GR2DXU special call sign for the Royal Wedding of HRH Prince William and Kate Middleton

Special call sign GR2DXU to signify the Royal Wedding of HRH Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton will be active from 2011-04-29 to 2011-05-09.

A limited number of QSL cards available for stations making contact during the 11 days.

2011-04-29 - GR2DXU active from 0:00 hours for a short time then during the day of the Royal Wedding.
2011-04-30 - GR2DXU/P at Dartmoor National Park for International Marconi Day.

Please see http://www.qrz.com/db/gr2dxu

All individual UK amateur radio stations were legible to apply for the special call signs, which use 'R' as a secondary locator in the usual call sign of the individual.  The call signs are valid for 11 days through 2011-04-29 to 2011-05-09.

Dartmoor DXpedition Recce

Good Friday 2011
It was a good way to start the Easter Bank Holiday weekend.  A trip to Dartmoor with M0PCZ and his XYL, SWL 'SXM' to find a suitable location for our little DXpedition on International Marconi Day on 30th April 2011.

Despite a little rain at first it turned out to be a lovely sunny day and we made a unanimous decision about the place we want to operate from on Marconi Day after having a picnic there and taking some photos.

We'll both be operating HF independently from vehicles while having a 'co-pilot' each. Paul (M0PCZ) has Martin (M0IME) aboard, while my fellow ham will be Dave (G4OTU).  Other stations are expected to be operating as well.  Listen out for us all.

The International Marconi Day (IMD) coincides with the UK special callsigns for the Royal Wedding and we'll be able to use the special callsigns on the day.  The RSGB has arranged for UK amateurs to have 'R' as the 2nd letter of the callsign.  My call will be GR2DXU, Paul's will be MR0PCZ.  The callsigns are only valid from the 29th April 2011 to the 9th may 2011.  So, we hope this will generate some interest and help us make lots of interesting contacts on the DXpedition.  I have ordered some limited edition QSL cards for the GR2DXU callsign and will be sending them for contacts made on 29th April, Royal Wedding day, and (if any still available) also on Marconi Day, 30th April.

The DXpedition is only 20 miles from home, by the way.  We're not going very far but it's beautiful scenery and we'll be operating from a height of around 400M above sea level.

73,
Alan
G2DXU

M0PCZ/M and G2XU/M on Dartmoor 22/04/2011

G2DXU/M

G2DXU/M, Daddyhole Plain, Torquay, Devon, England

Operating mobile on a sunny day in Torquay.  Only on 2m this time, and the airwaves were pretty quiet.  But it's a nice view anyway. 

73 de G2DXU!

Hello, I'm Alan and I have been a licenced radio amateur since March 2010.  Since then I have held 4 callsigns, having gone through the 3 levels of UK licence from Foundation (10 Watts) as M6DXU, Intermediate (50 Watts) as 2E0DXU and Full (400 Watts) as M0WYA.  As of January 2011 I have held the callsign G2DXU.

Since taking up the hobby I have found other amateurs very helpful and formative, especially the guys at Watcombe Amateur Radio Club.  So, it has been a very interesting and exciting first year on the air. 

At the start of the year (early 2010) I began attending WARC and bought a Kenwood THF-7E so I could at least listen in.  At that time I was still a SWL, though some time had passed since I actively listened to the air and marine bands and so on.  Each week I'd listen to the club's 2m net and was looking forward to taking the exam for the Foundation licence.

The exam was straight forward and I soon had the M6 licence.  I bought an Icom IC-7000 to celebrate and thought it would give me the flexibility of a home based 2m/HF setup while also being so small it could easily be taken mobile or portable.  I began with a 6 metre length of wire as my first antenna, ably tied to a tree by Adam (M6RDP).  It worked ok as a temporary setup and I managed to make a contact to Barbados on 10 Watts.

Around the time I passed the Intermediate, I upgraded to a 20 metre end-fed long wire, which again used a magnetic balun, and I enjoyed some good contacts.  I quickly became an M0 and was able to use the 100 Watts output of my Icom IC-7000.  Again my contacts became a bit more interesting but still lacked any decent DX. 

At the start of this year I had reached my target and registered the G2 callsign and was eager to make some good contacts.  At the end of February I bought a ZS6BKW antenna from USA on ebay, on the advice of Paul (M0PCZ) who was having great results with his.  After the antenna had been installed, I managed a contact to Kuwait, not a distance record for me, but a first into the region and an encouraging sign of what may lie ahead with the ZS6BKW.

This coming week marks the first anniversary of the exam and becoming licensed so I hope to toast it with some good DX QSO's.  Perhaps even have a 1YOTA - 1 Year On The Air - event.  Hi hi.