5T0SP, Mauritania, Africa

Yes, it is going to happen again. After previous DXpedition adventures a group of Polish operators joined to organize the next DXpedition.

This time their target is Mauritania. Perhaps it is not on the top of the Most Wanted DXCC Entity List but activcity from 5T is not too high, in fact there is only one active HAM in 5T. Also not too many DXpeditions have vistited that African country.

So here is the DXpedition team: SP2EBG, SP3CYY, SP3GEM, SP6EQZ, SP6FXY, SP6IXF and 5T0JL. Read their short personal profiles to learn about their previous DXpedition experiences.

Visit our website to learn about plans and operation details. We can confirm, that we have already received the licence 5T0SP thanks to the great help of Jean 5T0JL and courtesy of the l’Autorité de Régulation de Mauretanie.

Fly tickets are already booked.

We were going to keep the information about our DXpedition in secret a few days more. We needed a few days more to create the website and some additional articles. But it was impossible to keep it secret. So stay tuned for more details. We will publish more information very soon.

It is not sure if there will be internet access in the QTH of the DXpedition. There are no roaming services there. Perhaps it will possible to buy a prepaid card of thr local operator. If it is only possible we will try to have internet and upload our logs to the ClubLog.

We will publish a survey to let you vote on which bands and/or modes you need 5T. Just give us some days to prepare it. You can also always use our contact email: 5t0sp@dxing.pl – this email already works and will be active during and after the DXpedition.

We received some questions about 6 meters. Unfortunately our permission does not allow for the magic band operation.

More information will be published soon…

Thanks for all HAM friends who sent us really friendly comments. Many of you asked for the 160 meters. We can say that we are going to be really well prepared for the Top Band operation. Many of us have low band experience. Especially Jurek SP3GEM is mad about low bands (you can have a lok at his antennas at: http://sp3gem.smoczyk.pl/). The coming weekend we are going to have a meeing of the DXpedition team at Jurek’s QTH. After that we will publish the list of equipment and antennas we are going to take to Mauritania.

In the meantime we have implemented some new features on our website. You can now take part in the survey and vote for bands and modes where you need QSOs with Mauritania most. The survey is published at the following URL: http://survey.dxing.pl/index.php?sid=17849. After completing the survey you will be able to see the summary statistics of all votes. In the same time here on our website we published a table with votes aggregated by continets (data is updated on the fly after each completion of the survey).

We have also placed a link to the PayPal account of the DXpedition. In general we are ready to cover costs of the expedition ourselves. However if you can help each support will be very appreciated.

The DXpedition Team members had their first meeting on 18th of August at the QTH of Jurek SP3GEM. There were five of them (SP2EBG, SP3CYY, SP3GEM, SP6EQZ and SP6IXF) who participated the meeting. They met to discuss some aspects of the DXpedition, especially to talk about transceivers and antennas. So here is the preliminary list of equipment they are going to take to Mauritania.

Transceivers: 3 x TS590, 2 x K3, 1x IC7000.

Fiberglas poles: 2 x 8m, 2 x 12m and 1 x 15m.

Masts: 1x fiberglass 9m high and 3 x aluminum 12m high.

Antennas:

Receiving antennas: 1xK9AY + few beverages (maybe put directly on sand if no suitable poles).

Transmitting antennas: Verticals for 160 & 80 m, phased 2 el vertical array for 40 & 30m, GP7 vertical for 40 – 10m, 2 x Spider beam, 1 x 3 elements Yagi, 4 elements Yagi for 17 & 24m, 4 elements Yagi for 6m.

Logging software: Wintest for DXpedition

Other: 6 computers in the local network.

Have a look at the pictures. On the first picture you can see 5T0SP Team mebers (L-R): Jurek SP3GEM, Janusz SP6IXF, Włodek SP6EQZ, Bogdan SP2EBG, Jan SP3CYY. On the second picture you can see them in the company of their friends and family members (L-F): Gala SP2GKS (XYL of SP2EBG), Bogdan SP2EBG, Jan SP3CYY, Józef SP9-31029, Wojtek SP9PT, Wanda (XYL of SP9PT), Włodek SP6EQZ, Janusz SP6IXF.

There were no news last weeks on our website but many things happened in the meantime as we work hard to prepare everything. Here are the most important news:

Many antenna tests were made. We know antennas we are going to use but all of them are tested to check that no parts are missing and antennas work as expected. Of course to make such tests it is necessary to build each antenna.

Janusz SP6IXF is checking the SpiderBeam

Measurement of the 160m vertical. It works!!!

Jean 5T0JL informed that there is Internet access in the hotel. So we hope it will be possible to upload the log to ClubLog on daily basis.

We did some paperwork, check our passports etc. just not to miss any of the very basic things.

We warmly welcome Andre V51B in our team as a support. Andre will be our pilot station. Please check the link “Team Members” to read Andre’s personal profile. We believe that with the help of Andre V51B and Tom SP5UAF HAM radio community will be perfectly informed about 5T0SP activities.

Some members of the 5T0SP Team are going to meet during the weekend of September 22-23 (during the annual meeting of the SP DX Club). There will be a short presentation about the DXpedition. It will be also a chance to discuss some matters.