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S21ZBB / S21ZBC – DXpedition to Bangladesh by Mediterraneo DX Club DL3GA's story
A few days before the ham radio fair in Friedrichshafen, the MDXC announces where this year's DXpedition will go: Bangladesh. I like the idea and there are no obstacles, so I accept the invitation. An even bigger team than last year's expedition to Brunei is planned. Other german operators will bring a complete CW station, so there's not much I have to do for preparation. A visa service in Berlin is commissioned to get the necessary papers – we get them within a few days. Our QTH will be the headquarters of the scouts in Bangladesh. Some scouts have a ham license and will not just support our DXpedition but also join the operator team. But the scouts are also looking forward to get know-how from us that could be useful in difficult situations after a storm or flooding. The planned DXpedition to Wake Island (KH9) was supposed to occur weeks before our trip. But the “Government Shutdown” in the USA delayed it to early November, resulting in a slight overlap with our DXpedition. Luckily, I am able to have a nice number of QSOs with one of my two ATNO DXCC entities before our trip starts. It's a lot of extra stress, but when will I have another chance to work this rare one? Maybe this stress promotes the cold that begins two days before departure...
___Wednesday, 13 Nov 2013 I already have a full day of vacation. My flu doesn't feel much worse, hopefully it's not going to knock me out. I use the day to finish packing and rest. However, an email arrives, asking for a scan of my passport and visa. I don't have a scanner, but DL2GCH helps out. Thanks, Harald ! Now I can email the requested data to Bangladesh.
___ Thursday, 14 Nov 2013 I take the local train to Baden-Baden and buy some food for the long ride to Italy there. The ICE arrives 15 minutes late and a defective freight train ahead doubles our delay. However, there's a plan B connection via Zurich that takes me to Milano in time. Unfortunately, the weather is bad this time – gloomy and rainy, the mountain summits in clouds. I take the train to Malpensa airport and meet Uwe, DL8OBF and our driver, a member of ARI Busto. We are a little late when we arrive at the radio club, the compulsory party began a while ago. But we still get something to eat, some red wine and a slice of dessert cake with the DXpedition logo on it. After the welcome speech of Gabriele, I2VGW, we are taken to our hotel and conclude the day.
___ Friday, 15 Nov 2013 The hotel group gets up early, we have our breakfast and then we are shuttled to the airport. Everything is well arranged for our way from check-in to boarding. At about 10:30, our Qatar Airways flight takes off towards Doha. The entertainment system at my seat does everything, but it rarely does what I want. With lots of persistence, I can watch two movies, one of them even in German. After the stopover, our connecting flight to Dhaka takes off in the evening.
___ Saturday, 16 Nov 2013 We are looking forward to our time in Bangladesh, so most of us can only relax instead of sleeping. We land in Dhaka with 30 minutes delay, but we have the whole day in front of us. Formalities take their time and the waiting scouts can't help here. But once we're through, the scouts welcome us and we load our bags into the waiting coach. The weather is rather pleasant – only 20° C and not very humid. According to the road map, the scouts headquarters north of Dhaka is not far. Although we take major roads, more than 90 minutes slip by until we finally arrive there. At this time of the day, the trip is like a never-ending traffic jam. It's amazing to watch the noisy and colorful life outside and we take plenty of photos, yet some of us fall asleep. As expected, the scouts headquarter is like a quiet, green oasis, distant from the noisy and chaotic road. We move into our rooms in the guest house. There is no air condition, but we won't need one if the temperatures remain where they are. Then we gather for a short welcome in the dining area. The scout president welcomes us officially and also Gabriele has some info for us. Then we spread out to assemble antennas and stations. Before it gets dark, several spider beams on the roof, verticals for 30 and 80m as well as the 40m four square are available. I am member of CW team 1 with Norbert DJ7JC, Jürgen DF7TT and Dima RA9USU. Together with CW team 2, we have a separate room – no “local QRM” from the SSB stations. My shift is the last one in our rotation, so I have time to explore the vicinity. Three times per day, the scouts offer food and drinks in the dining area. The caretaker comes to our room and connects the sink to the wastewater – no more wet feet when we wash hands. Then it's time for my shift. I take over from Dima who worked on 15m, but the signals are getting really weak – no wonder, it got dark a while ago. So I grab the 30m antenna. After a somewhat calm start, I log some 350 QSOs in my shift. When Norbert takes over at midnight, no pileup is left. For me it's bed time, I'm terribly tired.
___Sunday, 17 Nov 2013 I wake up and notice that my shift begins in 30 minutes. That's enough for a quick breakfast and some info exchange with the other ops. Apparently, I worked 30m on a spider beam last night. What??? That's amazing because these antennas have no elements for 30m. But the amplifier didn't have a problem with this load and I worked plenty of QSOs... There was a period with very few QSOs last night, on the one hand caused by bad condx, on the other hand caused by high noise level. Listening antennas are not installed yet. I take over from Dima, continuing on 12m with a spider beam. Initially the callers are from JA, but my “target area” moves west hour by hour. Norbert supports me by turning the antenna accordingly. I add over 400 QSOs to the log during the shift. We note that lunch time lies within a single shift, so someone has to take over for a while in order to give the regular operator a break to eat. Today, I replace Norbert for a while, working on his tremendous european pileup. Internet access seems to be available now, but only via LAN, the wireless access point is out of order. Around sunset, Karl and I take a walk in the terrain. This is bringing in my first mosquito bites, hopefully an exception. For my evening shift, I take over from “guest op” Helmut on 80m. It's hard to drag the the signals out of the noise, but later I can hear many good signals from Europe during their sunset. When Norbert comes to take over, the best of it seems to be over and I'm happy to get into bed.	DL3GA operating S21ZBB
___Monday, 18 Nov 2013 I don't need the alarm clock this morning, I'm awake well before breakfast. Later, I take over from Dima who has been working on 12m again. Only few stations from Asia call, I don't even have to work split. When I log the first EU, I walk to the roof and turn the antenna. First there are only UA6 and UA4, but the later it gets, the more stations join the pileup. As it gets really busy, more stations from JA are also calling – strange. Karl managed to activate the WLAN node, so I can check my emails after the shift. Unfortunately, the node is too far from our room, and internet is generally not available 24h, so I keep it short. During my evening shift, I notice weak signals from the US east coast. So I call that area selectively and avoid the much louder signals of the remaining Europeans. Jürgen takes over while I take a break for dinner. I go to bed right after the shift because I have an early shift tomorrow morning.
___Tuesday, 19 Nov 2013 The alarm wakes me up at 05:45, I get up and take over from Dima. He tried his best on 160m, but with limited success. Now that the sun is rising, I'd rather change to 17m. But before I can occupy a spider beam, one of the SSB stations grabs it. There's another spider beam on another building now, connected via a long coax. I try it but the SSB splatter is too strong – only callers with S9+ would make it into the log. 20m is available, but the whole band is covered by a rattling noise of S9. So it's going to be 12m again. Nevertheless, I can work many callers from the US west coast today. We should try that again in the next days. A group of ops plans a sightseeing trip to Dhaka today, but their minibus has a problem and another one must be called. Our CW-1 station keeps working on 12m and literally sweeps the last callers into the log. When I take over from Dima, station RTTY-2 is also active on 12m and its side effects drown the weak signals of the CW callers. After a while I take the chance to change to 15m and instantly start an amazing pileup there. Obviously, we have a lot of work in front of us on this band. On the other hand, we are planning to participate in the CQWW contest at the end of our stay, so we prefer the WARC bands until then. After my dinner, I continue for Norbert so he can have dinner. I work on 80m, but the band is not open to central Europe yet. Then it's bed time because I have that dreadful early morning shift next.	The operator team
__Wednesday, 20 Nov 2013 I force myself out of bed and take over from Dima who is running a nice pileup on 40m. After ten minutes I notice two itching bumps on my left elbow, obviously the mosquitoes like this time of the day. So I rush back to our room for some repellent and apply it while operating. It helps, no additional itchy bumps anywhere. After Dimas 350 QSOs, I log another 250. But in the last hour of my shift, I spend much more time CQing – it seems that Europe has gone asleep. After the shift I'm already hungry, so I'm present at the dining area when breakfast opens, then I return to bed. My next shift is already at 12:00, taking over from Jürgen because Dima is on his sightseeing trip today. Jürgen is on 17m, but condx didn't allow many QSOs so far. I have a few callers instantly and cluster spots bring more life to my frequency, but it doesn't grow to a pileup. Jürgen comes back to give me a chance for lunch. When I'm back, one the RTTY stations has started on 17m, making it almost impossible to copy small signals. Nevertheless, the log grows by some 200 QSOs. I hear that internet was available now so I get my notebook, read mails and look at the comments in cluster spots. Europe reports radar QRM around 7017, so we should avoid that frequency. A new log analysis is published, the CW team has about 1000 QSOs more than SSB. Outside the scouts vicinity, a big event gets to its noisy peak. According to the scouts, it has to do with upcoming elections in the country.
___Thursday, 21 Nov 2013 When I show up for my shift starting midnight, the bands are being reassigned. I get 30m and since the vertical seems to have a problem, I use the dipole on the roof. I get rather busy with many callers from everywhere on the dark side of the earth. First there many takers from JA, later also from Europe. But several “exotic” callsigns get into the log, like KL7, VP8 and FR. Near the end of my shift, heavy QSB comes up, affecting mostly Europe. Now I copy a signal loud and clear, seconds later I hardly hear his confirmation, often because other signals bury his signal... But the QSO number climbs and climbs and I like that. After a short night, I meet many CW ops at breakfast and we discuss the strategy for the weekend. We plan a participation in the CQWW DX contest and don't just want to deliver a multiplier. So we should get the most useful bands at any time of the day. We also hear that Gabriele has to return home early. I take some rest before my next shift begins. I see that this was a good idea because when I take over from Dima on 15m, the pileup is really strong. During breakfast, Jürgen had asked if anyone could run 500 QSOs in his three-hour shift – somewhat jokingly. But now we almost make it! Jürgen takes over while I go to have lunch and at the end of our shift we calculate amazing 470 QSOs. Later that day, we go temporarily QRT for team photos on the roof of our building.
___Friday, 22 Nov 2013 At midnight, I have another shift with nothing special to report. After breakfast, it's my turn to go sightseeing in Dhaka. Marco from Switzerland, Pino and two local hams are with me. I can't mention all the great impressions here, so I'll focus on some highlights. We visit a market road, the class for acoustic guitar in a music school and a small monastery. We buy baked vegetarian snacks from a street dealer and take two bicycle rikshahs for a short ride. For lunch, we choose a restaurant and I have a delicious chicken teriyaki, bengal style. A stop at the government building results in many pictures, but we can't get close to it. Finally we get to a rather modern mini-mall where we can find all kinds of souvenirs. On the way back, it gets dark. We pick up another local ham, then we head out to the scout headquarter. The roads are very busy, so it takes time and I lose orientation fairly soon. But our driver and guide know what they do. On arrival, we notice that a party is being held. We can have numerous dainties like spicy chicken, mixed pasta and Pak Roti, a sort of pancake. It could have been a great end of the day, but another radio shift is waiting for me. I take over from Dima who worked 12m with good success to the US east coast, but this opening is almost over. I try 10m but the band is also about to close. So I change to 80m, CQing for quite a while without hearing anyone. I try some listening antennas, but without success. Maybe it's my lack of experience on the low bands... Finally I switch back to the vertical and try to reduce the noise to a bearable extent by reducing HF gain. This results in a number of QSOs, mostly with eastern Europe. But after all I'm just tired, so I go to bed right after the shift.	Rikshah ride in Dhaka
___Saturday, 23 Nov 2013 In Bangladesh, temporary callsigns like ours are only issued for one week, hence we had to switch from S21ZBB to S21ZBC this night. The CQWW contest is running now and Murphy arrived just in time for it. When I take over from Dima on 20m, it seems to me that he's happy about the end of his shift. A power failure had enforced a reboot of the computer and CW worked only via paddles after that. I restart the logging software and now CW works again, but it doesn't sound good. Moreover, the amp switches off again and again and there are networking problems, too. Using reduced power seems to improve the situation a bit, but operation is rather painful like this. As Norbert shows up, I quit and he starts solving the problems. It's his equipment and eventually he finds the solutions, but CW 1 is QRT for a significant part of the day. Dima captured an IC 7000 from the SSB/RTTY shack, but it takes almost two hours to get it ready for minimum action. A foot switch must be used to transmit and CW works only via paddles. Dima is doing a good job with this, but I'm having a hard time – also because the propagation doesn't cooperate, I barely work 20 QSOs. While my shift ends, Norbert locates the main problem and he takes over with his fully operational station.
___Sunday, 24 Nov 2013 I take over from Dima at 09:00 and change to 10m, stealing the antenna from a RTTY station. After just a few minutes, a hefty pileup of JA stations begins. Following the solstitial point, callers from further western locations call me the later it gets. Teammates support me by turning the antenna accordingly. Norbert lets me continue for a while into his shift. Just before he comes to take over, I can log the friends of DD1A back home in Germany. Later on, Karl has tremendously many callers on 15m and needs a break. I'm not ready for another big pileup yet, so I go and find Dima – he walks the the operator room and takes over. I join Karl, Uwe and two local scout hams for a visit of the shop across the street. We buy some tea-based drinks and cookies. We talk about this and that in our common hobby, while the traffic on the road is rushing by. Amazingly many people populate the road, buying or selling items, repairing vehicles, even welding and forging metal workpieces. After a while we return to our guest house and find the internet working, so I check emails and cluster spots again. In return for my extended shift this morning, Norbert gets extended time this evening. When I take over, 20m is closing and I change to 80m. It's hard as usual (strong QRN) but I can work a number of stations in Europe. After two tiresome hours, I need sleep.	Successfully crossed the busy road
___Monday, 25 Nov 2013 My last shift begins at 06:00. I check 10m first, but the band is not open yet. So I go to 17m and have a lively pileup mainly from JA with few callers from North and South America. However, one of our RTTY stations is also QRV on 17m and causes splatter, so I can't copy small signals. Radar shows up and leaves only a small gap at the upper end of the CW range. But the RTTY splatter is just too heavy there, so give 10m another chance. Condx are better now, I can work more and more stations from JA and North America. Dima takes over on time and keeps logging a good rate until the end of our activity. At the same time, first antennas are dismantled and packed ûp for the trip home. After lunch, all stations go QRT and we dismantle the spider beams on the roof. There's also time for some final operator photos and a first glance at the CQWW log. I'm afraid that it will need some makeup because of the network problems, but it doesn't look that bad. In the evening, someone hires two bicycle rikshahs to take us around on the vicinity, just for fun. Karl and I take a ride. After that we return to our room, pack our bags, take a last shower and go to dinner. Antonio announces that we have to get up at 03:00 for our bus ride to the airport, so we go to bed and try to find some sleep.
___Tuesday, 26 Nov 2013 At 01:20, the night is over – our departure has been rescheduled. We leave the house, load the bags on a separate truck and enter three minibuses. The roads are significantly less busy at this time, so we arrive at the airport after only 45 minutes, including a short stop for fuel. Thanks to preparation and support by the scouts, our way through the baggage and paper checks is smooth and quick. We are #1 at check-in, but we must wait some time until it's opened. In the duty free area, we make a final attempt to find picture postcards, but no success. We take a coffee in an italian-style cafeteria. There is a long line of waiting passengers on the way to the gates, but surprisingly we are rushed through as if we were first class travelers... An Airbus 330 with many empty seats takes us to Doha. Taking advantage of the excellent WiFi, we use the stopover time to check emails. We even find picture postcards here, but they are not very attractive and quite expensive. And we don't see any post office to send them... An Airbus 320 takes us to Milano, again there are many empty seats. During the second movie, I find some sleep. On arrival, it turns out that the water pipe with the telescopic masts got damaged. Filing the complaint takes a lot of time. Members of ARI Busto take those of us to the hotel who have another long trip home. I join the german group for a dinner and drink before this day ends.
___Wednesday, 27 Nov 2013 I meet Uwe at breakfast, as well as Pino, Ovidiu and Feri. The others have already continued their journey. Uwe and I take a taxi to the railway station, where Uwe's fluent Italian helps me very much to purchase a ticket to Milano's central station. No multilingual ticket vending machine in sight... Uwe has a flight in the afternoon, so he'll have plenty of time for sightseeing. We say goodbye, I take a delayed train to Porta Garibaldi and then a Malpensa Express for the final hop. I buy some supplies and get my train via Brig and Bern. The weather is just great and I can shoot many nice photos from the rolling train as well as on the stopovers. The rest of the journey is quite relaxing and I get home as scheduled.
Sincere thanks to the members of Mediterraneo DX Club and the scouts in Bangladesh for making this activity possible ! S21ZBB/ZBC operators: Thomas DF7TT, Norbert DJ7JC, Heye DJ9RR, Andreas DL3GA, Helmut DL5DSM, Uwe DL8OBF, Henri F1HRE, Michel F5EOT, Marco HB9OCR, Gabriele I2VGW, Pino I8YGZ, Fabio IK2LTR, Mario IK4MTK, Dario IT9ZZO, Marco IZ2GNQ, Fabrizio IZ2KXC, Stefano IZ5GST, Antonio IZ8CCW, Karl OE3JAG, Eric ON7RN, Dima RA9USU, Manjurul S21AM, Aminul S21D, Tutul S21RC, Feri YO5OED, Ovidiu YO9XC
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S21ZBB / S21ZBC – DXpedition to Bangladesh by Mediterraneo DX Club
DL3GA's story

A few days before the ham radio fair in Friedrichshafen, the MDXC announces where this year's DXpedition will go: Bangladesh. I like the idea and there are no obstacles, so I accept the invitation. An even bigger team than last year's expedition to Brunei is planned. Other german operators will bring a complete CW station, so there's not much I have to do for preparation. A visa service in Berlin is commissioned to get the necessary papers – we get them within a few days.

Our QTH will be the headquarters of the scouts in Bangladesh. Some scouts have a ham license and will not just support our DXpedition but also join the operator team. But the scouts are also looking forward to get know-how from us that could be useful in difficult situations after a storm or flooding.

The planned DXpedition to Wake Island (KH9) was supposed to occur weeks before our trip. But the “Government Shutdown” in the USA delayed it to early November, resulting in a slight overlap with our DXpedition. Luckily, I am able to have a nice number of QSOs with one of my two ATNO DXCC entities before our trip starts. It's a lot of extra stress, but when will I have another chance to work this rare one? Maybe this stress promotes the cold that begins two days before departure...

___Wednesday, 13 Nov 2013

I already have a full day of vacation. My flu doesn't feel much worse, hopefully it's not going to knock me out. I use the day to finish packing and rest. However, an email arrives, asking for a scan of my passport and visa. I don't have a scanner, but DL2GCH helps out. Thanks, Harald ! Now I can email the requested data to Bangladesh.

___ Thursday, 14 Nov 2013

I take the local train to Baden-Baden and buy some food for the long ride to Italy there. The ICE arrives 15 minutes late and a defective freight train ahead doubles our delay. However, there's a plan B connection via Zurich that takes me to Milano in time. Unfortunately, the weather is bad this time – gloomy and rainy, the mountain summits in clouds. I take the train to Malpensa airport and meet Uwe, DL8OBF and our driver, a member of ARI Busto. We are a little late when we arrive at the radio club, the compulsory party began a while ago. But we still get something to eat, some red wine and a slice of dessert cake with the DXpedition logo on it. After the welcome speech of Gabriele, I2VGW, we are taken to our hotel and conclude the day.

___ Friday, 15 Nov 2013

The hotel group gets up early, we have our breakfast and then we are shuttled to the airport. Everything is well arranged for our way from check-in to boarding. At about 10:30, our Qatar Airways flight takes off towards Doha. The entertainment system at my seat does everything, but it rarely does what I want. With lots of persistence, I can watch two movies, one of them even in German. After the stopover, our connecting flight to Dhaka takes off in the evening.

___ Saturday, 16 Nov 2013

We are looking forward to our time in Bangladesh, so most of us can only relax instead of sleeping. We land in Dhaka with 30 minutes delay, but we have the whole day in front of us. Formalities take their time and the waiting scouts can't help here. But once we're through, the scouts welcome us and we load our bags into the waiting coach. The weather is rather pleasant – only 20° C and not very humid. According to the road map, the scouts headquarters north of Dhaka is not far. Although we take major roads, more than 90 minutes slip by until we finally arrive there. At this time of the day, the trip is like a never-ending traffic jam. It's amazing to watch the noisy and colorful life outside and we take plenty of photos, yet some of us fall asleep.
As expected, the scouts headquarter is like a quiet, green oasis, distant from the noisy and chaotic road. We move into our rooms in the guest house. There is no air condition, but we won't need one if the temperatures remain where they are. Then we gather for a short welcome in the dining area. The scout president welcomes us officially and also Gabriele has some info for us. Then we spread out to assemble antennas and stations. Before it gets dark, several spider beams on the roof, verticals for 30 and 80m as well as the 40m four square are available. I am member of CW team 1 with Norbert DJ7JC, Jürgen DF7TT and Dima RA9USU. Together with CW team 2, we have a separate room – no “local QRM” from the SSB stations. My shift is the last one in our rotation, so I have time to explore the vicinity. Three times per day, the scouts offer food and drinks in the dining area. The caretaker comes to our room and connects the sink to the wastewater – no more wet feet when we wash hands. Then it's time for my shift. I take over from Dima who worked on 15m, but the signals are getting really weak – no wonder, it got dark a while ago. So I grab the 30m antenna. After a somewhat calm start, I log some 350 QSOs in my shift. When Norbert takes over at midnight, no pileup is left. For me it's bed time, I'm terribly tired.

___Sunday, 17 Nov 2013

I wake up and notice that my shift begins in 30 minutes. That's enough for a quick breakfast and some info exchange with the other ops. Apparently, I worked 30m on a spider beam last night. What??? That's amazing because these antennas have no elements for 30m. But the amplifier didn't have a problem with this load and I worked plenty of QSOs... There was a period with very few QSOs last night, on the one hand caused by bad condx, on the other hand caused by high noise level. Listening antennas are not installed yet. I take over from Dima, continuing on 12m with a spider beam. Initially the callers are from JA, but my “target area” moves west hour by hour. Norbert supports me by turning the antenna accordingly. I add over 400 QSOs to the log during the shift. We note that lunch time lies within a single shift, so someone has to take over for a while in order to give the regular operator a break to eat. Today, I replace Norbert for a while, working on his tremendous european pileup. Internet access seems to be available now, but only via LAN, the wireless access point is out of order. Around sunset, Karl and I take a walk in the terrain. This is bringing in my first mosquito bites, hopefully an exception. For my evening shift, I take over from “guest op” Helmut on 80m. It's hard to drag the the signals out of the noise, but later I can hear many good signals from Europe during their sunset. When Norbert comes to take over, the best of it seems to be over and I'm happy to get into bed.

DL3GA operating S21ZBB

___Monday, 18 Nov 2013

I don't need the alarm clock this morning, I'm awake well before breakfast. Later, I take over from Dima who has been working on 12m again. Only few stations from Asia call, I don't even have to work split. When I log the first EU, I walk to the roof and turn the antenna. First there are only UA6 and UA4, but the later it gets, the more stations join the pileup. As it gets really busy, more stations from JA are also calling – strange. Karl managed to activate the WLAN node, so I can check my emails after the shift. Unfortunately, the node is too far from our room, and internet is generally not available 24h, so I keep it short. During my evening shift, I notice weak signals from the US east coast. So I call that area selectively and avoid the much louder signals of the remaining Europeans. Jürgen takes over while I take a break for dinner. I go to bed right after the shift because I have an early shift tomorrow morning.

___Tuesday, 19 Nov 2013

The alarm wakes me up at 05:45, I get up and take over from Dima. He tried his best on 160m, but with limited success. Now that the sun is rising, I'd rather change to 17m. But before I can occupy a spider beam, one of the SSB stations grabs it. There's another spider beam on another building now, connected via a long coax. I try it but the SSB splatter is too strong – only callers with S9+ would make it into the log. 20m is available, but the whole band is covered by a rattling noise of S9. So it's going to be 12m again. Nevertheless, I can work many callers from the US west coast today. We should try that again in the next days. A group of ops plans a sightseeing trip to Dhaka today, but their minibus has a problem and another one must be called. Our CW-1 station keeps working on 12m and literally sweeps the last callers into the log. When I take over from Dima, station RTTY-2 is also active on 12m and its side effects drown the weak signals of the CW callers. After a while I take the chance to change to 15m and instantly start an amazing pileup there. Obviously, we have a lot of work in front of us on this band. On the other hand, we are planning to participate in the CQWW contest at the end of our stay, so we prefer the WARC bands until then. After my dinner, I continue for Norbert so he can have dinner. I work on 80m, but the band is not open to central Europe yet. Then it's bed time because I have that dreadful early morning shift next.

The operator team

__Wednesday, 20 Nov 2013

I force myself out of bed and take over from Dima who is running a nice pileup on 40m. After ten minutes I notice two itching bumps on my left elbow, obviously the mosquitoes like this time of the day. So I rush back to our room for some repellent and apply it while operating. It helps, no additional itchy bumps anywhere. After Dimas 350 QSOs, I log another 250. But in the last hour of my shift, I spend much more time CQing – it seems that Europe has gone asleep. After the shift I'm already hungry, so I'm present at the dining area when breakfast opens, then I return to bed. My next shift is already at 12:00, taking over from Jürgen because Dima is on his sightseeing trip today. Jürgen is on 17m, but condx didn't allow many QSOs so far. I have a few callers instantly and cluster spots bring more life to my frequency, but it doesn't grow to a pileup. Jürgen comes back to give me a chance for lunch. When I'm back, one the RTTY stations has started on 17m, making it almost impossible to copy small signals. Nevertheless, the log grows by some 200 QSOs. I hear that internet was available now so I get my notebook, read mails and look at the comments in cluster spots. Europe reports radar QRM around 7017, so we should avoid that frequency. A new log analysis is published, the CW team has about 1000 QSOs more than SSB. Outside the scouts vicinity, a big event gets to its noisy peak. According to the scouts, it has to do with upcoming elections in the country.

___Thursday, 21 Nov 2013

When I show up for my shift starting midnight, the bands are being reassigned. I get 30m and since the vertical seems to have a problem, I use the dipole on the roof. I get rather busy with many callers from everywhere on the dark side of the earth. First there many takers from JA, later also from Europe. But several “exotic” callsigns get into the log, like KL7, VP8 and FR. Near the end of my shift, heavy QSB comes up, affecting mostly Europe. Now I copy a signal loud and clear, seconds later I hardly hear his confirmation, often because other signals bury his signal... But the QSO number climbs and climbs and I like that. After a short night, I meet many CW ops at breakfast and we discuss the strategy for the weekend. We plan a participation in the CQWW DX contest and don't just want to deliver a multiplier. So we should get the most useful bands at any time of the day. We also hear that Gabriele has to return home early. I take some rest before my next shift begins. I see that this was a good idea because when I take over from Dima on 15m, the pileup is really strong. During breakfast, Jürgen had asked if anyone could run 500 QSOs in his three-hour shift – somewhat jokingly. But now we almost make it! Jürgen takes over while I go to have lunch and at the end of our shift we calculate amazing 470 QSOs. Later that day, we go temporarily QRT for team photos on the roof of our building.

___Friday, 22 Nov 2013

At midnight, I have another shift with nothing special to report. After breakfast, it's my turn to go sightseeing in Dhaka. Marco from Switzerland, Pino and two local hams are with me. I can't mention all the great impressions here, so I'll focus on some highlights. We visit a market road, the class for acoustic guitar in a music school and a small monastery. We buy baked vegetarian snacks from a street dealer and take two bicycle rikshahs for a short ride. For lunch, we choose a restaurant and I have a delicious chicken teriyaki, bengal style. A stop at the government building results in many pictures, but we can't get close to it. Finally we get to a rather modern mini-mall where we can find all kinds of souvenirs. On the way back, it gets dark. We pick up another local ham, then we head out to the scout headquarter. The roads are very busy, so it takes time and I lose orientation fairly soon. But our driver and guide know what they do. On arrival, we notice that a party is being held. We can have numerous dainties like spicy chicken, mixed pasta and Pak Roti, a sort of pancake. It could have been a great end of the day, but another radio shift is waiting for me. I take over from Dima who worked 12m with good success to the US east coast, but this opening is almost over. I try 10m but the band is also about to close. So I change to 80m, CQing for quite a while without hearing anyone. I try some listening antennas, but without success. Maybe it's my lack of experience on the low bands... Finally I switch back to the vertical and try to reduce the noise to a bearable extent by reducing HF gain. This results in a number of QSOs, mostly with eastern Europe. But after all I'm just tired, so I go to bed right after the shift.

Rikshah ride in Dhaka

___Saturday, 23 Nov 2013

In Bangladesh, temporary callsigns like ours are only issued for one week, hence we had to switch from S21ZBB to S21ZBC this night. The CQWW contest is running now and Murphy arrived just in time for it. When I take over from Dima on 20m, it seems to me that he's happy about the end of his shift. A power failure had enforced a reboot of the computer and CW worked only via paddles after that. I restart the logging software and now CW works again, but it doesn't sound good. Moreover, the amp switches off again and again and there are networking problems, too. Using reduced power seems to improve the situation a bit, but operation is rather painful like this. As Norbert shows up, I quit and he starts solving the problems. It's his equipment and eventually he finds the solutions, but CW 1 is QRT for a significant part of the day. Dima captured an IC 7000 from the SSB/RTTY shack, but it takes almost two hours to get it ready for minimum action. A foot switch must be used to transmit and CW works only via paddles. Dima is doing a good job with this, but I'm having a hard time – also because the propagation doesn't cooperate, I barely work 20 QSOs. While my shift ends, Norbert locates the main problem and he takes over with his fully operational station.

___Sunday, 24 Nov 2013

I take over from Dima at 09:00 and change to 10m, stealing the antenna from a RTTY station. After just a few minutes, a hefty pileup of JA stations begins. Following the solstitial point, callers from further western locations call me the later it gets. Teammates support me by turning the antenna accordingly. Norbert lets me continue for a while into his shift. Just before he comes to take over, I can log the friends of DD1A back home in Germany. Later on, Karl has tremendously many callers on 15m and needs a break. I'm not ready for another big pileup yet, so I go and find Dima – he walks the the operator room and takes over. I join Karl, Uwe and two local scout hams for a visit of the shop across the street. We buy some tea-based drinks and cookies. We talk about this and that in our common hobby, while the traffic on the road is rushing by. Amazingly many people populate the road, buying or selling items, repairing vehicles, even welding and forging metal workpieces. After a while we return to our guest house and find the internet working, so I check emails and cluster spots again. In return for my extended shift this morning, Norbert gets extended time this evening. When I take over, 20m is closing and I change to 80m. It's hard as usual (strong QRN) but I can work a number of stations in Europe. After two tiresome hours, I need sleep.

Successfully crossed the busy road

___Monday, 25 Nov 2013

My last shift begins at 06:00. I check 10m first, but the band is not open yet. So I go to 17m and have a lively pileup mainly from JA with few callers from North and South America. However, one of our RTTY stations is also QRV on 17m and causes splatter, so I can't copy small signals. Radar shows up and leaves only a small gap at the upper end of the CW range. But the RTTY splatter is just too heavy there, so give 10m another chance. Condx are better now, I can work more and more stations from JA and North America. Dima takes over on time and keeps logging a good rate until the end of our activity. At the same time, first antennas are dismantled and packed ûp for the trip home. After lunch, all stations go QRT and we dismantle the spider beams on the roof. There's also time for some final operator photos and a first glance at the CQWW log. I'm afraid that it will need some makeup because of the network problems, but it doesn't look that bad. In the evening, someone hires two bicycle rikshahs to take us around on the vicinity, just for fun. Karl and I take a ride. After that we return to our room, pack our bags, take a last shower and go to dinner. Antonio announces that we have to get up at 03:00 for our bus ride to the airport, so we go to bed and try to find some sleep.

___Tuesday, 26 Nov 2013

At 01:20, the night is over – our departure has been rescheduled. We leave the house, load the bags on a separate truck and enter three minibuses. The roads are significantly less busy at this time, so we arrive at the airport after only 45 minutes, including a short stop for fuel. Thanks to preparation and support by the scouts, our way through the baggage and paper checks is smooth and quick. We are #1 at check-in, but we must wait some time until it's opened. In the duty free area, we make a final attempt to find picture postcards, but no success. We take a coffee in an italian-style cafeteria. There is a long line of waiting passengers on the way to the gates, but surprisingly we are rushed through as if we were first class travelers... An Airbus 330 with many empty seats takes us to Doha. Taking advantage of the excellent WiFi, we use the stopover time to check emails. We even find picture postcards here, but they are not very attractive and quite expensive. And we don't see any post office to send them... An Airbus 320 takes us to Milano, again there are many empty seats. During the second movie, I find some sleep. On arrival, it turns out that the water pipe with the telescopic masts got damaged. Filing the complaint takes a lot of time. Members of ARI Busto take those of us to the hotel who have another long trip home. I join the german group for a dinner and drink before this day ends.

___Wednesday, 27 Nov 2013

I meet Uwe at breakfast, as well as Pino, Ovidiu and Feri. The others have already continued their journey. Uwe and I take a taxi to the railway station, where Uwe's fluent Italian helps me very much to purchase a ticket to Milano's central station. No multilingual ticket vending machine in sight... Uwe has a flight in the afternoon, so he'll have plenty of time for sightseeing. We say goodbye, I take a delayed train to Porta Garibaldi and then a Malpensa Express for the final hop. I buy some supplies and get my train via Brig and Bern. The weather is just great and I can shoot many nice photos from the rolling train as well as on the stopovers. The rest of the journey is quite relaxing and I get home as scheduled.

Sincere thanks to the members of Mediterraneo DX Club and the scouts in Bangladesh for making this activity possible !

S21ZBB/ZBC operators: Thomas DF7TT, Norbert DJ7JC, Heye DJ9RR, Andreas DL3GA, Helmut DL5DSM, Uwe DL8OBF, Henri F1HRE, Michel F5EOT, Marco HB9OCR, Gabriele I2VGW, Pino I8YGZ, Fabio IK2LTR, Mario IK4MTK, Dario IT9ZZO, Marco IZ2GNQ, Fabrizio IZ2KXC, Stefano IZ5GST, Antonio IZ8CCW, Karl OE3JAG, Eric ON7RN, Dima RA9USU, Manjurul S21AM, Aminul S21D, Tutul S21RC, Feri YO5OED, Ovidiu YO9XC

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