FSDXA St. Brandon DXpedition – Bulletin No.1 The Five Star DXers Association (FSDXA) is pleased to announce its next DXpedition, to St. Brandon (3B7) to take place in September 2007. FSDXA, closely linked to CDXC (Chiltern DX Club), the UK DX Foundation, is the group which brought you the 1998 9M0C Spratly Islands DXpedition, the subsequent record-breaking 2001 D68C DXpedition to the Comoros and, most recently, the 2004 3B9C Rodrigues DXpedition. Once again, Yaesu have kindly agreed to be Principal Sponsor, and will be providing twelve FT-2000 transceivers along with six Quadra VL-1000 linears. UK amateur radio retailers Martyn Lynch & Sons and Nevada are also committed to sponsoring the operation. It is hoped that the callsign 3B7C will be allocated. The “C” in the callsign stands for “CDXC”, the club from which the Five Star DXers Association was formed, and is also a reminder of the group’s previous successful operations. As with previous FSDXA expeditions, this will be a major effort, with a target of more than 100,000 QSOs. There will be up to twelve stations on the air, many using amplifiers and monoband beams, 24 hours a day, for almost three weeks, including three weekends, around the autumn equinox when DX propagation on all bands is typically at its best. Our primary objective is to activate Saint Brandon 3B7 with a view to giving as many DXers as possible a first contact with this rare DXCC entity and, as a secondary objective, to give as many band-slots as possible. Because the sunspot cycle will be just past the minimum our emphasis will be on the LF bands. We expect to exceed 100,000 QSOs, a figure that has still not been reached by any DXpeditioning group other than FSDXA. We will be based on Isle du Sud, approximately 250 miles north-east of Mauritius. We have already received agreement in principle from the radio licensing authorities in Mauritius, and have now to finalise all the details of our permits. Agalega 3B6 and Saint Brandon 3B7 count as a single entity for DXCC. 3B6/7 ranks high in most wanted listings, especially on LF and in the USA. 3B6/7 is much rarer than both the Comoros (D6) and Rodrigues (3B9) so demand should be huge. The last two expeditions to 3B6/7 were 3B7RF (53,533 QSOs) in 1998 and 3B6RF (64,239 QSOs) in 2001. Despite these DXpeditions 3B6/7 is already well up on the most wanted lists. In the 2005 DX Magazine survey, 3B7 ranked 45th worldwide (up from 75th the previous year) and 18th from the US West Coast. It ranked 58th worldwide in the 2005 Most Wanted RTTY Countries survey, needed by 41.5% of respondents. We expect each of these rankings to have risen by anything up to ten percentage points when the 2006 survey is published, as there has been no recent activity from 3B6/7. The multinational team is already close to being complete, with the following having signed up to take part: 9M6DXX (Steve), DK7YY (Falk), DL7AKC (Jens), EI5DI (Paul), G0OPB (Tony), G3BJ (Don), G3IZD (Ivan), G3NHL (Chris), G3NUG (Neville), G3SVL (Chris), G3XTT (Don), G4KIU (Nigel), G4TSH (Justin), K3NA (Eric), N6HC (Arnie), SM5AQD (Hawk), W3WL (Wes), WF5T (Paul). Many of these operators were with us on one or more of our previous DXpeditions. At this time we are seeking contributions from sponsors to help defray the very significant logistics costs of this DXpedition. There is no electricity on the island so generators and fuel will have to be shipped. Accommodation is also limited, so we will have to hire tents and marquees. We also will need to take food, water and other supplies sufficient for a large team for three weeks (plus contingencies). Most equipment has to be shipped by container to Mauritius and then all equipment and supplies taken to St. Brandon from Mauritius by chartered vessel (8 days charter in total, at around $2,000 per day). Donations in sterling may be sent to the Five Star DXers Association Treasurer, John Linford, G3WGV, Pennine View, Sleagill, Cumbria CA10 3HD, England (e-mail: john @g3wgv.com): please make cheques payable to the “Five Star Expedition Fund”. Donations in other currencies may be made by various means, the relevant account details being as follows: • IBAN Number : IBAN GB14 BARC 2068 7950 8302 16 • SWIFTBIC Number : BARCGB22 • Bank Name : Barclays Bank • Bank Address : PO Box 44, Poole, Dorset, BH15 1YA • Sort code : 20-68-79 • Account Name : The Five Star Expedition Fund • Account Number : 50830216 Donations may also be made by PayPal via the FSDXA Website either using your PayPal account or by using your credit/debit card. Donations in US dollars may be sent to Wes Lamboley W3WL, 690 Hunterhill Way, Roswell, GA 300075, USA (e-mail: BLamboley@aol.com). Please make checks payable to “Wesley Lamboley”. Donations in Japanese yen may be sent to Taizo Arakawa JA3AER, 2-974-8-1502 Sayama, Osakasayama, Osaka 589-0005, Japan (e-mail: ja3aer@ares.eonet.ne.jp). All donations will be acknowledged. The logos of all DX clubs etc which have helped to sponsor the DXpedition will be shown on the QSL card, as will the names and callsigns of those who make an individual contribution in advance of the DXpedition (subject, in each case, to a certain minimum amount). This first Bulletin is intended mainly to alert you to our upcoming DXpedition. G3NUG and G3BJ will be visiting St. Brandon later this month to conduct a detailed site survey. More information will be forthcoming once that survey is complete. We are also building a website accessible via both www.3b7c.com and www.fsdxa.com/3b7c where information will be posted as it becomes available. Don Field G3XTT, NK1G (g3xtt@lineone.net) 10 October 2006 (FSDXA Publicity Officer)