NOT just another DXpedition: Sierra Leone 2011: 9L5MS - March 28th - April 18th 2011
By the end of March 2011 Arie PA3A, Bas PD0CAV, Ad PA8AD and Arie PA3AN will leave for Africa to meet up with Dickson EL2DT to kick off a DXpedition to Sierra Leone. The dxpedition team will arrive in Freetown on 28 March 2011 and will be on the air by the 29th. Departure date is set for April 18th. (This dxpedition was originally planned two weeks earlier but our cargo container got delayed and because of that we lost that time-window.)
Sierra Leone as DXCC entity will be on the air on all MF/HF bands and 6m for almost 3 weeks in RTTY, SSB and CW (and possible 6m EME in JT65 if conditions permit). The team will make a serious effort to work as many stations as possible on different bands and modes and pay special attention to the smaller stations.
Important goal for this hamradio project is to bring the good work of Mercy Ships to the attention of the worldwide amateur radio community so that healthcare projects in poor countries will get more worldwide support.
Special about this dxpedition is that sponsoring (donations, extra QSL green stamps, etc.) will be donated to the Mercy Vision Healthcare project of Mercy Ships in Sierra Leone. This is the third dxpedition in cooperation with Mercy Ships after Liberia 2007 (5L2MS) and Benin 2009 (TY1MS).
Mercy Ships programs promote health and well-being by serving the urgent surgical needs of the forgotten poor, and empowering developing communities. For this Mercy Ships uses a seagoing hospital ship, the Africa Mercy. On this hospitalship and on bases ashore more than 400 volunteers use their skills to make a difference. The Africa Mercy holds 6 operation rooms and laboratories and patient rooms for 78 patients. 7000 operations can be performed per year and teams can go ashore to carry out different projects. In 2011 the Africa Mercy is visiting the African country Sierra Leone.