The following report was received from Robert Kipp about the recent
Radio St. Helena Day.


Radio St. Helena Day 2008 : a short review ( 05. Dec. 2008 )
-----------------------------------------------------------------

During Radio St. Helena Day 2008, RSH received 295 emails.
There were two successful telephone calls:
-- Mr. Shamim in Southern India
-- Mr. Chris Wood in Tennessee, USA

The "new postal route" works.

Note that it is better to omit the words "South Atlantic Ocean" in in
this "new postal route", so as not to confuse your local post office.
Make certain that your letter reaches the United Kingdom. The P.O. in
the UK then knows very well what to do with the letters. Be certain to
include sufficient return postage inside your letter: (3+ IRC's or 3+
US Dollars, or 5 Euro or 5 GB Pounds (smallest banknote)). Be sure to
put sufficient postage on your letter. You need airmail postage to the
most remote country in the world (even if you are in the UK). From
Germany, Euro 1.70 ; from USA, 94 cents ; from UK , 81 Pence. This is
for a standard, airmail, "world"-letter of (max.) 20 grams (USA: 1
ounce) weight.

The first two reception reports have reached Ascension Island.
-- Christian Ghibaudo, France, sent his report on 18. November
-- Richard Mitchell , Raleigh, NC, USA, also sent a report

Both of these letters arrived on Ascension on 26. November. In the
mean time, several other reports have arrived. The Royal Mail Ship RMS
St. Helena will pick these letters up at Ascension on 07. December and
deliver the letters to St. Helena on 09. December 2008.

Do NOT expect any RSD 2008 QSL cards to be posted before about July of
2009.

The RSD 2008 QSL is, as of December, 2008, still being designed. The
cards will, probably, be printed in January of 2009. It will then take
about two months to ship the cards to St. Helena. From about April or
May of 2009, RSH will be able to actually fill in the details and sign
the QSL cards. That may take a month or two. Therefore, the RSD 2008
QSL cards will, probably, not be sent to SWL's before about July of
2009. This is the usual procedure and has been the approximate time
table of events in the past years.

Unfortunately, the SUN did not help at all with the propagation of
radio waves via the ionosphere this year, and we are still at the
bottom of the old sun-spot cycle. Reception around the world was ,
generally, not good. Japan, however, had some phases of wonderful
reception, but many areas of Europe and USA heard almost nothing.
Lucky were those DXers who have big antenna systems in the right
direction. Among others, Anker Petersen (DSWCI) , Glenn Hauser, and
Jerry Berg have published excellent and detailed summaries of the
reception conditions in many parts of the world. Simply put, that is
the way things are on the shortwaves. The shortwaves are like a box of
candy, you never know what you are going to get.

The RSD 2008 Team at Radio St. Helena sends their thanks to all SWL's
everywhere and sincere best wishes to everyone for current Holiday
Season and for the New Year 2009.

Gary Walters, Station Manager , Radio St. Helena
Robert Kipp
(via R. D'Angelo, NASWA)

dxAce
Michigan
USA