Southeast Asia – The Black Hole of DXpeditions

[KB2FCV]

XW0ZJZ was on earlier this year from Laos. I was able to work Nepal and Bangladesh last year with my modest station (the propagation gods were smiling..). I think there was a Nepal expedition this year if Im not mistaken.

The others I have yet to hear but yeah, south east asia is a tough one from here at least for me and my dipole.

[N2NL]

To say there are quiet locations is difficult.  Power line infrastructure is poor in these countries.  Noise is very high.  Some of the Himalayan countries have a 200w power limit.  Add this to the polar path into NA, it makes for a very difficult QSO.

73, Dave

[AF3Y]

VU7NRO in the log, confirmed.  Still wishing and hoping for VU4 .

73, Gene AF3Y

[W2IRT]

9N was always a hard nut for me to crack and it took a few years of trying. The other one in that region that I'm surprised no one has mentioned is Bhutan (A5). Once not too long ago it was one of the rarest entities on the list, but thankfully it's on every year or two now. I still need them on everything below 30m, 10m, and RTTY. XY is one of the only two inhabited countries I don't have in the log now (P5 being the other).

[HS0ZIB]

Best to get shots before you go too, malaria at least.

That's OK if you only go for a short holiday, but if you live permanently in the country then you cannot take Malaria tablets all the time since the drug itself is somewhat dangerous to take on a long term basis.

So as a 'Brit' living in Burma, I have no vaccinations (apart from tetanus) and so far have been lucky not to catch malaria.

The biggest risk is Dengue fever, which is spread by daytime mosquitos.  There is no vaccination and it can be fatal.  So I run when I see a mosquito in the daytime.

Seriously, dengue is one of the major illnesses in Burma and other under-developed south-east Asian countries.  It is a killer and is far more prevalent than malaria.

Here in Burma, the health system is extremely basic.  God help me if I get seriously ill.  A sobering statistic is that about 30% of newborn babies born in government hospitals die.  (This is actually because many people are too poor to give birth in hospital and only attend the hospital if complications arise).

I live in a 'slumish' area of Yangon (Rangoon), with open sewers and I regularly see people defecating in the street

Thanks to my mother's terrible cooking, I developed a cast iron stomach as a child.  I have avoided major food poisoning so far..

At my QTH, the QRN is not too bad.  I have a PSK 20 mb rig and can hear stations from all corners of the globe.  I'm located very near to the river, so that helps

Simon