Traversing a money storm when
planning a DXpedition
May 19, 2012
By N1DG, Don Greenbaum
Why This Discussion?
• Financial transparency rarely done on
DXpeditions. It should be.
• If more of the ham community knew the costs
and risks involved in big ticket DXpeditions fund
raising might be easier.
• DX Foundations and Clubs can’t continue to do
all the heavy lifting.
• Not all DXpeditions are alike. One size does not
fit all in donations.
DXpeditions go to pretty places.
The financial story is not as pretty.
Types of DXpeditions
• Visit a resident ham
... Be happy, don‘t worry. $
• Fly-in. Airline served, hotels, power.
… Worry about excess baggage $$$
• Semi Remote Places, ship/chartered plane.
… Worry about amplifiers sinking in the deep ocean
$$$$$
• The bottom of the World
… Worry about needing an icebreaker
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Methodology of Survey
• Examined 20 NCDXF funded DXpeditions since
1997.
• Sent everyone same questionaire and invited
outlier costs (ie. Unique to destination)
• Confidentiality assured if requested. Few did.
• These 20 expeditions covered almost 2 million
QSOs from the Pacific, Indian Ocean, Asia and
Africa at a cost of $3 million.
Budget Considerations-Fly-in
• Mostly Commercial transportation.
• 5 DXpeditions analyzed, 4W6A, A52A, VU4PB,
VU7LD, and VK9DNX.
• These expeditions made 275,508 QSOs,
average expedition 55,000.
• Biggest budget: $90,000, smallest $17,000.
• Average cost, $42,000, average cost per QSO:
$.72. Individual contributions: 11 cents per Q/
36 cents per unique callsign.
Budget Considerations-Fly-in
• Licensing in rare countries like this can be as
much as 50% of the cost of the operation.
• Shipping to some of these destinations can be
significant due to import duties or unreliable
shipping routes.
• Travel and planning times short compared to
other two levels of operations.
• This group, on average, relied on the highest %
of operator funding of the budget and the lowest
ratio of NA stations worked.
Fly-in: The makeup of Sources of
Funding
$31,600
Team Members 66%
$41,600
Foundations/Clubs
21%
Individuals 13%
$140,600
Fly-in: Geographic QSOs
11335
49985
Europe 52%
Asia 26%
144722
North America 18%
Rest of World 4%
72249
Budget Considerations SemiRemote
• Private Charter of ship/plane, averaging $88,000.
• 9 DXpeditions analyzed: BS7H, K4M, K5D, T32C,
VK9DWX, VP6DX, VP6T, ZL8R and ZL8X.
• These expeditions made 958,607 QSOs, average
expedition 106,512.
• Biggest budget: $327,000, smallest $54,000.
• Average cost, $145,000, average cost per QSO:
$1.37. Individual contributions: 33 cents per
Q/$1.31 per unique callsign.
Budget Considerations-Semi-Rare
• Licensing could require lengthy approval processes
from government and/or fish and wildlife authorities.
• Travel and planning times significant. Average travel
time to and from these locations average 10 days.
Most of these operations took a year or more of
planning and fund raising.
• This group, on average, had the highest % of North
American contacts and the lowest % of costs by the
operators.
Semi-rare: The makeup of
Sources of Funding
$316,875
Team Members 58%
Foundations/Clubs
17%
$751,410
$217,700
Individuals 25%
Semi-Rare: Geographic QSOs
38916
195789
North America 44%
422818
Europe 32%
Asia 20%
Rest of World 4%
301071
Budget Considerations-Southern Oceans
• Ice breaker rated ship averaging $260,000.
• Shelters and generators must survive harsh
conditions.
• 6 DXpeditions analyzed: 3Y0X, FT5XO, VK0IR,
VP8GEO, VP8ORK, and VP8THU.
• These expeditions made 370,000 QSOs, average
expedition 74,000.
• Biggest budget: $475,000, smallest $160,000.
Average team member contribution $12,700.
• Average cost, $323,000, average cost per QSO:
$4.30. Individual contributions (pre/post): 52 cents
per Q/ $1.69 per unique callsign.
Budget Considerations-Southern
Oceans
• Licensing long and tedious process.
• Shipping and loading involves dealing with ports
in South America with astronomical charges.
• Travel times mean a commitment of team
members in excess of a month. In addition to
large financial commitments to team, foul
weather gear and airfare to departure points can
add thousands in personal costs.
• Individual donations in this group amounted
to the smallest % of funding of any of the
groups.
Southern Oceans: Sources of
Funding
$192,100
Team Members 63%
$344,000
Foundations/Clubs
25%
$1,015,600
Individuals 12%
Southern Oceans: Geographic
QSOs
21261
58405
158097
Europe 43%
North America 36%
Asia 16%
Rest of World 5%
132246
Comparing Averages
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Item
Total Budget
Cost/QSOs
Team %
Foundation %
Individual %
Average Individual$/Q
Average $ Unique
Plane/Ship
% QSOs EU
% QSOs NA
% QSOs AS
Operating Days
Travel Days
Fly-in
$43K
0.72
66%
21%
13%
$.11
$.36
52%
18%
26%
16
5
Semi-Remote Southern Ocean
$145K
$323K
$1.37
$4.30
58%
63%
17%
25%
25%
12%
$.33
$.52
$1.31
$1.69
$88K
$260K
31%
43%
44%
36%
20%
16%
13
12
10
20
A word about uniques
Donations from individuals are not only a
function of the total QSOs a DXpedition
makes but also the unique stations worked.
Donations did not go up proportionally to the
number of bands and modes a station
worked the DXpedition. In fact, across all
three types of DXpeditions, each unique
callsign brought in triple the donation
compared to each additional QSO a DXer
made.
Just as in contesting, it’s the unique QSOs in
the log that can make a difference in the
financial results of the DXpedition.
QSOs, QSLing, Donations @ VP8ORK
Country
Uniques
Total
QSOs
OQRS
Users
QSL
% Total
Direct QSOs in
log
% Total
Income
$ per Q
Country
USA
5754
21566
999
814
34
80.0
11.137
Italy
1243
4902
260
160
8
.8
0.486
Germany
1295
4646
94
183
7
1.5
0.973
Russia
1001
3181
72
147
5
1.1
1.009
Japan
1211
2838
215
311
4
1.3
1.387
Spain
989
2681
76
119
4
.4
0.416
Poland
586
2146
52
113
3
.3
0.373
France
388
1643
45
73
3
.5
0.975
Canada
379
1442
37
66
2
4.9
10.153
England
398
1436
75
46
2
1.6
3.240
Czech.
344
1373
22
73
2
.1
0.312
Brazil
296
1277
14
32
2
.2
0.504
Finland
253
977
25
22
2
.6
1.914
Timing: Cash Flow for VP8ORK
Foundation Support
In this study NCDXF funded 60% of the total donations given by all
Foundations and Clubs to the six Southern Ocean DXpeditions.
Larger Clubs
Clubs
Clubs
You want to go where?
If you REALLY want to go to
VK0H?
• Clear 3 years from your calendar. Find 20 rich and
competent operators who can take 6 weeks off of work.
• Create a management team. First, organize fund
raising. You are going to need $600-700,000. The last
group to go was in 1997 and the budget was over
$300,000. Things have gotten much more expensive.
• Start to request donations of equipment.
• The cost of a ship from VK (no ship can go to Heard if it
has visited a French Island like last time) is going to cost
at least $500,000. You need a heli, add $100,000.
• Survival tents, proper clothing, generators, fuel and
shipping will easily run another $100,000.
Do you still want to go to VK0H?
Random Thoughts
• Foundations and clubs supported 24% of the
cost of the 20 expeditions analyzed. If you
supported one of the those mentioned above,
thank you. If you don’t, please consider joining
one of the organizations.
• NA Foundations, clubs and Individuals are 80%
of the money pool to these DXpeditions.
• NA QSOs were 36% of the total Q analyzed.
We clearly have an education process ahead of
us if we want to see 3Y0/B or VK0HI again.
Questions?