In an unexpected turn of events, Polish DXer Dom Gryzb, 3Z9DX, who has been visiting North Korea this week in advance of a planned Amateur Radio operation early next year, came on the air from the most-wanted DXCC entity around 0000 on December 20. P5/3Z9DX has been active on both 20 meters and 15 meters SSB only, and a few hundred stations have been fortunate enough to work him. The P5/3Z9DX operation is the first since the 2001-2002 operation in North Korea by 4L4FN.

The surprise appearance of P5/3Z9DZ on the air coincides with some of the worst HF conditions in days, if not weeks. At least for part of the time that P5/3Z9DX has been on the air, band conditions have turned sour due to a coronal mass ejection (CME) which raised the A index to 66 and the K index to 6 as December 21 dawned (UTC). He has been switching between 21.222 MHz and 14.222 MHz, listening up on both bands for callers. His most recent operation has been on 15 meters, however.

His operation this weekend is supposed to be a demonstration for North Korean officials, and it's not known how much longer his current operation will continue.

An operation by 3Z9DX from North Korea now is set to take place in February. Gryzb's visit to Pyongyang this month was to iron out the details of his 2016 operations, and while he did take radio gear into North Korea, he was not expected to be on the air from there until January or February.

Stations are asked to keep contacts short, to allow P5/3Z9DX to work as many stations as possible. -- Thanks to The Daily DX and DX-World.net