With just 10 days until the EL2EL/4 expedition gets underway, the team are pleased to report all our plans are coming together.
You may not be aware this is a 100% charity expedition – meaning all donations raised go directly to MAF Liberia – an organisation who fly the only humanitarian flight service in that country. In 2017, Liberia was ranked 4th poorest country in the world.
Today, we are delighted to announce that 50% of our target has been raised and we thank everyone who has taken the time to donate and understand exactly what MAF do. Consider only £25 covers the cost of fuel for a 30 minute flight, then already 40 more flights have been secured through this charity expedition. Thanks a lot!
In addition to the above, we will also be bringing surplus reading glasses and mobile phones to Sasstown. We have been informed there’s a real need for reading glasses in the rural elderly communities – as such simple cheap devices can transform a person’s basic well-being. Equally, the simplest of mobile phones, that we all discard as being old or outdated, can open up new opportunities for rural communities in Liberia, too.
We arrive in Sasstown, southern Liberia on the morning of November 5th. Plans are to set foot on Telengbe Island (IOTA AF-111NEW) before sunset that day. We’ll be QRV on 40-30-20-17-15m using a combination of VDAs and vertical dipoles, all on 100W. Other bands will be checked time-to-time should openings occur. Mostly SSB will be used with some CW and possibly FT8.
Keeping in constant touch with local villagers and elders, we can also report the seas around the island have calmed since an earlier recce trip so landing on Telengbe Island looks very promising.
You might be curious why we will use /4 in our callsign. Basically, we do not have to, but to emphasize we’ll be on AF-111NEW it was thought prudent to distinguish this fact. (Liberia ham radio regions map).
Note: If you work EL2JB, this will be our mainland station if there are delays in landing on Telengbe or issues forcing us to come off early.
Behind the scenes, GMDX Group and GM0OBX have been very helpful. Together with Spiderbeam, we are very grateful to them all.
This is our final news release prior to departure – we look forward very much to working you !
Not there long enough to have a good enough shot from VK
Great news Col 😉