April 2013: Z81X

Mission Goodwill South Sudan is pleased to recognize the support of Mr. Pekka Haavisto M.P., Finnish Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa and Sudan, who played important United Nations and European Union roles in the negotiating process leading toward South Sudan's independence.
We also wish to acknowledge the backing of the Embassy of South Sudan in Oslo, Norway and the valuable assistance provided by Jim, Z81A (K7QI), Diya, Z81D (YI1DZ) and Ken, Z81Z (K4ZW).

Friday, May,3rd, 2013
by Olli, OH0XX and Martti, OH2BH

With the rainy season now underway, transportation of the Z81X team is taking up much more time as the team heads every morning to the Ministry of Telecommunications for various meetings and functions. Today Friday upon their return from Juba, the team members prepare for some rest and then increasing on-air activity at Z81X. Look for them at the peak propagation hours to all key areas of the world as they will try to ramp up their QSO total to reach 12K in a balanced way.
As they are running a generator and are subject to thunderstorms almost every day, it is no surprise that power failures have occurred concurrent with voltage spikes. Earlier in the week, their solid-state KW amplifier was snuffed out and they were left with nothing in hand. Massimo, Z81B gave the Z81X crew a helping hand with a vintage KW1000 amp manufactured almost 50 years ago. But with a pair of 572Bs they are now receiving excellent reports from all over the globe. The radio they are running is a Yaesu FT-950.
As the rainy season may potentially bring malaria mosquitos into the region, the operators are sleeping in netted beds - looking almost like those in for a honeymoon experience. The beds are pink colored. This makes a huge contrast as the actual sleeping quarters are located in local huts of at least of 4 stars - not counting those twinkling in the sky here in this exciting Juba outpost.
The team's length of stay will be finalized after another meeting at the Ministry on Monday but it is expected that Z81X will remain active well into the coming week. More information is to follow. With the old amplifier now hooked up to the FT-950, there is no band position for operating 160M nor WARC bands, but it possible that an inverted-L will be used on 80M. This late in the season, not much is heard on the low bands, and the rainy spell is not helping these efforts, either.
Operating continues as much as possible, but it needs to remembered that this is not an all-out DXpedition. The two ops do as much as they can with the time and equipment available. QSL via OH0XX. Moreover, OQRS will be set up soon and is expected to go online detailing the objectives of the overall mission.

Monday May 6, 2013

With 12K QSOs in the books, part of Sunday was devoted to some well deserved rest while Juba was hit by a heavy thunderstorm Monday night which kept the operators in bed and their radio disconnected.
Monday's meeting with the Ministry folks suggested that the first phase of Mission Goodwill South Sudan 2013 will require more days than anticipated. Therefore Olli, OH0XX decided to extend his stay in South Sudan by another week and he will not be departing until May 13 - doing Mother's Day duties remotely next weekend.
The good news is that Olli can be found regularly on CW following peak propagation openings specifically to Japan and USA, others duties permitting. Here's a list of frequencies that will get you closer to those band pointers;10107, 18075, 14030, 21030, 24895 and 28030 kHz
Martti left today for Nairobi (5Z4) and it is expected that the second phase of this project will bring Olli, Martti and others back to Juba within the next several months.
Prospects for Amateur Radio in South Sudan are looking good.

May 15, 2013
PROJECT GOODWILL SOUTH SUDAN INTERIM REPORT – Z81X
As part of the April 2, 2013 visit to South Sudan by a delegation headed by the Foreign Minister of Finland, several supporting elements were discussed. Just three weeks later, following a series of meetings focusing on practical matters in Juba, there was a high-level presentation, with relevant endorsements, made to the South Sudan government. The presentation was made with a view toward enlisting support on telecommunications matters in general and Amateur Radio’s role in society in particular. Ultimately, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed specifying several elements of Amateur Radio as a study case for local administrators. These elements include Amateur Radio’s role in society, frequency allocations, regulatory matters and promotion of Amateur Radio as part of an educational agenda. The MoU calls for a workshop to be held for the senior staff of the Ministry of Telecommunications and Postal Services. Members of the Ministry of Higher Education and the Research and Technology agency will also attend the workshop.
In early June, a senior South Sudan telecommunications official will attend an IARU Administrator’s Course in Accra, Ghana to observe ITU and IARU. This travel will be made possible thanks to the valuable support of the Yasme Foundation ext. Link
As Amateur Radio is only provisionally regulated in South Sudan, the Radio Arcala Fellowship Group of Finland, OH8X, was granted a provisional license – Z81X – to facilitate operating events during visits by the project representatives. We expect that Z81X will be activated several times during the course of this project, notably on low bands and in CQWW Contests.
Just today, the initial Z81X activity, with one radio only, was concluded with more than 20.000 QSOs. QSOs were split evenly between the three major population areas of the world - Europe 8693 (43%), North America 5774 (29%) and Asia 5162 (26%). The Finnish duo - Olli, OH0XX and Martti, OH2BH - has now returned to their native Finland.
As the entire project is carried out on a voluntary basis, the group will accept donations to be used solely for offsetting direct project expenses incurred in South Sudan. ClubLog OQRS is now active for QSL requests (bureau or direct) and project support..
We are pleased to acknowledge the support of Mr Pekka Haavisto, the Finnish Foreign Minister’s Special Representative to the Horn of Africa and Sudan. We also acknowledge the supporting efforts of Mr. Amul Behera of Rock City Investments, Juba, Dr Anu Kantele of Helsinki University Central Hospital, Massimo, Z81B (IZ0EGB), Diya, Z81D (YI1DZ) and Ken, Z81Z (K4ZW) for supporting the project and welcoming the latest country of the world to the valued ranks of Amateur Radio.

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