Vladimir Bykov, AC4LN/UA4WHX
Pacific DXpedition 2003


 The winner of the contest to see which club member has worked Vlad in the most different locations was won by Ed Warren, K6RD. Ed won the wire antenna that Vlad used during his trip. Vlad spent some 8 months touring the pacific and operated from 49 different locations.

 On December 26th, 2003 eighteen members of the SCDXC joined Vlad for dinner at the Northwoods Inn in La Mirada. Vlad is a very interesting and articulate individual, the stories of his travels were great fun to listen to. I know everyone enjoyed his visit immensely. Click here to see some pictures from that evening

 Vlad made some 85,000 Q's and he is now working on the QSL's. He said he will probably have a series of photo cards from the different locations. Jim, N6DHZ said he can attest to the fact that Vlad has plenty of pictures to choose from as he saw a large shopping bag full of film exposed 35mm film cans.

 The following is an e-mail Vlad has sent out to explain his operation and QSLing requirements.

Hello to everyone!
And a Happy New Year!

Below please find DXCC and IOTA entities that have been activated (dates and time UTC) between May 1, 2003 and December 25, 2003

I practically never operated from hotels. Almost all QTHs were local families with which I stayed.

Rig used: 120 watts output and a vertically set delta loop resonant on 40 meters (which I used on all the bands). A long local bamboo (13-20 meters) was normally used as a support tower.

The total number of QSOs made is a little under 85000.

The correct QSL route is via UA4WHX.

Please note, that the correct address is:

Vladimir M. Bykov
P.O. Box 2040
426000 Izhevsk
Russia

Please do not send cards to the one that has K. Marx 270/33 in it, it is obsolete and the cards may never make it to me.

Those who have doubts as far as UA4WHX route safety, they can send QSLs via AC4LN callbook address or W4-call area bureau, but I strongly do not recommend it as it will definitely be much slower.

If one is sending it all direct, US Dollars or IRCs are fine.

If someone is willing to contribute a little more (or if there is a great number of QSLs), please contact me first or send it all to AC4LN. We also have a facility of accepting credit cards here over the Internet, so for club shipments or payments over 10$ US we can definitely do that.

QSL practice:
  1. I will QSL both direct and via the buro.
  2. I will also confirm via the buro the requests sent by e-mail, not in the last priority though.
  3. I do not e-QSL.
  4. The logs are all on paper and will not be available on-line in any form anytime.

And to be as explicit as I only could (in response to a few negative comments I read or heard in the past months):
  1. I did not operate from a boat, I flew. Boarded planes 75 times.
  2. I did authentically operate from each and every QTH mentioned below
  3. I did have (and still do) permits and licenses for all of them.

If someone wants to challenge any of those activities, they are more than welcome to do so. But please do not ask me to present paperwork 10 years after the end of the operation, as it appears to be happening with some of my activities of the past.

I will be happy to answer the queries of those who are planning to go to some of those places and need advice or ideas.

If possible, do not ask me if you are ok in the log book. Send your card with a note.

And, thank you, everybody, for calling, for making it all fun. It will probably be a couple of months before the first cards are being sent out. Please be patient with me if you could.

Whatever questions you have, you are welcome to ask, but I will hardly be able to write long answers back. My e-mail: ua4whx#mail.ru (Replace the # with the @). Or if you choose to call: + 7 3412 25 88 29, between 17 and 19.00 UTC

CU again. From somewhere.
73, Vladimir UA4WHX/AC4LN

Here is what was happening:

May 1 - May 12, 2003: KH6/AC4LN, Big Island, Hawaii, USA (mostly from Volcano village) OC 019
May 13, 2003: KH2/AC4LN, Guam, OC 026
May 14 - May 15, 2003: V63MB, Yap Island, OC 012
May 16 - May 18, 2003: V63MB, Mog-Mog Island, Ulithy Atoll, OC 078
May 19 - May 20, 2003: V63MB, Yap Island, OC 012
May 21 - May 26, 2003: T88VV, Peliliu and Koror islands, OC 009
May 27 - June 1, 2003: KH0/AC4LN, Saipan Is;and, Northern Mariana Islands, OC 086
June 2 - June 6, 2003: V63MB, Pohnpei Island, OC 010
June 6 - June 11, 2003: V63MB, Kosrae Island, OC 059
June 11 - June 20, 2003: V73VV, Majuro and Arno atolls, OC 029
June 24 - June 30, 2003: 5W0VB, Upolu Island, OC 097
June 30 - July 4, 2003: ZK2VB, Niue, OC 040
July 4 - July 9, 2003: 5W0VB, Savaii Island, OC 097
July 10, 2003: A35VB, Tongatapu Island, Tonga, OC 049
July 11 - July 14, 2003: A35VB, Foa Island, Ha'apai Group, Tonga, OC 169
July 14 - July 17, 2003: A35VB, Vava'u Island, Tonga, OC 064
July 17 - July 19, 2003: A35VB, Nukualofa, Tongatapu Island, Tonga, OC 049
July 19 - July 31, 2003: ZL/AC4LN, New Zealand, various locations
August 2 - August 4, 2003: P29VVB, Rabaul, New Britain Island, PNG, OC 008
August 4 - August 8, 2003: P29VVB, Los Negros Island, Manus, PNG, OC 025
August 9 - August 12, 2003: P29VVB, Karkar Island, PNG, OC 258
August 12 - August 18, 2003: P29VVB, various locations inland New Guinea, PNG, OC 034
August 18 - August 20, 2003: H44VV, Guadacanal Island, Solomon Islands, OC 047
August 20 - August 23, 2003: H44VV, Ngella (Florida) Islands, OC 158
August 24, 2003: H40VB, Nendo Island, Temotu Province, OC 100
August 25 - August 29, 2003: H40VB, Pigeon Island, Reef Islands, Temotu Province, OC 065
August 30, 2003: H40VB, Nendo Island, Temotu Province, OC 100
August 31 - September 3, 2003: H44VV, Guadacanal Island, Solomon Islands, OC 047
September 5, 2003: YJ0VB, Efate Island, Vanuatu OC 035
September 6 - September 8, 2003: YJ0VB, Ambrym Island, Vanuatu, OC 035
September 9 - September 12, 2003: YJ0VB, Malekula Island, Vanuatu OC 035
September 13, 2003: YJ0VB, Efate Island, Vanuatu OC 035
September 14 - September 16, 2003: YJ0VB, Tanna Island, Vanuatu OC 035
September 17 - September 18, 2003: YJ0VB, Efate Island, Vanuatu OC 035
September 21 - September 24, 2003: FK/AC4LN, Art Island, Belep Islands, New Caledonia, OC 079
September 25, 2003: FK/AC4LN, New Caledonia Island, OC 032
September 27 - October 3, 2003: FW/AC4LN, Wallis Island, OC 054
October 4 - October 7, 2003: 3D2VB, Viti Levu, Fiji, OC 016
October 8 - October 14, 2003: 3D2VB/R, Rotuma Island, OC 060
October 16 - October 20, 2003: 3D2VB, Viti Levu, Fiji, OC 016
October 21 - October 28, 2003: T30VB, West Kiribati, Abaiang Atoll, OC 017
October 29 - November 5, 2003: T20VB, Funafuti Atoll, Tuvalu, OC 015
November 6 - November 7, 2003: 3D2VB, Viti Levu, Fiji, OC 016
November 9 - November 15, 2003: ZK1/AC4LN, Penrhyn Atoll, Northern Cooks, OC 082
November 18 - November 26, 2003: ZK1/AC4LN, Mangaia Island, Sothern Cooks, OC 159
December 2 - December 6, 2003: FO/AC4LN, Nuku Hiva Island, Marquesas, OC 027
December 7 - December 9, 2003: FO/AC4LN, Hiva Oa Island, Marquesas, OC 027
December 11 - December 12, 2003: FO/AC4LN, Rururtu Island, Australs, OC 050
December 13 - December 15, 2003: FO/AC4LN, Tubuai Island, Australs, OC 152
December 16 - December 25, 2003: FO/AC4LN, Various Society Islands of the Leeward Group, OC 067