Africa DXpedition
About 1800 meters above sea level, north of the Capital City of Kigali, Rwanda is the Kanyinya Hills Hotel and was the site of the DXpedition.
I was joined by Harald DF2WO, an experienced African DXer, who visited for a week of his 40 day stay.
Sign for Kanyinya Hills Hotel. You can see the main road back to the city.
Harald DF2WO, at his operating station in his hut. Licensing–Heading–Getting a License.
The Antennas
Hexbeam for 10 through 20m.
The verticals for 80 and 160m .
The Hotel
The Reception Desk at the hotel.
Like all the other staff, the hotel guard was very friendly.
The local utility had a low voltage problem. When they were running this generator things were better.
This was my hut.
My station.
Food, Food, Food . . .
Let’s start with a big salad.
I don’t remember what this was but I remember it was good.
Another night, another salad.
Peppered Steak
Fish stew over rice.
This local beer was very good.
Harald, DF2WO, enjoyed the beer as well.
Harald’s family joined us on my last day.
Gentry/Dauer
Rwandian Gentry
Rwandian Dauer
Back at the Airport
Which way do we go?
This picture might have been nice if that tree had not grown up so fast.
Airport security was very strict.
Inside the terminal doing the waiting game.
Our first flight was a hop to Entebee, Uganda to pick up some additional passengers.
Because I never left the airplane and put my feet on the ground I cannot count Uganda for my DXFC count (see dxfc.org).
Operating from Kigali Rwanda Using Callsign 9K2AW
Here’s the deal with getting a license. Give yourself plenty of time (3 months). E-mail in the application with all the requirements. If you don’t hear back from them in about 2 to 3 weeks. Something went wrong, try again.
Where I went wrong is I didn’t hear back but assumed no problem, I’ll visit the office when I get there. Well, they said they never got my request and it takes them a week to process a new application. They were very kind when they said I could operate using Harald’s callsign.
A nice corner building in Kigali is where the licensing happens.
Harald, DF2WO, waiting at the door for me to stop taking pictures.
Upstairs is where the action is.
Dave’s Equipment
Elecraft K3
Dell Inspiron Mini Laptop
Heil Headset
Little Tarheel II Screwdriver Antenna
Ameritron SDC-102 Antenna Controller
MFJ 1979 Telescoping Whip
Dave operating 9X2AW.
Harald operating 9X2AW.
Traveling to Kigali, Rwanda
Brussels Airlines was used for the two main flights. Jet Blue got me to JFK.