Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Surprise Operation from North Korea; More Possible in February




Polish DXer Dom Gryzb, 3Z9DX, made a surprise on-air demonstration of amateur radio for officials in North Korea in mid-December and was planning to return to the air for a full-scale DXpedition this month. North Korea (P5) is at the top of every DX "most-wanted" list.
 
According to the ARRL, Dom appeared unannounced on 20, 15 and 10 meters on December 20 and 21 as P5/3Z9DX, the first time an amateur station had been on the air from North Korea since 4L4FN's operation in 2001-02. The brief operation in December was a demonstration for government officials and coincided with a solar flare that heavily degraded HF propagation. Only a few hundred stations were worked, mostly in Asia. 

Dom - who was headed back home for Christmas - told DX World that he was planning a full-scale operation in February. (Considering the past history of P5 operations, we'll believe it when we see it in the rear-view mirror. -ed.)