Back to camp Narwa.
The trip back to Kampala, on Sunday went on without problems, a room at hotel Imperial in Kampala was booked by cable. That night in Kampala, Bill Snyder barged into the hotelroom. He was in Kampala with Arch Oboler (the famous radio man) and his wife, on their way to Belgian Congo. Of course they had a long talk about old times etc. Next day they had lunch with Bill and the Oboler family. Bob made some QSOs from VQ5PBD.
The truck had to be repaired, the wheels still had only few bolts to hold them in place, and there was no spare tyre available. Bob and Jim had to stay in Kampala for 3 days, before the truck was repaired. Bob helped Peter Dodd, VQ5PBD with putting up a 6 element beam for 10 meters, and he made some QSOs with only 20 watts. A cable to Gatti was necessary to get Jim and Bob out of money problems, the money arrived just in time before they left Kampala on July 1, 1948. They spent the night at the Kenya/Uganda border at Tororo. Both wondered that they could find again a very nice place in the middle of wild Africa.
Next day the truck moved on along well until they ran into a long and steep escarpment. They went on, mile after mile, in the low-low gear, until they reached a muddy area. It had rained, and the rain was still coming down, so they put on the chains, but slid to the edge of the road anyway. The next two or three blocks did take two hours, helped by lots of natives. Finally they made it that day to Londiani, Kenya. Needles to say, there was AGAIN a nice hotel to spend the night.
They went on the next morning passing the Kenya Highlands, a beautiful wooded country, and with farms all along, with natives hoeing the land, or ploughing with oxes. Lake Naivasha was pink colored by the thousands and thoudsands of flamingoes. Bob saw a strange bird, a large black one with a red band on its neck. Saturday, July 3th the mini-expedition reached Nairo, Kenya. As it was Saturday, they could not do anything, and had to wait until monday before they could bring back the power-generator to International Harvester. At 11 pm, on Monday July 5, they were back at camp Narwa.
The last QSOs.
Back in camp Narwa, it was clear to Bob that the plans from Gatti, to go on a lion hunt, had been a fizzle, as he expected it would. The equipment was still in the back of the little truck, and Bob operated from the little truck already the next day, using VQ3HGE for more than 8 hours a day. During the last day lots of hams wanted to say thank you to the hams who made their QSO(s) possible. Friday night, on July 9, 1948, Bob pulled the switch for the last time VQ3HGE was off, silence returned to the HF bands again. The expedition had logged 3822 QSOs, the country-counter stopped at 122.
The Gatti-Hallicrafters Expedition QSOs in 1948 |
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Call | Start | End | QSO# | W6PBV | W0LHS | Ctry# | Zones | States |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
VQ4EHG Kenya | Jan 21 | Feb 16 | 942 | 620 | 322 | 51 | 24 | 42 |
VQ3HGE Tanganyika | Feb 20 Jul 06 | Jun 13 Jul 09 | 2629 | 2447 | 182 | 122 | 39 | 47 |
VQ5GHE Uganda | Jun 20 Jun 26 | Jun 21 Jun 27 | 233 | 233 | 0 | 19 | 13 | 30 |
VQ5HEG Uganda | Jun 27 | Jun 27 | 18 | 18 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
Total | Jan 21 | Jul 09 | 3822 | 3318 | 504 | 123 | 39 | 48 |
The logs of the Gatti Hallicrafters Expedition 1947-1948 has been lost, pity. In one of his own old logs (the one marked with nr. 7), Bob found a summary of his activities from British East Africa. From VQ3HGE they worked 122 countries and 39 CQ zones, only zone 23, Tibet was missing. And for WAS Montana was still needed. They worked Montana only from VQ4EHG, Kenya, but here (kwale camp) they did not work Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Rhode Island and Wyoming.
VQ3HGE first Country QSOs |
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Country | Call | Date | Country | Call | Date | Country | Call | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
USA | W4KUV | 20-2-1948 | Ethiopia | ET3AF | 20-3-1948 | Arabia | HZ1JC | |
Australia | VK3DQ | 21-2-1948 | Suez | MD5AF | 20-3-1948 | Argentina | LU5BM | |
England | G8GB | 21-2-1948 | China | C7AT | 23-3-1948 | Asiatic USSR | UA9DP | |
New Zealand | ZL2FA | 21-2-1948 | Denmark | OZ5KW | 23-3-1948 | Austria | MB9BA | |
Canada | VE2DX | 22-2-1948 | Hawaii | W6ORT/KH6 | 23-3-1948 | Azerbaian | UF6KAB | |
Germany | D4AAY | 22-2-1948 | Mauritius | VQ8AD | 23-3-1948 | Barbados | VP6CDI | |
Italy | I1WI | 22-2-1948 | Sudan | ST2FU | 23-3-1948 | Brazil | PY2OS | |
South Africa | ZS5YF | 22-2-1948 | Yugoslavia | YU7UV | 23-3-1948 | British Guiana | VP5AR | |
Cuba | CM9AA | 23-2-1948 | Fr. Marocco | CN8BK | 24-3-1948 | Canal Zone | KZ5RS | |
Eritrea | W6VKV/I6 | 23-2-1948 | Iraq | YI2AM | 24-3-1948 | Equador | HC2OL | |
Tanganyika | VQ3TOM | 23-2-1948 | North Rhodesia | VQ2DH | 24-3-1948 | Estonia | UR2KAA | |
Czechoslowakia | OK2MV | 24-2-1948 | Roumenia | YR5J | 24-3-1948 | Falklands | VP8AD | |
France | F9DI | 24-2-1948 | Wales | GW4CX | 24-3-1948 | Fr. Eq. Africa | FQ8SN | |
Ireland | EI3J | 24-2-1948 | Burma | XZ2JB | 25-3-1948 | Gold Coast | ZD4AH | |
Kenya | VQ4HGB | 24-2-1948 | Iran | EP3H | 25-3-1948 | Guatemala | TG9AD | |
Netherlands | PA0UN | 24-2-1948 | Moldavia | UO5AC | 25-3-1948 | Hong Kong | VS6AE | |
Norway | LA5R | 24-2-1948 | Uganda | VQ5JTW | 25-3-1948 | Iceland | TF3EA | |
Russia | UA3KAB | 24-2-1948 | Ukraine | UB5KBA | 25-3-1948 | Island of Man | GD3UB | |
Sweden | SM5JV | 24-2-1948 | White Russia | UC2CD | 25-3-1948 | Japan | J2AHI | |
Belgium | ON4HP | 25-2-1948 | Armenia | UG6WD | 26-3-1948 | Kazahkstan | UL7BS | |
Br. North Borneo | VS4VR | 25-2-1948 | Chile | CE1AH | 26-3-1948 | Latvia | UQ2KAA | |
Finland | OH2OB | 25-2-1948 | Madeira | CT3AB | 26-3-1948 | Luxembourg | LX1BG | |
Hungary | HA8Z | 25-2-1948 | Pakistan | AP2D | 26-3-1948 | Midway | KM6AH | |
Okinawa | J9ABH | 25-2-1948 | Turkoman | UH8KAA | 26-3-1948 | Newfoundland | VO6AD | |
Switserland | HB9GA | 25-2-1948 | Channel Islands | GC4LI | 29-3-1948 | Nigeria | ZD2RGY | |
Guam | W7JEF/KG6 | 02-3-1948 | Fr. Cameroun | FQ3AT/FE | 29-3-1948 | Paragua | ZP7FA | |
Greece | SV1RX | 03-3-1948 | North Ireland | GI5TK | 29-3-1948 | Portugal | CT1LZ | |
Mexico | XE1AC | 04-3-1948 | Tadhzik | UJ8AE | 29-3-1948 | Puerto Rico | KP4AA | |
South Rhodesia | ZE2JA | 05-3-1948 | Aden | VS9AN | 30-3-1948 | Siam | HS1SS | |
Oman | VS9ET | 06-3-1948 | Fed. | VS2CB | 30-3-1948 | Sierra Leone | ZD1LQ | |
Palestine | ZC6NN | 06-3-1948 | Peru | OA4AK | 30-3-1948 | Singapore | VS1BG | |
Mozambique | CR7VAL | 07-3-1948 | Palmyra | KP6AA | 25-5-1948 | So West Africa | ZS3D | |
Ceylon | VS7RM | 13-3-1948 | Gibraltar | ZB2A | 29-5-1948 | Spain | EA7AV | |
Scotland | GM8RJ | 13-3-1948 | Fr. West Africa | FF8FP | 31-5-1948 | Trans Jordan | ZC1IL | |
Lebanon | AR8AB | 14-3-1948 | Korea | HL1AV | 06-7-1948 | Trieste | I1NZ/T | |
Azerbaijan | UD6KBA | 19-3-1948 | Somalia | MD4TH | 06-7-1948 | Trinidad | VP4TZ | |
India | VU2EH | 19-3-1948 | Canton Islands | KB6AD | 08-7-1948 | Tristan da Cunha | ZD9AA | |
Malta | ZB1L | 19-3-1948 | Afganistan | YA3B | Tunesia | FT4AN | ||
Philiphines | KA1AF | 19-3-1948 | Alaska | KL7NK | Uruguay | CX4CS | ||
Uzbek | UI8KAA | 19-3-1948 | Algeria | FA8BG | Venezuela | YV5AY | ||
Belg. Congo | OQ5CF | 20-3-1948 | Angola | CR6AN |
Tom, K8CX has scanned a lot of old QSL cards, which can be looked up on internet. All links in the table above, point to Tom's site at hamgallery.com.
From notes made by Bob, W6PBV, some QSO-data could be reproduced. Some data was unreadable, and therefore QSO-data is not complete. Watch in the table the different way the QSO-time was given.
Some Gatti-Hallicrafters Expedition QSOs in 1948 |
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Call | Date | Time | Mode | Band | RST | Exp Call |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
G6DP | Jun 25 | 14:51 Z | AM | ?? | 56 | VQ5GHE |
G6YQ | Jun 05 | 19:50 Z | CW | ?? | 579 | VQ3HGE |
G6YQ | May 27 | 20:45 Z | CW | ?? | 589 | VQ3HGE |
W2QHH | Apr 27 | 20:25 Z | CW | 28 | 559X | VQ3HGE |
W2QHH | Jun 26 | 01:45 Z | CW | 14 | 569X | VQ5GHE |
W2BXA | May 10 | 20:00 Z | AM | 14 | 57 | VQ3HGE |
W7AYJ | Jan 24 | 14:00 Z | CW | 14 | 579X | VQ4EHG |
VE7HC | Feb 01 | 18:53 Z | CW | 14 | 589X | VQ4EHG |
W6MX | Jan 30 | 17:55 Z | CW | 14 | 589X | VQ4EHG |
W5MIS | Feb 14 | 17:50 CST | CW | 14 | 569X | VQ4EHG |
W6TT | -- | -- | AM | 14 | -- | VQ5GHE |
W2BXA | -- | -- | AM | 14 | -- | VQ5GHE |
W6ZCY | Feb 01 | 11:00 PST | CW | 14 | 589X | VQ4EHG |
W6JU | May 27 | 14:03 Z | CW | 14 | 579X | VQ3HGE |
W4AZD | Mar 13 | 16:00 Z | AM | 28 | 59 | VQ3HGE |
W8AZD | Jan 31 | 16:40 PST | CW | 14 | 589 | VQ4EHG |
W2GVZ | Mar 14 | 18:30 Z | CW | 28 | 599 | VQ3HGE |
W5NMA | May 02 | 13:40 CST | AM | 28 | 58 | VQ3HGE |
W6MUR | Feb 13 | 19:58 PST | CW | 14 | 579X | VQ4EHG |
PA0SU | Apr 30 | 19:27 DT | CW | 14 | 579X | VQ3HGE |
W7KWA | May 22 | 07:10 PST | CW | 14 | 589X | VQ3HGE |
W2GTP | Jun 26 | 02:55 Z | CW | 14 | 579X | VQ5GHE |
W9YQS | Jan 28 | 13:50 CST | AM | 28 | 59 | VQ4EHG |
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