Outward bound from London Heathrow on Kenya Airways
Rich M5RIC looking out over the Mediterranean
Duty Free Shops in Nairobi Kenya
In transit to the connecting flight to Lusaka Zambia
The baggage reclaim area at Lilongwe Airport Malawi. Has everything arrived safely? Thankfully, yes! The A3S is in the blue ski-bag, the fibre-glass masts are in the grey protection tubes.
Look at all this money! Dick GU4CHY (L) and Steve G4JVG (R) after changing US$'s into Malawian Kwachas
Anderson greets us with a sign saying "CQ, CQ, CQ DX" If only all DXpeditions were greeted this way, unforgettable!
Rich, "The Acom 1000 is in here. Let's hope it's still in one piece"
Loading the trailer
The long road to the lake ...
... and a blow-out on the way. Tyres can take a heavy beating in Africa
Steve G4EDG operating the first pile up, CW on 10 MHz. From L to R, Prof. Cato de Sauvigny, LA9PF / 7Q7PF, two security guards, Rich M5RIC, Steve G4EDG (sitting) & Dick GU4CHY
Dick GU4CHY and the hook rail we used to hang up the ICE band pass filters.
Station 2 (L) TS480HX & Loudenboomer, and Station 1 (R) FT100D & Acom 1000 linear
Station 1, FT100D & Acom 1000 linear, with a view of Lake Malawi out of the window
Unpacking the verticals on the first morning, after the storm
Assembling the Cushcraft A3S on the lawn, the ground is wet from the previous nights storm and the air is very humid
Lifting the yagi and checking the SWR with an Antenna Analyser. The rondavel in the background is the bar and dining room of the Lodge, just 10 paces from the shack!
Preparing the yagi, in the background is the water tower and steel pole
Stuart arrives to lend a hand
Up she goes, but the tree is in the way ...
... no problem, chop off a branch
Cato does up the mast-boom clamp
The A3s at 30ft on the water tower
The shack with the water tower and A3S in the background
The standby generator. It supplied the essential appliances such as fridges & freezers at the lodge.
6ft 2" angle iron stakes being prepared in the metal workshop, for the 40m verticals.
The 40m phased verticals on the beach
Bamboo grove - choose your antenna support
A 13m section of bamboo arrives for us
Steve, G4JVG, preparing the guys for our "Bamboo Titanex"
One set of guys go to this lamp-post
Steve, G4EDG, paces out the lengths. Some 3D trigenometry ensures the guys are the right length to hold the vertical securely when it's up
The "Bamboo Titanex" up at 20m ...
... and again
The radial mat (20 x 18m of mains flex) connected up to a radial block
The 10m yagi and the LF vertical
The view north
Fishermen on the lake
Boats in the reeds
The pier, an ideal run for the Beverage
View looking back from the pier, the 40m phased array is on the beach on the left and the shack is on the right
Interior of one of the rooms adjacent to the shack ...
... and view out of the window
The Alinco DX70, Station 3
(Left to right) Rich operating RTTY (Station 1), Steve operating SSB (Station 2), Dick GU4CHY & Steve G4EDG discussing the CW pile-ups (Station 3).
Mike pouring a (Carlsberg) "Green"
Dick & Steve relaxing with a beer
Antenna selection made easy. (RF burns if you undo one in use!)
The "Red Zebra DX Group" Left to right, Steve G4EDG, Dick GU4CHY, Rich M5RIC, Steve G4JVG & Mark G4AXX
Side view of the 40m phased array with the 10m 2 element yagi and the "Bamboo Titanex" in the background
Worm's eye view of the "Bamboo Titanex"
The 30m L dipole
Antennas take over the lawn
The 30m L dipole with the shack in the background
The antenna farm from the beach
The Wheelhouse pub with sattelite dish (plays VH1 all day)
Catamaran on the beach
World class DX holiday location? You bet!
The trouble with paradise is ...
... you have to walk past a crocodile on the way to the pub!
River boat heading up-stream on the Shire River
The river boat drops us off and heads back down-stream
Evening light on the lake
Refection of sunset on the lake
One of the many superb sunsets
Steve G4JVG with our waiter, barman & good friend, Mike Msuku
Packing up the antennas. Everything was stored away neatly.
Mark G4AXX on top of the water tower with Mike and Robert, getting the A3S down
Packing away the Cushcraft A3S
Bamboo, steel poles and the 10m 2-ele yagi behind the shack
Our arrival back in the UK, Heathrow baggage reclaim. All our equipment arrived safely. Where shall we go next ??