Post date: Dec 25, 2008 3:53:16 PM
With the departure date for Namibia now close enough that we can count off the days on our fingers, ZS6BUN has had to drop out. Dick has been a key member of the team from the start of the planning for the VHF DXpedition and his presence in Luderitz will be sorely missed. Fortunately at the same time that Dick is dropping out, we are being joined by Daniel, ZS6JR who is a seasoned veteran of a number of HF and VHF DXpeditions to the neighbouring countries. Daniel will be taking one of his mobile towers which will be used to support the VHF antennas being used for the 144 MHz trans-Atlantic tropo attempt.
Other team members include Dan HB9CRQ (Team Leader), Dave N7BHC (Tropo Project Manager), Sarel ZS6AC (Satellite Operations), Pine ZS6OB (Antennas & EME Operations) and Hal ZS6WB. ZS6JR will also work with ZS6OB on antennas and also operate EME.
The 4 x 9 element 144 MHz EME array has been checked out on the trailer and everything is checked out and ready to go. Thanks to American generosity we were able to fit the trailer array out with an azimuth/elevation rotator which will be a great help with the limited operating staff we will have available. The 8 x 13 element 432 MHz EME array has been mounted on a small portable tower and will require the azimuth to be rotated manually but an actuator has been installed for elevation control. HB9Q has shipped down the 1296 MHz EME station from Switzerland and the equipment has been placed on top of the growing pile of equipment in Pretoria waiting to be loaded for the trip. We expect to have 6M5 and 6M7JHV Yagis for 50 MHz with us for MS and hopefully EME attempts on 6m.
Dan, HB9CRQ (& Head of HB9Q) is flying to South Africa and joins the team 04 January. Dave, N7BHC will also be arriving on January 2nd.
Current plans are to complete packing on 04 January and depart on 05 January with the trip to Luderitz anticipated to take two days of travel followed by another day to assemble the station for operation. We expect to start disassembling the station around the 15th and arrive back in Pretoria on the 18th.
We plan to operate EME primarily on 144, 432 and 1296 MHz and if time and workload permits 50 MHz. Operation on 50 & 144 MHz meteor scatter is also expected to be restricted by our available operator man-hours. We also plan to run a breakable beacon on 50.200 with an omni directional antenna in the event of a Sporadic-E opening.
N7BHC will be working with several groups in South America towards a first ever trans-Atlantic QSO on 144 MHz tropo. Several stations on the east coast of South America will be taking part in this attempt including some portable operations installed in locations specifically for this purpose.
Sarel, ZS6AC will be concentrating on the satellite operations. With our position on the coast we will have the opportunity to make satellite contacts into South America with stations that would not often be able to contact the African continent. Angelo, PY1UNU is helping to coordinate the satellite effort on the South American end.
We expect to have internet communication during the trip and provided it is available we will be using ZS-SAT and ZS VHF Digests to circulate operating schedules. Our goal is to give VHF operators all over the world the opportunity to contact a new DXCC entity and/or grid square. If many stations are calling we will keep QSOs to the minimum required, but will chat when we have the opportunity. We hope to see more African callsigns on the logbook on this trip. Good luck to all.