2007 DXCC Year End Review
by W1JR, Joe Reisert

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DX wise, the year 2007 was just as challenging, if not more so, than
2006. During January 2007 we saw some solar activity but it really
tapered off by mid-February. A few small disturbances came in late
April when 6-meter aurora was detected. June and July also saw some
small disturbances but by September the sun had really settled down.
Solar flux numbers dropped all the way down to 65 in early October.
Solar minimum had been predicted for early in the year. If in fact we
did go through minimum, it may have occurred when the solar flux was
70 or below for most of October and November.

On 11 December, a high latitude region of magnetically reversed
polarity appeared on the Sun. Although the region never became a
sunspot, it is a possible indicator that Solar Cycle 24 is
approaching. On 21 December, NASA released a prediction that cycle 24,
expected to peak in 2010 or 2011, may be "one of the most intense
cycles since record-keeping began almost 400 years ago." Since
smoothed sunspot numbers are officially released nine months after the
fact, we will not know until at least mid 2008 if in fact we have
already reached the end of Solar Cycle 23 and started Solar Cycle 24.

That being said, there was still plenty of DX activity in 2007 albeit
mostly concentrated on 160 through 17 meters. 20 meters was the bread
winner and 17 meters was not too far behind during daylight hours. 10
through 15 meters were spotty at best and then mostly on the
North/South paths. We enjoyed unexpectedly good propagation during
both days of the CQ WW SSB DX Contest with spectacular worldwide 15
meter openings and brief 10 meter openings to Europe, Africa and the
Pacific and strong openings to the south.

Although no longer rare, the year started out with a large scale
effort from SMOM using the call sign 1A4A even workable on 160 meters.
This was quickly followed by operations on all HF bands with large
scale operations by XT2C, S21XA, VU7MY and VU7RG. I'd speculate that a
DXer with a moderate antenna farm and a reasonable amount of effort
could have worked as many as 200 DXCC entities during January.

February saw good activity from a semi-rare entity when ZK3RE operated
all bands and made an effort to satisfy the 160 meter gang. This was
followed by 3B9/G3TXF, one of Nigel's several CW operations during
2007, most with Roger G3SXW (1A0KM, FY, JW, OY, PJ2, V2). YW0DX came
on from Aves Island but this may be the last operation from there for
some time as the island was severely diminished in size by hurricane
Dean later in the year. DX0JP made an effort to put Spratly on the low
bands. Also active in February were VK9DNX from Norfolk as well as
9U0X and 9U0Z by DJ6SI and DJ9ZB respectively. Other notable semi-rare
DX entities made appearances early in 2007 such a J20RR/J20MM, J5UAR,
9M4SDX (Spratly), D60VB, XW1A, ZL1GO/8, ZM8CW and 4W6AAV.

In early April, N8S made a big effort to work those who missed the
first Swains Island (KH8SI) DXpedition. Conditions were not great on
the higher bands but many worked N8S on the lower bands. In early May
after ten years of waiting, BS7H came on from Scarborough Reef.
Setting up the equipment on four rocks was difficult and propagation
conditions were not the best. Many deserving made the grade but many
others did not and are hoping for a repeat operation. 3B7SP showed up
in June followed by a large scale 3B7C operation in September. VP6TD
and VP6AL from Pitcairn made it into many logs in between May and
August, and FW0MO and FW0YL were particularly active on the low bands
in July and August. On August 14th a station signing 7O/G4HCL used a
local Yemen Communications station to activate that rare entity but no
documentation has been received by the DXCC desk at this time.

The later third of the year saw VK9WWI activate Willis mostly on the
lower bands. Rare to semi to rare DXpeditions included 3C7Y, H40MY,
5L2MS (Liberia), 1A3A (during the SSB DX contest), VK9CCC, XF4s, TN6X
and TN9Z, E4/OM2DX, 3D2AG/P (Rotuma), 9U0A, V8FDM, V8FWP, V8FWU and
C91KDJ to name a few. A station is now on Bouvet using the call sign
3Y0E but has not shown much action as the year ends. Let's hope 3Y0E
makes it into many logs before they leave Bouvet in mid-February.

Many DXers got a rare Christmas present when St. Barthelemy (FJ) was
added to the DXCC list for contacts made on or after December 14,
2007. That is the date when it was added to the US State Department
Fact Sheet. Martti, OH2BH and Olli, OH0XX came on the air on December
18th as FJ/OH2AM and operated through Christmas day giving many of the
Deserving a new one. Local FJ5KH also was activated. The addition of
FJ to the DXCC list means that the current entities list was increased
to 338. Stay tuned. There are several possibilities for more new
entities in 2008! 60 meters also showed promise as more entities
obtained permission to operate on that band.

Approximately 291 DXCC entities were activated during 2007, several
more than in 2006. CW did not die since I worked over 250 entities on
CW, about the same number as worked in 2006. Many stations with no
code licenses, especially outside the USA, have been operating on CW
and some have shown great CW skills. At the same time, some SSB
operators have noticed an increase in activity, especially during SSB
contests.

Those entities that were not believed to have been active during 2007
(and are a useful guide to those planning future operations) are as
follows:

Africa (11): 3C0, 5A, E3, FR/G, FR/J, FR/T, FT/W, FT/X, FT/Z, VK0
(Heard I.) and ZS8.

Antarctica (1): 3Y0 (Peter 1).

Asia (6): 7O (see editors note below), BV9P, EZ (see editors note
below), P5, VU4 and XZ.

Europe (1): R1M (MV Island).

North America (6): CY0, CY9, FO/C, KP1, KP5 and TI9.

Oceania (17): 3D2/C, FK (Chesterfield), FO/A, FO/M, KH1, KH3, KH4,
KH5, KH5K, KH7K, T31, T33, VK0/M, VK9/M, VK9/X, VP6/D and ZL9.

South America (5): CE0/X, HK0/M, PY0/S, PY0/T and VP8/Sand.

Looking at this list, we see that several of the above listed entities
have pending operations in 2008. Hopefully the sunspots will increase
and conditions, especially on the upper HF bands will improve. Good
luck in 2008 and as usual, I hope to see you in the pileups.

(Editors note: Both EZ7V and 7O/G4HCL were QRV during 2007. EZ7V is a
club callsign and was reported multiple times on the bands during
2007; however Amateur Radio has been banned from Turkmenistan for over
18 months. 7O/G4HCL was operating from the airport in Yemen however no
paper work has been submitted to the DXCC Desk. Therefore both were
listed as not active during 2007.)

Joe's other Year End Reviews:
| 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 |

Used with permission and with special thanks to "The Daily DX" Vol. 10, No. 002 - January 3, 2006
Editor/Publisher Bernie McClenny W3UR
Many thanks to Joe Reisert W1JR for the review