3DA0DL
Kingdom of Eswatini - October/ November 2024
News
Thursday, January 01, 2025
Attention: The postal rates change on 01.01.2025.
Postage needed then for 1 envelope with 20 Gramm (FYI): A letter within DL = 95 Euro Cent, an international letter costs 125 Euro Cent.
Sunday, December 22, 2024
The QSL cards arrived from the printers on Friday. The OQRS requests that arrived by 6 a.m. on Friday have all been processed. Over 5000 QSOs have been checked from over 1800 OQRS requests. 850 letters were handed over to Deutsche Post by 10 a.m. today.
Thursday, December 19, 2024
The delivery of the QSL cards from the printers has been announced for this week. We will start sending out the QSL cards before the end of the year.
There are some mails regarding questions from LoTW. Please refer to the OQRS page on our homepage. There is the following: Please note that confirmation for the LoTW is not possible via the OQRS. We will upload the complete logbook to the LoTW within 6 months after the end of the DXpedition.
Thuesday, November 12, 2024
Here is our band/ continent statistics.
| Cont | 160m | 80m | 60m | 40m | 30m | 20m | 17m | 15m | 12m | 10m | 6m | QO-100 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EU | 0,0% | 51,4% | 82,6% | 22,1% | 38,2% | 45,0% | 52,8% | 56,8% | 59,2% | 60,8% | 87,2% | 93,4% | 53,5% |
| AS | 0,0% | 21,3% | 0,0% | 38,6% | 33,8% | 27,2% | 37,8% | 29,7% | 33,0 | 33,8 | 12,6% | 2,1% | 20,3% |
| NA | 0,0% | 14,2% | 3,1% | 8,2% | 21,5% | 23,6% | 3,5% | 9,1% | 5,5% | 2,5% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 11,7% |
| OC | 0,0% | 1,6% | 1,6% | 13,6% | 1,5% | 1,8% | 2,7% | 3,3% | 1,3% | 1,9% | 0,0% | 0,5% | 2,2% |
| AF | 100,0% | 7,7% | 4,7% | 2,5% | 0,9% | 0,6% | 0,7% | 0,5% | 0,4% | 0,4% | 0,3% | 0,9% | 0,6% |
| SA | 0,0% | 3,8% | 7,8% | 15,1% | 4,1% | 1,7% | 2,5% | 0,6% | 0,6% | 0,5% | 0,0% | 3,1% | 1,6% |
| Total | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% |
Monday, November 11, 2024
On Saturday morning we left the Kingdom of Eswatini by land in the direction of Johannesburg Airport - OR Tambo International. Part of the group traveled via Istanbul to Berlin Brandenburg International Airport BER, while Annette's destination was Frankfurt Airport FRA. We arrived there on Sunday lunchtime. Some of us had already arrived in their home town, while others continued their journey home on Sunday or Monday. The equipment arrived home complete with minor injuries.
We now have a lot of work ahead of us. The creation of the QSL card is still in the design phase. We will report back when we start sending it out.
We have received over 2000 mails. Please refrain from asking when individual requests will be answered.
For questions about LoTW, please refer to the information on our homepage: We usually upload all logs of a DXpedition to LoTW within 6 months after the DXpedition.
Saturday, November 9, 2024
Yesterday evening we dismantled the spider beams and the 6 m beam in the dark. We were qrv on 40 m and 80 m throughout the night.
After sunrise, when the 80m pileup on 80m W was finished, we took down all the stations and the remaining antennas and packed them away.
We had 3 hours to do this.
After breakfast we set off for Johannesburg.
We have 49192 connections, thanks to all who have worked with us.
We would especially like to thank our host, the Emmett family and the whole team at Goggas Nest BNB & Restaurant for their hospitality and support of our DXpedition.
Friday, November 8, 2024
Today is the last day of our DXpedition. In the afternoon we start taking down the antennas step by step. Gradually, we will no longer be heard on the individual bands. We will leave the low band antennas in place until the morning. Tomorrow shortly after breakfast we will leave for Johannesburg and fly home in the late afternoon.
Thursday, November 7, 2024
The location of the 6 m antenna was optimized once again. After that, numerous QSOs were logged.
The low bands are still difficult.
At sunset on Tuesday, nothing was going towards Europe, on Wednesday a few were lucky enough to get into the log.
At sunrise, a few connections were possible towards North and South America. Here, too, nothing worked on some days.
BTW I find questions from Europe about 80 m SSB funny when hardly anything is possible in FT8.
When we were qrv from Swaziland as 3DA0DF and 3DA0FR in 2001, we had similarly bad conditions on the 80 m band. We reported this in our news at the time.
Monday, November 4, 2024
We have installed a monitoring system so that we don't miss any band openings. For this purpose, we have installed an SDR TRX on every antenna that is not currently connected to an active station making QSOs. This listens to the usual FT8 frequencies. The evaluator is an RPI with MSHV. Everything that happens on the FT8 frequencies is recorded. So it makes sense for us to be called regularly when band openings are observed at the respective location. We will then react immediately if our monoring system displays signals.
Summary: Call us regularly on the FT8 frequencies, then the monitoring system will be a success and hopefully many stations will come into the log, especially on 6 m.
Sunday, November 3, 2024
We have seen messages in the cluster for 3DA0DL for November 2 between 18 and 21 UTC on 14.215 in SSB. If anyone has logged a QSO with this station, it was not with us, it was a pirate.
Note: There are indications that the call information in these cluster messages is incorrect, as XT2MD was on this frequency at the time. Thanks to Tom, DL2RUM
Many thanks to Hirofumi Oishi - JH6ERA for pointing out an error in the OQRS form. My mistake. Now you can also select the days from November 1 to 9. I have corrected the mistake.
Saturday, November 2, 2024
We used today's good conditions to do a lot of CW and SSB on the higher bands.
We have taken note of the comments on FT8. Each of us has our own special skills. Three of us are good with pileups in CW and SSB. We have a 6m specialist among us and an FT8 specialist. Please don't forget in the comments if you can handle several stations at the same time with one op in FT8. In CW and SSB this is impossible. And finally, we are also people who reach their physical limits at some point. During the first few days, we worked intensively on improving the antenna setup. That's where FT8 can help us.
With every completed antenna, another station can enter the race, supervised by an operator. So many got an early chance to radio with the Kingdom of Eswatini, with 3DA0DL.
Maintaining the website also takes a lot of time. Please understand, we can not send mails to (... am I in the log? ... please check the log ...) they simply cannot be processed. Because nobody can be qrv in CW and SSB during this time.
Now to the questions about the lower bands. We have a station for each band that monitors the FT8 frequencies when it is not actively calling. Unfortunately, hardly any signals can be read on the lower bands. Of course we call at the typical times for the low bands. For example, at the last sunrise I wanted to work stations from W, only VP8A heard us and came into log. The conditions on the lower bands are really very bad. Under these conditions, contacts in CW and SSB are out of the question.
And to anyone who still knows better, it's really easy to get an amateur radio license in the Kingdom of Eswatini. I am happy to help with information. Then he can prove it and do better.
Finally, please note that we finance almost the entire DXpedition out of our own pockets. I would like to take this opportunity to thank The South German DX Group - SDXG for their support.
I will also add photos of the antenna setup soon.
Thursday, October 31, 2024
We had received the license in advance by mail, but we had to pick up the original in person in Mbabane. We did that today.
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
We have now finished setting up the antennas and are qrv from 160m to 6m and QO-100.
In the last few days we have received many inquiries such as ... am I in the log, please check ... my qso is not in the onlinelog, please correct. We cannot and will not answer these requests during the DXpedition. This costs time during which we cannot make QSOs. We will look at the questions after the DXpedition. If you are not in the onlinelog, please try again. We are still qrv for a few days.
We usually upload all logs of a DXpedition to LoTW within 6 months after the DXpedition.
We do not use eQSL, clublog, heardlog or qrz log.
Monday, October 28, 2024
Last night we had a storm, rain and thunderstorms like we've never seen before. Our hostel parents were worried about our antennas. Both Spiderbeams defied the storm. Unfortunately, the storm was accompanied by a power cut that lasted several hours.
Sunday, October 27, 2024
It is now early morning on 27.10. Between the rain and thunderstorms we have completed the antennas for 10/15/20. Three stations are now running. At the same time we have also set up a QO-100 station. All tests are currently running successfully and numerous connections in CW, SSB and FT8 have been logged. We have also extended the online log to display QO-100 QSOs. In CQWW SSB we made some test QSOs. There was simply no time for more.
Saturday, October 26, 2024
Setting up the antennas and station is a bit difficult due to the weather conditions, today is a day with a lot of rain and thunderstorms. We often have to interrupt the work.
Friday, October 25, 2024
After more than 24 hours of traveling, we arrive in the evening at our accommodation, the Goggas Nest BNB & Restaurant in Matsapha. We were warmly welcomed by the Emmett family and the entire hotel staff.Some pictures have been added
Thursday, October 24, 2024
Late Thursday afternoon, the team members set off from Berlin BER Airport and Frankfurt FRA Airport towards Istanbul. The group will meet here for the onward flight to Johannesburg. They continue on the road with their heavy luggage towards the Kingdom of Eswatini.
Friday, August 23, 2024
ESCCOM has completed the license certificate and sent us a copy by email.
Monday, August 12, 2024
Flights and accommodation are booked. The amateur radio license has been applied for.