Johannes PA5X, during the last year almost daily active from 5T Mauritania as 5T5PA, is temporarily demobilising to the Netherlands and will travel by Dutch flagged vessel: “Dutch Power“  from Nouadhibou (Mauritania) towards Moerdijk (Netherlands) (close to Rotterdam) during the coming 2 weeks.

Departure is scheduled on 06/04/2020 and arrival in the Netherlands is estimated on 18/04/2020 or later depending on the weather conditions en route. During the trip he will try to be active with callsign: PA5X/MM, most likely operating SSB and FT8 on 20m and 40m bands with a 100w transceiver using a simple wire antenna and vertical.

Due to the COVID-19 situation the dredging project that I am working on as a Project Manager in Mauritania is temporarily suspended. This means that we have demobilised equipment and personnel back to Europe.

The COVID-19 situation in Mauritania is under control and the country went into an early lockdown. There are 6 confirmed cases (as of 04/04/2020) and these are all in the capital Nouakchott. In Nouadhibou we have been living in self quarantine, maintaning a high standard of hygiene for the last few weeks and therefore we are safe and healthy.

Normally I travel by plane, however since Mauritania is in lockdown and air travel is suspended worldwide, I decided to travel back to the Netherlands using our chartered support vessel “Dutch Power”.

I hope to be returning to Mauritania as soon as the situation improves worldwide and air traffic is possible again. In the meantime I will try to operate 5T5PA remote. After my return to 5T (June 2020 ?) I expect to be active a few more weeks before our Project is finished.

You can follow the movements of “Dutch Power” using the following methods:

  • Marine Traffic (when within VHF range of the shore)
  • APRS (planning to use HAM radio to transmit daily positions using JS8Call / use V-Sat internet onboard), search for: Track callsign: PA5X

Onboard of the vessel will be a crew of 5 and 2 passengers, including PA5X/MM.

QSL via OQRS and Direct via PA5X. Log uploads to LoTW and Club Log depending on internet connection onboard using V-Sat or after the activity.