"Have you lost your mind?" That was the question we heard countless times when we said that our next expedition in 2002 would be an African country, so unknown to many people.
The Republic of Congo has about 2,600,000 inhabitants, most of whom are concentrated in the south of the country along the railway that connects Brazzaville (the capital) with the coastal city of Pointe Noire (an important port where valuable oil fields are concentrated - the country's greatest wealth). In 1960, the Congo gained its independence from France, and since then, like many other former colonies, it has had a turbulent history. After liberation, a socialist government came to power from colonial rule, followed by Marxism-Leninism, which declared a republic supported by the Soviet Union. After several coups and the fall of the Berlin Wall in the 1990s, the system of several political parties was adapted, but instability continued on the political scene. In 1997, after a short but bloody civil war, President Sassou-Nguesso came to power. Since then, various large organized groups have fought against the government. The result was hundreds of thousands of refugees and injured. More than 200,000 people had to leave their homes because of the fighting in the capital Brazzaville. Many of them fled east to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire). However, the civil war continued there as well. The current situation is still quite unflattering, but there are already signs of improvement. In 1999, a temporary ceasefire was signed between the fighting groups and the government. The only railway line between Brazzaville and Pointe Noire was reopened in August 2000. In April 2001, a public ceremony was held in the capital where weapons were buried in the ground as a sign of the residents' desire for peace. In March 2002, fairly peaceful presidential elections were held, in which President Sassou-Nguesso was elected with 90% of the vote.
The improvement in the political situation has convinced us to make connections from this country, which is becoming very desirable for radio amateurs. Of course, this destination has many pros and cons.
Against:
Political instability and several current bloody civil wars, although the situation seems to be improving.
Almost non-existent infrastructure, both in terms of transportation and accommodation. Several flights are available from Europe to the capital and from there to Pointe Noire. As I already mentioned, there is also a railway connection between these cities, which is, however, often interrupted by attacks by militant groups fighting in the south and north of the country. So I don't recommend traveling by train very much. You will also find very few hotels here due to the ongoing insecurity in the country.
For:
There have been no significant radio amateur activities in the Congo since 1997. This is also the reason why the Congo is on the list of 38 most wanted DXCC of countries, published by the ARRL in September 2000. It is undoubtedly a very attractive country for high-level broadcasting.
Taking this fact into consideration, we decided that it would be our next destination and started working on it. After a lot of phone calls and sent faxes, we learned all the conditions for obtaining licenses and found a place to put the antennas. We started preparations for the Dx-expedition and when everything was ready, we decided to publish it. The truth is that many people believed in our project, so we did not expect any problems and believed that we would achieve our goals.
The goals were
– give a new country to the maximum number of different stations
– work with the maximum number of stations
To achieve these goals, we installed two complete stations that should work as many hours as possible. The first station (high performance) included: Yaesu FT-900 AT; beam Cushcraft MA5B at 10, 12, 15, 17 and 20m; amplifier Ameritron AL-811 (800 watts); switching power supply and laptop.
The second station (low power) contained: Icom IC706 MKII G; beam Hy-Gain TH3 Jr on 10, 15 and 20m; Where Kantronics for RTTY; Timewave 599ZX DSP filter, switching source; laptop; self-made beam for 50 Mhz; wire dipoles on 40 and 80m.
We also had at our disposal a hundred meters of coaxial wire, an antenna mast, ropes, anchors and all other necessary tools for installing stations. For two it was more than 145 kg of material.
Grains of doubt
Everything was already ready for our departure and we knew that the political situation was improving, as evidenced by the celebration of the presidential elections at the end of March 2002. But a certain event happened that could cause the cancellation of our operation. Just two weeks after the election and less than a month before we left, a group of rebels called the Ninjas hijacked a train. It was the first major attack since a peace agreement was signed in 1999. The army responded with a short but devastating operation in the south of Brazzaville. This situation caused us quite a lot of doubts about the safety of our operation. We called our Spanish Embassy in Kinshasha (Democratic Republic of Congo) and during a long and pleasant conversation they told us that nothing serious was going on. But they advised us to stay in the city and not leave the hotel at night, which of course we respected.
The event seemed to be a one-time thing, so we decided to go ahead with the plan. The truth is that while we were in the country, we had no idea what was going on. During our stay there was a shortage of gasoline and food that was supposed to come from Pointe Noire. When we asked the reason, we were told that it was due to problems with the railway line, although this problem had already been solved before we left. We also saw a lot of soldiers on the streets and people being moved, but we thought that the parliamentary elections would be held in those days. We didn't know about the real events until we got back to Spain. The rebels again cut the railroad, which was the cause of the lack of supplies, and approached the city limits. And what was even worse, two weeks after our return they attacked the airport in Brazzaville. The result was almost a hundred victims, including the civilian population. We were really lucky to get home safely. But let's get back to our story.
We started the journey on May 16. We flew from Barcelona to Paris and from there to Brazzaville, the capital of the Congo.
End of the first part, we will publish the continuation of this interesting story tomorrow.