
people in several parts of the world. At high seas, landing is only
possible with a helicopter. Good pictures of Märket are shown on QSL
cards. The official prefix for use on the Finnish side is OH0, as in the
rest of the Åland Islands, but OJ0 is the optional call sign prefix for
Market Reef. There is a fee for using an OJ0 call sign, while the use of
the OH0/ prefix in front of the own call sign is free. All radio activity
on the island is by visitors on DX-peditions. When the Finnish part of the
reef was given its special status in amateur radio, in the late 1960s the
lighthouse keeper himself became a licenced Amateur Radio operator who
initially used the call OH0MA. On the Swedish side of Market Reef the
callsigns 8S9M and SI8MI have been used<BR><A
style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,153); TEXT-DECORATION: underline"
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Märket">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A4rket</A></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></DIV></BODY></HTML>