UTF-8 conversion

I need help getting a UTF-8 file to convert to CCSID 37.  All I need is to
be able to read them into a database file.  I've read some of the archive
posts on iconv() and that open() should be able to handle this for me.  I
feel like I must be missing a tiny piece of the puzzle.  I've changed the
file on the IFS to have a CCSID code of 1208, and when I use WRKLNK to view
it, it looks like a normal file.  Here is the code:

/free                                                   
  myfile = '/attachment/UTF-8.txt';                     
  openflags = O_RDONLY + O_TEXTDATA;                    
  mode = S_IRUSR + S_IRGRP + S_IROTH;                   
  CCSID_UTF8 = 1208;
                                                        
  fd = open( myfile                                     
           : openflags                                  
           : mode                                       
           : CCSID_UTF8        );                       

When I run this, I get the message CPE3490: Conversion error.  One or more
characters could not be converted from the source CCSID to the target CCSID.

The file itself contains just "This is a test".  (Hex: EFBBBF54 68697320
69732061 20746573 742E).

Any ideas on what I'm missing, or how I can accomplish this?
Carmen