A lot of planning, accumulation of equipment and antenna development and cost has gone into the project over the last number of years. The total antenna systems has been re-developed and re-built by Pine, ZS6OB, since the last expedition to Namibia - that expedition was voted the 3rd best expedition world wide out of 69 expeditions for that year - no mean feat for a small group of ZS Radio Amateurs.

This will be a record setting International DXpedition for EME, as far as infrastructure, equipment, band coverage and antenna systems are concerned, which has ever visited another country - all with mobile equipment. The group will be covering all the VHF/UHF frequencies from 50 to 1 296 MHz [excluding 4 metres] on EME.

The venue will be at Ramabanta Trading Post. The Grid locator is KG30vi. The team will operate under the call sign 7P8EME.

There will also be limited HF mostly CW and 144 and 50 MHz - tropo and Meteor scatter operation to provide participation for local operators with smaller VHF and UHF stations.

The dates of the DXpedition are 14 to 26 September 2011. And the team is Pine, ZS6OB, (7P8EME); Wynand, ZS6ARF, (7P8QRO); Dick, ZS6BUN, (7P8BUN); Pieter, ZS6PA, (7P8PA); Dan, HB9CRQ, (7P8RQ) and Hermann, DL2NUD, (7P8HP).

To support this DXpedition the South African Radio League has launched a fundraising initiative. You can assist by making a financial contribution.

When making an electronic transfer use 7P8 and your call sign as the payment reference and send an email to artoday [at] sarl [dot] org [dot] za ">artoday [at] sarl [dot] org [dot] za with details of your donation, your call sign and email address. You will receive an email acknowledgement and your call sign will be added to the list of supporters.

Your donation to the project will be appreciated and acknowledged. For more information, visit www.amateurradio.org.za/7P8.htm.