DXpedition to Malawi

I went to Malawi in July 1999 to operate the IARU DX Contest.  I operated as 7Q7PA.  Conditions were very good to Europe, Asia, and Northern Africa.  There several pictures and a map below that show where I was operating from and the only 2 active hams in Malawi.

This is the bungalow that I operated from in Blantyre, Malawi as 7Q7PA.  Blantyre is named after David Livingston's hometown in Scotland.

Malawi is in Southeastern Africa, with Mozambique to the east and south, Tanzania to the north, and Zambia to the west.  It is bordered on the east by Lake Malawi.  Lake Malawi was discovered by David Livingston on his first missionary journey.  There are about 11 million people in Malawi and has an area about the same as Mississippi.  It is the fourth poorest country in the world and one in three are HIV positive.  What really saddens me is that 25% die before the age of 5 from Malaria.  There are only two active hams in Malawi, Ron MacFarland, 7Q7RM, and John Lord, 7Q7JL.  Both Ron and John are active on 6 meters but leave the HF bands to the DXpeditions.

John Lord, 7Q7JL and Alan Clark, 7Q7PA standing in front of John's Land Rover which doubles as a mobile ham shack.

On the left is Ron MacFarland, 7Q7RM, and on the right is John Lord, 7Q7JL.  In the middle is Ron, John's business partner.  They are standing in front of the Blantyre Sports Club, where we had dinner that night.

I took a new ICOM 706-MK-II G that operated perfectly. I used a MFJ 949-E antenna tuner and a MFJ 25 amp switching power supply.

This is a view of the Cushcraft R5 that John Lord, 7Q7JL, had his work crew erect for me.  There is a home-made base plate with a 6 meter galvanized pipe for a mast to mount the antenna on. It worked great!

Another shot of the Cushcraft antenna.

This is a shot of the base-plate that John made. It will fold over for easy mounting and raising. It was tied off with half inch rope. It withstood some "Oklahoma Winds" while we were there.

This is John Lord's (7Q7JL) ICOM 706 MK-II mounted in his Land Rover.

Under John's seat is mounted an AT-180 and the 706. The Outbacker antenna is mounted on the front bumper.

A front shot of John's Land Rover. The Outbacker is mounted on the front bumper. Notice the snorkel for crossing rivers without drowning out the engine.