V5/KT6Q, JG73ni, Luderitz, Diaz Point, Namibia

2009 DXpedition

Team Members

HB9CRQ / KT6Q, Dan (432 and 1296)

ZS6OB, Pine (144) and his XYL Erika (she prepared great meals for us!)

ZS6WB, Hal (144 satellite, MS and EME)

ZS6JR, Daniel (our great mechanic and 2nd operator on 144)

N7BHC, David (he did the transatlantic-tropo-ducting)

Bob our driver and owner of the minivan

Equipment

2m: 4x9el yagi, preamp, 280W at dipole, automatic az and el control

70cm: 8x12el yagi, preamp, 100w at dipole, armstrong az and el control

23cm: 1x59el yagi, NO preamp, 50W at dipole, armstrong az and el control

Results

2m: 263 QSOs (262 JT65b, 1 CW), 231 initials, 47 DXCC, all continents

70cm: 24 QSOs (19 JT65b, 5 CW), 18 initials, 13 DXCC, 2 continents

23cm: 22 QSOs (20 JT65c, 2CW), 18 initials, 12 DXCC, 2 continents

The V5/KT6Q story

Getting from Pretoria in South Africa to the operating location and back, was a 3200 km round-trip with total driving time of 40 hours in 4 days, 2 days each way. We had one minibus towing the 144 EME trailer and one pick-up truck towing a second trailer. Our destination was Diaz Point, Luderitz, Namibia (JG73ni). Luderitz is on the Atlantic cost just southwest of the Namib Dessert. It is nestled in a very nice bay. The town still has a German touch. To get to Diaz Point we drove 20 km on an unpaved road. At Diaz Point (about 2 km west of Luderitz) there is just one house that is available for rent, a second house is being renovated, a very nice café (restaurant), a couple other buildings (unmanned weather-station), a few camp-sites and a light-house. The landscape of Diaz Peninsula looks like the moon-surface. Hills of black rugged lava, different rock-formations, sand and only very few small plants make it a very special and mystic place. Diaz Point is surrounded on almost 360° by the Atlantic Ocean. Only a narrow double sided sand beach connects it to the peninsula. Lot’s of birds, seals and dolphins can be spotted there. If you visit Namibia, this is definitely a place you should see!

When we arrived they had no electric power on the site, only solar cells and one car battery, despite a written confirmation that 220 V power-service is be available. The owner of the Bay View Hotel helped us to get a generator, but we still were limited in operation, since more energy was needed to operate 3 EME stations plus the terrestrial station at the same time. And we run into even more problems. The 144 PA power-supply went QRT when switched-on the first time. 2 and 6 m yagis were crashed during tower erection when a cable let go. This put us out of business on 6 m EME. We also lost the main 144 antenna for the tropo-ducting test. Fortunately no one was hurt. The 144 preamp was burned during the first attempt to work CW on 144.