3DA0MB, KG53mn, Mhlambanyasi, Swaziland

2017 DXpedition

Team Members

3DA0VV, Vincent (best host you can imagine!)

ZS6JON, John (144 MHz)

ZS6AVH, Andrew (logistics)

ZS4TX, Bernie (50 MHz)

ZS6EME / HB9DRI, Alex (troubleshooter)

PA2CHR, Chris (432 MHz)

PA2CMC, Lins (144 MHz)

HB9COG, Sam (Microwaves)

HB9CRQ, Dan (Microwaves)

Equipment

2m: 4x9el yagi horizontal, 4x6el yagi vertical, 800W

70cm: 2x28el yagi, rotable polarization, 400W

1.5m dish 1x2mm mesh, homemade automatic az and el control

23cm: 100W at feed, circular, preamp at horn

13cm: 90W at feed, circular, preamp at horn

9cm 80W at feed, circular, preamp at horn

6cm: 80W at feed, circular, preamp at horn

3cm: 50W at feed, v-pol, preamp at horn

Results

6m: 54 QSOs

2m: 291 QSOs

70cm: 47 QSOs

23cm
66 QSOs (4 CW, 62 JT65c)
60 initials
22 DXCC (first ever 3DA are: DL6SH, G4CCH, HB9Q, I0NAA, JA6AHB, W5LUA, LZ1DX, OF2DG, OK1KIR, ON4AOI, OZ4MM, PA3FXB, SP3XBO, TI2AEB, UA3PTW, UA9YLU, UN6PD, VA6EME, VK4CDI, YL2GD, YO3DDZ, ZS1LS)
Smallest station worked: LZ4OC 2.35m mesh dish 150W at feed (-28/R-28)

13cm
29 QSOs (4 CW, 25 JT65c)
25 initials
14 DXCC (first ever 3DA are: DL7YC, ES5PC, G3WDG, HB9Q, IK5QLO, JA6AHB, W5LUA, OF2DG, OK1KIR, ON4AOI, OZ4MM, PA0BAT, SP3XBO, UA3PTW)
Smallest station worked: PA7JB 2.4m solid offset dish 150W at feed (-23/R-23)

The 3DA0MB Story

In early 2017 John, ZS6JON invited us to join the 3-band (2m, 70cm, 23cm) EME DXpedition to Swaziland which he, Lins, PA3CMC and Chris, PA2CHR were preparing. At that time our microwave DXpedition station was not „halfway“ built. We told him, that we would make final decision in May, hoping that by then, we would know if we can finish building and testing our station in time. In the meantime John applied for the needed licenses for all of us. And Bernie, ZS4TX joined the team adding 6m to the DXpedition. Of course May arrived „way to early“ and we were still working on the station with first tests planned for July. Never the less we made a courageous decision and booked our flight tickets to Johannesburg. Now Lins announced the 1st ever 8-band EME DXpedition. First days of October, one week before departing, our station was tested and ready to run/fly. We just made it.

All equipment made it to Johannesburg and through South Africa customs. Alex, ZS6EME and John picked us (Sam & Dan) up and drove us to Alex’s home (many thanks Alex for having us at your home and sorry we „abused“ your hospitality and did drink so much of your great white-wine), where we were staying for 2 nights. There we checked all our transport cases. Everything was undamaged and all equipment inside looked good. John had all very well organized and prepared. And thanks to Vincent, 3DA0VV we had a great place to stay and operate from (many thanks Vincent and family, you are great hosts!). All team members met next day at John’s home. For lunch we went to a local restaurant and had great food (1kg of spare-rips per person!!!). After a very early morning departure everything went smooth (including Swaziland customs… thanks to Andrews experience) and we arrived by noon at Vincent’s QTH. All was perfect but the weather: dense fog, all wet and only 10°c! Never the less the team set-up all the stations in only 4h! By than the weather cleared-up and we got to see more of the landscape. By early evening all was set and ready for the early morning (2 o’clock local) moon-rise.

When moon came across the pine-trees 4 stations were running at „full-speed“. And, how could it be different, Mr. Murphy showed up… there was just too much HF in the air and too many cables to close to each other. This generated here and there a few problems. But with everyone’s help and expertise the problems could be sorted out and the damage fixed. Special thanks to Alex and Vincent for the „home-made replacement fuse“ for the IF 144 MHz TRV! And finally Mr. Murphy left again and did luckily not come back!

3DA0MB — The Movie, by PA2CHR