Inside of the area stricken by disaster--Vol.1 This is Otsuchi Town

Two weeks have already passed since I was sent to Otsuchi Town, Iwate Prefecture, which was seriously destroyed by the earthquake and the following Tsunami on March 11, 2011. Now I work for the registrar staff in the town office. Though I was embarrassed by the situation of the area stricken by disaster and the difference from the way of the works in Osaka.

I’ll stay here till the end of July. I’ll send you reports from the area stricken by disaster as many as possible.

I’ll introduce you the short profile of Otsuchi Town. Otsuchi Town is located in the Tohoku area, the northern part of Japan. Pre-disaster population is about 15,000 people, main local industry was fishery.

The most serious earthquake in our history which happened at 0546z on March 11, 2011 changed the calm small town drastically. After the vibration of the magnitude 9, the terrible Tsunami attacked the town.
Almost the whole downtown near the Pacific coast was destroyed mercilessly and the wreckage of buildings piled up anywhere. Only in Otsuchi Town about 750 people victimed and about 950 are still missing. In the town office mayor and about 30% of all personnel died or are missing.

When I arrived at the downtown for the first time, I was very surprised at the wreckage lands without any buildings. There used to be the former main street before my working venue where shops, hotel, hospital and many kinds of buildings opened for business. But this beautiful streets were bulldozed mercilessly by Tsunami.



In the present circumstances the reconstruction plan hasn’t been decided yet. At least the government doesn’t allow us to build houses and commercial buildings at the site stricken by disaster. In addition, there are no shops in neighborhood. We need to bring lunch.

Although daily life is very inconvenient, Lawson is already open around the clock at the gateway to the areas stricken by earthquake. It sells a variety of commodities and daily goods and many neighborhoods and reconstruction workers pay a visit there.

I’m looking forward to the good changes during my three-month stay in Otsuchi Town.

I work in the area stricken by Earthquake and Tsunami...

It's almost two month since the East Japan Great Earthquake happened on March 11.

At the present time, reconstruction is going on in the area stricken by disaster, but serious problem on the radioactive leakage still remains.

To tell the truth, I'm dispatched to the area stricken by earthquake and the following Tsunami.

I'll work in Otsuchi Town, Iwate Prefecture,(JCG#03004, N39'21"35 E141'54"24, QM09WI) located in the northrn Japan, from May 5 for about three months.

Otsuchi Town, which is located in the pacific coast, was attacked by Tsunami and the downtown seriously damaged. About 1,700 of the population of 15,000 people victimed or missing at the time of writing.
In addition, the town office was also destroyed, mayor and about 25% of all the personels victimed.

I'll be engaged in the reconstruction of the damaged town office. Especially I'll support the recovery of the lost resident registration.

I stay in Tono City(JCC#0310, N39'19"47 E141'31"37 QM09SH), which is located in the inland, about 50km west from Otsuchi Town. Different from Otsuchi Town, Tono town is almost normal.

I bring YAESU FT-450M and several antennas, for example, long wire for 20m, 15m and 6m. The plan of QRV isn't decided yet because I will stay in the room in Tono with my co-worker. When I make QRV, I'll use CW, RTTY or PSK in order not to send my loud voice by SSB.
I'll make QRV as the callsign of JO3PSJ/7. QSL cards will be issued after the end of my mission for three month.

My plan to participate in DX Contests is also not decided yet. I'd like to join in CQ WPX CW, ALL ASIAN CW, IARU HF Championship and RSGB IOTA Contest. But I'll use my precious time to visit the areas stricken by disasters. I think maybe I'll have less opportunity to sit before my rig.

I'll report the present situation of the disaster area as many as possible during my staying.

Two Russian Domestic Contests Participation

I participated in two Russian local contests-UA1DZ Memorial Contest(1500-1900z on 30 April, organized by Sankt Peterburg Amateur Radio Association) and RCC Cup(0200-0800z on 1 May, organized by Russian Contest Club).

As to UA1DZ Memorial Contest, I finished only 7 QSOs. I missed multipliers, which of the contest are designated the RDA(Russian Districts Awards) number of Sankt Peterburg and Leningrad Oblast. Maybe I will be disqualified in the contest.

As to RCC CUP, I got total 11 QSOs. In Japan condition of high bands is very poor, so Russian stations showed up after 0600z. I succeeded multipliers of RCC membership number. I could get the right to be nominated in the ranking of the contest.

In Japan ALL JA Contest, one of the large domestic contests, took place on the same day as two Russian contests. QSO areas for CW mode on 20m and 15m bands are designated on the rule in 14.050-14.080 and 21.050-21.080 in almost all of our domestic contests. QRM problems didn't happened and I enjoyed confortable DXing because DX stations make QRV at the bottom area of bands.

Russian local contests are very interesting because the operation technique of participants is very high. I will participate in the coming contests!

（QSO）
Total 18 QSOs in the both contests
AS: UA0, UN,
EU: UA, UR, S5

（RIG)
YAESU FT-450M 50W
（ANT)
20m: Full size vertical style made by fishing rod. 5mL on the balcony
15m: Full size inverted V dipole. 7mL on the balcony.

QTH: At home in Amagasaki City, Hyogo, JAPAN (JCC#2703, GL#PM74QS)
Logsoft：N1MM
OS：Windows XP

SP DX RTTY Contest participation

I participated in SP DX RTTY Contest organized by Polish Radiovideography Club ( PK RVG) on April 24.

I finished in total 33 QSOs. Condition was very good late at Saturday's night, but high bands looked like hell in the Sunday's everning as if my antenna changed into the dummy loads. I had no opportunity of QSO after 0700z till the end of the contest. I could make QSOs with only two SP stations on the band of 20m, but no on 15m band. Ma,,, I was relieved because I could make QSOs with UA0 and BY stations on the mode of PSK31 in the everning, so to speak, my antenna didn't die!!!

I tried 5MContest, the Ukrainian log programm in the DX contest for the first time. It is very confortable to use it with MMTTY as RTTY machine and I got the impression that we can made stable operation on the AFSK mode.

（QSO）
All 33 QSOs
AS: JA,HL,BV,UA0,UN,EX
EU: SP,UA,UR,
Total 9 entities.

（RIG)
YAESU FT-450M 50W
（ANT)
20m: Full size vertical style made by fishing rod. 5mL
15m: Full size inverted V dipole. 7mL (Used for 10m band with MTU)

QTH: At home in Amagasaki City, Hyogo, JAPAN (JCC#2703, GL#PM74QS)
Log Programm： 5M Contest with MMTTY
OS：Windows XP

Russian Local Contest The Ural Cup participation

I participated in Ural Cup organized by the Chelyabinsk Branch of the Russian Amateur Radio League SSR on April 23.

I had total 19 QSOs on the CW mode of 20m and 40m bands. Contest took place for 4 hours between 1600z and 2000z. But I gave it up at 1830 because I was very sleepy and condx fell down.

The exchange number of this contest is two alphabebs of grid locator of operator's QTH and serial number starting from 001. I sent PM001. I tested number sending before the start of the contest with many kinds of logsofts--N1MM, 5MContest, Ctestwin. But I failed in sending it without mistakes because the serial number failed in changing from PM001 to PM002. So to speak, number was fixed at PM001 because two letter PS before serial number disturbed to change serial number. Eventually, I decided use Ctestwin with manualy changing number.

This contest is one of the Russian local contest, but overseas stations may participate in it. But this contest isn't introduced in SM3CER DX Contest website and its contest rule is introduced in QRZ.ru only in Russian. The overseas participants are almost those who live in the CIS and Eastern European nations.

Condx on the band of 20m is very good in midnight in JA. Signals from EU such as UA, UR, YL and LO was very beautiful!!


（QSO Entities）
AS: UA0, UN,
EU: UA, UR

（RIG)
YAESU FT-450M 50W
（ANT)
40m: Shortened vertical style made by fishing rod. 5mL
20m: Full size vertical style made by fishing rod. 5mL

QTH: At home in Amagasaki City, Hyogo, JAPAN (JCC#2703, GL#PM74QS)
Logsoft：Ctestwin
OS：Windows XP

YU DX Contest & CQ Manchester Mineira DX Contest Participation

I participated in two DX contests--YU DX Contest organized by SRS(Amateur Radio Union of Serbia) and CQ Manchester Mineira DX Contest(CQ MM Con) organized by CWJF Group on April 17.

At first, as to YU DX Con, I participated in the second round of the contest(0900z to 1700z on Sunday). I could make QSOs with 22 stations including 5 YU stations on the band of 15m and 20m. In Japan the time when YU DX Con takes place is between dask and midnight. Now we can make QSOs with EU stations in night time on 15m and 20m bands. I think it is inconvenient timetable because the period of contest is devided into two rounds. But I think the second period is suit for our present conditions in Japan.

As to CQ MM Con, I could make 3 QSOs with 2 UA0s and 1 PY station. This year regulation changed and CQ MM Con became worldwide contest. But I had few opportunities of QSO.

（QSO Entities）
AS: JT, UA0, UN,
OC: YB
EU: YU, UA, UR, LY, 9A, E7, S5, DL, SP, OH, DL
NA: W
Total 16 entities.

（RIG)
YAESU FT-450M 50W
（ANT)
40m: Shortened vertical style made by fishing rod. 5mL
20m: Full size vertical style made by fishing rod. 5mL
15m: Full size inverted V dipole. 7mL (Used for 10m band with MTU)

QTH: At home in Amagasaki City, Hyogo, JAPAN (JCC#2703, GL#PM74QS)
Logsoft：N1MM
OS：Windows XP

JIDX CW & Gagarin Cup Participation

I participated in two DX contests -- Japan International DX Contest CW(JIDX CW) organized by Japanese DX Magazine "Five-Nine" and Yuri Gagarin International DX Contest(Gagarin Cup) organized by Russian GC Committee.

I made QRV at home in Amagasaki City, Hyogo (JCC#2703) as the callsign JO3PSJ because I cancelled the field operation. I decided to check radio propagation of CW at home with usual facilities on the third floor of the 8-story appartment house.

The final individual result was total 241 QSOs -- 204 for and 37 for GC Cup. I had QSOs with stations from 41 DXCC entities. I focused on calling CQ stations because I'm not good at CQing on CW mode. But I was sartificated with good result which is not behind far from the field operation. I learned DXing is possible with home small facilities.

Condx was wholely FB! 15m band was open to the direction in EU till late at night, I had QSO on 20m band with EU stations at midnight and with LU station before the dawn. I had chances to have QSOs with A7(Qatar) and F stations on 10m band. But Un fortunately I lost S5, LZ and I which are regular in the DX contests.

I was sometimes confused because two CW contests are competing at almost the same time. Almost participants announced CQ JIDX or CQ GC so that the other paticipants can distinguish between two contests. But many JA stations were bewildered when they accepted ITU code. Though participants must learn contest rule and know the other contests, I thought CQ stations also must make efforts so that the other participants can distinguish ongoing contests.

I tried N1MM log soft for the first time. Though I didn't use it because of the technical reason, soft worked while I repeated try and error. The automatic sending of CW is easier because of abundant macros. In addition it was more convenient than the Japanese Ctestwin and Zlog because the number of CQ zone is displayed when I imput callsign. I think log softs are involved in COM port. I'll continue to look for appropriate soft for me.


（QSO Entities）
AS: HL, BY, BV, VR2, JT, HS, XV, XU, 9M2, 9V1, UA0, UN, UK, 4X, A7
OC: DU, YB, 9M6, KH2, VK, ZL
EU: UA, UR, ES, YL, SP, YO, YU, 4O, 9A, HA, OH, OE, DL, GM, F
NA: W, KL7, VE, KH6
SA: LU
Total 41 entities. The 1st QSO entities was A7(Qatar).

（RIG)
YAESU FT-450M 50W
（ANT)
40m: Shortened vertical style made by fishing rod. 5mL
20m: Full size vertical style made by fishing rod. 5mL
15m: Full size inverted V dipole. 7mL (Used for 10m band with MTU)

QTH: At home in Amagasaki City, Hyogo, JAPAN (JCC#2703, GL#PM74QS)
Logsoft：N1MM
OS：Windows XP