[amsat-bb] 4C50C via satellite, through 31 August 2009

[Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)]

Hi!

Omar XE1AO, a regular satellite operator from central Mexico, 
e-mailed me news of a special callsign that will be showing up
on the satellites between now and 31 August 2009.  The call,
4C50C ("Four Charlie Fifty Charlie"), is part of the "Trabaja
Todo Colima" (Work All Colima) special event currently taking
place in the central Mexican state of Colima.  This event is 
commemorating the 50th anniversary of the creation of the J. 
Roberto Levy radio club in that state.

During the months of June, July, and August, stations from all
over Colima have been on HF and the satellites, trying to put all
10 Colima "municipios" (municipalities, similar to counties in 
the USA) on the air.  On HF, the special call XE50C has been used 
from different parts of Colima.  Now, four hams (XE1AO, XE1ATZ, 
XE1AY, and XE1J) have been authorized by the Mexican 
telecommunications regulator CoFeTel to use 4C50C on the satellites 
as part of this event.  

Initially, XE1AO will attempt to put 4C50C on AO-51's evening
passes along with VO-52 and FO-29 evening passes.  Omar and the
other 3 hams hope to expand the use of 4C50C onto SO-50 and AO-27,
plus look at passes at other times of the day during this period. 

For hams outside Mexico, XE1J is the QSL manager for these special
calls.  The Mexican QSL bureau will take care of QSL requests from
XE hams.  Along with the QSL cards, there will be a certificate
available to stations that work stations in at least 7 of the 10 
Colima municipalities and also accumulate at least 74 points based 
on the location of the stations worked in Colima.  Additional 
points are available for working certain stations like XE50C and 
4C50C.  

More information (in Spanish) is available at:

http://arco.sat-xe.org/XE50C/XE50C.html

and also:

http://arco.sat-xe.org/4C50C/4C50C.html

For now, the 4C50C page is a mirror of the XE50C page.  It will 
be updated shortly, with new information related to the 4C50C 
call.

Good luck, and 73!





Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK
http://www.wd9ewk.net/