3DA0DF and 3DA0FR

Swaziland - October 2001

News

January 2002

The QSLs have arrived from the printer and they are rolling out now! These are some 1,400 letters with a weight of appr. 20 kg:

January 2002

This is the preview of our QSL card. They are going to be printed in mid January.

Tuesday 16, 2001

The team arrived very well and safe back home. Please send your QSL's for 3DA0DF and 3DA0FR via DL7DF.

Saturday, Oct 13, 2001

The DXpedition is over and the team is on the way back home. Unfortunately, the low band conditions were totally dissatisfying but we hope that we could provide you new country or mode or band country.

Thursday, Oct 11, 2001

The lowband conditions are simply terrible! Not one QSO on 80m in the past nights!!! Only 4 QSOs with South America on 40m... Can you imagine this? We have 14,000 QSOs in the log now and try to reach the 20k before we leave.

Tuesday, Oct 9, 2001

We try to solve the problems with the deaf 6m receiver. Further pictures added to the 3DA0 Pictures Page!

Monday, Oct 8, 2001

Conditions are still very, very poor for us. We can hardly hear any signals on 80m and 160m. We call and call and call CQ - only 2 QSOs on 80 in one night... Very good and long 6m opening on Saturday. We are having serious receiving problems - the receiver seems to be deaf. We are working on it.

Friday, Oct 5, 2001

Conditions are still very, very poor. We call CQ all nights long n´but nothing is happening. The bands seem to open at 14 local time. 120 QSOs could be made on 6m on Wednesday.

We had a meeting with the locals Willy, 3DA0BD and Andy, 3DA1BD and learned a lot about ham radio in Swaziland. There is actually only a handful of hams here, some 20 OM's and YL's. All 3DA0 callsigns are class 1 licenses. All 3DA1 callsigns are class 2 and may be used only on VHF and up. No CW is needed for the class 1 license. The club has its problems with arriving QSLs from DXpeditions. They can't answer these cards and it's very expensive to forward them to the DXpedition managers. But they would nevertheless do it for us.

So, send your QSLs for 3DA0DF and 3DA0FR only (repeat: only!) via DL7DF and not via the 3DA radio club!

Another important item is we see when we look at the cluster spots. Do not mix up the call signs 3DA0DF and 3DA0FR!

Surprisingly, 10m and 12m opened already at 10.00 local kitchen time yesterday. Sigi is currentlly on 10m/SSB, Rainer on 12m/CW. The R7 has found a new location yesterday. We talked to the hotel manager and could "abuse" a mast pole. We have additional coax and wire to further improve the antenna situation.

One problem with the power supply occured this morning. We had suddenly 264 V. The equipment survived.

Further pictures added to the 3DA0 Pictures Page.

Thursday, Oct 4, 2001

Conditions were totally down during the first days - only 3000 QSOs. Hardly anything between 6.00 and 12.00 UTC. The first night on 80m brought some 100 stations into the log, including a few U.S. but no JA yet. But there are also good news: the food is fantastic and this is probably our first DXpedition where we will return home with over-weight... There were good conditions into Europe on 6m yesterday. Let's hope it continues.

Dan, 3DA0AA, visited us yesterday. A meeting with the local hams is planned.

We have put another set of photos on the 3DA0 Pictures Page.

Sunday, Sep 30, 2001

The team has arrived very well and without any major problems in the Mountain Inn Hotel. The baggage and equipment has previously been checked in Berlin before departure. The equipment has then been transferred from Johannisburg to Manzini. Nothing got lost this time!

We used the day to build the antennas. The manager of the Mountain Inn Hotel was really helpful and courteous. We have got another room for the 6m station, it is located at the highest place of the hotel. The food is excellent, the beer is first-rate. We now wait till 0 local time. The power voltage is OK - 243 V - which let's the amplifiers run at 800 Watt with 20 Watt drive power. The climate is well, cold at night-time, no air condition needed. The team is happy!

First spots of 3DA0DF at 2218 UTC on 30m. We will use 3DA0DF on CW and the digital modes, 3DA0FR on SSB. Pictures will be available on the 3DA0 Pictures Page during the Expedition.

Friday, Sep 28, 2001

The team left Germany today and is supposed to arrive in Swaziland tomorrow at 17 UTC. They are staying at the Mountain Inn. Look at: www.mountaininn.sz.