[amsat-bb] Namibia VHF expedition in January

[James French]

This off the VHF reflector this morning. Certainly of interest to
satellite operators and 6m operators.

James W8ISS
=====

 On Sat, 2008-12-13 at 17:18 -0500, N7BHC wrote:
> The following message came from Dan HB9CRQ this morning. The January  
> DXpedition to Namibia will focus on VHF and UHF exclusively. Modes  
> will include EME, tropo, meteor scatter, LEO satellites, etc. Here is  
> Dab's posting.
> 
> Dave N7BHC
> 
> ______
> 
> Dear friends
> 
> I am happy to officially announce our Namibia DXpedition! The  
> reservations and flight tickets are confirmed and we are in the final  
> stage of preparations. Many thanks especially to Hal, Pine, Dick and  
> Dave for their huge effort preparing everything!
> 
> 
> NAMIBIA DXpedition January 2009
> 
> This information will be updated as more details are available! Please  
> check www.hb9q.ch and www.mmmvhf.de for updates!
> 
> Dates of operation will be from moonrise on 7th to moonset on 16th  
> January 2009. QTH will be in Luderitz Namibia, grid locator JG73NI.  
> See the GoogleEarth Pin (V5 DXpedition JG73ni.kmz)!
> 
> We have applied for a special call for our DXpedition. As soon as we  
> get it confirmed we will announce it.
> 
> Our main target is to activate Namibia on 50, 144, 432 and 1296 MHz  
> EME. At the same time we will be QRV for transatlantic Tropo on 144  
> and 432 and on satellite (AO-7, FO-29 and AO-51).
> 
> EME operation:
> We intend to operate 144 and 432 all our moon-windows, 50 and 1296  
> will have limited activity times. We will announce them when on site.  
> We will be QRV in JT65 on all bands and will do some CW on 144 and  
> 432. The details of activity will be announced later. As soon as we  
> arrive in Luderitz we will check-out the QRM situation and announce  
> our frequencies on www.hb9q.ch and/or www.mmmvhf.de
> 
> Equipment:
> For 50 MHz we will be using 1 x 6M7JHV and Acom 1000 (400W).
> For 144 MHz we will be using 4 x M2 2M9SSB yagis mounted on the trailer
> with az/el rotators. We will have 400W and ARR preamp.
> For 432 MHz we will be using 8 x M2 432EME-12 yagis on a low tower  
> manually rotated. We have a TE Systems 180 watt and ARR preamp.
> For 1296 MHz we will be using 1x59el yagi (21wl) and 80W (Transverter  
> and PA by DJ9YW), no preamp.
> For the 144 MHz the cross-Atlantic tropo attempt we will take an M2  
> 2M19XXX long yagi and will have 180 & 300 watt amplifiers available.
> For Satellite operations we will be using M2 crossed Yagis for 144 &  
> 432 MHz with az/el rotator as the primary array with M2 Eggbeaters  
> available for backup.
> 
> The operators will be ZS6WB Hal, ZS6OB Pine, ZS6BUN Dick, ZS6AC Sarel,  
> N7BHC Dave, HB9CRQ Dan.
> 
> We hope to have (limited) internet access from our QTH. If we can we  
> will update once a day the stations worked at www.hb9q.ch
> 
> We would like to get as many contacts as possible in the log and all  
> contacts will be confirmed.
> 
> 
> vy 73
> 
> Dan, HB9CRQ/KT6Q
> head of HB9Q
> 
> www.hb9q.ch

Beginning of second message:

On Sat, 2008-12-13 at 17:25 -0500, N7BHC wrote:
> In the email I just forwarded from Dan HB9CRQ, he mentions that we  
> will will also be doing some tropo ducting tests across the South  
> Atlantic ocean. I am joining the expedition to focus on the trans- 
> oceanic ducting research and attempts to cross the South Atlantic on  
> 2m and 70cm. Here are a couple more web pages to look at for  
> additional data.
> 
> Expedition overview (not an official expedition web page). This page  
> has many links to additional data on Luderitz Bay where the expedition  
> will take place.
> http://sites.google.com/site/n7bhcvhf/trans-oceantic-ducting/south-atlantic-ocean/namibia-v51b-expedition-in-2009
> 
> Tropo Ducting from Namibia in January.
> http://sites.google.com/site/n7bhcvhf/trans-oceantic-ducting/south-atlantic-ocean/namibia-v51b-expedition-in-2009/troposhperic-ducting-from-v51
> 
> 73, Dave - N7BHC
> ===========================================
> Email:  n7bhc at drasticom.net
> 
> N7BHC/B beacon
> FM15PA
> 144.291 MHz CW
> 50 W - 16 element horizontal pol.
> reports by email or phone +1 (704) 225-3928
> ===========================================