Editor’s Note: Every month, DX Engineering features QSL cards from our team members’ personal collections. To highlight upcoming DXpeditions, we’ll be displaying a few of our favorite cards along with details about what it took to make these contacts. We’re excited to share some of the special cards pulled from the thousands we’ve received over the years. We look forward to seeing your cards as well!
Bangladesh QRV in December
While the People’s Republic of Bangladesh in South Asia isn’t a super-rare DXCC entity, its rank of 80th on Clublog’s most-wanted list places it solidly in the top-third of sought-after locations. The good news for DXers who have yet to reach this eighth-most populous country in the world (168 million) is that it will be active from December 16-22 thanks to the S21DX DXpedition from Manpura Island (IOTA AS-140).
Hams from around the world will be trying to reach main operators Fazlay, S21RC and Manju, S21AM on 20, 15, and 10M in SSB. Some 40M activity may also be available if propagation permits.
Located at the mouth of the Meghna River in the Northern Bay of Bengal, 531.7-square-mile Manpura Island has a population of 76,500. (Bangladesh is the 11th-most densely populated country in the world, with 2,832 inhabitants per square mile.)
Per their website, the S21DX team will be setting up camp on the remote southern tip of Manpura Island, where there is little settlement and no electricity. Two 100-watt stations will be powered by battery and backed up by a gasoline-fueled generator.
“…the lack of electricity is a challenge for us but at the same time that is a blessing–less interference,” the team wrote.
DXpeditioners plan to employ a multiband beam, a multiband inverted V, and two vertical antennas.
QSL Cards
Here are a few of the QSL cards from Bangladesh collected by the active operators at DX Engineering over the years.
Mark, W8BBQ, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, reached S21ZBB/S21ZBC in November 2013 on 17M RTTY, 10M SSB, and 15/12M CW. Over nine days, the 26-operator DXpedition logged more than 52,000 CW, SSB, and Digital QSOs.
The Royal Bengal Tiger, pictured on the card below, is recognized as the national animal of Bangladesh. Once found in every forest in Bangladesh, they are now considered a critically endangered species due to dwindling habitat caused by human population growth; poaching; and loss of prey. The Bengal tiger can also be found in Bhutan, China, India, Western Myanmar, and Nepal. According to the World Land Trust, there are fewer than 2,000 Bengal tigers left in the wild.
David, K8DV, DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist, contacted S21XV in March 2013 on 20M CW.
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