– January 5, 2021Posted in: Member Websites

The world’s largest island country, the Republic of Indonesia, is home to Dx Adventure Radio Club (DA-RC) Member and keen 27 MHz DX Hunter 91DA585 Oval.

Active in radio comms for more than a decade with the Radio Sierra North club in which his callsign was 91RSN585, Mr Oval (See pictured above) joins with our professional organisation in early January 2021 via the DX Hunter Category (See https://www.delta-alfa.com/about/membership/).

According to the pages of our club Directory, 91DA585 Oval is one of many phantastic DA-RC members who reside on the bustling Freeband DXstination that is Java Island.

A volcano-dotted island nestled within the Indonesian archipelago that’s the gateway to some of the most eagerly anticipated islands on the planet, this incredible place is identified by the reference OC-021 in line with the World IOTA Program.

According to the atlas, 91DA585 Oval’s country, Indonesia, lies between latitudes 11°S and 6°N, and longitudes 95°E and 141°E.

Not only is it one of the extensive nurseries of 27 MHz ops in the world but it’s the largest archipelagic country in the world too, extending 5120 km from east to west and 1760 km from north to south.

A treasure chest of IOTA possibilities, Oval’s country has almost 18,000 islands scattered over both sides of the equator, around 6000 of which are inhabited.

The largest are Java, Sumatra (OC-143), Borneo (OC-088) (shared with Brunei and Malaysia), Sulawesi (OC-146), and New Guinea (OC-034) (shared with Papua New Guinea) (101 Division).

Google Earth indicates that Indonesia (91 Division) shares land borders with Malaysia on Borneo and Sebatik (OC-295), Papua New Guinea (101 Division) on the island of New Guinea, and East Timor (341) on the island of Timor (OC-148), and maritime borders with Singapore (98), Malaysia (113/58), Vietnam (242), the Philippines (79), Palau (134), and Australia (43).

91DA585 Oval resides in Magelang, which is one of six cities in Central Java Province, each of which is governed by a Mayor rather than a Bupati.

Magelang, is located in the middle of the Magelang Regency, between Mount Merbabu and Mount Sumbing, 43 km north of Yogyakarta, 15km north of Mungkid and 75 km south of Semarang, the capital of Central Java.

91DA585 Oval’s city is located in a fertile agricultural area and one of the most densely populated regions on Central Java.

The city is split into three districts (kecamatan) comprising 17 urban villages (kelurahan).

It has two borders — the western border is Progo River and the Eastern Boones Elo River.

Magelang’s motto is HARAPAN which in English means ‘Hope’.

One of the area’s most fascinating landmarks is the haunting ‘Gereja Ayam’ which is nicknamed the ‘Chicken Church’.

Seen pictured above, this is an abandoned temple located in the middle of the Indonesian jungle.

Another is the Borobudur, or Barabudur, a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple, not far from the town of Muntilan.

Pictured below, Borobudur is reportedly the world’s largest Buddhist temple and consists of nine stacked platforms, six square and three circular, topped by a central dome.

Other local attractions include the Magelang Big Stove – Water Container, the Magelang Town Hall, Town Square, the Military Academy and a number of universities.

For eleven meter operations, 91DA585 Oval’s station consists of an Aries Super 120 LSB-USB-AM transceiver with a handheld microphone, and various other dxcessories which include a number of handheld radios.

A home-brew horizontal yagi and omnidirectional vertical antenna provide significant DX thrust for transmissions that are always well heard around the south Pacific/South East Asia regions.

In addition to a love of radio communications, 91DA585 Oval enjoys travelling and outdoor adventures such as white water rafting with his friends and family members.