More than just DX News

ET3AA Ethiopia

ET3AA Team will be active from Ethiopia, 12 - 20 January 2024.
Team - Ken K4ZW, Bob W9XY.
They will operate on HF Bands.
QSL via N2OO.
Ads for direct QSL:
ROBERT W SCHENCK, PO BOX 345, TUCKERTON, NJ 08087, USA.

ET3AA Ethiopia News 18 June 2023

ET3AA operation by DL9WVM, Ulli Schneider

I arrived back in Berlin on Thursday after almost 4 weeks of vacation.

I would like to preface my report by saying that my stay in Ethiopia was first and foremost a visit to the part of my Ethiopian family. Since both Corona and the initially non-functioning eVisa allocation only made a visit to Addis Ababa possible this year, the family was naturally in the focus and my activities at the club station ET3AA were limited to the usual times of day reserved for work. This had accordingly effects on the use of the propagation conditions and thus the number of QSOs.

Here first of all my activity time frames, so that everyone can see immediately whether his log entry can be correct at all:

DAY FROM TO QSOs
May 23 07:35 08:07 25
May 26 07:47 13:29 479
May 27 06:46 09:45 166
May 29 07:26 14:34 342
May 30 06:23 14:02 462
May 31 06:26 14:02 398
June 1 06:25 14:31 454
June 2 07:36 12:05 175
June 3 07:00 14:09 411
June 6 06:21 14:25 430
June 7 06:43 15:06 471
June 8 06:10 14:13 420
June 12 06:54 14:27 405
June 13 06:27 13:53 458

In total, there are another 5,096 connections with 98 DXCC in ET3AA's log. This has meanwhile gone to Bob, N2OO, who has already answered the first requests.

The bulk of the connections were made with Japan (1,117), Germany (512) and Italy (469). Also 145 connections with the USA were possible. I was especially pleased about QSOs with 3B8HK, XV9G, 5Z4WA, 9J2BO, 9J2REK, 9Z4Y, AP2TN, CX7SS, FO/F6BCW, FR8TG, FY5KE, HI8RD, HK3W, PJ2ND, PR7AR, T77L, TZ4AM, V31MA, a number of VKs, YV8AA. Remarkable that even connections on the higher bands with the Eastern US succeeded: K7CTV, N6VR, W6IBU and WB6CJT are prominent in the log.

The distribution of QSOs per band looks like this:
10 meters 1.029
12 meters 985
15 meters 2.240
17 meters 774
20 meters 68

Bob and Ken are almost on their way to ET and will soon reactivate the call sign ET3AA.

Any additional questions let me know.

73 es CUL
Ulli - DL9WVM

ET3AA Ethiopia News 23 January 2023

Bob and I are back home. Nodir is touring 9X and 5X before returning to Tajikistan. What a week it was! We logged 11,594 QSO's. Some highlights.

• 34 QSO's were on 6 meters to Europe. That's not bad considering we had not planned to operate 6 at all. Nodir put a lot of work into getting the second radio going.

• 113 QSO's on 60 meters. The first from Ethiopia

• 85% of QSO's were on FT-8.

• 32% of QSO's were on 10 & 12 meters

• 30 meters was a very productive band to the US, even to the west coast where working Africa is a big challenge. Unfortunately I had to depart two days ahead of schedule or I would have made a few more overnight stints on this band.

The lowbands, 60, 80, and 160 meters continue to be plagued by excessive noise. We decided to stick with bands that were productive. We've discussed options for dealing with this, but it's going to take some work.

It was great to see the members of ET3AA again. This was a real team effort. They spent a lot of time on the air too, handing out ET to the masses. We owe them a big thanks for making the arrangements for our visit, and for allowing us use of their station. This was a good start, getting an ATNO for those who need Ethiopia and filling band slots for others. Will we do it again? Yeah I'm pretty sure we will.

73

Ken K4ZW

ET3AA Ethiopia News 20 January 2023

Our mission at ET3AA is over. We achieved main goal to help local ET3AA club to keep air activity. We shared our knowledge and passion to the Ham radio. We helped club members with our experience. We learn the beautiful World of Ethiopia culture and people! Time to say good bye to our friends!

ET3AA Ethiopia News 18 January 2023 Part 2

Busy day at ET3AA. Had fun on 28 CW first and than FT8 on 28 and 50 same time.
EY8MM/ET3AA.

ET3AA Ethiopia News 18 January 2023

Things have been going very well. We're closing in on 7000 QSO's. It should be noted this is very much a team effort between the three of us and the ET3AA club members who are also operating and spending time at the station. It's a real joy to be doing this together with our friends.

We've pretty much ruled out 80 and 160 meters because of the noise. It's going to require a better solution. We're making hay on the high bands and also having a lot of success on 30 meters including QSO's to the west coast of the US. Nodir made the first ever 60 meter QSO's from ET which was exciting. But the noise is a big issue on that band as well.

Tip of the hat to W3LPL for his alert of possible openings on 6 meters. We had a short, very focused opening to Europe yesterday. As mentioned, we'll keep the second radio going on 6 just in case.

I'm not sure that we will be on the next two nights. It's Epiphany tomorrow, a big holiday here. We need to allow our hosts some time with their families if they choose to do so. Our last day is Saturday.

73

Ken, K4ZW

ET3AA Ethiopia News 17 January 2023

ET3AA update. Clublog updated. Last qso made in the morning today.

No luck with low band RX antennas. Noise is too strong and coming from different directions and sources. More likely no 160/80. Noise is very high on 60 too but we managed to make over 100 qso's.
Current operator shift reporting 6 m opening to Europe.
73 Nodir, EY8MM/ET3AA.

ET3AA Ethiopia News 16 January 2023

With new RX antenna noise down a bit. We will be on low bands tonight.
73s EY8MM/ET3AA
Nodir and I put up two RX antennas today, a BOG (Beverage On Ground) and a Hi-Z 4 element RX array.
W9XY will operate today. Nodir and I will head back to the hotel to grab some rest and then come back here tonight to operate.
It remains to be seen how effective the RX antennas will be. The noise here is bad and it gets worse at night as more devices come on.
We'll give it our best tonight on whatever bands work for us. Be patient folks.
73
Ken K4ZW/ ET3AA

ET3AA Ethiopia News 15 January 2023 Part 2

Hi from ET3AA. Continue fighting with the noise. It is far more stronger than guys had last visit. Only band with reasonable level is 24 Mc and we did some FT8/CW.

Tried several RX antennas with no success.

60 m vertical is up but noise floor is 59+.

Few more RX antennas to try. University is very populated area and we hoping to bring one RX antenna on the maximum length of our coaxial stock.

We hope that we can spend some time on low bands tomorrow even with high noise.
EY8MM/ET3AA.

ET3AA Ethiopia News 15 January 2023

Working on RX setup. Hopefully one of low bands will be activating today. We received SWL report from Germany on 6 meters. EY8MM/ET3AA.

ET3AA Ethiopia News 14 January 2023

First day at ET3AA. Antennas and station needs maintenance. Lots of maintenance. US team after long flight worked hard on station. Operated 12 m FT8 F/H. It is allowed us to work on station and give New Ones.

Noise is really bad. Low Bands might not be possible. I will work on this task tomorrow day and night. There are few very good DX Engineering RX devices. Lets hope for technology.

We will do operation as we recover station. Local team helps a lot and we are optimistic. Tomorrow are planning 30 m station on evening either CW or FT8. Daytime expect 17 and 12 m FT8 or CW.

60 m operation still under study. Stay tuned. EY8MM/ET3AA.

ET3AA Ethiopia News 9 January 2023

Few questions received about 160 and 60.

We will try. Station has very high noise on low bands. Our goal is to find and eliminate source of RFI and do our best on 160 and 80. Operation on 60 m is not confirmed. We will need to confirm with licensing agency to make sure no negative impact on Ham radio in ET.
73s EY8MM/ET3AA.

ET3AA News 12 December 2020

ET3AA will be active in ARRL 10m Contest, 12 - 13 December 2020.




Video Ethiopia

ET3AA. Where is Ethiopia located. Map.

ET3AA Ethiopia. Sunrise 03-29-2024 at 03:15 GMT sunset at 15:29 GMT