FT5ZM $20.00 per minute on the air!
PRESS RELEASE
As Chief Financial Officer and fundraiser for the upcoming FT5ZM DXpedition, I am deeply involved in the subject of DXpedition costs and financing. I have served in the same role for numerous high-profile and expensive DXpeditions to very rare DX entities. Examples are 3Y0X, K5D, and HK0NA.
However, the article written by Don Greenbaum, N1DG and published in several publications is the definitive work on the subject of DXpedition costs and financing. If you have not seen it, it’s available on the NCDXF website at: http://www.ncdxf.org/pages/dxresources.html.
Don points out that DXpeditions to the Southern Oceans are the most expensive mainly because they involve a vessel charter. In his study, those charters averaged $260,000. However, three of the six DXpeditions included in that study took place 13-15 years ago and costs have risen significantly since then. See Ralph – K0IR’s article on this website entitled "Why Does This DXpedition Cost So Much?" It was posted in the "News" section on 21 June 2013 at http://www.amsterdamdx.org. It details our current, up to date vessel charter costs. They represent 75% of our $400,000 DXpedition budget.
Now, to really put DXpedition costs in perspective, let me share some simple math with you. At FT5ZM, Let’s assume we are on the air for 14 days.
That allows two days for set-up and two days for take down. That equates to 20,160 minutes on the air. If our budget is $400,000 (not including operator travel costs to Perth and back), then our time on the air costs $19.84 per minute.
Yes, $19.84 per minute on the air !!!!!
Let’s take this a bit further. Assume we make 100,000 QSOs, (a worthy goal for a #4 "most-needed"). The cost per QSO works out to $4.00.
Yes, $4.00 per QSO !!!!!
Now, for some good news, the DXpedition operators will pay about half of that.
This means however, our sponsors including DX Foundations, DX Clubs and individual DXers worldwide need to pay the remainder.
So, when deciding not if, but how much support you will offer FT5ZM, ask yourself: How many QSOs am I going to make? How important are those QSOs to me? Am I paying my fair share of the costs? Our DXpedition leader K0IR has often joked that if every DXer would give up a cup of coffee for each QSO with FT5ZM and send that money to support the DXpedition, we would not have to worry about our expenses. You know, he is right.
73 and CU in the pileups!
Bob-K4UEE
As Chief Financial Officer and fundraiser for the upcoming FT5ZM DXpedition, I am deeply involved in the subject of DXpedition costs and financing. I have served in the same role for numerous high-profile and expensive DXpeditions to very rare DX entities. Examples are 3Y0X, K5D, and HK0NA.
However, the article written by Don Greenbaum, N1DG and published in several publications is the definitive work on the subject of DXpedition costs and financing. If you have not seen it, it’s available on the NCDXF website at: http://www.ncdxf.org/pages/dxresources.html.
Don points out that DXpeditions to the Southern Oceans are the most expensive mainly because they involve a vessel charter. In his study, those charters averaged $260,000. However, three of the six DXpeditions included in that study took place 13-15 years ago and costs have risen significantly since then. See Ralph – K0IR’s article on this website entitled "Why Does This DXpedition Cost So Much?" It was posted in the "News" section on 21 June 2013 at http://www.amsterdamdx.org. It details our current, up to date vessel charter costs. They represent 75% of our $400,000 DXpedition budget.
Now, to really put DXpedition costs in perspective, let me share some simple math with you. At FT5ZM, Let’s assume we are on the air for 14 days.
That allows two days for set-up and two days for take down. That equates to 20,160 minutes on the air. If our budget is $400,000 (not including operator travel costs to Perth and back), then our time on the air costs $19.84 per minute.
Yes, $19.84 per minute on the air !!!!!
Let’s take this a bit further. Assume we make 100,000 QSOs, (a worthy goal for a #4 "most-needed"). The cost per QSO works out to $4.00.
Yes, $4.00 per QSO !!!!!
Now, for some good news, the DXpedition operators will pay about half of that.
This means however, our sponsors including DX Foundations, DX Clubs and individual DXers worldwide need to pay the remainder.
So, when deciding not if, but how much support you will offer FT5ZM, ask yourself: How many QSOs am I going to make? How important are those QSOs to me? Am I paying my fair share of the costs? Our DXpedition leader K0IR has often joked that if every DXer would give up a cup of coffee for each QSO with FT5ZM and send that money to support the DXpedition, we would not have to worry about our expenses. You know, he is right.
73 and CU in the pileups!
Bob-K4UEE